Let's Meet

Call for a council of all IRI opposition leaders

Balatarin
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Let's Meet
by Setareh Sabety
19-Jun-2011
 

(I wrote a call for unity a couple of weeks ago, now I present how I think we should proceed to unite.)

-- Book a conference where anyone can travel to, like Turkey or Malaysia where there are no visa requirements for Iranians. (Fundraising could be done to accommodate those who cannot afford such travel.)

-- Invite all leaders and active members of Iranian opposition groups. All should be encouraged to come, including Reformists, Communists, PMOI, Monarchists, Kurdish, and other ethnic groups. This meeting seeks to bring together varied and opposing ideologies in the belief that we can all agree on a set of principles to oppose the IRI with one voice.

-- Draft a set of rules for the smooth running of the meeting. Provide a translation of Robert Rules of Order for all participants. We can also get help from Iranians who have experience running party caucuses in the West. We could call this our Opposition Leadership Retreat.

-- Draft a broad set of goals that we all agree on and put it to vote. This could be like a bill of rights that includes such easily accepted civil liberties as free speech and free assembly (like the one that the Five Intellectuals proposed).

-- Agree on a general strategy to keep a consistent voice of opposition in the international community that expresses our opposition in unison. It may seem impossible to bring these opposition groups together but if we all agree on the basic tenets of democratic activism there is nothing to fear. In our ideal parliament there is room for Mousavi, Rajavi as well as Pahlavi, just like how democratic legislative bodies in many of our host countries include communists and extreme right groups in the same chamber. We have to sign an oath entering the meeting to forget past grudges and respect even those whose ideas we dislike. Truth and reconciliation should be our maxim.

-- Elect leaders and officers to implement our strategy.

-- Fix a future date to assess our progress.

Balatarin
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more from Setareh Sabety
 
mahmoudg

Great Idea

by mahmoudg on Fri Jun 24, 2011 03:30 PM PDT

Sign me up and let me know at mahmoudg@ghaffaris.com  good luck and let me know what i need to do to effectively participate.


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Hamid Y. Javanbakht

Independence and Subjectivity

by Hamid Y. Javanbakht on Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:10 AM PDT

There is a need for unity, but not uniformity. There is a need for a leadership, but the meeting should be sustainable without a fixed leader. The problem with the PMOI and Monarchists is not the basic human rights principles, but the heirarchical nature of their leadership, which undermines the democratic nature of what a meeting of opposition groups is intended to reach. The NCR basically consists entirely of supporters of Rajavi. We need to free ourselves from people who undermine our credibility within Iran. There is a generational and ideological gap as well, the opposition should not consist of various outsider factions who the majority of Iranians cannot identify with, in order to foster unity we need to begin with what the various opposition groups have in common, and that should begin with a renunciation of violence as a means to our aim, as violence is a mentality the IRI prefers the opposition to practice as it only delegitimizes our entire cause. The road to hell begins with good intentions, we have to listen to what the people of Iran want, not just a group of self-important intellectuals living abroad.


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MM

کمیته تشکیلات اتحاد برای پیشبرد سکولار دموکراسی در ایران

MM
Mon Jun 20, 2011 10:27 AM PDT

فراخوان برگزاری دومین همایش

اتحادبرای پیشبرد سکولار دموکراسی در ایران

اتحاد برای پیشبرد  سکولار دمکراسی در ایران از انجمن ها و کمیته های هوادار حقوق بشر و دمکراسی  دعوت میکند که در همایش دوم آن که در روزهای دوم و سوم جولای ۲۰۱۱ برگزار می شود شرکت جویند

کمیته تشکیلات اتحاد برای پیشبرد سکولار دموکراسی در ایران

//www.iranma.org


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default

How about On-line meeting first . . .

by Amir Normandi on Mon Jun 20, 2011 08:51 AM PDT

Fantastic idea, How about an On-line (vertual) meeting first to form the basic foundation?

We can do four / seven meetings to cover different time zones in the globe and test the willingness of the oppsition in forming an alliance!   

Amir Normandi


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Alidad

..more like rubbish

by Alidad on Mon Jun 20, 2011 03:55 AM PDT

This sounds like an undesirable fantasy. What goals could ALL these groups agree on, when the Mojahedin Khalq want to establish a communist Gulag regime in Iran? Their commitment to democracy is fundamentally in doubt, when they keep their members locked up in a concentration camp. Any meeting or round table that includes these murderers has no CREDIBILITY, hello?

What makes you think the MEK represent anyone in Iran, other than their agents if they have any? It is an insult to Iranian reformists  - not to mention representatives of the Persian monarchy - to sit them at a table with gangsters.


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Anahid Hojjati

Good idea Setareh jan but alternative might be

by Anahid Hojjati on Mon Jun 20, 2011 03:04 AM PDT

that the true opposition leaders will emerge from future events. As much as we all like to see a free Iran as soon as possible, if the movement is at the stage that it is, it may be best to wait for natural turn of events. You would think after all IRI crimes and seeing uprising in Arab countries, we would have more events happening in Iran but that has not been the case. There are many factors involved. Perhaps, it is best to see if an organized opposition will emerge from future events.  We have seen even from videos posted on IC that people when confronted with atrocities, stay quiet, watch or the maximum that they do is to take video. We need to get to a point tha we will see videos in Iran that more and more people confront IRI people lwhen they see actions such as arresting women for bad hejab. Otherwise, this opposition that will meet will not be able to achieve much in Iran.


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salman farsi

Wow! This lady is a genius!

by salman farsi on Mon Jun 20, 2011 01:56 AM PDT

Why nobody thought about his before!?

Question: can a democracy loving muslim (a traitor to some) have a seat at the top table?

 For an Islamic democracy


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amirparvizforsecularmonarchy

Why should MEK attend, They are already receiving USA/EU Support

by amirparvizforsecularmonarchy on Sun Jun 19, 2011 08:30 PM PDT

MEK will not participate.  For Starters, they are already working on phase 2.


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MM

this meeting is long overdue

by MM on Sun Jun 19, 2011 07:48 PM PDT

This meeting needs to be in a neutral corner and has to be moderated by someone(s) who is(are) respected by the majority of the factions.


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alimostofi

Of course it is a great

by alimostofi on Sun Jun 19, 2011 05:59 PM PDT

Of course it is a great idea. Three points. The defender of Iranian culture is an institution called The Royal Institution which if it was run properly, it would have acted and saved the culture of Iran by now. But the King thinks he is a human rights activist and is involved in politics. He needs to just hold the flag and be a cultural centre, and not be in politics.

The political groups can only act if there is an Iran as such. At the moment we have an Islamic Republic of Iran. So any group acting in the land of Iran is putting Islam above Iran. Once the cultural centre is created by the King then the political groups can flourish.

So let's get the foundation right first Agree that the culture is at risk. No one can disagree on this if they put Iran first. Don't put the cart before the horse.

Ali Mostofi

//www.alimostofi.com

 


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