What concerns the U.S. peace movement about 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.

More than 50 organizations and individuals submitted stories of their work. They offered nearly a hundred separate questions which were grouped into a dozen topic areas. Below are the eleven questions that were asked representing those submitted. While President Ahmadinejad responded to each question, he did not necessarily answer each in much detail. But one value of the “exercise” has been to gather an overview of what concerns are present for peace groups in the United States and the collection of an overview of that sizeable part of the movement committed to avoiding a military attack on Iran.

Links to other reports of President Ahmadinejad’s responses appear in accompanying blogs, and recordings of his remarks will be, we expect, available in coming days. (The complete document containing all contributions by participants is available as a downloadable PDF at the base of this message, and may also be made available online as a Google Document.) Amy Goodman’s two-part interview for Democracy Now!, which took place just before the meeting with American peace movements, cover much of the same territory and can be heard or read (text transcript is provided) online as follows:

Part 1: On the Threat of a U.S. Attack and International Criticism of Iran’s Human Rights Record

Part 2: On Iran-Iraq Relations, Iran’s Persecution of Gays and the Future of Israel-Palestine

Questions submitted for and presented during the September 24th session:

1. How can the vital dialogue between Iranian citizens desiring peace and United States citizens also desiring peace with each other continue if people who interact with or seek the support of U.S. citizens or U.S. non-governmental organizations are then accused of trying to bring about the overthrow of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran? While we strongly oppose the covert efforts of the United States government to try to bring about the overthrow of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we consider very important the building of bridges between non-governmental groups like our own and Iranians also working for peace. How can your government support Iranians working to build bridges with us? (Priscilla Fairbank, Women Against War)

2. Unitarian Universalism is rooted in the faith that every person has worth and dignity. We believe that individual differences are gifts from God. We work to protect religious freedoms and to extend rights to disenfranchised people, including oppressed racial and ethnic groups and gays and lesbians.

Unitarian Universalists were leaders in the struggle to abolish slavery in the United States and in the civil rights movement, and we played an instrumental role in gaining marriage equality for same-sex couples in Massachusetts and California. We supported Muslims in America who faced discrimination after the attacks on September 11, 2001, and we were vocal opponents of our government’s decision to unilaterally invade Iraq. We have repeatedly urged our leaders to support the United Nations’ work of diplomacy and peace-keeping.

Central to our religious heritage as Unitarian Universalists is the defense of religious and political freedoms and full equality for all people, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or national origin.

The reports we receive about the treatment of women and political dissidents in Iran raise questions and concerns for us. Is Iran moving towards allowing its citizens more freedom of choice and affiliation? Is the government working towards equality for women in public life? Are protections being created for citizens who identify with different political parties, religious beliefs, and sexual orientations?

Our governments and our cultures are very different. Given those basic differences, I would like to hear from you how the U.S. and Iran can best work together to find nonviolent resolutions to our political conflicts. (Rev. Bill Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations)

3. President Ahmadinejad, you may be aware that there was a violent crackdown on some members of the press and on student protesters here in the U.S. at the recent [political] conventions. I thought, at the time, that it is very sad that thoughtful, engaged young people were walled out and excluded from playing their chosen part in this important process. People often complain bitterly about similar situations in Iran. I would like to ask you, what you think is an effective way to engage the youth of your country (or ours) in the affairs of society. Also, can you tell us something about the ways in which young people are engaged to participate in the democratic process of your government? (Judith Bello, Rochester, New York, peace activist)

4. The process of getting visas is very cumbersome. It takes us 2-3 months, and often we don’t know until the very last minute if we are going to get them. Also, several members of the delegation are often denied the visas, with no explanation and no process to appeal the decision.

We are obliged to get tourist visas, and then we are very limited in what we are allowed to do. In addition to tourist activities, we would like to be able to meet with government officials and non-governmental organizations, and organize joint activities. For example, we would like to send a group of U.S. muralists/artists to work with their Iranian counterparts to set up a U.S./Iran Peace Park. (Some have even suggested the old U.S. Embassy as the site for such a park.) Right now, we don’t even have a way to propose such ideas. Perhaps there could be a special section of the Foreign Ministry that would be empowered to vet such proposals. (Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder, Global Exchange and Code Pink)

5. We were very pleased to see that in its May [2008] letter to the United Nations, Iran indicated its willingness to negotiate on a proposal for multilateral enrichment of uranium in Iran, which could safeguard the interests of Iran in protecting its right to enrich uranium while also satisfying the concerns of the United States that there be no diversion into a weapons program. As you know, [U.S.] Ambassador [Thomas] Pickering and other American experts have endorsed this idea. Our concern is that this proposal has been barely reported in major media in the United States, so that most Americans don’t realize that the Iranian government has made a proposal that could be the basis of a sustainable solution which could safeguard the interests of all countries. And Americans can’t pressure their government to consider something that they don’t even know about. So my question is, how can we work together to put this proposal repeatedly in the court of American public opinion, so that it can no longer be ignored? (Robert Naiman, National Coordinator and Senior Policy Analyst, Just Foreign Policy and convenor for the Iran Working Group of United for Peace and Justice)

6. Mr. President, you recently made statements supporting your foreign minister in his assertions that Iran has no quarrel with the Israeli people, although Iran continues to oppose the State of Israel. Last week, Ayatollah Khamenei suggested that Iran is not a friend of the Israeli people, but indicated that he did not believe this was a topic for fruitful discussion. From the reports we hear, we are a bit confused about the Iranian government’s views on this issue. Many of us in the audience have had the privilege of visiting your country and have great affection for the Iranian people, regardless of the differences between our two governments. We know from our experience that it is always possible to build bridges between peoples even when governments disagree.

How would you describe Iran’s policy towards Israel? If the Palestinian people were to reach a peace agreement with Israel that allowed the two peoples to live side by side without violence, would Iran accept and respect that agreement? (Dr. David Drake, Des Moines, Iowa, on behalf of Henry Precht, Des Moines IA, as well as John Ericson, New York NY)

7. The former U.S. ambassador to the Afghan anti-Taliban coalition, James Dobbins, has publically credited Iran’s deputy foreign minister in 2001, Javad Zarif, with persuading Afghan’s Northern Alliance to accept the agreement that permitted establishment of the post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, greatly assisting the United States.

We have also seen press reports indicating that five years ago back channel contacts between Iranian and U.S. officials nearly led to agreement to pursue comprehensive negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues between Iran and the U.S., including sanctions, regime change, access to technology, support for organizations carrying out acts of violence, the Arab League initiative on Israel, and the nuclear question.

This suggests to us the real possibility of future cooperation between Iran and the United States, even the kind of “grand bargain” that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has spoken of to insure regional stability and peace.

What in your view are the chances for such negotiation and cooperation? (Joe Volk, Executive Secretary, Friends National Committee on Legislation.)

8. In its existing and foreseeable forms, nuclear electrical generation requires huge investments, and requires the commitment of enormous amounts of resources to a single technology for long periods of time. No country has entirely solved the problem of making nuclear power safe from catastrophic accidents, and no country has come up with a long-term solution for disposing of long-lived radioactive waste. Renewable forms of energy — solar, wind, hydro, and waste biomass — carefully selected so as not to interfere with the production of food crops, offer the possibility of more sustainable long-term solutions, and can be deployed in far smaller increments — even a village or a town at a time — as the technologies are improved. They also can be deployed more easily in areas that are not well served by already-developed national power grids. Given the great costs and risks of nuclear energy generation, why does Iran choose to invest its resources and skilled people in this path, rather than seeking to become a leader in renewable energy development? (Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation, and convenor of the United for Peace and Justice working group on Nuclear Non-proliferation)

9. What concrete steps would be most helpful in terms of building a bridge of solidarity between the Iranian and the U.S. people from the point of view of the Iranian government? (Brian Becker, National Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. The question was preceded by an analysis of the political context underlying differences between the United States and Iran, delivered extemporaneously without notes of transcript by Mr. Becker.)

10. Are efforts of the movement in the U.S. and actions of those who oppose war known within Iran? Are there steps we should take here to make people-to-people contact stronger? (Sara Flounders, Director, Stop War on Iran Campaign)

11. Clearly Iran has an interest in regional stability and a stable Iraq at peace with Iran. What do you see as the key issues that Iran would identify in a regional approach to bring peace and stability to Iraq? What would you identify as Iran’s hopes for the role that the United States would play in a regional approach to ending the violence and bringing stability and peace to Iraq? (Dave Robinson, Executive Director, Pax Christi USA)