What: A Day-Long Summit on Peace With Iran

When: 9am-5pm, Saturday, December 1, 2018

Where: First Congregational United Church of Christ, 945 G St NW, Washington, DC 20001

Cost: $10–$100 Sliding Scale. Make your payment here!

Can't make it in person? Sign up here to watch the Summit Online.

Why Do We Need a Summit on Iran?

The purpose of the Iran Summit is to highlight the Trump administration’s hawkish policies on Iran that could lead us into another war, and examine how to reverse course. We will also have Iranian art, calligraphy, music, photo booth and other cultural activities.

The Summit comes at a time where tensions between U.S and Iran are escalating. The reimposition of sanctions following the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is causing tremendous hardship for the Iranian people. The Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban is making it difficult for Iranians to travel to the United States, separating thousands of families.

Adding to this uncertainty are terrorist attacks, human rights violations and a strengthening of conservative forces inside Iran, proxy wars raging in the region, and an increased threat of direct confrontation with the United States, Israel and/or Saudi Arabia.

Here in the United States, the Trump administration is building a case for war. We’ve seen it all before with Iraq—high officials distorting information to push their own hawkish agenda that only inflicts pain on the people, not the government. The Summit will bring together experts and activists to examine ways we can support Iranian civil society, push the US media to do a better job covering this crisis, and pressure Congress for a “no sanctions, no war” agenda.

Organized by CODEPINK, the cosponsors include: Aboutface Aftab Committee, Black Alliance for Peace, Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, FEMENA, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Institute for People’s Engagement, Institute for Policy Studies, Iranian Law Students Association of UC Hastings, Just Foreign Policy, Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern Peace Center, National Iranian American Council, Nonviolence International, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Peace Action, Peaceworkers, Progressive Democrats of America, People Demanding Action, Popular Resistance, RootsAction, United for Peace and Justice, United National Antiwar Coalition, US Labor Against the War, World Beyond War, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Win Without War, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Speakers (in progress):

• Jamal Abdi, President, National Iranian American Council
• Narges Bajoghli, Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University
• Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director, Center for Human Rights in Iran.
• Mana Kharrazi, Executive Director, Iranian Alliances Across Borders
• Michael Page, Deputy Director Middle East and North Africa Division, Human Rights Watch
• Barbara Slavin, author, Atlantic Council
• Sussan Tahmasebi, Director, FEMENA
• Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff of Secretary of State Colin Powell

Schedule (in progress)

8:00am-9:00am Registration

9:00am-9:30am Opening Session

• Opening remarks by Medea Benjamin and Lily Tajaddini, CODEPINK
• Poem and remarks by Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz, Director, Roshan Institute for Persian Studies, University of Maryland

9:30am-10:10am Session I: Overview of US-Iranian relations today

• Col. Larry Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell

10:10am-10:50am Session II: How U.S. policies affect Iranians?

• Mana Kharrazi, Executive Director, Iranian Alliances Across Borders

10:50am-11:00am Break

11:00am-11:40am Session III:  Human rights

• Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director, Center for Human Rights in Iran
• Michael Page, Deputy Director Middle East and North Africa Division, Human Rights Watch

Moderated by: Niki Akhavan, Associated Professor and Chair of Department of Media and Communications Studies, The Catholic University of America

11:40am-12:20pm Session IV: Civil Society in Iran

• Sussan Tahmasebi, Director, FEMENA
  

12:20pm-1:20pm Lunch Break

1:20pm-2:10pm Session V: Iran’s role in the region: Is it the number one state sponsor of terrorism?

• Barbara Slavin, author, Atlantic Council
  

2:10pm-3:20pm Session VI: How to stop a war

• Jamal Abdi, President, National Iranian American Council

3:20pm-4:30pm Special Cultural Event

4:30pm-5:00pm Wrap-up