The 2013 Iranian Presidential Elections

Solidarity with the democratic movement in Iran!

Lift U.S. sanctions against Iran! End collective punishment of the Iranian people!

Along with millions of people both inside and outside of Iran, we are deeply inspired by the determination of the Iranian people to use the June 14th elections to press the realization of their own democratic aspirations. Hassan Rouhani won a decisive victory over five other candidates in the first round of voting, securing 50.7 percent of the more than 36 million votes cast in a massive turnout, with 72.7 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots. Rouhani describes himself as a “moderate,” and he has not challenged the fundamental principles of the Islamic Republic. Nor does his election change the fact the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guard continue to control the most important levers of power. Nonetheless in the course of the election campaign Rouhani took several stands that encouraged people who are dissatisfied with the Iranian government to vote for him: for example, he criticized the morality police, called for lifting restrictions on the Internet, lamented the fact of widespread unemployment, and declared that, “in consensus with higher officials,” political prisoners would be freed.

Despite relentless political repression and massive economic instability, medical shortages, inflation, unemployment, etc., exacerbated by U.S. sanctions, the popular democratic movement in Iran has shown itself to be remarkably resilient: tens of thousands of Iranians marched in cities across the country on June 15th to celebrate the election results, and their chants and slogans such as the following showed the enduring momentum for change and a desire to keep alive the memory of those who lost their lives during 2009’s post election uprisings:

  • Green movement! Happy Birthday!
  • This is the remembrance of 2009 protests
  • Hassan (Rouhani)! bring the key, and open the Evin prison
  • June 14th gets our stolen votes back
  • Green movement/reform has not died, it has brought Rouhani
  • Rouhani do not forget, Mousavi must be released

In response to the Iranian elections, the White House and Secretary of State John Kerry praised the “courage” of the Iranian people, attempting to position the United States on their side against their government. But the administration’s tribute is blatantly hypocritical: U.S.-led sanctions are directly contributing to the suffering of these “courageous” people, particularly most recently. In the run up to the elections, the U.S. escalated sanctions against the petro-chemical industry, the car industry and the Iranian currency itself, greatly exacerbating the difficulties Iranians already encounter in meeting the needs of everyday life. Instead of offering empty phrases of admiration for the Iranian people, the U.S. should lift sanctions now and stop the collective punishment and intimidation of ordinary Iranians.

As the Iranian people continue to resist from below the many sources of oppression they face, both internally and from U.S./Israeli aggression, we in Havaar call on the Obama administration to lift all sanctions on Iran immediately and stop the devastation of millions of Iranians’ lives. For example, there is an urgent and proliferating health care crisis caused directly by sanctions on “dual use” goods and on hard currency needed to buy medicine and medical supplies. As Iranian hospitals run out of essential medications and the parts to fix medical equipment, more patients will die prematurely of easily preventable deaths. Havaar has launched a campaign to enforce the exemption for humanitarian goods, including medicine, and we urge the Obama administration to issue an unequivocal statement to banks that they will not be penalized for facilitating the purchase of items that fall under the exemption clause and to provide a clear exemption from banking sanctions for humanitarian transactions. This can be a first step towards alleviating the harsh effects of the U.S. sanctions program.

We congratulate the millions of Iranians who seized this electoral moment to show yet again the political force they are. And we call on President Rouhani and the new Iranian government to live up to the hopes of the people who voted for change. We call for the freeing of Green movement leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and all political prisoners, and for an end, at last, to state repression in Iran. Movements for women’s rights, labor rights, and all human rights need the freedom to organize without fear of governmental punishment.

We furthermore call on our government here in the United States to stop adding to the burdens Iranians face and lift the sanctions and end the war threats now!

 

 

Havaar’s campaign against sanctions on Iran is gaining steam

A few weeks ago Havaar launched our campaign calling on major bank CEOs to allow financial transactions for purchases of medicine and medical supplies for Iranians.

We feel very encouraged and empowered by the responses we have received from some of the people who signed the petition:

Sanctions, “smart” or comprehensive, are a form of warfare and a blunt weapon of aggression on the most vulnerable citizens, including infants, children and the aged. When the Health Sector is endangered as in Iran today, loss of life results – demonstrating how Sanctions constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Sanctions do not destroy governments, they destroy the basic human rights of human beings.

Denis J. Halliday
United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq from 1 September 1997 until 1998.

Campaigners dedicated to ending economic sanctions against Iraq learned from Iraqi mothers and children about how lethally punitive economic sanctions could be.  The pediatrics wards of Iraqi hospitals were like death rows for infants.  Now, ordinary Iranians with minimal capacity to control their government are nevertheless being punished by economic sanctions which forbid them access to life saving medicines.  The Havaar campaign needs and deserves support from civil society around the world.

Kathy Kelly
Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and a co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign to end economic sanctions against Iraq.

The U.S.-imposed sanctions regime has inflicted great suffering upon the Iranian people.  As people of conscience, have to speak out and act decisively to end the sanctions and to ensure that Iranians have adequate access to life saving medicine and other necessities.

Azadeh Shahshahani
President, National Lawyers Guild.

We cannot condone the use of sanctions that are causing untold suffering to the Iranian people, as they deprive them of the most basic necessities in life, and are directed against a country that does not pose a danger to the United States. it is important then that we support the campaign HAVAAR is organizing.

Silvia Federici
Professor emerita and Teaching Fellow at Hofstra University, where she was a social science professor.

Other prominent signers include Anthony Alessandrini, Tariq Ali, Stanley Aronowitz, Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Arun Gupta, Chris Hedges, Zachary Lockman, David McReynolds, Molly Nolan, Vijay Prashad, Chris Toensing, Adaner Usmani and Julia Wrigley.

UPDATE: Iranian Activists Release Photos and Video of Demonstration and Unannounced Action

 Havaar & The Illuminator Join Forces to Protest Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu and Obama

Photos of the protests can now be found on Havaar’s facebook page.

Video of the Illuminator projections has just now been released here.

September 26, 2012, New York —Today, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations General Assembly, Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression released photographs and a video from a demonstration it held yesterday to protest Ahmadinejad’s crimes against the Iranian people, as well as President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s support for severe economic sanctions and escalating threats of attacking Iran militarily.

Havaar said, “What Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu and Obama have in common is a complete disregard for the lives and dignity of the Iranian people. Their callousness in pursuit of their own political interests threatens the well being of approximately 75 million Iranians, and moreover creates a bleaker future for us all.”

The demonstration occurred near the Warwick Hotel in midtown Manhattan where Ahmadinejad and his coterie are staying.

Ali Abdi, a student activist who until recently was involved in both the student and women’s movement in Iran said, “It’s impossible to describe the feeling of holding larger than life photographs of Iranian political prisoners in the streets of New York, close to where Iranian officials responsible for their ongoing suffering are staying. I know this will give some heart to their loved ones, and to many other Iranians who want to see the release of all political prisoners.”

After the demonstration, Havaar was joined by The Illuminator crew and their cargo van to take their message against war, sanctions, and state repression onto the streets and public facades of New York. Projections happened at Union Square, around Washington Square Park, and on the facade of the Flatiron Building.

Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression” is a grassroots group of Iranians, Iranian-Americans and allies who have joined together to categorically oppose any military action and sanctions against Iran. Havaar stands in solidarity with the Iranian people’s struggle against war and sanctions and against state repression, asserting that all of these forms of violence hurt the lives and aspirations of ordinary Iranians. Visit havaar.org and http://www.facebook.com/HavaarForJustice.

 

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Iranians and Allies Protest Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu, and Obama

During United Nations General Assembly Convening, Havaar Says That Each Government Acts Against the Interests of the Iranian People

 

September 25, 2012, New York —Today, on the occasion of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s final visit to the United Nations General Assembly, the New York-based group Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression was joined by allies to voice opposition to the Iranian government’s repression of the Iranian people and to call for an end to crippling sanctions and threats of war by the U.S. and Israeli governments.
 
Protesting outside Ahmadinejad’s Manhattan hotel, members of Havaar and their allies held giant posters bearing images of 24 Iranian political prisoners from all walks of life, including the young human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahahi, and labor leader Reza Shahabi, sentenced to four and six years respectively for their political activities. Havaar members said, “We protest Ahmadinejad and hold up photos of imprisoned Iranians in lieu of all those who can’t. It’s a basic act of solidarity with the disappeared and the broken, and with those who continue to demand accountability and justice at great risk to themselves.”

Simultaneously Havaar protested against the American and Israeli government’s policies of sanctions and threats of war.

“Our primary concern is the welfare of the Iranian people, and of people all over the world struggling against repression and violence, be it foreign or domestic,” said Havaar. “We condemn the violence of the Iranian government against fellow Iranians, just as we condemn the increasingly aggressive U.S. and Israeli policies of sanctions and threats of war. The sanctions imposed on the Iranian people are not an alternative to war, but wage war on the Iranian people by other means. They operate as collective punishment, and must end. We hope that people the world over will stand in solidarity with the Iranian people against all the violent forces that seek to obstruct their dreams for a free and just society. ”

“Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression” is a grassroots group of Iranians, Iranian-Americans and allies who have joined together to categorically oppose any military action and sanctions against Iran. Havaar stands in solidarity with the Iranian people’s struggle against war and sanctions and against state repression, asserting that all of these forms of violence hurt the lives and aspirations of ordinary Iranians. Visit havaar.org and http://www.facebook.com/HavaarForJustice.
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What can you do for peace?

1. “Not in my name”

Tell your Senator and your House representative: I oppose sanctions on Iran because they cause suffering for ordinary Iranian people. Sanctions have raised the price of everyday items like food and placed life-saving medicines beyond the reach of many Iranians. They have forced businesses to lay off workers and are leading to the impoverishment of more of the population. I oppose any form of military attack on Iran. Even a “targeted’ attack on nuclear facilities would kill thousands of innocent people and unleash radiation into the air, water and land. I do not support my government invading Iran and do not consent to have my tax dollars used for aggression against innocent people.
Find your congressperson here:
U.S. House of Repersentatives
U.S. Senate

2. “Knowledge is power”

Contact Havaar if you would like to organize an educational forum about Iran on your campus or in your community. Visit our website for articles and downloadable pamphlets you can use to educate yourself and those around you. Make sure you and the people around you have access to information that is not driven by the agendas of governments or media corporations.

3. “The other side of the story”

You can help gather information about the actual impact of sanctions on Iranians. If you or anyone you know has been affected by the sanctions currently imposed on Iran, please send a report to the Sanctioned Life project.

Havaar Protests Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu, Obama & Their Threats to Iranian People

NO TO WAR AGAINST IRAN!
NO TO SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN!
NO TO STATE REPRESSION BY THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT!

WHAT: Demonstration Against Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu, Obama & Their Threats to Iranian People
WHEN: Tuesday, September 25th @ 5pm-7:30 or 8pm
WHERE: At or near the Warwick Hotel (54th St. and 6th Ave.), New York City

Make sure to check back for updates before the demonstration on our Facebook event page!

The Iranian head of state, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will be attending the UN General Assembly in the last week of September. In 2009 Ahmadinejad retained his office through rigged presidential elections that were backed by severe repression of protest, and since that time he has repeatedly denied the existence of political prisoners and grave human rights violations in Iran.

Also present during the General Assembly will be U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama has escalated crippling sanctions against Iran that are already doing grave harm to the lives of average Iranians– and most of all to the poor and vulnerable–while continuing to threaten the possibility of military strikes that would have devastating consequences. Netanyahu has raised his war-mongering to a fever pitch in recent weeks. Netanyahu, Obama, and Ahmadinejad may have different and often conflicting agendas, but these leaders and their governments are all threats to Iranians and to peace in the region.

JOIN Havaar as we raise our voices in protest, in front of Ahmadinejad’s hotel, against the crimes of his government, including the lack of accountability for the torture and killing of dissidents, and the continued unjust detention of Iranian political prisoners — including union organizers, student activists, and advocates for the rights of all Iranians. Join us to simultaneously express opposition to US-led sanctions and American and Israeli threats of war against Iran.

We will voice our strong opposition to Ahmadinejad and the egregious crimes of his government, while doing everything we can to prevent our legitimate grievances from being exploited by political forces in the United States and abroad that seek to advance a belligerent agenda of war and sanctions against Iran. Such belligerent policies–whether advanced by Democrats or Republicans, by Israelis or EU member states, or by violent and deeply anti-democratic political formations like the Iranian Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) –are unconscionable and do violence to the lives and aspirations of the Iranian people.

Note that this will be the last time that Ahmadinejad will be addressing the UN, so, let’s make sure we send him off properly!

JOIN US, whether you are an Iranian, Syrian, Palestinian, American, Egyptian, Pakistani, Honduran, Somali, Yemeni, Greek or Spaniard, join us wherever you are from, to stand with the people claiming the commons, and against the torturers and warmongers, wherever they are from! Justice is indivisible!

Join us! Spread the word !!

Visit Havaar’s website and join our announcement list to stay in touch with us: http://havaar.org/contact/

Email us at info@havaar.org with any questions.

https://www.facebook.com/HavaarForJustice

Preparing for the anti-Ahmadinejad, anti-sanction and anti-war demonstration on Tuesday! Join us on Sep 25th, 5 pm, in front of Warwick Hotel -- 65 West 54th Street, Manhattan, New York

 

Open Letter to the Anti-War Movement

The upcoming anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan is a crucial time for activists to reflect on the urgent need for an anti-war movement that is committed to opposing systematic oppression, domination and violence. In the spirit of moving us towards this goal, we feel compelled to respond when individuals and organizations within the movement are harassing and maligning other members of the movement. We need to ask how this reflects on the political and ethical commitments underlying our activism. We need to ask when enough is enough and some kind of collective action is necessary to address an untenable situation.

There is a campaign of hostility and intimidation underway against Iranian activists in the U.S. who oppose war, sanctions and state repression in Iran. The Iranian American Friendship Committee (AIFC) has taken the lead in a series of physical and verbal attacks on Iranian activists and their allies. Enough is enough. This letter is an appeal to those who consider themselves part of the anti-war movement: stop condoning, excusing or dismissing these attacks by continuing to include AIFC in your coalitions, demonstrations, forums and other organizing events. We call on those of you who want to build an effective anti-war movement that includes the participation of those whose families are directly targeted by U.S. imperialism, and that is committed to social justice for all, to oppose the abuse AIFC has been heaping on members of various Iranian American organizations.

On June 29, 2012, Ardeshir Ommani of the AIFC circulated a public missive attacking members of Raha Iranian Feminist Collective, Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions, and State Repression, Where Is My Vote, and United For Iran. This so-called AIFC “Factsheet” accused individual members of each group of harboring covert imperialist, Zionist, and pro-war agendas. Such a smear campaign should be transparent to all who know and work with us and to all those who recognize in these charges a familiar script. Ommani and AIFC are uncritical apologists for the Iranian government, proudly organizing dinners for President Ahmadinejad in New York each fall and inviting anti-war and pro-Palestinian activists to come pay their respects. They are not alone but work with the Workers World Party and the International Action Center to give left cover to the Iranian government and to infuse the anti-war movement with pro-Islamic Republic politics. They repeat the Iranian state’s position that the pro-democracy protesters in Iran are agents of Western imperialism and Zionism. And now AIFC mimics the regime by lodging such false charges against us, activists who dare to challenge their orthodoxy and who oppose the Iranian state’s oppressive actions.

Unfortunately, it is not enough to simply dismiss AIFC’s charges as spurious and move on with the serious and necessary work of opposing U.S. intervention around the world. Ommani’s accusations of Zionist loyalties carry serious prison sentences in Iran as a crime of moharebeh (crimes against Islam or against the state). This means that Iranians who refuse to become apologists for the Iranian state cannot participate in the anti-war movement without having their reputations attacked and their names publicly identified with charges that can land them in prison, or worse, if they go to Iran. The continued acceptance of AIFC as a legitimate presence in the anti-war movement virtually ensures that the majority of Iranians in the U.S. will see the entire movement as pro-Islamic Republic and, therefore, unsafe and hostile. Forcing Iranians to have to choose between visiting their family members in Iran and joining the anti-war movement produces another form of discrimination and oppression of Iranians in the U.S.

To be clear, Ommani’s accusations in print are just the latest in an ongoing campaign of harassment and abuse going back to 2010. The brief history that follows illustrates tactics that are unacceptable to us, and that should be unacceptable to the anti-war movement. At a June 24, 2010 workshop at the US Social Forum hosted by Raha and Where Is My Vote, Ommani was disruptive, insulting young women organizers and questioning their legitimacy in speaking at the conference at all. At a February 4th, 2012 anti-war rally in Manhattan, Ommani attempted to physically knock an Iranian woman off of the speakers’ platform while she expressed her views against war and sanctions and in solidarity with those resisting state repression in Iran. At a March 24th, 2012 panel called “Iran: Solidarity Not Intervention” that was part of the United National Anti-War Committee conference, Ommani had to be asked repeatedly by conference security to stop calling members of Raha “C.I.A. agents” and “State Department propagandists” and even to allow us to speak at all. Unable to engage in any respectful dialogue with the ideas Raha members and their allies were advocating, he simply stormed out of the panel. At a conference plenary, security had to be called after Ommani poked a woman who was there to support Raha and who was waiting in line to speak. Ommani eventually had to be moved by conference security to a different part of the hall in order to prevent him from harassing members of Raha on the speakers’ line.

This conflict cannot be reduced to a matter of political differences about the nature of the Iranian state. There are certain behaviors that should be quite obviously beyond the scope of what is acceptable in the anti-war movement. These include the physical and verbal harassment of activists, particularly intimidation tactics lodged by men against women. Shoving, insulting and bullying women in an effort to silence us is outright sexism. Furthermore, the leveling of false charges that could make us targets of state repression has haunting historical precedents in the spy operations of SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police force, which hounded the Iranian student opposition abroad throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The same way that American progressives defended Iranian students from persecution by the Iranian and U.S. states in those days, we call on activists today to oppose these efforts to silence us. AIFC has consistently demonstrated an inability to follow basic rules of civility and engagement and should have no place in our movement.

Raha and Havaar oppose all military intervention in Iran (For a more on Raha’s analysis see www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/683/solidarity-and-its-discontents). Further, we oppose all U.S., U.N., and European sanctions against Iran, and have been active in trying to build an anti-sanctions/anti-war movement. In our view, the Iranian state, the Israeli state, and the U.S. state each are guilty of repressing popular democratic movements. Standing in solidarity with others engaged in similar struggles, we will organize against the vicious and autocratic measures of these governments until we are free–from the U.S. to Iran to Palestine and beyond.

Yours in struggle and solidarity,
The Members of RAHA Iranian Feminist Collective

The Members of Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression

Iranians & Allies Demonstrate Against Tightening Sanctions

info@havaar.org

U.S.-Backed European Union Oil Boycott Against Iran Goes Into Effect;
Iranians & Allies Demonstrate in front of U.N. Missions & Call Sanctions “Collective Punishment”

July 1, 2012, New York – Today, as the European Union went ahead and launched an oil embargo against the Iranian people, many Iranians and Iranian-Americans in New York were joined by human rights and social justice advocates, peace groups, and allies from around the world to protest the embargo and escalating U.S. and European Union sanctions.

They began their demonstration in front of the German Mission to the United Nations, and also made stops at the British, French and U.S. missions, demanding that these world powers cease their sanctions policies and accompanying threats of military strikes. At each stop, they provided testimony about the impact of sanctions on the Iranian people.

Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, said, “Sanctions are hurting ordinary people, the very same people who in their millions poured into the streets as recently as three years ago. These newest rounds of sanctions come on the heels of the Iranian government’s brutal crackdown on the democratic opposition of its own people, and do further damage to that opposition by closing the space in which it can breathe.”

Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression, the grassroots group that organized the demonstration, issued the following statement:

Today, the European Union, backed by the United States, has launched what stands to be a crippling oil embargo against the Iranian people. This follows escalating U.S. sanctions that as of June 28 further punish any company that does business with Iran’s Central Bank and increasingly decimates the country’s capacity to make financial transactions. At the same time, third country buyers of Iranian oil continue to face growing U.S. pressure to cut their purchases as well.

These increasingly aggressive measures together exacerbate the suffering of the Iranian people who are already facing the grave impact of sanctions and their government’s inequitable economic policies as they confront rising prices in food, medicines and other basic needs. These sanctions constitute collective punishment. They are not an “alternative to war,” but are war by other means. They are an assault on the lives and aspirations of the Iranian people, including their aspirations and struggles against state repression to create a just and meaningfully democratic society.

Today brings further shame to the European Union and to the United States. We demand an end to their cruel and brutal sanctions policies, and an end to their threats of military aggression. We stand in solidarity with people everywhere who bear both the brunt of foreign intervention and the tyranny of domestic repression. We stand against all militarists, warmongers, and torturers, whether they be in the White House, Paris, or Tehran, whether they destroy bodies in federal Supermax prisons in the United States, in Guantánamo, in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, or at the receiving end of the Obama administration’s expanding drone strikes and targeted killing program.

The demonstration was co-sponsored by Brooklyn For Peace, Coalition to Defend the Egyptian Revolution, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Campaign for Peace and Democracy (CPD), Occupy Wall Street -Global Justice (OWS-GJ), Pakistan Solidarity Network (PSN), Raha – Iranian Feminist Collective, South Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI), War Resisters League (WRL), and Where is My Vote–NY (WIMV-NY).

“Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression” is a grassroots group of Iranians, Iranian-Americans and allies who have joined together to categorically oppose any military action and sanctions against Iran. Havaar stands in solidarity with the Iranian people’s struggle against war and sanctions and against state repression, asserting that all of these forms of violence hurt the lives and aspirations of ordinary Iranians. Visit havaar.org and http://www.facebook.com/HavaarForJustice.

 

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March Against Sanctions on Iran

On July 1st, 2012 the European Union oil embargo against Iran is scheduled to take effect. The people of Iran, already oppressed by their own government, have already begun to feel the economic devastation of ongoing sanctions imposed by the U.S., E.U. and UN. Please join us to protest these escalating sanctions and the threat of an EU oil embargo. In our march, we will stop at Germany, UK, France and US Missions.

See you on July 1st — at 3:00 pm — at the German Mission to the United Nations:
871 United Nations Plaza (at First Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets),
New York, NY

Co-Sponsored by the Coalition to Defend the Egyptian Revolution, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Campaign for Peace and Democracy (CPD), Occupy Wall Street – Global Justice (OWS-GJ), Pakistan Solidarity Network (PSN), South Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI), War Resisters League (WRL), Raha – Iranian Feminist Collective, and Where is My Vote? – NY (WIMV-NY)

On Sunday, July 1st, 2012, the European Union, backed by the United States, will launch a crippling oil embargo against the Iranian people. This follows escalating U.S. sanctions that as of June 28 further punish any business with Iran’s Central Bank and increasingly decimate the country’s capacity to make financial transactions. The Iranian people are already suffering and resisting the grave impact of sanctions and the Iranian government’s economic policies as they face rising prices in food, medicine and other basic needs.

Sanctions constitute collective punishment. They are not an “alternative to war,” but are war by other means. They are an assault on the lives and aspirations of the Iranian people, including their aspirations and struggle against state repression to create a meaningfully democratic and just society.

We must not be silent. On July 1, 2012 at 3:00PM in New York City, please join Iranians and allies to demonstrate against these escalating sanctions and the new U.S.-backed E.U. oil embargo.

We will demonstrate at the German, British, French and U.S. missions to the United Nations, demanding that these world powers cease the implementation of this unethical and illegitimate policy that constitutes an assault on the Iranian people. Iranians and allies will briefly speak at each of these stops, providing testimony about the egregious impact of these types of U.S., E.U. and U.N.- sponsored sanctions on the people.

If you are unable to join us in New York on July 1, we ask you to speak up and protest wherever you are.

Spread the word !! 

Visit Havaar’s website and join our announcement list to stay in touch with us: http://havaar.org/contact/

 

با وجود اینکه فشارِ تحریم‌های اقتصادی بر مردم ایران روز به روز بیشتر و غیر قابل تحمل‌تر می‌شود و سرکوبِ دولتی در ایران ادامه دارد، قابل پیشبینی‌ست که یکمِ جولای، تحریمِ نفتِ ایران نیز به بسته‌ی تحریم‌های اتحادیه‌ی اروپا اضافه شود. با ما هم صدا شوید تا فریاد اعتراض‌مان به این تحریم‌ها را به گوش دولت‌ها برسانیم. در تظاهرات‌مان، روبه‌روی دفتر سازمان مللِ دولت‌های آلمان، انگلستان، فرانسه و امریکا توقف می‌کنیم

 اول جولای — ساعت سه عصر — روبه‌روی کنسولگری آلمان

The March Route:

  1. The Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations
    871 United Nations Plaza (1st Ave. between E 48th and E 49th st.)
    New York, NY 10017
  2. UK Mission to the United Nations
    One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
    885 2nd Avenue (between E 47th and E 48th st.)
    New York, NY 10017
  3. Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations
    245 East, 47th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Ave.)
    New York, NY, 10017
  4. United States Mission to the United Nations
    799 United Nations Plaza (1st Ave. and E 45th st.)
    New York, N.Y. 10017

More details to come.

Rotten Apple: Direct Action Against Sanctions on Iran

On Thursday, June 21st Havaar came together for a ‘flash mob’ against Apple’s discriminatory, undemocratic and unethical policy of not selling products to Iranian people because their country is under economic sanctions by the U.S. Apple has decided that internet freedom, equal rights and free communication are not company policy.

This is what happened:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=betTNDv91kY&w=560&h=315]