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Needs at home & compassion for earthquake victims.
Stopping the sanctions and threats of war.
By mickielynn on 2012-08-18 20:02:18
Last Wednesday afternoon a group of 10 peace activists from the Women Against War Iran Project and our allies
demonstrated and leafleted at the Empire State Plaza J Love NY food festival. It was our 6th annual Food Festival event.
We handed out 230 leaflets during the hour vigil. In past years the leaflets shared facts and myths about Iran and focused on
the need to change US policies that rely on severe sanctions and threats of war. This year we called attention to the high
price that people in the US would pay for yet another war. In the interests of a thriving community we all need to work for a
negotiated peace with Iran.
NO to WAR on IRAN
If you liked the loss of lives and resources of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you will love a war with Iran!
[caption id="attachment_3616" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Reminder: How is the War Economy Working
HOW IS THE ees.
WAR ECONOMY?
| WORKING FOR YOu
for You?"] [/caption] Did you know that so far this year Albany County’s
contribution to the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is $ 34.7 million? That money could come home to:
e Provide healthcare for 13,986 low- income children in our town or,
Hire 409 elementary school teachers or,
Convert 23,289 households in Albany to solar energy or,
Serve 3,546 military veterans with VA medical care for a year or,
Feed 16, 599 people with one year’s worth of groceries or,
Allow 4,140 low-income people to receive healthcare for one year or,
Hire 461 police for one year or,
Fund 5,783 scholarships to students, or
Enable 6, 260 students to receive Pell grants worth $5,550?
To bring this money back home, say No to War on Iran.
Why should you help prevent war on Iran?
An attack on Iran will lead to twice the human and financial cost as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, due
to Iran's large population and vast geography. An attack on Iran would result in a sharp jump in oil prices causing a severe
worldwide recession. According to the world renowned economist, Professor Nuriel Roubini, “Oil prices would jump by at
least 50% and be a disaster for the world economy.” If we attack Iran, A/bany County alone will pay $70 million to fund the
war machine. This is money that we can spend at home for education, healthcare, housing, better pensions, roads,
environmental protection, job creation and all that we want for a better life and a better city. [caption id="attachment_3618"
align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Hands off Iran, Bring our war dollars home, artist Kim Kennedy "]
[/caption] Severe sanctions that have been imposed on the people of Iran
kill and maim the most vulnerable including the young, the poor, the sick and the elderly and women of all ages who need to
care for their loved ones. You can read more about the effects of these sanctions on the Iranian people_in an article posted
just after the latest most severe US and EU sanctions went into effect. Here's just a little of what Havaar had to say about
the effects of the sanctions:
These increasingly aggressive measures together exacerbate the suffering of the Iranian people who are
already facing the grave impact of sanctions and their government’s inequitable economic policies as they
confront rising prices in food, medicines and other basic needs. These sanctions constitute collective
punishment. They are not an “alternative to war,” but are war by other means. They are an assault on the
lives and aspirations of the Iranian people, including their aspirations and struggles against state repression to
create a just and meaningfully democratic society.
That statement was written in early July. Since then there has been a serious disaster in Iran. On Saturday, August 11th two
back to back earthquakes struck the northwestern part of Iran, along the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia. The 6.4 and
6.3 magnitude quakes killed 306 people and injured more than 3,000. The epicenter included the towns of Ahar, Haris and
Varzaqan in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan, and surrounding villages where about 300,000 people lived. At least 12
villages were completely destroyed, and 425 villages had 50 to 80 percent of their buildings damaged.. The heavily damaged
region has a population of about 300,000. Most of the 306 fatalities were women and children. Many roads and other
infrastructure were heavily damaged which made it difficult to reach the areas that were most affected. Relief workers
distributed tents and helped survivors, mainly in rural areas but there was a shortage of shelters. Authorities estimated that
the quake caused some $600 million in damage. Iran's government said it has provided shelter for about 50,000 people who
lost their homes during the quakes, which have been followed by at least 60 aftershocks. . Hospitals in the cities of Tabriz,
Ardabil and other cities nearby took in many of the injured, and now there are still many people in need of food and water
and other supplies. Uninjured Iranians stood in long lines in Tehran and other larger cities to donate blood to the injured.
During the first two days after the quakes, Tehran insisted it needed no foreign assistance to handle the situation. Then on
Tuesday, Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Iran is now welcoming International assistance for the quake
victims. On Tuesday 8/14,, there was another magnitude 5.3 earthquake that hit the city of Tabriz and the village of
Varzaquan. No one was killed in that quake but the residents of Tabriz were frightened and have been sleeping outside in
the streets and in public parks.
[caption id="attachment_3625" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption=" An Iranian
resident on the rubble of his home in the village of Baje-Baj near Varzaquan, Iran. On 8/12/12
as rescue workers above, search for survivors of the two earthquakes. Photo credit, Atta
Kenare/AFP"]
[/caption]
Post earthquake conditions reveal needs for compassion and aid to brother and sister human beings. First of all it's difficult
for people in the US to respond when we've been told over and over that /ran is our enemy. But it can still be done. What
makes it so much more difficult for Americans, even Iranian Americans to send aid to the earthquake victims is the vicious
sanctions that are in place that forbid any financial transactions with Iran. Many other nations have now offered aid through
their embassies in Iran but people in the US face barriers. Here's what Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National
Iranian American Council, suggested:
What we’re asking for is that President Obama does exactly the same thing as President Bush did in 2003 when
there was a massive earthquake in Bam in Iran. President Bush, at that moment, I think within four or five days,
issued a general license, meaning that the American people would have no constraints on their ability to show
their humanity and generosity and make donations to the victims of the earthquake in the city of Bam. And we
saw massive outpouring of support from the American public, including of course Iranian Americans, and teams
of Americans going there to help rebuild, to help the victims, to find bodies, etc. And it was a very positive
thing. Right now, however, the Obama administration has not taken that action. There’s a whole new web and
complexity of sanctions that probably makes such a decision more difficult, but at the same time, the only thing
that the Obama administration has done so far is to promise that licenses, to be able to go and operate in Iran or
to make donations to Iran, would be expedited. We don’t think that is enough. [...]
At the end of the day, these sanctions, according to the Obama administration itself, were not meant to hurt the
people of Iran; it was meant to put pressure on the Iranian government to change its nuclear calculus. But we’re
seeing increasingly that the real victims of these sanctions ... is not the government of Iran; the real victims are
the ordinary people in Iran who unfortunately don’t have much of an opportunity to put pressure on their
government to change the policies. They’re not responsible for the policies of the Iranian government, because
Iran, at the end of the day, is not a democracy. So we’re seeing this pressure being misdirected, hitting the
wrong people. And nowhere else is it as clear as when you have an earthquake and you see that the type of help
that the American people usually like to give now is being prohibited, partly because the Iranians took a very
long time before they accepted donations and help from the outside, but mainly because of the sanctions that do
exist.
Destroyed homes in Amir Ali Kandi, a village near Varzaquan, Photo credit Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
