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As the Mideast Solidarity Project (MSP) enters into its seventh year, the overarching purpose of the festival remains the same: to create space for marginalized and oppressed peoples of the Middle East, and surrounding regions, to self-represent and to strengthen our solidarity with them in their struggles.

The schedule can be found here 

This is more relevant than ever in the present historical moment. Last March marked the 7th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, while the occupation of Afghanistan has entered into its 9th year and is spreading into Pakistan. Palestinians mourned the 62nd anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe) this April as billions of US dollars continue to support the Israeli occupation of their homeland. Meanwhile, Gaza is still reeling from Israel's assault last year and the on-going siege.

These superficial facts fail to represent the humanity of the occupied peoples and the realities of occupation in their everyday lives. And it is these people who tell their stories in the films, challenging the mainstream Orientalist discourse that has dehumanized them, rewritten their histories, and provided a rationale for continued occupation.

Film and speaker topics this year include occupation and resistance in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan; labor rights; LGBTQ identity and struggle in Iran; immigration and the Diaspora; Iranian cinema after the '79 revolution; anti-Arab racism in the US and Israel; deconstructing stereotypes of Muslim women; US war resisters; the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism; and more.

All screenings are FREE of charge and open to the public.

Iran: The Green Movement
The New Civil Rights Struggle
A panel discussion

with:
Hamid Dabashi
Shadi Mokhtari
Trita Parsi

Feb. 25, 7:30 PM, at The Evergreen State College, Lecture Hall 1

Iran remains in the headlines: Popular protests, human rights abuses, and threats from the West.

Confused? Intrigued? Frightened?

A panel of prominent Iranian and Iranian-American voices will help you sort it out:

HAMID DABASHI: Columbia professor and author of Iran: A People Interrupted will give a brief history of the Iranian civil rights movement.

SHADI MOKHTARI: Author of After Abu Ghraib: Exploring Human Rights in America and the Middle East, will speak on the state of human rights in Iran.

TRITA PARSI: President of the National Iranian American Council and author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States, will speak on US foreign policy toward Iran and how the civil rights movement will influence greater Middle East politics.

I told the representative staffers that I need Congressman Baird to do everything in his power to oppose an attack on Iran given the absence of transparent and thoroughly verifiable evidence that Iran might pose an imminent threat to the USA.

Given how the Bush Administration's use of false pretenses led to an unnecessary attack on Iraq - it's crucial that Congress, and my Congressman, do everything in their power to insure against another unjustified, unlawful aggressive attack.

[edit: This event was sponsored and organized by the local Olympia Council Moveon.org Operation Democracy team.]

A satellite image from 2006 show the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran. (AP Photo/IKONOS satellite image courtesy of GeoEye/WIA)

By Mark Mazzetti