Price: Free, charitable contributions requested.
In this Global Forum on Peace and Security, Dr. Muhammad Sahimi will speak on "Democracy in Iran and the Role of the Diaspora Community." Dr. Sahimi will be joined by former political prisoner and citizen-peacebuilder Ali Shakeri, who will speak on "Practical Steps for Citizen-Peacebuilding on Behalf of Iran," discussing what we can do to lend support to the democracy movement in Iran today, and to build more dialogue between Iranians and Americans. Joining this distinguished forum is Roger Eaton from the LA Area Nuclear Disarmament Coalition. There will be ample time devoted to audience participation after panel members' remarks.
Guests will first enjoy a light lunch of refreshments and Middle Eastern mezzes from 12-1 pm, with both indoor and outdoor garden seating, before Jordan Elgrably, artistic director at Levantine Cultural Center, helps introduce and moderate the afternoon's discussion, with opening remarks by IGM Gallery director Lynn Crandall.
This program is presented by USC's Institute for Genetic Medicine Art Gallery, in partnership with Levantine Cultural Center and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics, Americans for Informed Democracy, Los Angeles-Tehran Sister Cities and with assistance from the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at UC Irvine.
RSVPs are strongly suggested as space is limited to 100.
Dr. Muhammad Sahimi is a frequent commentator on Iran's democratic process and has recently been featured on NPR. He is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and the NIOC Chair in Petroleum Engineering at USC. In addition to his scientific work, he has written about Iran's political developments and its nuclear program for the past 15 years, with articles in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal and the Harvard International Review, among others. He is currently a columnist for TehranBureau.com, an independent political web site dedicated to news and analysis of Iran news. He also blogs at Huffington Post, and has contributed numerous articles to antiwar.com and other major political web sites.
Ali Shakeri is an Orange County activist and businessman who sits on the advisory board of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, at UC Irvine. During a 2007 visit to Iran, he was arrested and spent 140 days incarcerated at Evin Prison, much of it in solitary confinement. He was interrogated almost every day. A few weeks after his release, he told the Orange Country Register that his ordeal had convinced him to work even harder to help build bridges of peace and understanding between his birthplace and adopted homeland so there are "no more victims like me." Shakeri has been a freelance researcher on Middle East and Iranian social and political issues for several decades, and has written for the New York Times.
Roger Eaton coordinates the LA Area Nuclear Disarmament Coalition and is on the Boards of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics, the Unity-and-Diversity World Council and Westside Progressives. He works as a computer programmer for Princess Cruises and is the architect of InterMix Group Dialog Software, which he is proposing today for an LA/Tehran online dialogue.
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