Re: House of Culture

Could we give it a rest? Anyone here naive enough to interfere in
Canadian diplomatic affairs (can you say "American imperialism?") on the
basis of a half-understood spin on one newspaper's gloss probably isn't
all that "progressive." I don't see progressivism, either, in the
paranoiac assumption that all Iran ever does in the West is blow things
up. And a petition? Diplomatic affairs of sovereign states to which we
do not necessarily belong (TRUE/FALSE: Are or Are Not) analogous to
school board elections.

I suggest anyone who wants to help Iran (or, as this petition seems to
attempt, Canada--whose record for successful diplomacy seems to exceed
that of the US) would stop polluting the Web with this stuff and engage
in concrete political and institutional action.

Cyber-democracy is the opiate of the bourgeois liberals. Save room for
e-porn, which has greater heuristic and social value.

Thanks


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>Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 22:14:34 -0800
>To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: House of Culture
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><excerpt>
>
><bold><bigger><bigger><bigger>
>
><center>"HOUSE OF CULTURE" OR THE CENTRE FOR ASSASSINATION PLOTS
>
></center></bigger></bigger></bigger></bold><center>
>
></center>According to The Ottawa Sunday Sun, Feb. 21, 99, The Islamic
>Republic of Iran(IRI) has purchased a two acres property in Sandy Hill
>site in Ottawa for $1.6 and is supposed to spend $136000 on renovating
>it. The Islamic regime bought this property in the name of Fatima
>Cultural Activities Inc. It also reads that "The sale was cleared by
the
>Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade(Canada) because
the
>deal involved the Iranian government." The Islamic officials in the
>Iranian embassy in Ottawa named the center "The House of Culture" which
>is supposedly to "be used as a social gathering place and educational
>facility for Iranians who may be feeling homesick."
>
>
>There was a demonstration against this deal in Ottawa by a group of
>Iranians in Ottawa, who feel that "Cultural Centers that the Iranian
>regime establishes around the world, are meant for espionage against
>Iranian dissidents and wherever they are set up, they threaten the
>security of Iranian dissidents in that city." There is an increasing
>assertion of concern by the Iranian diaspora in Canada when they are
>informed of the matter.
>
>
>We, the undersigned groups, think that what is being established here
in
>Canada in the name of culture and Iranian community is the outright
>foundation of an officially backed center for assassinations and spying
>plots by the Islamic Republic of Iran against its opponents. Given what
>the widespread exposition of the Islamic regime&rsquo;s terrorist
>activities in Europe, it is obvious that the regime is attempting to
>locate its headquarters of terrorism in Canada to act not only in
Canada
>or North America, but across the world. The terrorist activities of the
>Islamic Republic of Iran against its dissidents abroad are well
>documented: even the supreme court in Germany convicted the leaders of
>the regime for assassination of dissidents; and so far over 150 members
>of various opposition groups, from left to right, have been brutally
>assassinated by the Islamic agents in supposedly Western "safe
countries"
>and the number is mulltiplied if we add up the people murdered in
>countries such as Turkey and Iraq by the IRI.
>
>
>Cultural activities are mere pretext to get established within Iranian
>community, whose members despise the regime for its two decades of
>repression, execution, torture, stoning and brutality. At the very time
>when the regime is murdering artists, writers and cultural activists
>within Iran it is nothing less than farce for Iranian diaspora when
they
>heard that the regime is spending two millions dollar for the sake of
>culture and their being homesick. And this terrorist center is being
>constructed by the permission of Canadian government whereas it knows
and
>the Canadian National newspapers like Globe and Mail and National Post
>documented in December 98 that the Islamic regime has already sent its
>well-trained death agents to Canada, one of whom is in Toronto jail at
>this moment. The Iranian political opponents, immigrant and refugees
fled
>to Canada for a safe haven and it is their rights to live a life free
>from the fear of being spied or getting assassinated by the agents of
the
>very country they escaped from. We thus warn the Canadian government
that
>the penetration of the agents of the IRI will mean loss of security and
>lives, and if that takes place we will hold the Canadian government
>responsible.
>
>
>We Call on all progressive people and organizations, all those who long
>for freedom, to condemn the Canadian government and to call for
shutting
>down the "House of Culture" as a place of terrorist activities and
plots
>by the Islamic Republic of Iran against its opponents.
>
>
>March 1, 1999
>
>
>
>
><bold><bigger>
>
>
>The International Federation of Iranian Refugees in Canada
>
>
>The Campaign To Defend Women&rsquo;s Rights in Iran-Canada Branch
>
>
>
>
><bigger>
>
>
>
></bigger></bigger></bold>
>
></excerpt>
>
>
>
><italic>
>
></italic>e.m.: aoliai@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>


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