Shiftegan

Tuesday 8.30 - 9.30 pm

In Farsi.

Iranian programme with a focus on the arts and cultural issues.

Presented by Fariborz Pakzamir.

Contact shiftegan2003@yahoo.com.au

CRAM Article November 2005 : Shiftegan – celebrating the true meaning of love and life

Shiftegan is an Iranian program broadcast in Persian (Farsi language) on Tuesdays 9.30 –10pm on 3CR. This program has been on air since October 2003. Shiftegan is a poetic word that means ‘true lovers’ in terms of a deep love for humanity. It is a non-political and non-religious program, and mainly focuses on issues related to arts, culture and literature.

On Shiftegan we often talk about a lot of values needed to be emphasized in the present world such as the true meaning of love, life, sacrifice, helping others, respect, friendship, family, justice and so on using the writings of different authors and poets around the world and also messages conveyed to people in movies and music, especially Iranian ones.

Shiftegan also covers the news related to arts and cultural issues of the Iranian community from international to the local level. For example different activities organised for/by Iranians in Melbourne. The program also occasionally includes the news related to science and medical information. The main presenters are Fariborz Pakzamir and Roozbeh Malekzadeh. Shiftegan was established because of the lack of sufficient community radio for Iranians in Victoria.

The Iranian community is developing fast and, like any other ethnic community, needs to have their own community radio. According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics in 2001 there were 18 840 Iran born people in Australia of which 3200 lived in Australia. This number has significantly increased since 2001 - there should be 25 000 Iranian born people in Australia, and about 5000 in Australia. The median age of Iranian born in 2001 was 38.8 years. 52.4% held some form of educational or occupational qualifications, and 99.7% had Australian citizenship.

Shiftegan is not only listened to by Iranians but by other Farsi speaking language people, including people from Afghanistan. The Iranian Society of Victoria has supported this program since its establishment.

By Bree McKilligan and Fariborz Pakzamir.