Endorse--Iran: Why the U.S. anti-war movement should stand firmly against any military attack, sanctions or demonization of Iran
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Take action now:
- Endorse this statement; demand "U.S./Israeli
hands off Iran!" - http://stopwaroniran.org/iran2009endorse.shtml
- Forward this message to your listserves, or link to
it from your Facebook, MySpace, and other sites (use http://stopwaroniran.org/iranstatement.shtml)
- Please consider making an emergency donation.
Stop War on Iran was founded in early 2005 as an international
campaignto oppose a U.S. military attack on Iran and other acts of war,
including sanctions and covert destabilization. Initial signers included
former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton,
author and activist Leslie Feinberg, Michael Parenti,
Larry Holmes of the Troops Out Now Coalition, Howard Zinn, George Galloway,
Harold Pinter, former First Lady of Greece
Margarita Papandreou, and hundreds more. Since that
time we have organized meetings and forums from coast to coast, and brought
Stop War On Iran placards, banners, buttons, and literature to antiwar
demonstrations across the country. Stop War On Iran does not receive
funds from U.S. government agencies or corporate-run foundations, which means
we need your help to continue to mobilize in the face of the latest threats
against Iran. You can donate online at http://stopwaroniran.org/donate.shtml
- Consider organizing a local action on August 1 to
demand "U.S./Israeli Hands Off Iran." List your action at http://stopwaroniran.org/iran2009volorgcent.shtml
- Volunteer! The Stop War On Iran Campaign
relies entirely on volunteers to get things done, and we need your help -
http://stopwaroniran.org/iran2009volorgcent.shtml
Stop War on Iran says: Clarity needed
- Why the U.S. anti-war movement should stand firmly against any
military attack, sanctions or demonization of Iran.
- Boycott the Phony State Department/NED pro-war events on July
25
- Nationally-coordinated actions on August 1 to say "U.S.
Hands Off Iran!"
U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden’s new public threat against
Iran underlines the dangers of a new war in the Middle East and the desperate
need for political clarity within the anti-war movement concerning Iran.
With his July 5 comments on ABC's This Week, Biden opened the door to a
military attack when he said that the U.S. would not stand in the way of an
Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, calling such an attack is
Israel’s “sovereign right.” Israel, he said, was “free
to do what it needed to do.”
The Geneva Conventions call it a war crime even to threaten to attack another
state. This is not just rhetoric. Only with U.S. satellite, radar and the use
of air space over U.S.-occupied Iraq could the Israeli bombing raid take place.
Biden should be denounced as a war criminal for making such a reckless and
dangerous encouragement of unprovoked war against Iran.
A U.S.-funded Israeli attack would immediately unleash a wider war. It would
have catastrophic results for the whole Middle East and the Iranian people,
even beyond what has already been done to the people of Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Palestine.
Biden’s new threat comes during a full corporate media offensive against
Iran. Its timing should serve as an alert to the entire progressive and
anti-war movement. U.S. aircraft carriers, destroyers, nuclear submarines, jet
aircraft and drones clog the seas that wash up on Iranian
shores.
Subversion, media lies target Tehran
In this dangerous war climate the entire U.S. and Western corporate
media is again demonizing the Iranian government. It is using the media and
well-funded, subversive organizations in a massive effort of destabilization
and sabotage. Too often in the past this same combination of phony “human
rights” organizations, who are given endless coverage in a corporate
media frenzy, have helped to create a war climate through demonization, frauds
and fabricated charges. This has happened before every U.S. attack or invasion,
along with a concerted campaign of psychological warfare and internal
destabilization in the target country.
One such organization leading this effort is the newly formed “United 4
Iran,” a fraudulent “left cover” for organizations funded by
the U.S. government and big corporations. It is designed to use
“human rights” and “democracy” to justify U.S. threats
to attack Iran. This group has called phony “human rights”
internationally coordinated protests for July 25. United 4 Iran is a front for
organizations awash in money from the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA
cover organization for intervention, subversion, covert action in countries
around the world. These same groups are supported by funds from Rockefeller,
Soros, and Mellon foundations.
It is telling that United 4 Iran makes NO mention of the U.S. wars currently
ripping apart the entire region. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops along
with an army of private military contractors and mercenaries have created havoc
in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan. U.S. funds and equipment have supported
Israeli occupation and war on Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Nor does this group
mention the decades of U.S. military encirclement, sanctions, sabotage,
attempted and actual coups against the people of Iran.
If these organizations were genuinely concerned with democracy, human rights
and respect for elections why have they not called emergency actions in defense
and support of the democratic elections in Gaza? In Gaza there was a democratic
election overseen by Western international monitors. Hamas won overwhelmingly.
The U.S. funded Israeli response was blockade and starvation against an entire
people. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli
bombardment.
Why the movement must reject anti-Iran provocations -
UFPJ should withdraw support of anti-Iran actions.
How we respond to these actions is a crucial question for the
movement. Are we for another brutal U.S. war or against
it?
It is profoundly disturbing that United for Peace and Justice UFPJ and other
anti-war organizations have chosen to add their endorsement to these actions
targeting the Iranian government. These anti-war groups should be in the
forefront of opposing current U.S. wars and threats of wider war.
Stop War On Iran urges them and other honest anti-war forces to
reconsider their endorsement of the anti-Iran
actions. Anti-war activists in the United States, while
demanding an end to the occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, have an
additional responsibility to oppose any military moves by the Pentagon or its
allies against Iran and to oppose any moves by the former colonial powers to
weaken Iran’s sovereignty.
Why U.S. imperialism targets Iran
The U.S. imperialist wars throughout the region are an effort by U.S.
corporations to gain strategic domination of the vast oil and energy
resources.
Since its 1979 revolution, Iran’s independence has been a thorn in the
side of corporate billionaires in the U.S. and Britain and of the U.S.-funded
Israeli settler state. When the Iranian people overthrew the brutal U.S.-backed
shah dictatorship they finally regained control of their rich oil and gas
resources. In 30 years time Iran developed industrially and vastly improved the
educational and health level of the entire population.
Any intervention by the imperialist powers in Iran and any weakening of Iranian
sovereignty will only diminish the rights of women, workers, and the access to
democratic institutions there, just as it has happened in the rest of the
region. Any intervention by the imperialists in Iran’s internal struggles
is aimed either at aiding the side the imperialists see as more conciliatory to
their plans, or to exacerbate the internal conflict in order to compromise and
weaken the Iranian government.
U.S. wars don’t bring democracy
U.S. wars and occupations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan have
never brought democracy or human rights. They have brought only oppressive
military dictatorships, massive refugee crises, torture and millions of
deaths.
Also, we cannot forget that it is U.S. troops, military equipment, and bases
that keep corrupt feudal anti-woman monarchies in power in Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, as well as the
brutal dictatorship in Egypt.
The hypocrisy of U.S. politicians is staggering, as they condemn the actions of
the Iranian government while sweeping their own crimes under the rug.
Iran’s elections and disputes are an internal matter, to be resolved by
the Iranian people and not the governments of imperialist countries with
agendas of dominating Iran and a track record of using internal issues to
justify military invasion.
Money for jobs and benefits, not for more war
In this time of global capitalist crisis, when millions are unemployed and
millions more facing evictions and foreclosures, we must demand that the
hundreds of billions of dollars spent on current U.S. wars and the trillions
that would criminally wasted in a new war be spent for jobs, health care and
housing for poor and working people in the U.S. and around the world.
We urge your endorsement and support of these simple demands.
1. We oppose military aggression by the U.S., Britain, or Israel
against Iran.
2. We oppose economic, diplomatic or other sanctions against Iran whatever
their excuse.
3. We demand an end to subversion, de-stabilization, covert actions instigated
by the U.S. and its military or spy agencies directed at Iran.
Endorse here: http://stopwaroniran.org/iran2009endorse.shtml
We urge you NOT to march in the anti-Iran event, which is designed to give
humanitarian cover to U.S. threats of war against Iran. Instead, come out
AGAINST current U.S. wars and the threats of a new war on the following week in
a National Day of Coordinated Actions on Saturday, August 1.
Contact
Stop War On Iran if you are interested in organizing or supporting
an action opposing U.S. threats on Iran on Saturday, August 1
In NYC join us at Times Square, 42nd & 7th Ave at 1pm, August 1 for a march
to the Israeli Mission.
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