Since shortly after the Iranian revolution, the Iranian people have been deprived from their most basic civil, social, economic and political rights. However, although the majority of them want change, they have been ineffective in bringing a lasting change to the country.
So a little over a year ago, a network of Iranian educators, translators and activists began a campaign to educate our fellow Iranians about the history, strategy and tactics of nonviolent action from around the world and our country’s own history. The Bikhoshoonat network has no interest in engaging in the debates of the past, nor is it interested in taking political sides. It is only an impartial educational group that is striving to promote the use of nonviolent action in Iran as the most effective method of causing social change.
Having produced many important and useful educational materials, we have been getting them into the hands of activists in Iran and also made them available at our online resource center, the Center for the Study of Strategic Nonviolent Defense (www.bikhoshoonat.net).
Starting today, we are starting to widely introduce our materials to the online Iranian community. The two banners you see on the homepage of iranian.com is part of our effort.
If you are reading this, chances are you are an Iranian and know someone in Iran who can use our materials to effectively push for change. I want to ask you to download, copy and distribute our materials among as many of our fellow Iranians as you know. We would just like to ask you to please let us know how approximately how many people you have been able to distribute our materials to by e-mailing that estimation to us through our contact page.
We have been able to produce these materials with the help of our fellow Iranians. As we move into this new promotion phase for our education campaign in Iran, we are in critical need of financial support so that we can continue to produce new materials and distribute them among activists in Iran. Please visit www.bikhoshoonat.net and make a contribution of any amount.
Throughout history, there have been many well-organized and strategic nonviolent movements in many countries—from the American civil rights movement and Gandhi’s movement for Indian independence to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine—and in all instances, the success rate has been significant. We recognize that it is time for our fellow Iranians to get access to the kind of education that would allow them to use the same kind of strategic thinking to bring the changes that they wish to bring to Iran. We are working to fulfill that need, and we hope that you help in every way you can.
