50 Iranian Americans for peace

Who we are, what we believe and why we're for peace

A little over a month ago, I asked for your help in finishing a public service announcement promoting understanding and peace. Thanks to the tremendous response and support, the project is now complete. This is the final version of the project featuring fifty Iranian Americans: who we are, what we believe and why we're for peace. A dedicated website about the participants and how the project got started is now up -- www.voicesforpeace.net. I am eternally grateful to this beautiful community of ours for believing in this project and opening so many doors to make it possible.

17-Jun-2008
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Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez

Response to FT

by Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez on

 Dear Free Thinker,

Thank you for your kind comment. I am a seeker of knowledge and understanding.

Best wishes,

Solh va Doosti

Nadia


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Free Thinker

by Another Goldfish (not verified) on

You are neither free, nor a thinker. You don't live in Iran, either. You pass filters and reach Iranian.com just like that?! Your English is as American as apple pie, buddy. Cut the crap and join the dialogue like the rest of us. It's O.K. at the end of the day, we are all little goldfish, but this is to let you know that you were caught red-handed while lying. Stop it.


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Because ...

by Free Thinker (not verified) on

Anonymously,

READ MY WORDS! Your answer is in the last paragraph of my last post: YOU IRANIAN_AMERICAN GUYS SHOULD SHUT UP BECASUE WE ARE IN IRAN AND YOU ARE NOT! Comprehende? You have evry right (under the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, .... amendments) to say what you want to say, but your words are worth nothing compared to the words of the people who are trapped inside Iran. You guys have reached your dreams - we, on the contrary, have been living through a nightmare while you folks were realizing your dreams. Now, you are saying: hands off Iran - let those poor bastards live in the same hell they were living for the last thirty years BECAUSE we, the Iranian-Americans have made to it to the promised land and want no more of "them" over here. If you guys had a care in the world for your homeland, if that is what you still call it, you would have helped toppling the regime of mullahs and NOT encouraging other countries to sit around the negotiation tables with them and have trade and investment with the regime.

Dear Natalia (Nadia)

You are a genuinely peace-loving soul and I respect you very much. Your presence among us Iranians or hyphenated Iranians is a blessing. You are a broker for peace and coexistence.

May God of Jesus Bless YOU.


Anonymouse

Free Thinker

by Anonymouse on

Bush said we should shut up with Iraq. You are saying we should do the same again? Was nothing learned from the Iraq war? How come we should shut up and you should speak?


Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez

Ah! FT

by Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez on

Since you are living in Iran then I assume that you are using some kind of proxy. After all, iranian.com is blocked in Iran.

Crappy English, huh? I thought your spelling problems were due to typing issues. A lot of people on this web site have typing errors and we just work around it. In other words "Welcome to the club!"

I know that at least some Iranian women are trying to leave Iran whether through studies at a foreign university or through marriage. I sadly, lost contact with several Iranian female friends this way. They preferred to marry total strangers than to remain in Iran.

 

Solh va Doosti

Nadia


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For Your Information – I

by Free Thinker (not verified) on

For Your Information – I live in Iran!! Can’t you tell by my crap English? One thing that amuses me the most is the in-born talents of us Iranians. From the moment we are born we are bestowed with two gifts: (1) we are natural born politicians and (2) we are natural born statisticians. Where do we get such statistics as thousands or tens of thousand or millions or, as Khomeini is quoted in one of the articles currently on this site, hundreds of thousands of millions (QUOTES: //iranian.com/main/2008-239) . Besides, how do you prove or disprove the accuracy of such statistics. We are living in an era that even Gallop polls are questioned by the presidential candidates in the US for their accuracy and now you one me to accept that there are millions inside Iran who want to see this regime staying in power? The trouble with you Venice beach residents is that you see everything from vantage point of the Hollywood hills further up the road. Sorry fellows, but life in Iran is very different from that shown in the photo essays of those happy-go-lucky travelers who go to see their parental homeland for a couple of weeks and leave it in the same mess that it is was and continue with their happy go luck life back in the comfort of their Venice beach or Albany houses. There are people in Iran (sorry no statistics available :o) who are prepared to die if this regime is stay there for another two years. Nobody is asking for bombs to fall but YOU CALIF-IRANIANS ARE THE LEAST CREDIBLE ENTITIES TO SAY WHAT ID GOOD OR WHAT IS BAD FOR IRAN. . So basically what we true Iranians who live and work and suffer inside Iran are asking you and very politely so can be summed up in two words: SHUT UP!

FT


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ey baba: There will be no

by Aljihadi Fouadi Alummah (not verified) on

ey baba:

There will be no war on Iran. All this hoopla is nonsense to create more anti-American hatred in the Iranian community and giving all of us a bad name...

Bush-Bashing, Israel bashing, Jew-bashing, AIPIAC bashing, America-bashing and American bashing is not the way to avert a war.

P.S. Those who need exposing have been exposed...


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How would you feel if they get blown up in a bomb attack?

by Anonymously (not verified) on

free thinker,

Do you think the "thousands" that you see completely represent the majority in Iran? When was the last time you visited Iran? How many people did you talk to? Do you have anybody from your family still living in Iran? And if you do and they still have not moved to Israel, how would you feel if they get blown up in a bomb attack?

The affect that this video and activities promoting talks and peace rather than war is to introduce an image of Iranians that is not being presented here and if you ever go to Iran, you will find tens of thousands who do think like the people in this video.


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sickofbs

by ey baba (not verified) on

Hey amigo,

Since when not bombing a country and killing innocent people is wrong. It's people like you with so much hate that are wrong. Since you make the allegation about "these characters", why don't you expose them and their blogs. Your bs has no bounds. That is why you are so sick of bs all the time. Get a life and then a conscience.


Anonymouse

For some

by Anonymouse on

عقل که نیست جون در عذابه!


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Free thinker and Fateh:

by sickofbs (not verified) on

Free thinker and Fateh: Thank you. The hypocrisy of some of these "anti-war' characters is astounding. A few of these characters are staunch anti-Americans if you read their blogs...they need to be exposed.

They are not fooling anyone.


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Thank you Mr. Fateh, I

by Free Thinker (not verified) on

Thank you Mr. Fateh,

I wished there were more people like you on this site to have the courage and clarity of thought to admit that the Iranian expatriate community does not represent Iran or Iranians genuinely. Consider all these Hollywood style Iran parades in New York or elsewhere. These are only propped up, polished and sanitized caricatures of what our true traditions and mores are about. The same is true about artificially made up traditional dances and ballets performed across the US and Europe. They may be entertaining but they are not the genuine items.

The video shown here is made along the same non-genuine and unrepresentative style that parades and dances are made. Basically, what these fifty faces are saying is this:

We the Iranian-Americans who deserted our homeland for the opportunities and privileges that America has given us, want the Americans and the world in general believe that the people we abandoned back in Iran are the same as us. If you see tens of thousands of people every Friday screaming their heads off to shout: Death to America, Death to Israel, Death to … don’t believe them they are just joking. They don’t mean it. They are only a tiny minority. The majorities of the Iranians love America and Americans but haven’t had the opportunity to flee their country yet. Don’t attack them, don’t impose sanctions on them, don’t impose visa restrictions on their US visits – give them a chance and they will all join you here on the US soil. Then there will 50,000 faces in this video!!

I agree with you Mr Fateh that the Iranians abroad have hardly had any influence on the fate of the country they had abandoned with one remarkable exception. In their forty odd years of spreading disinformation, Iranians (mostly students) outside of Iran had only one success to their credit: disinforming the West about Khomeini and his mission and helping him being installed. Now the next generation of the expatriates is continuing with their disinformation campaign in a bid to the keep the remnants of Khomeini’s dictatorship in their seat of power


ladan K

THANK YOU!

by ladan K on

This is amazing and good, and sorely needed.  I LOVE that there is something as an alternative to show my American Friends, who (besides me) have NEVER met an Iranian (at least that Identified themselves as Iranian) and would honestly find this a refreshing alternative to the hate mongering media that fuels the hate and ignorance with only idiotic remarks from Ahmadinejad and other fools like him.

 This is not cheesy Saman! And Free thinker, you're anything but.  Shahin, way to go with your comeback.

And MAJOR KUDOS to the folks who put this together and created something for mainstream America about Mainstream Iranian Americans!  THANK YOU!


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Mr. video

by Anonymous123456567 (not verified) on

Hey Saman, of all people you are calling this video cheesy? Puhleeez, I am still reeling over your dumb, cheesy video. Do you consider Atheisism a faith? how about Samanism (hah)? if you do, well those was mentioned too (other faiths). You are a bit full of yourself. Stick to your "ARTISTIC" cartoons. Silence is golden, practice it, you may get it right, eventually.


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Faramarz Fateh, what are you

by Democracy (not verified) on

Faramarz Fateh, what are you ranting about? If you LOVE Iran you go back but if you HATE Iran you stay in America? Does that mean you are calling ALL of us in America HATING Iran?

Who are you to say anything? You want to beg Bush to bomb the Parliament? How smart of you. No one thought of this before dear Ayatollah Faramarz Fateh? Did a light bulb just go off your head? What have you done? Come on darling. Tell us what have YOU done? In Iran or America. What have YOU done that makes you so Faramarz Fateh?

Who are you even talking to? Which group of Iranians do even listen to you? You already talked about the Beverly Hills Iranians. Enlighten us, who is listening to you? Are you talking to yourself and we didn't know?


Saman

The God thing was too Irooni dramatic and cheap ...

by Saman on

God Bless what? Not only Atheists were not mentioned in the video (as usual), but also agnostics don’t necessarily believe in God either. OK video ... cheesy ending.

Still the message is more important, I guess! If it gets anywhere beyond Iranian.com


Faramarz_Fateh

You can't have it both ways

by Faramarz_Fateh on

Very seldom, perhaps never, has a self involved group outside a country, such as Iranians in Europe or U.S. has caused great things to happen inside the country they fled from.

Iran is a place we are FROM. We now live in the U.S. For most of you, your parents and/or grandparents are on SSI. They live in Beverly Hills but only have $5,000 to their names. Thats right, you know exactly what and why and who.

Iran was a great country couple thousand years ago. But Iran of these days is an Islamic Shit hole. If you LOVE Iran, go back. Live there. Help your country men. Don't yell I love Iran from pages of a blog or by praising a video. Run for public office in Iran; make your voice heard and your ideas help the people of Iran. Help the woman who has 3 kids, no husband, millions of tomans in debt who is now a prostitute.

Do something about oppression of women and religous minorities; killing of minor children. 20% unemplyment. Go start a factory there, or a store....employ a couple Iranians.

I am so sick of this I love Iran B.S. that it makes me sick. If you love Iran, make a sacrifice for its betterment.

My next video will feature 50 Iranians begging freaking Bush to bomb the IRI parliment building while in session so Iran is rid of the filth....at least for a few weeks.

 


K Nassery

I loved the video

by K Nassery on

I thought that  the presentation was spetacular and I really hope it gets a lot of attention on the net.

 

 


K Nassery

Renouncing American citizenship

by K Nassery on

There is no penalty if you decide to renounce your citizenship.  However, it's going to be a necessity to leave the US unless you can get some kind of visa to stay here.  I think the green card gets cancelled when you take the oath of citizenship so that won't be an option for you.

 I say...good luck... in your new adventures.


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Disingenuous?! You don't know what you are talking about

by Shahin_ (not verified) on

Wow Free Thinker!

Reading your comment makes my brain hurt. Your whole point is to complain why these people are not the typical protesters you see on TV or read in the news. SHOW ME THE POOR AND OPPRESSED IRANIANS! SHOW ME STONING! THAT IS THE REAL IRAN CAUSE I SAW IT ON TV!!!

Guess what, this video is not about them so quit whining. There is already enough media coverage on that. This video is about the silent majority of Iranians who get little or no media attention. I can't believe you missed it, watch the video again, it makes it clear for people like you, right at the beginning.

Seeing educated, well-spoken and peace loving Iranians shakes your whole world view, doesn’t it? The very same world view cooked up by the military industrial complex (in the US and in Iran) and spoon fed by the media to people. It is natural for those who can’t see beyond what they are told is the truth to fall for this. Everything that doesn't fit your belief system is disingenuous.

You can’t even get passed a man’s facial hair before judging him. That’s how messed up you are. I know, I know you want some sort of poof that he is not a terrorist, right there in the video! Guilty unless proven innocent after all. People like you are the root of all evil. Wise up! There are many faces to Iran like any other country.


Anonymouse

Very funny

by Anonymouse on

Very funny indeed. Why did the people on this video even bother?! Hun?! Why bother, we can just as easily put blue contact lenses and bleach our hair blonde and don't bother with anything. Right?

I wish Maz would come to this website, register and let us see him in action. Another words, you are really not that Iranian if you are not called names. So it would be nice if he adds this to his portfolio by coming here and be called all sorts of stuff and then stand up and teach us a thing or 2 in the process.

He may not be familiar with the newly decorated words such as, Islamo-Fascist, apologists, closet agent of IRI, Islamist and their lefty lap poodles, but hey his responses would be twice as funny. Wouldn't it?

I'm not encouraging him to come here, I'm just thinking out loud what would he say if he was here.


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Really liked it

by BK (not verified) on

Great job with the clip.

It is succinct, just the right length and sends exactly the right message about Iranians; who we are, what we stand for, our desire for peace and love for the world.

Hats off to all took part in putting this together.

Best wishes


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Disingenuous

by Free Thinker (not verified) on

Excuse me guys but what’s this video got do with IRAN? You people have clearly lost the whole plot. All it shows is fifty faces of Iranians who made it to the big time. though some no so big, in America – thanks to the opportunities given to them by America. Their messages are also disingenuous. For instance a heavily bearded guy suggests he is not an extremist!! Really? Is it because he looks so non-extremist in appearance or are the viewers supposed to take his words at face value? As a matter of fact the message given by these faces is entirely disingenuous. Why? Because these guys are not the true representatives of the Iranian public. They are the ones who decided that they were better off living in a country like America, where the value system is entirely opposite to the one back home. Listen to their words:

• “Some of us came from Iran, to study, to work or to be FREE!” – are these not precisely the same privileges that are being denied of the Iranians back in Iran?
• “The culture of a 5000-year history which gave roots to the first declaration of human rights!” – So what happened to that deeply rooted culture of observing human rights? Is the stoning, public hanging, systematic torture and incarceration of dissenters, manifestations of that great culture? Let’s move on …
• “Set ancient Jewish people free and produced great architecture, literature and art!!” – Is this real or are we delirious? So how it that the voices heard from Iran these days, and there are many voices not one or two, say ‘Death to Israel’ and suggest to have it wiped off the map? How come the present Iranian state is about to submerge one of the greatest architectural relics of the ancient Iran, Pasargade, under the waters of Sivand dam? And how about literature and art? How freely the artists and scholars can produce their masterpieces? Is this not why some of the artists, poets, writers and journalists, among these faces, including our own JJ, decided to leave that ancient land for the shores of safety and opportunity provided to them in America?
• “Today, we are … artists, educators, students, …” – aren’t these people from of the sectors of the society who have been at the receiving end of the most brutal attacks, censorship, jail and torture?
• “Some of us Jewish, others are Christian, Bahai, Zoroastrians, agnostic or have different faith” – Good for you guys but your former countrymen and women in Iran cannot practice the faiths and belief systems as freely as you can do in America. So are you still seriously suggesting that you are truly representing the people of Iran?
• “We are not radical, fundamentalists or extremists … “ - LOL! Is this one part of Maz Jobranis’s new stand up comedy gig? You Iranian-American guys may well be what you claim to be (though it needs some convincing in the case of the bearded fellow) but how do you propose the average American viewer to accept that your folks back home are the same as you liberated people?
• “And our values center around …., education, hospitality and celebration” – Oh I am sure you Californian residents have plenty to celebrate, throw parties and send your kids to good schools but how about the fold back home? What have they got to celebrate?
• “Attacking Iran is not the solution”. I agree with 110% but WHAT IS the solution?
• “Martin Luther King Jr.: … it is necessary to love peace.” Sorry did I hear you say: Peace? Which Peace? The peaceful living of the successful and liberated Iranian-Americans or the life-full of misery and misfortune of those who are trapped in the claws of the tyrannical regime back home?
• Finally, I agree entirely with the last three slogans: God bless America, God Bless Iran and God Bless the World” – but excuse me Whose God? Yours or theirs?

Next, I look forward to watching the Iranian version of this video made by 50 American-Iranians living in Iran who made it to the big time.


Anonymouse

Shahin_

by Anonymouse on

I liked the ending. God Bless USA is like elahi shokr that we say after eating a meal. It is tacked on to the back of every speech, as tacky as it may be.

This video is made for Americans, so you speak about things they relate to.

When you say God Bless Iran, it is suddenly like a jolt, what? Iran? How can God Bless Iran?

Then they realize these people are from that land and just like everyone is someone's child, these people like God to Bless their land (Iran) too.

Had they ended it by bashing someone or something, then yes it would have deflected the message.


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Not happy with the ending

by Shahin_ (not verified) on

You line up 50 Iranians to show they are no different than other ordinary immigrants who came to the US, and they are peace loving people. Great! Why in the world would you resort back to “God bless America” cliche to summarize your message? Frankly it is unimaginative and tacky. Yet worse, it was extended to "God bless Iran"!

If one thing, we should have learned by now that God's blessing is air. If it is not people's will and taking responsibility for their actions, all the blessings of the world can't fix up a country's situation. To me, asking for God’s blessings is no more than people not believing in themselves, seeking for a supernatural being to come at the end and save the day.

Molla Naserdin goes to sell his ass, some guy says you'll sell it, if it is God's will. Molla says I have the ass and the money is in somebody's pocket, no need for God's will.

Without the ending, it is a great video. Good job!


Anonymouse

Maz Jobrani

by Anonymouse on

Excellent video and excellent message. Maz Jobrani, JJ and are I BFF! I cherish his first CD that I have signed by Maz and addressed to his “Purrrrrsssssian friends” from few years ago before he became as famous as he is today.

It is really encouraging to see someone like Maz fighting bigotry and not giving in. So encouraging to see one of your own fighting for you and for common sense instead of another one of our own trying to be fashionable by advocating war and give in to daily attacks that we see everyday.

Excellent!


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Good video, big mistake to

by moi (not verified) on

Good video, big mistake to have it in black and white! It looks as if you are all ancient people and have no clue about the modern life!


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Thank You.

by Shah Hossein (not verified) on

Khaily Mamnoon.
Motshakar.
Tashakoorlar.
Thank you All for doing this for all of us Iranians.


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to "fellow "An Iranian"

by Anonymous ironi (not verified) on

Yes, you love Iran and that is great. I do not think this video is apologizing to the west and indeed it is sending a strong message as a unity of Iranians. This video is made for western culture and that is the a way to communicate with them. Let's hope Iran and iranians are safe from the enemy(s).

long live Iran


Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez

Immigration..........

by Natalia Alvarado-Alvarez on

 Abol Hassan Danesh, Author,

Actually, immigration and international law are some of my areas of interest.

 I am aware that the government has outrageous application fees, which they drastically increased last year.

I actually wrote a paper on it at the university (exam paper). Basically, in it, I stated my belief that it is not only money at stake. If the powers that be can control, who becomes a citizen then they have control of the voting power.

Past U.S. immigration policies

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

I became a U.S. citizen at about the age of 19 and even though it was a terrible experience,  it is a lot worst now. In all honesty, after going through all the trouble to become a U.S. citizen, why on earth would I want to renounce it? Why not instead obtain a dual citizenship? It makes more sense to me.

Solh va Doosti

Nadia