diplomacy

I had lunch this week with a labor union organizer from Iran seeking support for the rights of workers in Iran. One of his biggest fears was that the implementation of additional sanctions would serve the interest of Iranian leadership making the case for foreign intervention as the reason for solidarity across all sectors in Iran. While it may appear that factions in Iran are sharp and irreconciliable there is a clear warning that movements in the direction of reform, and the well-being of the Iranian public, would be severely affected by new sanctions. Jim Fine's assessment below extends that analysis and provides background we should have in hand on the state of the sanctions legislation in Congress.  Mark C. Johnson

From Jim Fine at FCNL:

In the wake of President Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, it is more important than ever to listen to the voices of ordinary Afghanis. The Fellowship of Reconciliation has been in dialogue with some young leaders there, and a few days ago -- just before the president's announcement -- the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers published a video on YouTube. It is a touching message of peace greetings to Malia & Sasha Obama, the president's daughters, from Afghani girls and boys. Their ordinary, gentle voices speak to love, conscience, and human dignity. Click here to watch this video message to Malia & Sasha Obama from young Afghanis.

U.S. Civilian Diplomacy Delegation Departs for Iran;
Focus on Interfaith Dialogue and Preventing War

November 26, 2008

In the wake of today’s news from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that she will not pursue the creation of a U.S. “interests section” in Tehran – which would have created a permanent U.S. diplomatic presence in Iran for the first time in three decades – a 14-member interfaith peace delegation to Iran will depart New York tonight, November 26th. The ten-day delegation is organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the oldest and largest interfaith peace organization in the United States, and is FOR’s eighth fact-finding and friendship delegation to Iran.

There are more than one million people of Iranian descent living in the United States. Approximately one-half of that large diasporic community live in southern California, but the population is spread across the country. Three organizations that represent efforts by Iranian-Americans to prevent war between the U.S. and Iran participated in the September 24th meeting that the Fellowship of Reconciliation hosted between President Ahmadinejad and members of the U.S. peace and anti-war community: the American Iranian Friendship Council (based in Portland, OR); the American Iranian Council (based in Princeton, NJ); and the American-Iranian Friendship Committee (based in Armonk, NY). Other Iranian-Americans were in attendance, and other such organizations had been invited but did not attend (including the National Iranian American Council and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran).

The Fellowship of Reconciliation has just finished preparing the transcription of the English translation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks to the U.S. peace and anti-war community, delivered at the meeting hosted by FOR on September 24, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. That transcription follows. We thank everyone for their patience.

Last week, the Boston Globe printed an opinion piece by Jeff Jacoby, "A US welcome mat for Ahmadinejad," which condemned the September 24-25 meetings held between the Iranian President and members of the U.S. peace and religious communities. Joseph Gerson, a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the director of programs at the Boston-based New England office of the American Friends Service Committee, wrote the following response. The Globe would not agree to print Gerson's Letter to the Editor due to its length, and also decided to not print a vastly-cut 400-word version submitted by Gerson, also due to it exceeding its word limit. We offer the original version here:

An excellent article appears in the current issue of The Jewish Week, focused on Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb's presentation at the interfaith "iftar" dinner with Iranian President Ahmadinejad last Thursday, September 25th. Titled "Speaking Up to Iran Leader -- Gingerly," the article describes the courageous speech by Gottlieb at the event, as the only Jewish leader speaking that evening. Rabbi Lynn is a long-time leader in the Fellowship of Reconciliation, having worked at FOR many years ago with the Jewish Peace Fellowship and having led some two dozen interfaith peace-building delegations to Israel & Palestine over the past quarter-century. In April-May 2008, Rabbi Lynn co-led a civilian diplomacy and peace-building delegation sent by FOR to Iran.

In preparing for the conversation between political leadership from the Islamic Republic of Iran and representatives of the U.S. peace movement, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) invited over 300 individuals and groups to attend and asked each to submit, first, a description of the work done by their group and successes in using active nonviolent means to effect social change, and second, to raise a concern or ask a question about relationship between the United States and Iran.

Reflections and feedback have been coming in to FOR from across the U.S. peace community about this past Wednesday’s afternoon meeting we hosted with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as our Thursday morning follow-up strategy session on preventing war with Iran. Here are a few of the comments we’ve received thus far:

Doris Abdullah, U.N. representative, On Earth Peace agency:

Thank you for a brilliant evening of dialogue with President Ahmadinejad and members of the United States Peace community. As a member of that Peace family, I found the evening both informative and helpful for future conversations and interchanges between ourselves and Iran. I was especially moved by the opening framework expressions of the "opportunity to love or welcome the stranger, capacity to trust one another and practice in hospitality."