Long live the JCPOA, Vive la France, Viva Iran
An activist within Iran recently posed this question: “For days the opposition has been asking many to protest during Mr. Zarif’s visit to Europe, but in the end only 30 to 40 people showed up. How is it that you expect us to demonstrate on the streets of Iran, risk being arrested and handed down long sentences, when you yourselves will not turn out for protests outside of Iran?”
Our response was:” Why should we protest Mr. Zarif and other world leaders’ efforts towards the salvation of the JCPOA?! Even if many of us wish for – and some work towards – substantial change in Iran, we support the Iran Deal and think it an important achievement all around.”
Not only were this and other activists who read our response not dismayed by our answer but in fact they voiced their strong agreement with this statement and noted that the majority of Iranians back the Iran Deal.
For this reason, we salute President Macron and French diplomacy for taking further and innovative steps to promote ongoing negotiations in favour of the Iran Deal.
At the same time, we remind Mr. Zarif that bullies do not only occupy some other capitals. The fact that independent voices in the Islamic Republic of Iran not only for human rights, but also and even for peace are not tolerated, is a clear indication that bullies have the upper hand in the Islamic Republic.
A good example of this is that the site of one of our independent peace groups outside of Iran (Think Peace) was hacked 7 times and in a major way from within Iran, leading up to the JCPOA!
And nevertheless we say: long live the JCPOA, Vive la France, Viva Iran.
Green Activists for a Democratic Iran
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Team Think Peace