Open Letter from NYC Iranians to Mayor de Blasio: When You Stand by AIPAC, You Do Not Stand by Us

[The following open letter was issued by a group of Iranians and Iranian-Americans living in New York City. It was first published on Mondoweiss on 12 March 2014]

Open Letter from NYC Iranians to Mayor de Blasio: When You Stand by AIPAC, You Do Not Stand by Us

Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio,

We are a group of Iranians and Iranian-Americans living in New York City. We are firmly committed to opposing state repression — regardless of the race, ethnicity or nationality of the people suffering, and regardless of whether the oppressive government is Iranian, American or otherwise. Throughout your mayoral campaign, we were encouraged by your call for an end to the NYPD’s systemic racial profiling of Black and Latino men under the “stop and frisk” policy. Many New Yorkers hoped that City Hall, under your leadership, would become a new and loud voice for human and civil rights.

That very same commitment to justice and human rights underscores our opposition to the devastating sanctions against the Iranian people. We were surprised and dismayed to find that the single foreign-policy position that you took as Public Advocate was calling for increasing sanctions on Iran. We were deeply concerned to see you encouraged ordinary New Yorkers to enforce the sanctions regime through your “Iran Watch List” web site, thus promoting the profiling of Iranians and aggravating post-9/11 Islamophobia. Because of sanctions, Iranians in the U.S. were arbitrarily chosen to have their bank accounts closed, and refused service at several retail stores, based on their appearance or names alone. We ask that support for sanctions against Iran be excised from your future political messaging. The Iranian people are not a threat to New Yorkers, or to any Americans, and the Iranian diaspora is a proud and integral part of this city.

We also ask that you reconsider your relationship with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Last month you addressed a private meeting with this group and said, “City Hall will always be open to AIPAC. When you need me to stand by you in Washington or anywhere, I will answer the call and I’ll answer it happily ’cause that’s my job.”

We disagree. AIPAC has relentlessly pressed for a more adversarial U.S. posture against Iran, explicitly promoting increased sanctions and implicitly pushing the U.S. to the brink of war. In a 2010 letter to members of Congress, AIPAC demanded “crippling” new sanctions on Iran. U.S. sanctions on Iran are a form of collective punishment that hurt the most vulnerable members of Iranian society first and foremost. AIPAC has similarly been a consistent supporter of Israel’s atrocious violations of Palestinian human rights.

As the mayor of NYC – one of  the most diverse cities in the world – you were elected to represent all of us who live here. We stand with those Jewish New Yorkers who have recently said in their open letter to you, “AIPAC speaks for Israel’s hard-line government and its right-wing supporters, and for them alone; it does not speak for us.” We hope that you keep all of us in mind when formulating your foreign policy perspective and withdraw your unqualified loyalty to an organization that promotes policies so destructive to the children, women and men in Iran–and in Palestine–whom so many of your constituents hold dear. When AIPAC promotes collective punishment, neither they, nor the government of Israel, share our values. When you stand by them, you do not stand by us.

Signed,

1. Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, Zanan TV Executive Director

2. Ali Abdi, Ph.D. candidate, Yale University

3. Ervand Abrahamian, Professor of Iranian and Middle Eastern History and Politics, CUNY

4. Golnar Adili

5. Milad Afrasiabi

6. Padide Alizadeh

7. Yahya Alkhansa, Musician

8. Sheila Aminmadani

9. Kamrooz Aram, Artist and Adjunct Faculty, Parsons The New School for Design

10. Maryam Aryai Rivera, Raha Iranian Feminist Collective

11. Mohammad Asgari

12. Farid Ashkan

13. Pooyan Aslani, New York University

14. Shoja Azari, Artist

15. Sepideh Azin, Architect

16. Shirin Barghi, Freelance Journalist

17. Golbarg Bashi, Professor of History, Pace University

18. Anahita Basirnia

19. Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

20. Samira Darvishi, Ph.D. candidate, Stony Brook University

21. Saeid Divanbeigi

22. Bahareh Ebnealian

23. Kouross Esmaeli, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU

24. Yasmine Farhang

25. Ali Fouladi

26. Gisela Fouladi

27. Hadi Ghaemi

28. Setareh Ghandehari, Raha Iranian Feminist Collective

29. Arya Ghavamian, Filmmaker

30. Fahimeh Gooran Savadkoohi

31. Sara Hosseini

32. Koohyar Hosseini

33. Shima Houshyar, MA candidate, NYU

34. Nima Jafari, Architect

35. Mazdak Jafarian, Architect

36. Kiana Karimi

37. Mahdis Keshavarz, The Make Agency

38. Arang Keshavarzian, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, NYU

39. Mina Khanlarzadeh, Ph.D. candidate, Columbia University

40. Mana Kharrazi

41. Sina Mesdaghi, Associate at Handel Architects

42. Kamran Mirfakhraei

43. Ali Mirsepassi, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Sociology, NYU

44. Nazgol Moshtaghi

45. Mani Mostofi

46. Nahid Mozaffari

47. Saara Nafici, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

48. Nicky Nodjoumi, Artist

49. Sara Nodjumi, Filmmaker

50. Nazanin Norouzi

51. Naseem Nowruzi

52. Manijeh Nasrabadi, Ph.D. candidate, NYU

53. Mehrnoosh Oghbaei

54. Afshin Parvaresh, Artist

55. Hamid Rahmanian, Filmmaker/Graphic Artist

56. Saba Riazi, Filmmaker

57. Reza Roodsari, MD/MPH

58. Bahar Sabzevari, Artist

59. Mehdi Saharkhiz, Art Director

60. Samin Sajadi

61. Faride Sakhaei, Artist

62. Saman Sarraf

63. Niki Shah Hosseini

64. Sadra Shahab, City Planner, Pratt Center for Community Development

65. Narges Shahroudi

66. Setareh Shohadaei, Ph.D. student New School for Social Research

67. Amin Torabkhanian

68. Azin Valy, Architect

69. Shouleh Vatanabadi

70. Hanif Yazdi

71. Rustin Zarkar, Ph.D. student, NYU