An Open Letter to Hadi Ghaemi


As a participant in Washington DC July 25 rallies in support of the people movement in Iran, I am saddened to express my utmost frustration with the uncivilized behavior of the event organizers in confrontation with a group of flag carrying compatriots.

I participated without carrying any banners or signs. However it is beyond my comprehension how the event organizers found this flag (which by the way has both pre-Islamic and Islamic roots and by no means is an ideological sign) so offensive as if Swastikas were being carried around. As a matter of fact, in her futile attempt to convince the police to intervene, an event associate likened the divide between the flag carrying crowd and the others to the difference between Nazi sympathizers and anti-Nazi demonstrators (her conversation with the police is captured on youtube). But who were these threatening scary banner carrying folks? A younger mom who was quietly shedding tears to the voice of Dariush as she was holding her 5-6 year old daughter. A mild mannered gentleman who was watching in disbelief the intolerance of the increasingly loud and noisy organizers. One organizer stood behind the microphone shouting to the flag carrying crowd, "have your own protest!" Have your own protest? And you call it a "unity rally"? Shame!

Such behavior and use of deeply offensive language does not help the cause of the Iranian nation, but perhaps the cause of an organization such as NIAC, which apparently cares more about its "special interests" than anything else.