We are writing to ask you to sign an open letter demanding the immediate release of jailed Iranian students and, if you haven't signed already, to add your name to our statement in support of activists in the Czech Republic opposing the establishment of a US radar base in their country. We are also asking for your tax-deductible financial support.
The Campaign for Peace and Democracy works to build an alliance of peace, social justice, labor and environmental movements across frontiers. This alliance might well be called "The Coalition of the Unwilling" -- unwilling to passively accept militarism, imperial power, repression, the injustice of cruel economic and social inequalities, or the wanton depredation of the planet.
Students in Iran have urgently asked for international support, and we are doing our best to respond as vocally and effectively as we can. We want to send our open letter to Iranian officials very soon, so please go right away to our website www.cpdweb.org, where you can sign the Iran and Czech statements, as well as make a donation to CPD. (The text of the letter is at the end of this message.)
We are very pleased with the success to date of our effort to stop the installation of a U.S. radar base in the Czech Republic. This is a critical educational campaign: most people in the United States, including many peace activists, are unaware of Washington's dangerous plans for an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. We have started to get the word out through the Nation website, Portside, and Znet, and many personal listserves; it looks like more publicity opportunities are opening up, and with your help we will be able to take advantage of them.
If you check out our website you will see that several prominent international activists have already signed on to the protest against the Czech base, including the Iranians Akbar Ganji and Mansour Farhang, the Chilean Ariel Dorfman, Naomi Klein from Canada, Bernard Dreano from France, and Murat Belge from Turkey. We are particularly proud of this international engagement; it represents in embryo the Campaign for Peace and Democracy's hope to build a global alternative from below to the elites that have brought so much danger and suffering to the world.
Please sign our Iranian and Czech statements, and give as generously as you can. Your financial help is urgently needed. Thank you for your participation and support. With best wishes for the coming year, Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison, Jennifer Scarlott Co-Directors, Campaign for Peace and Democracy www.cpdweb.org
RELEASE IRANIAN STUDENTS FROM PRISON NOW!
OPEN LETTER TO: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, Minister of Intelligence Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Republic Gholamali Haddad Adel, Speaker of Parliament
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
We are writing to strongly condemn the arrests in early December of students in Tehran involved in courageous protests against repression; a key target of their protest was the arrest in May of three student leaders: Ehsan Mansouri, Ahmad Ghassaban and Majid Tavakkoli.
We call for the immediate release of the imprisoned students, as well as all others in Iran who have been unjustly imprisoned. A partial list of the students we understand to be still in prison is: Nader Ahsani, Roozbehan Amiri, Said Aqam, Anousheh Azadfar, Keyvan Amiri Eliyasi, Rosa 'Essa'ie, Mehdi Geraylou, Mohsen Ghamin, Ahmad Ghassaban, Mehdi Grabloo, Yaser Pir Hayati, Younes Mir Hosseini, Ilnaz Jamshidi, Ali Kalani, Ali Khalili, Ehsan Mansouri, Amir Mehrzad, Hamed Mohamadi, Milad Moini, Arash Pakzad, Rouzbeh Safshekan, Ali Salem, Nasim Soltan-Beigi, Majid Tavakkoli, Behruz Karimi Zadeh, and Behrang Zandi.
We wish to state that we are unalterably opposed to a military attack on Iran by the United States or any other nation. An attack would be devastating to the people of Iran. We reject too the hypocrisy of the U.S. government when it protests repression in Iran while turning a blind eye to or actively abetting comparable or worse repression in countries with which it is allied like Saudi Arabia, as well as undermining civil liberties at home and torturing prisoners. But that in no way deters us from protesting in the strongest terms the denial of basic democratic rights to the people of Iran. We protest because we believe in these rights, and also because we see social justice activists in Iran and all countries as our natural allies in building a peaceful, democratic world. To add your name, go to www.cpdweb.org
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