Success on Iran Agreement is Owed to Member Groups Around the Country

This Summer through September, United for Peace and Justice joined a coalition of parters and organizations promoting peace to defend the international agreement with Iran on nuclear weapons. With members of Congress opposing the agreement, some touting war with Iran as an alternative, we chose to support diplomacy.

Our campaign was a success, but only thanks to member groups like yours, taking action around the country to build a cohesive public demand for PEACE, NOT WAR with Iran.

• Supported a petition calling on representatives to endorse peace and diplomacy by upholding the Iran Agreement.
• Coordinated with national Iran Strategy group, signing on various letters and at times offering suggestions as to political direction, language, strategy, and content.
• Shared resources, promoted discussion and strategy in our legislative action listserv, sent emails and used social media to keep members up to date on complex legislative situation as well the core issues, implicit in the agreement itself.
• Hosted a national conference call on the Iran Agreement with Phyllis Bennis, Tyler Cullis, and Lara Friedman, on the politics of the Iran agreement–approximately 146 people joined the call, many from member groups
• Called for action and promoted organized events. We gave repeated updates on growing list of Senators and Representatives who were coming out in support of the agreement. Based on that information, people on our list-serves made calls or joined/organized demonstrations (some generated by grassroots groups– in other cases plugged people into the MoveOn office visits).

Here’s a look at just a handful of action taken around the country:

They met with local staff, connected by phone to DC foreign policy staff, of Michigan’s Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters. Peace Education Center board members also arranged similar meetings. We also wrote letters to the editor and an op-ed column in our local newspaper, made phone calls, and participated in two local MoveOn vigils.

 

Through the efforts of Western States Legal Foundation and Mayors for Peace, on June 22, 2015, the US Conference of Mayors, the nonpartisan association of mayors of America’s big cities, unanimously adopted a resolution “Calling for Effective Implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Disarmament Obligation and Redirection of Nuclear Weapons Spending to Meet the Needs of Cities.” The resolution, which was introduced by members of Mayors for Peace, states: “the United States Conference of Mayors expresses its support for the successful conclusion of negotiations with Iran on a comprehensive nuclear deal and urges the U.S. government to support the convening of a conference on establishing a Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction at the earliest possible date.” http://www.wslfweb.org/docs/USCM-news-6-22-15.pdf

Oakland
Jackie Cabasso was interviewed about the Iran deal on July 19 on KFPA radio Pacifica (segment starts at 01:06:21) https://kpfa.org/episode/sunday-show-july-19-2015/

Long Island
Long Island Peace organized calls to and rallies at Senator Schumer’s Melville office.