Thousands of Activists Ask Europe to Boycott US Anti-Iran Conference in Poland
TEHRAN (Basirat): Thousands of anti-war activists from the US and other countries of the world have called on the European Union to skip the Washington-sponsored anti-Iran conference in Poland next month.
"Instead of a summit to confront Iran, we need the world to pressure the United States to reenter the Iran nuclear deal after Trump’s unilateral withdrawal and to lift the devastating sanctions it has imposed on Iran. Sign our letter asking EU countries to skip Pompeo’s belligerent conference in Warsaw next month and instead host a gathering on Middle East peace with all Middle Eastern nations including Iran," the petition already signed by over 3,000 activists said.
They also addressed the EU in a letter which urges its members not to participate in the Poland meeting against Iran.
"Dear Representatives of the European Union, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced that the United States and Poland will jointly host a ministerial meeting on the Middle East in Warsaw on February 13-14. This meeting aims to set the stage for an unnecessary conflict with Iran. We urge you NOT to attend the meeting and instead host an alternative one with all nations of the region, including Iran," it said.
"Secretary Pompeo says the summit will bring together representatives from 70 countries from Asia, Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Europe and the Middle East. While the meeting will address issues of peace, stability, freedom and security, a major part of the agenda is, according to Secretary Pompeo, to make sure that Iran is not a destabilizing force. This meeting is part of the US campaign against Iran that includes withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement and re-imposing sanctions that the US had lifted as part of the deal," the letter said.
"A major step forward for peace and security in the Middle East was precisely the Iran nuclear agreement, which was negotiated by the US, Iran, France, the UK, Germany, Russia and China, and was approved by the European Union and the UN Security Council. The other signatories have remained in the agreement and have been looking for ways to circumvent US sanctions on Iran. It is the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the long-negotiated agreement and its increased hostility towards Iran that have added to the instability of the region and are threatening to unleash another devastating war in the Middle East," it said.
Warning that the US is fanning the flames of conflict, it said, "Since European countries are still a party to the Iran nuclear agreement and want to improve relations with Iran, it would not make sense for Europe to participate in a conference hostile to Iran. Your non-participation would send a critical message to other countries to follow your lead."
"We urge all nations to skip this conference and instead pressure the US administration to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement. We urge you to host an alternative gathering with all Middle Eastern nations, including Iran, to stop terrorism and end wars, including the catastrophic war in Yemen," it concluded.
The list below shows a number of signatories of the petition:
Medea Benjamin, Co-Director, CODEPINK for Peace
Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition UK
Chris Nineham, Stop the War Coalition UK
Tarak Kauff, Veterans for Peace
David Hartsough, Director, Peaceworkers
Hassan El-Tayyab, Co-Director at Just Foreign Policy
Jodie Evans, Co-Director, CODEPINK for Peace
Bill Fletcher Jr., former President of TransAmerica Forum
Ann Wright, retired US Army Colonel
Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Alice Slater, Coordinating Committee Member, World Beyond War
Kevin Zeese, co-director, Popular Resistance
Margaret Flowers, co-director, Popular Resistance
Joseph Carl Gerson, President, Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security
Ludo De Brabander, spokesperson, Vrede vzw, Belgium
Phyllis Bennis, fellow, Institute for Policy Studies
Kevin Martin, President, Peace Action
Gar Smith, co-founder and director, Environmentalists Against War
Jacqueline Cabasso, National Co-convener, United for Peace and Justice
Mubarak Awad, President, Nonviolence International
Michael Beer, Executive Director, Nonviolence International
John Hallam, UN Nuclear Disarmament Campaigner, People for Nuclear Disarmament, Australia
Junko Abe, representative, Nuclear Free Ehime, Japan
Bruce Gagnon, coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Lisa Pelletti Clark, co-president, International Peace Bureau, Italy
Theresa Kresse, coordinator, International Peace Bureau, Germany
David Swanson, Director, World BEYOND War
Corazon Valdez-Fabros, Vice President, International Peace Bureau, Philippines
Sussan Tahmasebi, Executive Director, FEMENA
Trita Parsi, author
Mark Weisbrot, Executive Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Mitchell Plitnick, researcher, Lobe Log
Elaine Scarry, professor, Harvard University
Paul Shannon, committee member, American Friends Service Committee
Fatemeh Keshavarz, professor, University of Maryland
Paul Barker, Peace Corps Iran Association
Mark Solomon, former co-chair, United States Peace Council
Carolyn Eisenberg, professor, Hofstra University
Gayle McLaughlin, interim chair, California Progressive Alliance
Janice Sevre-Duszynska, media rep, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
Foad Izadi, professor, University of Tehran
Jamal Abdi, president, National Iranian American Council
Gerry Condon, president, Veterans for Peace
Gary Ghiradi, communications director, The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth
Farideh Farhi, professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Charles Richard Mayson, New Zealand
Seth Morrison, Jewish Voice for Peace
Isam Suleiman, Palestinian Christians Acting for Peace
Melody Moezzi Esq., author, attorney, activist
V. Rev. Fr. George Makhlouf, Chaplain - Spiritual Adviser, Palestinian Christians Acting for Peace
Jeanette G. Gottlieb, president, Peace Corps Iran Association
Rev. Catherine Alder, retired pastor and counselor, United Church of Christ
Carolyn Yale, board member, Peace Corps Iran Association
David Webb, chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, United Kingdom
George Muedeking, mission elder, Albuquerque Mennonite Church
Lucas Wirl, co-chair, No to War-No to NATO, Germany
Alfred L. Marder, president, US Peace Council
The number of signatories of the conference is increasing every moment.
Pompeo told Fox News earlier this month that Washington would jointly host a global summit focused on Iran and the Middle East next month in Poland.
The international gathering will take place in Warsaw from February 13 to 14, the US State Department said in a statement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at the anti-Iran conference, describing it as a "desperate circus” that will disgrace the participants.
"Reminder to host/participants of anti-Iran conference: those who attended last US anti-Iran show are either dead, disgraced, or marginalized. And Iran is stronger than ever,” Zarif said in a Friday tweet.
Zarif also strongly criticized the Polish government for hosting the conference, reminding Warsaw of thousands of Polish refugees saved by Iran during the Second World War.
"Polish Govt. can't wash the shame: while Iran saved Poles in WWII, it now hosts desperate anti-Iran circus,” he went on to say.
Also, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani underlined that the anti-Tehran conference indicated that the US sanctions against Iran had yielded no results.
"Turning sanctions with utmost pressures into seminar and congress means that you are empty-handed," Shamkhani told reporters in Tehran last Saturday.
His remarks alluded to the US administration's attempts to put utmost pressures on Iran through sanctions.
Source:FNA
