im across the street right now, this protest was put together very quickly through Iranian radio and TV by all types of different people. It's so sad what is going on, i have talked to lots of different families today who have a brother, cousin, dad someone get detained by the INS in the last few weeks. They say they are being kept in horrible conditinos and being treated very unfairly and some are facing deportation.
A lot of people are out here and it looks awesome.. im amazed that this was put together without any activist groups.. in some ways that makes it even better.. but i am truly surprised that no activist organizations are even out here.. no ANSWER no NOT IN OUR NAME, no Peace coalitions, no people tabling.. it's mostly Iranian people.. it's kind of weird cuz ususally when i come to protests out here mostly those groups have organized it and lots of white people and weekend activsits come out to them.. but for such an important event like this.. none of those groups are even present.. maybe they only go to events that they organize.. and events like this are just not important enough..
who knows
either way this today has shown me that peopel can come together w/ out any leaders of big old groups telling them where to go and this and that.. they didn't even have a permit (so i've heard from a few speakers) this is truly awesome :D these people all took time out of their busy days, lots of families, lots of kids, and they made their way out here today to speak out against these horrific acts by the INS.
this war is effecting us all in some way, these are some extreme ways and it's hitting close to home, it's so awesome to see that people will not stay quiet, that somehow without any groups or coalitions.. somehow through word of mouth, messages they'll pull together and stand up against it.. there are at least a couple thousand out here today.. and im honestly amazed and as a fellow Iranian very very happy.
I have taken lots of pictures and have lots of intervies that i recorded, once i get to a better computer back home, i'll be sure to upload them and have them online.
I hope some of you reading this please join us next time that we have an event like this.. it would be real nice to see activist who go to protest for those other big groups.. actually come to a protest to support people who are directly being effected by the unfair and racist laws of this country.

by the way the police have been very very strange.. when i first got here a few hours before the protest started to help set up, the cops were real nice, some of them even were carrying things.. but we knew better.. later on they got into their macho attitude and actually pushed this guy riding a bike on the ground.. I saw one person being pulled away by a police officer about 1 hr. ago, he was actually taken away, and was handcuffed i was taking pictures, but other cops wouldn't let me anywhwere near him.. the guy was put into the back of police car right behind the federal building, but about 2 minutes he was later released.. i went up to him and talked to him, and he told me that they had stopped him because they kept saying that he looked like this other person.. they kept asking him his name.. but he didn't have ID, he had left it in the car.. so his mom had went to the car to get it, which was parked a few blocks away.. for some reason they did not believe him and couldn't understand him because he only spoke Farsi.... so thats why they put handcuffs on him and placed him in the back of a patrol car.. about 10 min. later his mom had showed w/ proper ID.. he was a minor by the way, only 15 years old, but he looked older i guess.. and when they realized that he was not the guy they were looking for, they let him go.
I wanted to talk to him more, but his mom was real scared and she wanted to leave, they didn't even want to stay for the rest of the protest..
besides that it's the typical thing, cops are around, doing their typical stupid stuff, but people don't seem to mind... they are actually getting a great response from people driving by.
we'll see how it goes

LA IMC is there and we should have some photos up in a couple of days.

Sorry if we didn't help in promoting the event better, but we only got word of it late yesterday. Next time such a demonstration is taking place, please post the event on our calendar and I assure you that, following the coverage that we and KPFK are putting together for today's event, more activists will be there at the next rally. It is a cause that the activist community whole-heartedly supports.

Solidarity! Full protection and Human Rights for All!

Great reports. Thanks.

Maybe they don't know about the demonstration yet, and maybe the only way to find out was on Iranian radio?

Rather than blame, why not invite?

I'm in another part of the country, but it sounds like an impromptu demonstration planned over Iranian radio (in Farsi) and so why get mad at people who don't speak Farsi, why not reach out and invite them?

Maybe they don't know about the demonstration yet, and maybe the only way to find out was on Iranian radio?

Rather than blame, why not invite?

I'm in another part of the country, but it sounds like an impromptu demonstration planned over Iranian radio (in Farsi) and so why get mad at people who don't speak Farsi, why not reach out and invite them?

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

- Martin Niemoeller

This quote from a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps is so eerily relevant today - and something all of those who are outraged and horrified by the whole new course of American Empire should take to heart.

What we sorely need is for the growing resistance movement to deepen, intensify and broaden out to include many more. The government is SERIOUS about silencing (and eliminating) those who could bring out a whole lot of truth about the role the US really plays in the MidEast and Arab countries - because they have lived through it. And their campaign of criminalizing and gagging the SouthAsian and Arab communities is aimed at keeping them in a category that is so "other" and so "inhuman" in the eyes of the broad american public that they can get away with conquering and controlling and extracting oil, labor and regional domination out of their homelands. In other words, there is a calcuated relationship between the war and the detentions and round-ups.

To counter this, it really does noone any good to pit organizations against each other or against the most targetted communities (as in, re-read the quote above). The truth is - when groups like Not In Our Name and Answer and a whole bunch of others were build resistance - it makes more room for those who are directly under attack to step out and not be all alone. And when those whose are the direct recipients of the most naked edge of repression and racism against immigrants in this country step out and take this on - it inspires and can bring forth much deeper opposition among those who were born in this country.

There is and needs to be a positive dynamic among all the forms of resistance that comes out - because this is how a movement actually can grow, and because it does no one any good, especially at a time like this, to start pitting one against the other.

What we need now is not less organization and social groupins going up against this - but much much more!!

And from my work with Not In Our Name, it seems like that is exactly what that organization exists to do: strengthen and expand the existing resistance, and make connections between different aspects of the whole new Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft/Rumsfeld Doctrine. Check out the Not In Our Name Pledge of Resistance to see how, from the very beginning, they have been tying together the detentions & round-ups, the police-state restrictions and the war on the world.

Not In Our Name Pledge of Resistance
Join with thousands nationwide to take this pledge of resistance.

The Pledge to Resist
We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices
done by our government, in our names


Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions of blood for oil


Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more children
letting history take its course
over the graves of the nameless


Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for


Not by our hands
will we supply weapons and funding
for the annihilation of families
on foreign soil


Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us


Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed
evil


Not by our will
and Not in our name


We pledge resistance
We pledge alliance with those
who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war
or for their religion or ethnicity


We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world
to bring about justice freedom and peace
Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real


Check out the "notinourname.net" website.

12 CENTS AN HOUR AND 3 DOLLAR PER MINUTE PHONE CALLS, IF YOU'RE LUCKY.

Perhaps one reason the NION and ANSWER groups didn't show up to this rally, and why they weren't sought out by the organizers, was because they were not wanted.

Even if they knew about it, maybe they didn't contribute energy to it because these groups wish to "own" the demo and have an opportunity to recruit people at the event. They both seem to have a thing for signing people up at demos.

The Iranian community, obviously, is coordinating their own response to the crisis, to deal with the matter at hand, and people within their community will coordinate with different political elements outside the community.

Their community is hundreds of thousands of people (millions perhaps - I don't know). It's not up to them to seek out a relatively small organizing element on the far left. They are large and diverse, and in crisis. The leftist groups are small and focused on anti-war demos. (How many leftist radio stations are there? Ummm... one? half? 20% of the shows at kpfk maybe?)

Here's the real deal. NION and ANSWER are coordinated projects designed to propagandize the people with primarily marxist anti-imperialist positions. The Coalition for World Peace and the Greens are operating with a more pacifist ideology. The Greens are all over the map, but in this situation, I think they have the right tactics:

1. Drop the paranoia and the desire to proselytize people about The Truth.

2. Take action. Write to your elected politician, even if you think that only legitimizes their power. If you feel this is pointless, repress yourself and write.

3. Pay more attention to comments from the community being affected, than from your chosen/appointed organizational leader.

Talking about the relationship between different activism groups and philosophies has its place,
but seriously, get back to the issue at hand.
Hundreds of people are still detained. What can we do? That's what i want to know.