Dear Community members ,
This is an urgent call to participate in a demonstration in solidarity with Kobani on Sunday Oct 12 in front of Federal Building in Westwood. Please come and spread the word to encourage others to ioin to express our solidarity with the brave people and defenders of Kobani. Below see the Press Release. The PD file is also attached to be sent to the various media. Let me know if you can send it to any media sources, but you need to do so immediately.
Press Release:
In Solidarity with Kobani and Call for Support against the Islamic State in Los Angeles
When: Sunday Oct 12, 4-6 PM
Where: In front of the the Federal Building in Westwood,11000 Wilshire Blvd #1000, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Contact: Nyma Ardalan: 310-2796398 /
nymaardalan@gmail.com; or Amir Sharifi: 818-6357317 /
Sharifiamir5@gmail.com A demonstration will be held against the Islamic State’s ongoing vicious assault on the Kurdish city of Kobani and to urge the US to support for the defenders of the city. We members of the Kurdish community in Los Angeles stand in solidarity with the people of the besieged Kobani and call for prompt action to save the residents and defenders of the city from a massacre. The IS terrorists have captured sizeable portions of the city despite the fierce and heroic resistance of Kurdish freedom fighters. Hundreds of people have died and over 17000 people have been driven away from their homes, stranded in border areas, their fields ravaged, their belongings plundered, and their children traumatized. Many are mourning the loss of their loved ones, their homes, and their land. As the UN special envoy Mr. Staffan de Mistura has warned hundreds of people are still trapped in Kobani; they are under the siege of the IS and threatened with an imminent massacre.
As the people of the town and its defenders have shown with admirable courage, they do not want to give up and let the city fall; they are fighting valiantly to the last breath, but they are ill equipped against the heavily armed terrorists of the IS. The defenders of the city have repeatedly and desperately appealed to the international community, US in particular, for weapons and supplies to enable them to continue their fight. They want more effective and focused airstrikes to fend off the barbaric invaders.
We join the international community to condemn Turkey for not allowing the flow of weapons, supplies, and volunteers to enter the city of Kobani to support the Kurdish fighters. As members of the Kurdish Community we call upon President Obama to protect the Syrian Kurds against ISIS otherwise we will witness another genocide like that of Shengal. It is also imperative to create a humanitarian corridor for the remaining population to be taken to safety if the city falls in its entirety. The global community and the US government, in particular as the leading force in the anti-IS coalition have a moral responsibility towards supporting the Kurds of Syria who happen to be the only decisive force fiercely fighting the monstrous enemy of humanity. Kobani’s struggle is against ethnic genocide and for safeguarding the most fundamental human rights and freedoms. They deserve our moral and material support now against their horrific enemy. We have to act promptly before it is too late.