Dear Hasan The Guardian quotes this very same passage and provides context to it. It was with respect to the growing disquiet in Europe and the Balkans, the events that eventually led to the Second World War. Specifically, the Promised Day is Come (page 113) explains this very phrase:
"The theories and policies, so unsound, so pernicious, which deify the state and exalt the nation above mankind, which seek to subordinate the sister races of the world to one single race, which discriminate between the black and the white, and which tolerate the dominance of one privileged class over all others -- these are the dark, the false, and crooked doctrines for which any man or people who believes in them, or acts upon them, must, sooner or later, incur the wrath and chastisement of God. "Movements," is the warning sounded by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "newly born and worldwide in their range, will exert their utmost effort for the advancement of their designs. The Movement of the Left will acquire great importance. Its influence will spread." Contrasting with, and irreconcilably opposed to, these war-engendering, world-convulsing doctrines are the healing, the saving, the pregnant truths proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh, the Divine Organizer and Savior of the whole human race -- truths which should be regarded as the animating force and the hallmark of His Revelation: "The world is but one country, and mankind its citizens."" I would also like to share this quote from Shoghi Effendi's Citadel of Faith (page 37): "In one of the most remarkable Tablets revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, passages of which have already been quoted on previous occasions, written in the evening of His life, soon after the termination of the first World War, He anticipates, in succinct and ominous sentences, the successive ebullitions which must afflict humanity, and whose full force the American nation must, if her destiny is to be accomplished, inevitably experience. "The ills from which the world now suffers," He wrote, "will multiply; the gloom which envelops it will deepen. The Balkans will remain discontented. Its restlessness will increase. The vanquished powers will continue to agitate. They will resort to every measure that may rekindle the flame of war. Movements, newly born and world-wide in their range, will exert their utmost effort for the advancement of their designs. The Movement of the Left will acquire great importance. Its influence will spread." The agitation in the Balkan Peninsula; the feverish activity in which Germany and Italy played a disastrous role, culminating in the outbreak of the second World War; the rise of the Fascist and Nazi movements, which spread their ramifications to distant parts of the globe; the spread of communism which, as a result of the victory of Soviet Russia in that same war, has been greatly accelerated -- all these happenings, some unequivocally, others in veiled language, have been forecast in this Tablet, the full force of whose implications are as yet undisclosed, and which, we may well anticipate, the American nation, as yet insufficiently schooled by adversity, must sooner or later experience." The Guardian repeats these warnings again and again in communications to the Baha'i world and in his writing. In April 1957, in a letter to the Baha'i world, under the subject of "Portentous Prophecies", he says: "The violent derangement of the world's equilibrium; the trembling that will seize the limbs of mankind; the radical transformation of human society; the rolling up of the present-day Order; the fundamental changes affecting the structure of government; the weakening of the pillars of religion; the rise of dictatorships; the spread of tyranny; the fall of monarchies; the decline of ecclesiastical institutions; the increase of anarchy and chaos; the extension and consolidation of the Movement of the Left; the fanning into flame of the smouldering fire of racial strife; the development of infernal engines of war; the burning of cities; the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth -- these stand out as the signs and portents that must either herald or accompany the retributive calamity which, as decreed by Him Who is the Judge and Redeemer of mankind, must, sooner or later, afflict a society which, for the most part, and for over a century, has turned a deaf ear to the Voice of God's Messenger in this day -- a calamity which must purge the human race of the dross of its age-long corruptions, and weld its component parts into a firmly-knit world-embracing Fellowship -- a Fellowship destined, in the fullness of time, to be incorporated in the framework, and to be galvanized by the spiritualizing influences, of a mysteriously expanding, divinely appointed Order, and to flower, in the course of future Dispensations, into a Civilization, the like of which mankind has, at no stage in its evolution, witnessed." I do recommend that, if you don't already have Ocean, to try using it. It's remarkably helpful in providing context and better understanding to isolated phrases. Thanks for sharing this query, I never realised that Abdu'l-Baha spoke so accurately and specifically about these events! Regards Prema On 5/6/07, Hasan Elias <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I suppose bahá'ís don't go in any politic direction nor get into > neoliberalists vs. socialists conflict. For example, we don't "care" the > tendency of the new president in France or the "socialist" Evo Morales in > Bolivia (the secretary of Castro-Chavez). > > So, what 'Abdu'l-Bahá is saying with this quote?: > > "Movements, newly-born and world-wide in their range, will exert their > utmost effort for the advancement of their designs. The Movement of the Left > will acquire great importance. Its influence will spread". > - 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote in Selections of the Writings - > > > > ** > *http://hasaneliasperu.blogspot.com/* > **** <http://hasanelias.blogspot.com/> > > > > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto > ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is > intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity > named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy > and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is > not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, > distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply > and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any > attachments thereto. 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