10,000 + PEOPLE GATHER IN SAN FRANCISCO ON JULY 25th IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF IRAN
Masih Alinejad Speech in San Francisco from Behnam Nateghi on Vimeo.
Support Iranians, Not US Intervention
by Sean Penn/Ross Mirkarimi/Reese Erlich
During our travels to Iran in 2005, Penn and Erlich interviewed
numerous ordinary Iranians. People were very friendly towards us as
Americans but very hostile to U.S. policy against their country. We
visited Friday prayers where 10,000 people chanted “Death to America.”
Afterwards those same people invited us home for lunch.
That contradiction continues today as Iran goes through its most
significant upheaval since the 1979 revolution. Iranians are rising up
against an authoritarian system but don’t want U.S. intervention.
Many Iranians believe that they have experienced a coup d’état, in
which the military and intelligence services have hijacked the
presidential election. Through vote buying and manipulation of the
count, Ahmadinejad had guaranteed himself another four years in
office.
In June over a million Iranians marched in the streets of major
cities across the country. The spontaneous demonstrations included
well-to-do supporters of opposition candidates, but also large numbers
of workers, farmers, small business people and the devoutly religious.
They were fed up with 30 years of a system that used Islam as an
excuse for union labor strike breaking, lack of women’s rights and
repression.
The Iranian government responded to these peaceful protests with
savagery, killing dozens of people. Some human rights groups put the
number at over 100. The government admits arresting 2500 people
nationwide and continues to hold at least 500. Most are being held
without charges or have simply disappeared.
The repression hasn’t killed the movement. On July 17, over 10,000
people came to Friday prayers in support of the opposition. Instead of
chanting “Death to America,” they chanted “Death to the Dictator,” a
reference to supreme leader Khamenei. Police attacked them with clubs
and teargas.
Meanwhile in Washington, some politicians tried to use the crisis for
their own ends. Senator John McCain criticized President Obama for not
taking a stronger position against the Iranian government. It’s ironic
to hear McCain and other conservatives proclaim their support for the
people of Iran when a few months ago they wanted to bomb them.
That doesn’t exactly build credibility among Iranians.
President Obama faces tough choices on Iran. If he speaks out loudly
against Ahmadinejad, he is accused of meddling in Iran’s internal
affairs. If he says too little, then right-wingers in the U.S. accuse
him of being soft on Ahmadinejad.
In reality, the U.S. has very little ability to impact what has become
a massive, spontaneous movement for change. And it shouldn’t. The CIA
overthrew the democratically elected government of Prime Minister
Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, bringing the dictatorial Shah back to
power. The Bush Administration attempted to overthrow the Iranian
government by funding and arming ethnic minority groups opposed to
Tehran.
The U.S. government has no moral or political authority to tell
Iranians what they should do. Iranians are perfectly capable of
deciding for themselves.
That’s why citizen diplomacy is so important. Iranian demonstrators
welcome the support of ordinary Americans. Joan Baez recorded a Farsi
language version of “We Shall Overcome” that has shot around the world
on You Tube.
Iranian activists are holding a hunger strike in front of the UN in
New York from July 22-4 demanding that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
send a special commission to Iran.
We urge you to participate in the July 25 demonstrations around the
U.S. and in Europe. Stand in solidarity with Iranians and against U.S.
intervention in Iran (www.norcal4iran.org).
Sean Penn is an actor who wrote about Iran for the SF Chronicle in
2005. Ross Mirkarimi is a San Francisco supervisor, the first elected
Iranian-American to hold that office. Reese Erlich is a freelance
journalist and author of The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of US Policy
and the Middle East Crisis.
KTVU Fox (Channel 2)
http://www.ktvu.com/news/20179453/detail.html
KPIX CBS (Channel 5)
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=53252@kpix.dayport.com
KGO ABC (Channel 4)
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=6933163
SF Gate / Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/25/BAES18V69H.DTL&tsp=1
