ENOUGH FEAR

(Photo by Sara in Iran -- "peace please by our children")

I'm a big believer in acknowledging your feelings and moving through them. People lead and leaders follow. If you were alive during the time of nuclear detente, you lived in fear. My best friend and I had a plan on how we'd hook up with each other in San Francisco (street corner, times of day) when the news broke that warheads were on the way -- at best, we had 20 minutes to find one another so we could die in each other's arms.

But we also participated in Deena Metzger's gatherings where crowds of people mourned the loss of the world -- in advance. The grieving we did cleared our minds and hearts for action, and I believe that grieving created the movement which led to disarmament, not the alleged actions of a doom-loving administration which pontificated about a "winnable nuclear war".

Some of those same men are back in charge. Like roaches, they've emerged from the baseboards. And, once again, the best way out of fear and inertia is having your feelings while taking action.

Someone's started the ball rolling -- notice the new banner at the upper right-hand corner of this blog? Here's the scoop from Enough Fear:


HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC CRISIS

Seymour Hersh writes an article in the New Yorker. President George W. Bush makes a statement to the press in Washington. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issues a letter from Tehran. But there is something missing from this debate: the voices of the people with the most to lose.

This is a campaign to bring the voices of Iranians and Americans into a discussion that is being dominated by extremists on both sides and bringing us closer to the unthinkable: nuclear war. Our leaders continue to rattle their sabers and spread fear, but we're ready to talk, and if they won't take that first step, we will take it for them. We've had enough. Enough posturing. Enough threats. Enough fear.

Our campaign begins with individuals willing to stand up and say no. This website will collect and display photos of people from the US and Iran (and other countries as well) holding up a hand in the universal symbol for "stop!"

These photos are the first step in what we hope will become an international campaign in which people from both sides will work together to prevent any attack. These are the people who will suffer if war breaks out.

There is no time to lose. Please join us! Add your photo to the site today, and be sure to join our email list so we can keep you up to date as the campaign develops. Our email list will be the backbone of this campaign - so sign up now!

Once we reach critical mass, we plan to hold actions to call on our leaders to sit down at the negotiating table. It’s time to put a stop to this dangerous cycle of threats and provocation and use diplomacy to avert this crisis. It’s our lives that are at stake.

Two sections of their program are the photo display and Call Iran/Call America:

PEOPLE TO PEOPLE DIPLOMACY TO PREVENT WAR

It is time that the people of America and Iran let our leaders know: we're ready to talk, and if they won't take that first step, we will take it for them.

The Enough Fear campaign seeks to link people across borders to halt the march to war between the US and Iran. By creating connections between people, we will demonstrate our common commitment to a negotiated settlement to the current crisis and show that dialogue between Iranians and Americans is possible.

To facilitate people-to-people diplomacy, we have designed an action that will link Americans and Iranians who otherwise would never have the opportunity to talk with each other.

How it works:

A simple phone bank, made up of 4-5 old-style red desk phones (like the ones used for direct emergency talks during the Cold War), will be set up in a public space in the US. A phone call from each phone in the US would be placed to a cell phone or the Skype account of a volunteer in Iran. The phone calls will run continuously for 1-2 hours, and during that time, volunteers will invite passers-by in DC to have a 5-minute chat with someone in Iran. Iranian volunteers are welcome to invite friends and family to join them so they can pass their phone around as well. Each phone in the US will have a second line to be used by a translator.