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Iranian Student Alliance
in America -- UC Berkeley
Pouya Alimagham
December
23, 2004
iranian.com
Tired of the apathy and the low level of consciousness regarding
the Iranian identity, culture, community, and history amongst the
UC Berkeley populace and especially Iranian students, a group of
inspired Iranian students moved to create an environment where
these important issues could be addressed. They built the Iranian
Student Alliance in America in the fall of 2002 >>> Photos
Inexperienced, but motivated, these Iranians tested the waters
for the 2002-2003 academic year. They sought to promote a better
sense of identity and community and advocate a better understanding
of Iran and its culture. What's more, they felt that Iranians lacked
a presence on the historic campus of UC Berkeley with 32,000 students
and worked to remedy it by being loud and organized. They organized
poetry nights, movie nights, brought attention to the INS detainees
by demonstrating in their support, a lecture series titled: "Iran
and Iranians after September 11th," and launched a semester
journal titled: Goftogoo:
Dialogue on Iran and Iranians.
The group gained much experience after its first academic year
in operation. Thus, over the summer of 2003, the active members
revamped the entire organization. The following fall, ISAA exploded
onto the scene as one of most organized and active student groups
at UC Berkeley.
ISAA had planned 24 events for the fall semester
including, three poetry nights, four movie nights, an open forum,
a music night, (pictures music
night)
ten lectures and documentary screenings regarding Iranian history
ranging from the Iran-Iraq War to the Iranian Revolution, an Iranian-American
night celebrating the Iranian-American identity, a book signing
by the author of "All The Shah's Men," Stephen Kinzer,
(pictures
from book signing)
and a lecture series pertaining to the CIA coup of 1953 in Iran,
which drew an audience of 450 people. (picture
from the lecture series)
What's
more, our publication, Goftogoo: Dialogue on Iran and Iranians,
was published for its second semester and T-shirts and sweaters
were made promoting the Iranian identity. At the end of the fall
semester, ISAA was ranked the most popular and one of the most
active student groups at UC Berkeley. In other words, ISAA and
Iranians had a presence; they were loud and organized. This accomplishment
was made in ISAA's third semester in existence.
Over the winter break, the tragic earthquake at Bam struck. Although
ISAA members were on vacation, they constantly sent emails updating
its viewers on the tragedy, relief efforts, and informing them
of how they could help, all the while planning their own fundraiser
for when the semester began. Therefore, on the first week of the
semester, ISAA screened Tahmineh Milani's new film: "The Fifth
Reaction," to an audience of 375 people. Afterwards, her
sister Maryam Milani, who worked on the film, gave a brief lecture
on the
women in Iran. The proceeds went to Bam as ISAA tried to do its
part. (pictures
from the event and certificate of ISAA's
donation to Kahrizak)
ISAA organized over thirty events for the semester
including three poetry nights, three movie nights, a backgammon
tournament, which received front page exposure by UC Berkeley's "The
Daily Cal,"
a language night, two open forums, two music nights, two Iranian
dance workshops, nine documentary screenings and lectures regarding
issues ranging from the Iranian Revolution to drug addiction and
minorities in Iran. ISAA coordinated a Multi-campus
Iranian Awareness Week with more than eleven Iranian
groups at various campuses ranging from MIT to UCLA participating.
One of the events from the awareness
week was a book signing by the author of "Funny in Farsi," Firoozeh
Dumas, which was also covered by "The
Daily Cal,"The
purpose of this book signing was to observe the Iranian immigrant
experience through
the eyes of the author of the book.
ISAA brought
the famous Iranian singer, Dariush, to campus to speak about
drug addiction in Iran and in the Iranian diaspora. (pictures
from event)
The following day ISAA organized a private meeting with Dariush
and other Iranian student leaders. (pictures
from event)
To maintain a presence, ISAA tabled in front of Sproul Hall on
behalf of our student group for the entire school year, with the
exception of the rainy weeks. (pictures)
Additionally, we hung a huge banner from one of the most visible
buildings on campus (MLK) bringing attention to our student group
and proudly displaying an outline of Iran's geographic shape and
national colors. (banner
pictures)
ISAA was once again acknowledged as the most popular student
group at UC Berkeley, but this time, it was also noted as the most
active. (ranking)
All in all, ISAA organized over 50 quality events for the 2003-2004
academic year (fall and spring).
With the closure of the 2003-2004
academic school, ISAA was the recipient of two awards, one from
UC Berkeley's student government, the ASUC, honoring ISAA
in the field of "Campus Presence" with the "Highest
Excellency" notification. (pictures
and award itself)
ISAA also was awarded a plaque from the Bay Area's Payvand
Cultural Center for ISAA's "continued dedication and
commitment to our community." (link
to pictures and plaque itself)
In the fall of 2004, under the leadership of the organization's
first women presidents, ISAA continued to thrive. The group organized
over 25 events, of which was its fourth music night, (pictures
from music night)
fourth open forum with the theme: "Iranian dating and marriage,"
(pictures
from open forum)
its seventh and eighth joint poetry nights, 11 documentary screenings
and lectures ranging from the "NGO's Role in a Developing
Society in Iran" (pictures
from lecture)
to Iran's student movement.
ISAA organized three movie
nights, one of which was a screening of the popular Iranian film:
Marmoolak (Lizard), a voter registration party to register Iranians
to vote for the 2004 presidential elections, a second highly
competitive backgammon tournament, (pictures
from tournament)
its second Iranian-American Night, and its first Iranian cuisine
night to celebrate the delicacies of Iranian cuisine. (pictures
from cuisine night)
ISAA in collaboration with Art Vision also organized a world
music concert at Wheeler Auditorium where prominent musicians
blended
the world's musical cultures to make innovative sounds. (pictures
from concert)
The group continued to sell its famed shirt and sweaters that
promote the Iranian identity and published its fourth edition
of its magazine,
Goftogoo: Dialogue on Iran and Iranians.
In its four editions of circulation, the magazine has covered
a multitude of topics ranging from the Iranian-American immigrant
experience, to being a religious minority in post-revolutionary
Iran, to HIV and AIDS in Iran, to the causes of the Iran-Iraq War,
to the way African and Korean Americans view Iran and Iranians.
Articles on the influence of ideologue Dr. Ali Shariati and US
coup in Iran were among many of the historical articles written.
Throughout the semesters, ISAA has actively worked to promote
its mission statement, which supports the Iranian identity, establishment
of the diaspora community, advocate awareness on Iran and Iranian
issues, and to promote the preservation and knowledge of the Iranian
culture.
 In the fall of 2004, after semesters of communication
with various like-minded Iranian student groups, ISAA, in an effort
to fulfill one of the pillars of its mission statement which promotes
the establishment of the diaspora community, spearheaded a global
campaign to formerly make a sisterhood of Iranian organizations
with Iranian student groups in America, Canada, and Europe.
The
sisterhood was officially announced on November 7th, and its purpose
was to promote unity through an official connection with Iranian
student groups separated by regionalism, and to be able to work
together on common issues. When the National Geographic was mistakenly
called the Persian Gulf the "Arabian Gulf," the sisterhood
was able to coordinate a mass emailing campaign to the National
Geographic to urge them to correct the mistake.
ISAA looks forward to continuing to represent Iran and Iranians
in America and in particular, at UC Berkeley. With continued involvement
of the Iranian students and support from the campus community and
the greater Iranian community, ISAA is confident that its message
will continue to be one of excellence and importance. If you would
like to support ISAA, there are many different ways to proceed:
1. With the cost of our semester publication and all the ISAA
events high, we could use community financial help. If you want
to make a donation, please send a check payable to "ISAA/ASUC" to:
Iranian Student Alliance in America
400 Eshelman Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
2. If you own your own site, you can help promote ISAA on the
internet by either adding ISAA's web link to your site (Iranian
Student Alliance in America -- UC Berkeley --
or you can obtain the ISAA icon and put it on your site and link
it to the ISAA site.
 3. You can join our email list through our
site,
and get informed about our events and projects and either attend
yourself or tell your friends and family as ISAA is welcoming to
everybody.
4. You can email the ISAA board with encouraging words: isaa_board@lists.berkeley.edu About
Pouya Alimagham was the 2003-2004 ISAA president. Although
no longer a student, he continues to support the student group
as
a community member.
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