NUCLEAR

Pls sign against war threats & for Iranian democratic struggle

by campaignforpeaceanddemocracy on Tue Jan 04, 2011 08:39 PM PST

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We are writing you at this critical
moment to invite you to sign the Campaign for Peace and Democracy statement
entitled

 

End the War Threats and
Sanctions Program Against Iran; Support the Struggle for
Democracy Inside Iran

 

We very much hope that you will join the
initial 1112 signers of the statement. Your signature can make a real difference:it will help build opposition to Washington's belligerence toward Iran,while
letting the people fighting for their democratic rights in Iran know that we
have not forgotten them.           If you would like to add your
name to the statement, see the emerging list of signers, or make a
tax-deductible donation to publicize the statement, please go to our website.           A list of signers to date and
the text of the statement are below. We aim to collect a large number of
signatures very quickly, and then publish the statement as widely as possible,
both in this country and internationally.  End the War Threats and Sanctions Program Against Iran
Support the Struggle for Democracy Inside Iran
A Campaign for Peace and Democracy Statement - October 2010

We, the undersigned, oppose the U.S.-led campaign to impose
harsher sanctions on Iran, and the ongoing threat of war
against that country. Despite Washington's claims, its
policy is clearly not animated by a genuine concern for
protecting the world from the threat of nuclear war;
otherwise how could Washington support such nuclear-armed
states as India, Israel, and Pakistan, or maintain its own
huge nuclear arsenal? Nor is U.S. policy driven by the goal
of defending democracy. If it were, how could the United
States support brutally authoritarian regimes such as those
in Saudi Arabia and Egypt?

Months after it began its recent program to sanction Iran
for its nuclear activities, the United States, in a move
described by The New York Times as "more symbolic than
substantive," denied visas to and froze the foreign assets
of eight Iranian officials, citing their role in the
post-election crackdown. This symbolic gesture cannot
obscure the fact that Washington's fundamental motivation
for imposing the comprehensive sanctions aimed at Iran's
nuclear program is to neutralize or eliminate a major threat
to its power in the region.

In June 2009 people around the world were inspired by the
courageous protests in Iran, when hundreds of thousands,
possibly millions, took to the streets to demand their
democratic rights. Since then the Iranian government has
tried to repress the movement: hundreds of political
prisoners remain behind bars, often tortured, deprived of
medical care, and forced to live under dangerously unhealthy
conditions. We support those who struggle for democracy and
social justice inside Iran.

Far from helping the Iranian people, sanctions and war
threats strengthen Ahmadinejad's regime, helping it to shift
the blame for worsening economic conditions from itself
entirely onto the external enemy. In the past the Iranian
elite has proven able to circumvent sanctions, but if
Washington actually succeeds in preventing Tehran from
importing refined petroleum, exporting oil and other items,
and conducting normal trade and banking activities, over
time millions of ordinary Iranians will suffer.

We don't want Iran, or any other country, including our own,
to have nuclear weapons. But even the U.S. government admits
that Iran does not now possess nuclear weapons and has no
imminent prospect of acquiring them. Moreover, Iran has no
less right than any other nation to develop civilian nuclear
power. Many of us oppose the use of nuclear energy by any
country, both for environmental reasons and because of its
link to nuclear weapons -- but that is not the issue in the
present U.S.-Iran confrontation. The United States, a major
producer of nuclear energy and by far the leading nuclear
weapons nation, which continually upgrades its own
conventional and nuclear arsenal and tolerates the
possession of nuclear weapons by other reckless and
aggressive powers, has no moral legitimacy when it tries to
punish Iran for its nuclear activities.

U.S. belligerence -- its continual warnings that "all
options remain on the table," possibly including acceptance
of an Israeli attack -- only creates strong inducements for
Tehran to seek nuclear weapons for its defense, or to
become, like Japan, "nuclear-weapons capable," i.e.
possessing all the elements necessary to make a bomb without
actually manufacturing one. And it's not just Iran: U.S.
militarism has helped to create a Hobbesian world in which
more and more countries come to believe that their survival
depends on nuclear "deterrence."

The United States can best reduce the danger of nuclear war
by taking major steps to divest itself of nuclear weapons as
part of a new, democratic and socially just foreign policy.
This would include initiating both nuclear and conventional
disarmament, encompassing missile "defense" as well as more
obviously offensive weaponry; ending its predatory wars in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; supporting a
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Middle East; giving real
support to Palestinian rights rather than continuing
one-sided support to Israel; and dismantling its more than
1,000 military bases around the world. Such steps would help
undermine the rationale for Iran and other countries
developing their own nuclear weapons. These actions would
also be the most effective way to strengthen women's, labor,
and other democratic movements in the Middle East, and to
promote the interests of ordinary Americans and real peace
in the world.

* * * * * * Initial signers include Bashir Abu-Manneh,
Michael Albert,
Greg Albo,
Elahe Amani,
Kevin B. Anderson,
Stanley Aronowitz,
Parvin Ashrafi,
Ed Asner,
Rosalyn Baxandall,
William O. Beeman,
Judith Bello,
Medea Benjamin,
Norman Birnbaum,
Blase Bonpane,
Eileen Boris,
Sam Bottone,
Joan G. Botwinick,
Laura Boylan, MD,
Frank Brodhead,
Stephen Eric Bronner,
Steve Burns,
Leslie Cagan,
Antonia Cedrone,
Adam Chmielewski,
Noam Chomsky,
Marjorie Cohn,
Margaret W. Crane,
Charles D'Adamo,
Hamid Dabashi,
Gail Daneker,
Bogdan Denitch,
Manuela Dobos,
Tina Dobsevage, MD,
Martin Duberman,
Lisa Duggan,
Stephen R. Early,
Carolyn Eisenberg,
Michael Eisenscher,
Daniel Ellsberg,
Mark Engler,
Gertrude Ezorsky,
Richard Falk,
Samuel Farber,
Thomas M. Fasy, MD,
Dianne Feeley,
John Feffer,
Barry Finger,
David Finkel,
Bill Fletcher, Jr.,
Jean Fox,
Dr. Harriet Fraad,
David Friedman,
Robert Gabrielsky,
Bruce Gagnon,
Barbara Garson,
Irene Gendzier,
Jack Gerson,
Joseph Gerson,
Sam Gindin,
Henry Giroux,
John Gorman,
Greg Grandin,
Jules Greenstein,
Arun Gupta,
E. Haberkern,
Mina Hamilton,
Cole Harrison,
Thomas Harrison,
Nader Hashemi,
Howie Hawkins,
Judith Hempfling,
Bill Henning,
Michael Hirsch,
Madelyn Hoffman,
Iranian Centre for Peace, Freedom and Social Justice-Vancouver,
Doug Ireland,
Marianne Jackson, PhD,
Melissa Jameson,
Malalai Joya,
Jan Kavan,
Kathy Kelly,
Tooba Keshtkar,
Assaf Kfoury,
Mina Khanlarzadeh,
Ynestra King,
Jack Kurzweil,
Dan La Botz,
Micah Landau,
Joanne Landy,
Marc H. Lavietes, MD,
Roger E. Leisner,
Jesse Lemisch,
Rabbi Michael Lerner,
Traven Leyshon,
Nelson Lichtenstein,
Amy Littlefield,
Martha Livingston,
Robin Lloyd,
Jan Majicek,
Betty Mandell,
Marvin Mandell,
Nasir A. Mansoor,
Dave Marsh,
Don McCanne, MD,
Scott McLemee,
David McReynolds,
Deborah Meier,
Martin Melkonian,
Marilyn Morehead,
Bitta Mostofi,
Erika Munk,
Ulla Neuburger,
Mary E. O'Brien, MD,
Derrick O'Keefe,
David Oakford,
Rosemarie Pace,
Leo Panitch,
Mike Pattberg,
Peace Action New York State,
Maggie Phair,
Christopher Phelps,
Charlotte Phillips, MD,
Frances Fox Piven,
Charles Post,
Danny Postel,
Bill Quigley,
Saeed Rahnema,
Judy Rebick,
Katie Robbins,
Leonard Rodberg,
Richard Roman,
Bruce A. Rosen,
Ruth Rosen,
Elizabeth Rosenthal, MD,
Matthew Rothschild,
Coleen Rowley,
Saffaar Saaed,
John Sanbonmatsu,
Ajamu Sankofa,
Saskia Sassen,
Jennifer Scarlott,
Jay Schaffner,
Jason Schulman,
Peter O. Schwartz,
Lance Selfa,
Stephen R. Shalom,
Cindy Sheehan,
Gar Smith,
Stephen Soldz,
Cheryl Stevenson,
Patricia Storace,
Bhaskar Sunkara,
David Swanson,
William K. Tabb,
Hoshang Tareh Gol,
Jonathan Tasini,
Peter Tatchell,
Meredith Tax,
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor,
Sheila Thorne,
Chris Toensing,
Bernard Tuchman,
Adaner Usmani,
Wilbert van der Zeijden,
Steven VanBever,
David S. Vine,
Barbara Webster,
Lois Weiner,
Suzi Weissman,
Naomi Weisstein,
Laurie Wen,
Cornel West,
Billy Wharton,
Julia Willebrand,
Reginald Wilson,
Sherry Wolf,
Kent Worcester,
Julia Wrigley, and
Leila Zan.          
You do not have to donate in order to
sign, but please give if you can, as generously as you can. You can
go to our website now to make a donation, or send a check made out to Campaign
for Peace and Democracy to CPD, 2790 Broadway, #12,
New York, NY 10025. If for any reason you have difficulty at the website, just send us an email at
cpd@igc.org. Please circulate the statement to your colleagues and friends. And
you can share the statement on Facebook by going to our website. In peace and solidarity, Joanne Landy                Thomas
Harrison Co-Directors Campaign for Peace and
Democracy                       To sign or support the
statement, please go to the CPD website
Campaign for Peace and Democracy, 2790 Broadway, #12,
NY, NY 10025