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Event Reports 
August 4, 2010
Public Forum Nuclear Armed Iran?! Hoax or Real? What Is Behind U.S. & Israel Campaigns Against Iran? Organized by Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) |
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August 4 MAWO Forum Report On Wednesday August 4th, over 35 people came to a public forum at Joe’s Café entitled “Nuclear Armed Iran?! Hoax or Real? What is Behind US & Israel Campaigns Against Iran?” Organized by Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) and endorsed by the Iranian Community Against War (ICAW), the event was an opportunity to discuss what is behind the US and other imperialist countries’ push for more sanctions against Iran. It also gave participants the chance to discuss how the antiwar movement needs to respond to these aggressions towards Iran. Payvand Pejvack, the forum MC and an organizer with ICAW, opened with 60 minutes of documentary film clips. These videos provided a historical background of Iran, from the U.S. organized coup d’état in 1953 against the democratically elected Iranian government, to the present day slander campaign, sanctions and attacks led by the U.S. and Israel. Payvand emphasized that the US and other imperialist countries used the pretext of September 11 to begin their new era of war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. She noted that the excuse of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is being resonated with claims that Iran has nuclear weapons. Following the films Payvand introduced the speaker of the forum: Ali Yerevani, the political editor of Fire This Time Newspaper, a participant in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and founding member of ICAW. Ali opened his talk by highlighting the significance of the Iranian Revolution which resulted in the overthrow of the US puppet government and the break up of US hegemony in the Middle East. The history of the nuclear program in Iran was brought up by Ali to show the US role in Iran’s nuclear developments. “It was not the current government in Tehran that began the nuclear program,” Ali began, “it was the US that had begun, promoted, and even insisted on a nuclear Iran before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.” Ali then pointed out the hypocrisy of the current US campaign against Iran for developing a nuclear program. “The US has helped many countries to access nuclear weapons: Israel, Pakistan, India, and Iran itself, to name a few. So clearly there is something else going on here.” The issue of hegemony was brought up again, and how the current independent Iranian government is a huge block to US plans for domination of the Middle East, and a spread of influence into Central Asia and Africa. And for this reason, the US needs to create a reason to justify its campaign to destabilize and weaken Iran. The US fooled the world into believing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and that same campaign of lies and deception is being thrown at Iran today for the same purpose. “The response of the antiwar movement today needs to be the same attitude as was the attitude for Iraq. And that is no to war, and that Iran has an unconditional right to self determination. That is something the US is trying to stop and overthrow, and why a major focus of the antiwar movement today needs to be on stopping this buildup of an imperialist war on Iran.” This opened up a broad and diverse discussion period on what the antiwar movement must do to stop the US and its allies from doing to Iran what it has done to Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of the discussion focused on how MAWO can connect with other antiwar groups and coalitions across the US and Canada to make Iran an issue of the antiwar movement. Mobilization Against War & Occupation and the Iranian Community Against War are calling on allies and peace loving people to join the campaign to stop the US efforts to destabilize Iran through any means: whether that be sanctions, threats, or war and occupation. |