Tuesday, June 9th 2009
Rally against Iranian Vice President in Vienna
STOP THE BOMB protests against visit of Esfandyar Mashaei at the UNO-City
Today, Tuesday June 9th, Iranian Vice President Esfandyar Mashaei is coming to Vienna to participate at a ceremony at the UNO-city. STOP THE BOMB, a non-partisan coalition against conducting business with the Iranian regime will protest starting from 3PM in front of UNO city at Wagramer Strasse in the 22nd district. Simone Dinah Hartmann, spokesperson of STOP THE BOMB demands, "that the Iranian regime, which is the only one in the world that made denying the Holocaust part of its foreign policy, will not be given a podium for its propaganda in Vienna and at the UN. We will protest against the appearance of the Iranian Vice President Mashaei in front of the UNO-city." Hiwa Bahrami of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan Iran is outraged about the appearance of Mashaei: "Is is a slap in the face of the democratic and secular opposition, that a high-ranking representative of the Iranian dictatorship is given the opportunity to present his regime as a normal, harmless and equal member of the international community."
Mashaei has spoken about the "corrupt and criminal Zionist regime (that) is harming not only the Arab and Islamic world, but humanity in its entirety." As with other representatives of the Iranian regime, antisemitic conspiracy theories are also explicit in his remarks stating that "the root and origin of most of the world's current crises are related to Zionism." Mashaei, who as Vice President is also responsible for the "cultural heritage" and tourism organization of the "Islamic republic", is considered a close affiliate of President Ahmadinejad. He represents a regime that for 30 years has been violently suppressing its own people; a regime that has murdered ten of thousands of oppositionists and driven millions into exile; a regime that threatens Israel with annihilation, executes homosexuals, terrorizes women and persecutes national and religious minorities such as the Kurds and the Bahai. The Iranian regime carries out a nuclear program, which is a danger not only to Israel but also to Iran's neighbors and the entire west. This regime is intensly engaged in the production and distribution of antisemitic propaganda literature and supports and finances jihadist terror groups such as Hamas and Hizbollah.
STOP THE BOMB supports the demand of former Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler to ban representatives of the Iranian regime who spur genocide with their antisemitic propaganda. By invitation of STOP THE BOMB Cotler will come to Vienna on July 3rd where he will talk about his proposals on dealing with the Iranian regime.
