This weekend, thousands of protesters gathered in cities all over the US and in several other countries to march against alleged US plans to make war on Iran.
In the US, the ultra militant, pro Cuba and North Korea Workers World Party is taking a leading role to coordinate the demonstrations.
From Workers World:
U.S.-based anti-imperialist and anti-war organizations have called for protest demonstrations to stop U.S. aggression aimed at Iran on Feb. 4, calling it a “global day of action.” As of Jan. 29, the movement had grown to include protests in 48 U.S. cities, plus cities in five other countries.
The demonstrators demand, in a leaflet posted on a few of the endorsing organizations’ websites: “No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations against Iran.”
While the organizations involved have varied assessments of the Iranian government, they all see that any intervention by U.S. imperialism in the oil-rich Asian country not only threatens the Iranian people, but could also be a stepping stone to a much wider war in Asia.
Workers World spoke on January 28 with Sara Flounders, a WWP leader co-director of the International Action Center, one of the original organizations to call for the Feb. 4 action.
“The quick response to the emergency action shows deep apprehension about the threat of war,” said Flounders. “Different combinations of the endorsing groups have already called for actions in 48 cities around the United States. Each of these groups has its own political program and analysis of the world situation, but they have agreed to give priority to fighting against this new and possibly devastating war that threatens humanity.
“Sometimes people in the U.S. fail to see that sanctions are in themselves an act of war. Those the U.S. and the United Nations carried out against Iraq from 1990 to 2003 cost the lives of more than 1 million Iraqis, including at least half a million children. The Iran sanction measures also impose sanctions on any country that doesn’t go along with the U.S. blockade. This drives up oil prices and threatens to unhinge the economies of the poorest countries.
“International support, considering the short time span, has been good,” continued the IAC leader. “Demonstrations are planned in Ireland, Norway, India, Bangladesh and Canada.”
Significantly the protests are at the behest of an Iranian-based organization, The House of Latin America. According to Workers World:
Activists in Iran are also concerned about these dangers. The Iranian organization called The House of Latin America has been contacting its friends in the Western Hemisphere to work toward actions on Feb. 4.
Ans what exactly is the House of Latin America in Iran?
According to Workers World Party supporter Phil Wilayto, writing in MRzine in October 2010:
HOLA was started about five years previously to promote solidarity with the peoples of Latin America. Its activities have included organizing solidarity trips to Nicaragua and Venezuela, hosting a talk by Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, translating a book by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and facilitating a visit to Iran by the son and daughter of Che Guevara to participate in a commemoration of the 40th a anniversary of Che’s death.
Wilayto goes on to explain HOLA’s role inviting Workers World Party fronts International Action Center , and the ANSWER Coalition to Iran to discuss building a movement to defend the Islamic Republic.
In mid-October 2010, a nongovernmental organization in Iran called the House of Latin America, or HOLA, invited several anti-imperialist organizations from North America to Tehran with the goal of building the movement against war and sanctions against Iran. Among those who attended were representatives of the International Action Center, ANSWER Coalition,Toronto Coalition Against the War , and the American Iranian Friendship Committee.
Now, as a result of the aforementioned meeting with North America-based activists, HOLA has set up a new campaign called Solidarity with Iran (SI) and initiated an English-language international appeal, detailing U.S. threats to Iran and defending Iran’s right to develop nuclear power for peaceful energy purposes.
This photo of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a House of Latin America in Iran book launching, with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, would indicate that HOLA is almost certainly a state-sponsored organization.
The fact that an Iranian organization, probably state directed, is bidding US communists to try and influence US government policy, should be more than enough grounds to spark an FBI investigation.