firoozeh dumas

The response I got..........

Response I got back from Deputy City Supervisor - Good News

Dear Mahmoud: On behalf of Supervisor Antonovich, I would like to respond to your concerns.   Supervisor Antonovich takes very seriously the matter of divestment from Iran -- accordingly, Supervisor Antonovich has introduced a motion for tomorrow's Board of Supervisor's meeting (co-authored with Supervisor Yaroslavsky) instructing the County's retirement association to divest from companies that are liable to U.S. Government sanctions by virtue of their investments in the Iranian energy sector. The MTA, on the other hand, currently has no contract on the table with Siemens for consideration.  There is no $300 million dollar vote to consider regarding Siemens.   Instead, the MTA Board must determine whether or not to continue its contract with Ansaldo Breda (Breda) for delivery of light rail vehicles, or to decline the options with Breda and go out to a competitive bid.  This competitive bid is expected to attract interest from multiple railcar firms, one of which may be Siemens. Breda has proven to be a failure at delivering quality vehicles on time for the needs of MTA's light rail system.  Of the 50 cars that were due by 2007, only 25 have been delivered, meaning that half the order is not delivered over 2 years after the agreed upon delivery date.  The cars that have been delivered are overweight and have an interior with aisles, seats and doors that are too narrow.  The needs of Los Angeles County residents have not been met by Breda -- and now with Measure R requiring more rail cars than just the 100 in the Breda option contracts, the MTA must re-evaluate how it acquires the rail cars necessary to meet the needs of its rapidly growing rail system. The logical next step for MTA to take is to decline the contract options with Breda and to pursue a new procurement for new rail cars.  This action will put an end to the problems suffered with Breda and will be a more responsible manner of spending taxpayer dollars. If and only if we get to the point where MTA will put out to bid a new package of rail car needs can the MTA effectively deal with any issues associated with Siemens and other firms that have had or that continue to have business relationships with Iran. Thank you for your time and interest in this matter. Sincerely,  Michael Cano Deputy to Supervisor Antonovich  -------------------------------------------------------------------Michael C. CanoTransportation DeputyLos Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich 869 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration500 West Temple StreetLos Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 974-5555 (W)(213) 974-1010 (Fax)mcano@lacbos.org

Dear Firoozeh

Thank you for taking the lead on a very worthwhile effort. Our voices do count.

Stop Siemens-Nokia!

On top of this campaign, i believe that in our daily work, try to avoid this company as well. For example dont buy their Cell phone or home appliances. In addition, I know lot of people work form them or with them in USA, and specially here in Northern California and San Diego in telecom. They should boycott them as well. Use another vendor for you design or project.

Siamak (always Ahwazi)  

Hiiiiiii

Bah bah...Firoozeh khaanome gole golaabetoon.  Faamil chetoran?

Kheili mamnoon for your caring.

Raasti raaje be un chizi ke behet e-mail zadam....bebakhshin - prioritihaaye dige pish umad tu Iran, ke  Khodet dar jariyan hasti.  Manam be nobeye khodam dar takapoo budam.  Vali baazia hay mozoo ro taghir midan.  Havaaset ke hast?

Sakineh Bikineh, dooste samimieh Robob Biarbob :)

BTW, a very close relative recently told me your books are a big success in Iran.

Welcome aboard

Welcome aboard Firoozeh, or should I say Fritzie?! Just kidding! I am one of your biggest fans and have bought your books as gifts for others on many occasions.

I hope you stay and make your stay more prominent and be one of US, like Borg :-)  Don't pay any attention to ghor ghor and ghormeh sabzi smelling "brains" around here.  It breathes and breeds!  Who knows maybe these people and your experience here can be the subject of your next book.  But you've got to stay around and use some "elbow grease" ;-) 

Everything is sacred.

You only need to write one sentence.

A big thank you to those of you who have taken a few minutes to send an email. To the rest of you, this is a numbers game. We need A LOT of people to send emails. You can just write a few sentences or just one, but please send an email. Here's what I wrote. You can copy it if you want.

***************************************

To the good decision makers of Los Angeles,

Please vote no on
the Siemens-Nokia contract. As an Iranian-American, a mother and a
human being, I ask you to please send the clear message that profits do
not justify a complete absence of decency. The tools that Siemens
provided to the Iranian government led to the arrest and torture of
innocent people whose sole crime is the pursuit of democracy.
... Read More
Thank you,

Firoozeh Dumas
Author, FUNNY IN FARSI and LAUGHING WITHOUT AN ACCENT

Thanks Firoozeh

Emails sent and your link forwarded to those who care.

Sent

To: Los Angeles' Metro Transportation Authority

Siemens-Nokia gave Iran's government privacy invasion tools, which led to arrests, torture and the basic suffering and violation of human rights (Washington Times: //www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/17/siemens-risks-losses-due-to-iran-ties/)

Large population of Los Angeles Iranians and people of the world hope that you make a conscious decision not to reward a company which did not care about the tragic results of their decisions although they were warned at the time. 

A decision to grant a contract to Siemens-Nokia will have a negative impact on public view of Los Angeles and United States on this matter.

Please do not contract Siemens-Nokia

Sincerely,

------------------------------------------------

(//www.latimes.com/business/la-me-siemens18-2009jul18,0,4550679.story) 

Come on Tehrangelesis!

Legend has it that there are half a million Iranians in the Los Angeles area. If only a fraction of them email the authorities and oppose the Siemens deal, then there will be a good chance that it would not be signed.

What Simenes-Nokia did in selling telephone monitoring equipment to the Islamic Republic was a business decision. They thought there was nothing wrong with selling the same technology all countries demand in order to fight "crime".

But there's a serious moral issue here. Simenes-Nokia sold this powerful tool to a brutal government that has a well-documented history of denying not just citizens' rights to privacy but also punishing legitimate, non-violent protest.

We have to make it clear to Simenes-Nokia and all other companies that they should consider more than just money when dealing with governments like the Islamic Republic who badly mistreat their people. Or there will be consequences.

Let's punish Simenes-Nokia by opposing their potential deal with Los Angeles metro to build 100 rail cars.

If it's only money that matters to them, we should do everything we can to make them pay.

Here is what I sent both the Board of supervisors and MTA

As a concerned American citizen, I want to voice my disgust with Siemens, for providing sensitive eavesdropping technology to the government of Iran, whereby their Intelligence authorities were able to arrest and detain hundreds of innocent Iranian citizens for using cell phones and wireless mechanisms to keep in touch.  There is little we can do to change the situation in Iran, but if we want the economic sanctions to work, then we have to punish European business entities such as Siemens, which defy American sanctions for the bottom line, and undermine the good intentions of our American foreign policy.  If we don’t want to send out troops to Iran to change the situation, then we have to be steadfast and punish companies who do business, especially of sensitive nature, with the terrorist regime in Iran, and punish it for violating the sanctions. I urge you to not sign the MTA contract with Siemens and send a strong signal about our American resolve.SincerelyMahmoud