Dear Kossacks:
U.S. leaders are dramatically stepping up their saber rattling against the Iranian regime, promoting "crippling sanctions" and military action against the country. Experts across the political spectrum agree that these actions will do great harm to the Iranian people, the most pro-American population in the Middle East, destabilize the region, and increase support for the country's despotic, brutal regime.
It is imperative that we act now to advocate vigorously against counterproductive and human rights-abusing approaches to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
Please join concerned Americans and prominent luminaries and opinion leaders in signing this petition to President Obama and Congress. The petition has also been endorsed by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Faith Voices, and Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Show your support for effective, peaceful, and human rights-promoting solutions to the dispute.
We need thousands of signatures to prevent yet another disastrous, violent, and harmful course of action in the Middle East. Thank you in advance for your support of peace, human rights, and our nation's shared tradition of democratic ideals.
In gratitude,
Rocky Anderson
Announcement of petition:
Leading scholars and political, cultural, and religious leaders initiate petition urging solidarity with the Iranian people and a peaceful resolution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program
Petition to President Obama and Congress available for signatures at http://americansiraniansunitedinpeac...
At a time of brutal suppression of peaceful protests in Iran, as well as dramatically increasing tensions over Iran’s program of uranium enrichment, numerous prominent figures in US academic, political, cultural, and religious life are today advocating, in a petition available online, for solidarity between the American people and the people of Iran. The petition also calls for a peaceful resolution of the nuclear-related dispute between the governments of the two nations, rather than US actions, such as bombing and harsh sanctions, that would harm the Iranian people and undermine international stability.
"[W]e, the undersigned, affirm our solidarity with the Iranian people at this crucial historic moment, and we urge you and our international allies to resist provocations to attack Iran," the petition, which is attached to this release, reads in part. "The present oppressive government of Iran and its ruling theocrats have much to gain from the U.S. or Israel bombing Iran, including the consolidation of their power, further excuses for persecuting Iranian dissidents, and greater outrage against the U.S. throughout the Muslim world."
High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project and Omid for Iran, the organizers of the effort, have made the petition available for signatures by the general public at http://americansiraniansunitedinpeac... After gathering signatories, High Road for Human Rights will present the petition to President Obama, other Executive Branch officials, and Congress. The following prominent opinion leaders are confirmed signatories to the petition:
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Graham Nash - Singer-songwriter (The Hollies; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Noam Chomsky - Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; author of Manufacturing Consent and nearly one hundred other books
Andy Jacobs - Korean War veteran and former Indiana Congressman (1965-1973, 1975-1997)
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D. - Executive Director, The Fellowship of Reconciliation USA
Diana C. Gibson - Steering Committee, Christian Peace Witness, Convenor, Multifaith Voices
for Peace & Justice
Ed Asner - Former President of Screen Actors Guild, activist, and actor (The Mary Tyler
Moore Show, Lou Grant)
John Nichols – Author, Washington correspondent for The Nation, editor of Against the Beast:
A Documentary History of American Opposition to Empire
Edwin Firmage - Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law (emeritus), University of Utah S.J.
Quinney School of Law; coauthor, To Chain the Dogs of War
Rita Brock, Ph.D. - Founding Co-Director, Faith Voices for the Common Good
Kevin Zeese - Executive Director and Co-Founder, Voters for Peace
Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs – Founder, The Progressive Faith Foundation
Naomi Wolf - Author of seven books, including The Beauty Myth, The End of America, and
Give Me Liberty
George Hunsinger - McCord Professor of Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary
David Swanson - Activist, author, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a
More Perfect Union
Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D. - Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual
Ross C "Rocky" Anderson - Executive Director, High Road for Human Rights; Former Mayor,
Salt Lake City, Utah
Mimi Kennedy - Author, activist, and television and screen actress; starring roles in Dharma & Greg
and In the Loop)
Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Faith Voices
Omid for Iran
High Road for Human Rights
Daniel Ellsberg - Former Marine commander, former assistant to Secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara, defense specialist, responsible for disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, author, Secrets: A
Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, and subject of Academy Award-nominated film, The
Most Dangerous Man in America
Prominent policy organizations across the political spectrum, such as CATO Institute and Brookings Institution, have expressed strong opposition to military action against Iran. Even Defense Secretary Robert Gates has admitted that military strikes would be ineffective at stopping a possible nuclear program, increase regional and international instability, and harden the Iranian regime’s resolve to produce a nuclear weapon. Instead of actions that would violate essential tenets of universal human rights and harm US national security, the petition supports the use of containment to frustrate Iran’s potential nuclear ambitions. Containment, supported by Ambassador Nicholas Burns and other prominent diplomats and policy leaders, was proven to be effective against the Soviet Union, which posed a far greater threat to US and international peace and security.
"The Iranian people are not our enemies. They are our friends," the petition states. "They hold the key to promoting peace and security in the Middle East. The best way to solve any threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program is for the world to declare and demonstrate its support for the Iranian people’s demand for democracy and human rights."
High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project organizes and mobilizes people at the grassroots level in communities around the country to heighten awareness about human rights abuses and to take effective actions to stop preventable suffering through changes in US policies and practices. High Road complements the work of other nonprofit human rights organizations by organizing citizens in orchestrated, sustained campaigns, through a growing national network, to take effective grassroots actions that promote substantive human rights policy reforms. In addition to its work on genocide, slavery, torture, the undermining of the rule of law, and the death penalty, High Road focuses on climate change within a human rights framework.