Thursday, March 15, 2007

56th Anniversary Celebration of the Iranian Oil Nationalization


ISAA Proudly Presents:
*56th Anniversary Celebration of the Iranian Oil Nationalization

What:

The “29th of Esfand” (20th of March) is the Eve of Persian New Year. This day is also the day that Iranian oil was nationalized by Dr. Mosaddegh. This year, Iranian students in Northern California and Jebhe Melli Iran are holding a two-day conference on March 16th, 17th, and a Meeting on March 18th at University of California, Berkeley, to celebrate that seminal event.

This conference, which includes seminars and meetings, live Iranian music, and dance performances, has been made possible through the support and collaboration of the following Iranian organization:

· Iranian Student Alliance in America (ISAA)
· Northern California Chapter of Jebhe melli Iran in America

Who:

Speakers:
Speakers are from different backgrounds, featuring Iranian scholars, politicians, and thinkers, who each will deliver a diverse array of opinions and views during the seminars. The general subjects are related to the nationalization of oil, and the present state of political and economical affairs in Iran.

· March 16th

o Gholam Hossein Razi is Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Houston. He received his License es Sciences in Political Science from the University of Tehran and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. He has also taught at Air War College as Professor of Middle East Studies and at the University of Texas, Austin. His fields of specialty are American Foreign Policy, American National Security Strategy in the Middle East, Middle East Politics, and International Relations. His publications include contributions to such professional journals as The American Political Science Review; Comparative Politics; Western Political Quarterly; Studies in Comparative International Development; The Middle East Journal; Conflict Quarterly; Iranian Studies and such books as The Middle East: Its Governments and Politics; International Relations of the Middle East And North Africa; Iran: Essays on a Revolution in the Making; Social and Political Problems of Public Administration in Developing Areas and a number of encyclopedias.
Email: ghrazi@uh.edu

o Zohreh M. Niknia is a visiting Assistant Professor, working with the Beatrice M. Bain Research Group on Gender, University of California at Berkeley. Her professional and research interests are: Women and the Economy; Gender and Migration; Gender, Globalization, and Development; Political Economy of Oil. Dr. Niknia has taught Economics at California State University, Sacramento, University of Missouri, Kansas City and Johnson County Community College (1985-2003) The main focus of her research is an interdisciplinary examination of the intersection of migration and gender. Email: zniknia@mills.edu

o Dr. Cyrus Bina is a distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He has been the Lead Faculty, Associate Director of the MBA Program, and Founding Director of the Center of Unified, Global, and Applied Research (COUGAR) at the University of Redlands, California (1996-1998); Visiting Scholar at the Center for Social Theory and Comparative History at UCLA (2002-2003); a Fellow and Research Associate (1990-1993), and Affiliate in Research (1994-1995) at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies; Professor of Economics at Olivet College, Michigan (1982-1987). Author of The Economics of the Oil Crisis (1985), co-editor of Modern Capitalism and Islamic Ideology in Iran (1992) and Beyond Survival: Wage labor in the Late Twentieth Century (1996), author of more than 170 published scholarly papers, book chapters, and book reviews, and policy pieces, particularly on the subjects of the globalization of world economy; rise and fall of the Pax Americana; global oil; US foreign policy; OPEC; global labor, technology and skill formation in capitalism; global warming, energy, and environment. Professor Bina is an authority on the economics and politics of oil, and also has written extensively on the Middle East conflicts, political economy of Iran and Islam. These include the analyses of the 1951 Nationalization of Oil and interpretation of the 1906 Constitutional Revolution in Iran. He has given more than 900 interviews and participated in more than 500 radio and TV programs by the national and international media around the world on the subjects of his expertise and interests during the last decade. Bina has been member Board of Directors of Middle East Economic Association (1988-1992), member of the Editorial Board of the Review of Radical Political Economics (1980-1990; 2001-2004), member of URPE’s Steering Committee (2003-2007), and Associate Editor of the Journal of Iranian research & Analysis since 2000. He is a member of American Economic Association and Economists for Peace & Security. E-mail: http://webmail.tuffwall.com/horde/imp/cleanedparent.ComposeTo("binac@morris.umn.edu", Website: http://cda.morris.umn.edu/~binac/

· March 17th

o Bahram Moshiri http://www.bahrammoshiri.com./farsi/
E-mail BAHRAM@BAHRAMMOSHIRI.COM

o Dr. Kazem Vadiei Iran Expert; invited guest speaker from France.

o Dr. Nasser Amini Journalists since 1950, and Foreign Ambassadors of Pahlavi Monarchy; invited guest speaker from France



o Artists :
A variety of talented artists will perform Live Persian music during our night program. This features professional dance performances, along with fusion and Persian traditional classical music.
· Avaz by master vocalist Ali Amidi with participation of local well-known musicians playing violin, tar, and tomback.
· Traditional Dance performances by Niosha Dance Academy http://www.niosha.com/
· Pourya Khademi and the Embarka Sound System will perform ancient Persian sounds infused with contemporary urban rhythms. Group dance is also organized by Pourya Khademi.

When ,Where and more Info:

· March 16th: Panel Discussions (Held in English)

This session will feature speakers who will offer analysis on The Impacts of Oil: Iran’s Role in International Energy Dependency followed by a question and answer session.

Topics:
a. Economics of oil
b. Nationalism and Religion: Autonomy or Interdependence?
c. Global Energy Crisis and National Security issues

1:00 PM To 4:30 PM
22 Warren (Anita M. Baldwin Auditorium), UC Berkeley
Map : http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/BC12.html
Free and Open to the public

· March 17th: Panel Discussions (Held in Farsi)
This session will feature speakers who will offer analysis on Effects of Oil Nationalization on the Current Events in Iran and the Middle East followed by a question and answer session.
Topics:
a. Changing in Iranian national interests (1951 and now)
b. Oil and Iran-Arab Relations

10:00 AM To 1:30 PM
22 Warren (Anita M. Baldwin Auditorium), UC Berkeley
Map: http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/BC12.html
Free and Open to the public

· March 17th: Live Music and dance

A variety of talented artists will perform Live Persian music. Featuring fusion and Persian traditional classical music, this part of the event includes dance performances by professional dancers, followed by group dance for the general public.

7:00 PM To 10:00 PM
Lipman Room, 8th floor of Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley
Map : http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/DE45.html
Open to the public.
$8.00 for students and $20 for the general public.

· March 18th: Group Discussions ( held in Farsi )
The Effects of Uniting the Melli forces in America and Europe.
Topics:
a. Analyzing the Need for Unification of Melli Forces Relations and coordination of Mellioun;
b. Representation and Analysis of Necessity for a Congress

9:30 AM To 4:00 PM
110 Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley
Map : http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/DE45.html
Participants of this section include only Jebhe Mellie Members, and invited parties.
General public are welcome as observers. Admission is Free.



* ASUC Sponsored.
* Wheelchair Accessible

ISAA NEWS

We of the Iranian American community ask you to join us in San Francisco on Sunday, March 18th, to observe the 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and to unite in protesting an imminent US attack on Iran.
This is an invitation to all our Iranian friends and family who oppose war to demonstrate collectively our stanch resistance to US plans to bomb Iran.
Regardless of the ideological divisions that may at times distinguish us, at this critical moment in history, we must all say “NO TO WAR!”
Please come with your own banners, placards and fliers, and march with Iranians contingent and thousands of other Bay Area activists in opposition to war on Iran and the continuing occupation of Iraq.

Our contingent will be assembling at 11.30 a.m. at Spear and Market Streets ( Embarcadero Bart Station), before joining the general rally at Justin Hermann Plaza in the Embarcadero.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Emergency Summit to Prevent War with Iran


Emergency Summit to Prevent War with Iran


What: "IF YOU LIKE WAR IN IRAQ, YOU'LL LOVE WAR ON IRAN" So goes the tagline on a new ad by Physicians for Social Responsibility. As Congress and the mainstream media are distracted by the new troop escalation in Iraq, little attention is given to the much more consequential reality that we may be only a few months, weeks, or even days away from a new and potentially more horrifying war. At this summit, a wide range of organizations and activists are coming together to take a serious look at how, together, we may be successful in preventing an attack on Iran. See the end of this message for a partial list of organizations that have confirmed their attendance in this summit.
In the morning session we will hear from one or more experts on the US-Iran standoff. In the afternoon session we will work on:
1. Producing more with less: How can we increase the level of collaboration among our organizations?
2. Power of many: How can we effectively share our experiences and leverage our resources?
3. Learning from our successes and mistakes: What has been working and what has not?
4. Sharpening our message: What are some effective talking points?
5. Formulating a winning strategy
6. The good news: Why are the chances of success much better now than the pre-Iraq-war time?
7. Collaborative action plan

Due to the urgency of this matter, this summit is being organized in a short timeframe. Please help this effort by emailing your RSVP as soon as possible and by taking the initiative to contact other organizations that may be interested in the goal of the summit.
Please RSVP (your name, email address, phone contact, and your organization's name) as soon as possible by sending an email to: RSVP@HandsOffIran.org
For the latest up-to-date details visit: http://www.handsoffiran.org/
Who: Perhaps the most important whistle-blower of the past half century, former marine company commander Daniel Ellsberg was driven by his conscience in 1971 to reveal how successive presidents had lied to the American people about the conduct of the Vietnam war and its consequences. Ellsberg's leaking of 7,000 pages of Pentagon documents helped end the war.

Dr. Dariush Zahedi is a professor of political science at UC Berkeley, and the author of The Iranian Revolution Then and Now: Indicators of Regime Instability and the editor of Iran in the New Millennium: Opportunities and Challenges. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angles Times, Middle East Policy and Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review. He has also studied the patterns of political participation and engagement and political attitudes of Iranian expatriates in the U.S.

Larry Everest is a journalist, author and videographer, covering the Middle East and Central Asia for over 20 years. His articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Baltimore Sun, Z Magazine, and others. He is the author of Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda. Shortly after the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Everest went to Iraq to document the impact of the war on the Iraqi people and filmed the award-winning video "Iraq: War Against the People."
When: Saturday, March 10, 2007

Morning Session
Registration, Sign-in : 09:30 - 10:00
Speakers, Q&A : 10:00 - 12:00

Afternoon Session
Registration, Sign-in : 12:30 - 13:00
Discussions : 13:00 - 16:00

Where: UC Berkeley Campus, Evans Hall, Room #10 (Map) (parking)

The event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. To RSVP please email RSVP@HandsOffIran.org , including your name, email address, phone contact, and your organization's name (ISAA).

Suggested Donation: $10

ASUC Sponsored.

Attending Organizations
United for Peace and Justice (coalition of 1300 organizations)
Do Not Attack Iran coalition (coalition of 35 organizations)
American Friends Service Committee
Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee
San Francisco Green Party
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
East Bay for Democracy
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
Code Pink
Jewish Voice for Peace
Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club
Global Exchange
National Iranian American Council
War Resisters League West
Network of Spiritual Progressives
Iranian-American Democrats Association (Sacramento)
South Bay Mobilization
Western States Legal Foundation
El Cerrito Democratic Club
The Metaphor Project
Bay Area Women in Black
American-Iranian Friendship Committee
Grandmothers Against the War
Iranian-American Democrats of Orange County
Iranian Student Alliance in America (ISAA)
Democracy For America - Marin County
Bay Area Iranian-American Democrats
Bay Area Iranian-American Voter Association