Iran forum counters U.S. threats

A public forum providing reports on recent visits to Iran discussed both the human aspects of everyday life in that country and the urgent need to mobilize opinion and struggle to stop the U.S. government from launching a war on yet another part of Asia.

From left: Ardeshir Ommani, Zheila Ommani, Ahmad Shirazi, Ellie Ommani. WW photo: John Catalinotto

The American-Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC) and the Stop War on Iran Campaign, with the support of the International Action Center (IAC), organized the forum at the Judson Memorial Church in New York on July 28. The forum was titled “Iran: Focus of U.S. Threats.”

Ellie Ommani, her daughter Zheila Ommani, Ann Shirazi and Ahmad Shirazi presented slide shows and described the emotional meetings they had with members of their large extended families who live in different cities of Iran. These descriptions shattered the stereotypes of life in the Islamic Republic that U.S. political figures and the corporate media present in their effort to demonize not only the government in Tehran but also the 70 million Iranians, who are all at risk from the threat of massive U.S. bombing.

The main message was that Iran is a society in transition, a society that underwent a profound change when a revolution ousted the U.S.-backed shah in 1979. There have been many advances of an uneven character, and nothing happening in Iran can justify a U.S. hostile intervention against that country, let alone a massive war.

IAC co-director Sara Flounders discussed the work being done to organize against the threatened U.S. attack, which includes a petition campaign run from the Web site stopwaroniran.org that has over 23,000 signers. She also discussed the encampment in Washington planned for Sept. 22-29 by the Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) to protest the occupation of Iraq, and how stopping a new war on Iran would be a focus in activities at the encampment. (See troopsoutnow.org)

Ardeshir Ommani of the AIFC presented a brief analysis of the current situation, including the double-edged policy of the Bush administration, which on the one hand opened up high-level diplomatic talks with the Tehran government, but whose public statements have been unremittingly hostile to Iran.

In the discussion period, compelled by a few hostile statements from what was generally a sympathetic audience, the panel sharpened the discussion further and ably defended the liberation struggle in the Middle East in all its forms, including the fight of the Iraqi people to end the U.S. occupation, that of the Palestinians to end the Israeli occupation of all their lands, and the overall struggle against U.S. imperialism.