Protest at Iran Mission to UN, Memorial and Sanctions Talk

Where Is My Vote? - NY:

4:30pm to 5:30pm

41st Street and 3rd Avenue, New York, NY

A group of us are gathering in front of the Iranian Mission to UN to show our disgust and outrage at yesterday's summary executions by the Islamic Republic.

Solidarity Committee for Advancement of Democracy in Iran:

We are all Iranian Kurd Today

Memorial Vigil for the 5 executed political prisoners 

5:30-7 PM 

Washington Square North at 5th Avenue, New York, NY

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=120405824654280

Where Is My Vote? - NY, Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU, The Nation, and Campaign for Peace and Democracy:

7-9pm 

50 Washington Square South (at 255 Sullivan Street)

Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies @ NYU

Sanctioning Iran?

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=116958398324444&ref=mf

FEATURING:

JOY GORDON – Professor of philosophy at Fairfield University, PhD Yale University, JD Boston University School of Law. Dr. Gordon has published extensively on issues of international relations and international law, particularly in the area of economic sanctions. Her most recent work Invisible War: The United States and Iraq Sanctions was published by the Harvard University Press.

TRITA PARSI – Founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian politics, and the balance of power in the Middle East. Dr. Parsi is the author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States. On February 25, 2010, he testified before Congress on the Human Rights situation in Iran.

ROANE CAREY – Serving as moderator for this event, he is managing editor of The Nation magazine. He is the editor of two books on the Middle East conflict, The New Intifada (Verso, 2001) and The Other Israel (New Press, 2002).

World Press Distracted by Boobquake while Iran Maneuvers Into Women's Rights Commission

by Julie Jigsawnovich

Blogger Jennifer McCreight, who created Boobquake, must now use her marketing skills, new-found fame, and press contacts to seriously address international women's rights. And organizations seeking to elevate women's rights must acknowledge the power that sexuality has in marketing to the West. The fine lines between freedom of expression, distraction, empowerment, exploitation and oppression may have entered public debate between Islam and the West in new ways thanks (there's some irony here) to McCreight and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Fox New reports:
"NEW YORK — Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged 'immodest.'

"Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women," according to its website.
Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of 'vacancies in subsidiary bodies,' was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was "elected by acclamation," meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States."

Meanwhile, the Official facebook page for Boobquake gathered 213,899 confirmed guests (myself among them), and 70,619 guests maybe attending.

In her article for The Daily Beast, Jennifer McCreight, the blogger who initiated Boobquake includes information about the press she received regarding the event. McCreight reports that, "I was interviewed by CNN, BBC, CBC, ABC, FOX, WLFI (our local news affiliate), and that’s just naming a few. Articles about Boobquake appeared on every continent except Antarctica…Boobquake received support and commentary from people like Roger Ebert, Penn Jillette, Phil Plait from the Bad Astronomy blog, “The Bloggess,” Bill Corbett of Mystery Science Theater and Philip DeFranco, the video blogger. But the cherry on top was a skit about Boobquake on the Colbert Report."

With international press frothing over Boobquake, who covered the letter signed by international women's rights, human rights, and anti-violence groups and notable Iranian activists both inside and outside Iran sent to the U.N. ? Well, Radio Zamaneh and En.IranGreenVoice.com reported it. I hope others also reported this letter.

This article posted by S.B. Anderlini, Hadi Ghaemi, and Dokhi Fassihian on ForeignPolicy.com expressed the devastating implications of Iran having a seat on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, including:

"First, Iran will claim the win as a major diplomatic victory and indication of an international community that supports and respects it. Second, as a member of the CSW Iran will be well placed to shape the agenda for discussion and the recommendations made. It will bring the same regressive attitudes and cynicism towards women that it enacts in Iran to the global community. No doubt it will have cheerleaders among other nations that prefer to see women as second class citizens.

"Finally, as a CSW member, Iran will be well placed to block the participation of independent women's human rights groups from UN forums, while easing the way for its many counterfeit or ‘government-led non-governmental organizations' (GONGOs) to participate at the UN as if they are legitimate independent civil society and human rights defenders."

PROTEST AT THE U.N. AGAINST AHMADINEJAD SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY

Iran's Bait and Switch

by Julie Jigsawnovich

After visiting Iran, I learned that women there have fewer rights than women in many other predominantly muslim countries including Syria, Egypt and Malaysia. It seemed peculiar that the IRI recently withdrew their audacious attempt at membership in the U.N. Human Rights Council, only to announce their plans to join the U.N. Commission for the Status of Women. This resembled a grasp at straws of ethical respectability, especially after the regime's brutal crackdown. The rape and murder of female and male opposition candidate supporters has been widely reported not only by the international press, but also addressed by elected officials inside Iran including Mehdi Karroubi.* 

Tuesday S.B. Anderlini, Hadi Ghaemi, and Dokhi Fassihian reported  that the UN's Commission for the Status of Women (CSW), comprising 45 countries, is the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to the advancement of women. Its mandate is "to evaluate progress, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide."


"Iran does not deserve a spot on the commission; it should earn it by providing Iranian women their basic human rights. Yet on Wednesday, Iran is likely to ascend to the CSW because it agreed to pull out of running for the Human Rights Council in exchange for securing an uncontested seat for the CSW. That it can do so, with such ease, is a denigration of the very principles for which the CSW and UN stand."