Iranians abroad organizing

When Rudi Giuliani made fun of Obama's work in "organizing", I never understood the importance of this sort of activity until the protests broke out in Iran.

The enormous number of people marching in the streets of Tehran galvanized those Iranians living outside of the country in an unprecedented way. Never before had we seen such outpouring of emotions and solidarity amongst the Iranian diaspora. Very quickly, numerous protests were organized in various countries in support of the freedom movement within Iran.

However, it became clear that many of those who had organized such events lacked the necessary experience, or that they were using this opportunity to push their own agendas. When I attended one such event in my city, this lack of "organization" was on display, when various individuals were hounding the local news reporters trying to make statements, with no official spokesperson.

The good news is that we have learned very quickly, and we are now seeing many initiatives organized by various groups across the world. This is very important, as it is now clear that the road to freedom and democracy will be a long one. While those inside Iran are doing the heavy lifting (by demonstrating on the streets, and facing murder, torture and kidnapping and imprisonment by the authorities and their thugs), the Iranian expatriate communities can play an important role in raising awareness and putting pressure on their governments not to recognize the coup government of Ahmadinejad. Such pressure on international organizations and even corporations (for example Nokia, which has admitted to selling tracking technology to Khamanei's regime) will be important in advancing the green movement's agenda.

Some of the important initiatives that I have come across are listed below. I am very impressed by the spontaneous nature of these initiatives, and how well organized they seem to be.

The first such organizing activity (or at least the first I came across) was the green scroll project, where Iranians in at least 195 countries held public gatherings where people put their signatures on green scrolls, telling the world that "Ahmadinejad is NOT our president". The scrolls have been sown together end to end, and the 2000+ meter scroll will be displayed in Paris on July 25th.

July 25 is also the global day of action sponsored by many human rights organizations (both Iranian and International). On this day, numerous events will be held the world over in support of the people of Iran. To find out an event in your city, check out their website.

Akbar Ganji and many Iranian intellectuals and political activists have organized a three day hunger strike, starting today. For three days, they will hold a vigil in front of the United Nations building in New York. People have come from other countries to join this event.

Some Iranians and Canadians will be biking from Toronto to Ottawa in support of human rights. See their cool website here.

And finally, Iranians in Portland and Vancouver have been organizing regular events in their cities. Make sure you check out their sites.

All of these activities can help the world understand that:

Ahamdinejad is NOT the elected president of Iran, and his government is NOT legitimate. Any one who does business with these thugs (such as Russia and China) is complicit in their crimes, and will not be forgiven by the people of Iran.