NIACast Episode #11 – Sabotage in Iran and the CIA’s New Powers
Jamal and Sina sit down with veteran CIA analyst Paul Pillar to discuss the mysterious explosions that continue to rock Iran and new revelations of authorizations granted to the Agency to wage offensive cyber operations and conduct what some say is a campaign aimed at destabilizing the country.
NIACast Episode #10 – Councilwoman Mitra Jalali on Black Lives Matter & anti-Blackness in the Iranian-American Community
Mana and Assal sat down with Saint Paul Councilwoman, organizer, and former teacher Mitra Jalali one month after the brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of police. Mitra spoke of her own experience as a Councilwoman close to the site of Floyd’s murder and protests and the responsibility of non-Black Iranian Americans to support Black Lives Matter and confront the anti-Blackness within our own community.
Panel Recap: A “Maximum Pressure” Exit Strategy
“The Trump administration broke the international consensus around Iran that took years to build,” said Suzanne DiMaggio, senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “I think this will go down as an epic strategic blunder during the Trump Era.” DiMaggio was speaking on NIAC’s recent panel examining current and future U.S. policy toward Iran, entitled “A Maximum Pressure Exit Strategy: Can the U.S. Save the Iran Nuclear Deal Before it’s Too Late?” Joining DiMaggio as panelists were Jamal Abdi, President of NIAC, and Joe Cirincione, President of the Ploughshares Fund. Sanam Shantyaei, Senior Journalist at France 24, led the panel as moderator.
Ensuring Black Lives Matter: Learning about the Movement
On 06/22, NIAC hosted a panel discussing the Black Lives Matter movement and the perpetual structures which affect Black American lives.
How has systemic racism shaped the Black American lives? What are movement leaders demanding at this time? Is reform possible and what does defunding the police mean? How does the U.S’s militaristic approach to global “safety” connect our experiences? How can we take steps to ensure that Black lives DO matter in the U.S?
Watch the panel discussion to address these questions and more, with James Burch, Policy Director at the Anti-Police Terror Project and Azadeh Shahshahani, Legal & Advocacy Director at Project South.
Virtual Book Talk with Juan Cole: “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”
On Saturday, June 20, 2020, NIAC Chicago hosted its first debut event with Juan Cole (Professor of History, University of Michigan) for a book talk on his new translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (IB Tauris, 2020). Professor Cole discussed what inspired him to undertake a new translation of the Rubaiyat and his central argument regarding the authorship of the poems.
Iranian-American Women Building Political Power
On Thursday, June 11, 2020, NIAC Action hosted a virtual conversation with leading Iranian-American women building political power. Featured guests included Shireen Ghorbani, Salt Lake County Council Member, and Nilofar Ganjaie, event moderator and NIAC Action Board Member. View the engaging discussion above to learn more about their challenges in running for office, grassroots campaigning during COVID-19, […]
Is Iran Weathering the COVID-19 Storm?
“I would say the social protection system in Iran — including the health system, which is socialized and most people have health insurance — is the backbone of Iran’s resistance both to COVID and sanctions,” explained Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, a professor of economics at Virginia Tech University. Salehi-Isfahani was speaking during a webinar hosted by […]
NIACast Episode #8 – Book Talk: “In Praise of Big Noses” with Persis Karim
Continuing our series of conversations with authors featured in “My Shadow is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora,” Assal and Mana chat with Dr. Persis Karim, who contributed an essay and the forward for the anthology, and helped bring the entire project together with her work at San Francisco State University’s Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies. Both thoughtful and witty, her essay, “In Praise of Big Noses,” reflects on the influence of the western aesthetic on the Iranian body.
NIACast Episode #9 – Book Talk: “My Mom Killed Michael Jackson” with Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh
In our final chat with authors featured in “My Shadow is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora,” Mana and Assal sit down with Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh. Her essay, “My Mom Killed Michael Jackson,” explores her travels to Iran and a personal story of longing for a place that is at once familiar, yet out of reach.
NIACast Episode #7 – Group Chat: Bad narratives and dangerous proposals for Trump and Biden on Iran
Jamal, Ryan and Sina discuss The New Yorker piece “Twilight of the Revolution” and a proposal from the rightwing organization JINSA urging Trump to officially pursue “regime collapse” in Iran. Then they look at Sina’s recent series in Responsible Statecraft on dangerous proposals from the Democratic side for Iran and how a Biden administration actually should approach the region.
NIACast Episode #6 – Book Talk with Darius Atefat-Peckham
For the second part in our series of conversations with the authors featured in “My Shadow Is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora,” Assal sat down with Darius Atefat-Peckham, an up and coming poet whose contribution to the anthology, “Learning Farsi,” is a reflection on his mother’s passing when he was just 3 and the Iranian identity she handed down to him.
Fireside Chat With Arian Moayed and Alan Khazei
On May 19, 2020, NIAC Action hosted a fireside chat with award-winning actor Arian Moayed and Alan Khazei, City Year Co-Founder and candidate for Congress! Arian Moayed is an Iranian-born actor and the Co-Founder of Waterwell, a civic-minded and socially conscious theater and education company. Watch the recording of this event as he interviews Alan Khazei, a candidate running for Massachusetts Congressional District 4 that has a strong chance of becoming the FIRST Iranian American elected to Congress.