Dear colleagues,
Thank you for the high level of detailed response to last week's invitation to submit statements and questions toward the meeting this Wednesday. The planning committee's review team has worked faithfully to receive and consider the numerous submissions. More than 60 questions were submitted, and reflect a wide range of concerns.
Several of you will be contacted in the next 24 hours and invited to make short presentations on one of your questions to President Ahmadinejad, or to serve in the capacity of a respondent, time permitting. Given the limited amount of time we will have with the President, the review team has sought to identify topics that: reflect broadly upon what our peace and justice movement is doing here in the United States; express our concerns for engagement and mutual respect between our nations; have minimal overlap; and provide opportunities for our community to follow-up on within the United States.
As we noted in last week's message, ALL submitted statements and questions will be distributed to President Ahmadinejad and his colleagues, as well as to each participant - not just those questions that are presented orally during the meeting.
Regarding logistics for the meeting on Wednesday, September 24:
1. The meeting will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, on 42nd Street and Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The hotel sits above Grand Central Station, one of the two main commuter train stations in New York City. It is accessible by numerous forms of public transportation, including the 4/5/6, 7, S (shuttle) subway trains, several city bus lines, the Metro-North commuter trains, and the Airport Express bus line from LaGuardia and JFK airports.
2. Please be sure to bring at least one form of photo identification. Security will be extremely tight, as you would expect.
3. We have arranged to have the meeting room open for you to enter at 4 p.m., one hour prior to the start of the 5 p.m. meeting. This will provide us the opportunity to gather as a community, and to hold a 30-40 minute briefing session. Please arrive as promptly as possible.
4. If you are traveling directly from an airport or otherwise from outside NYC, and have luggage with you that you need to store, we are still working to try to identify a location for you to do so. This has NOT yet been confirmed, and we can not promise such a venue. We are hoping there will be another space in the hotel to do so, but security considerations may prevent that. If you are able to store your luggage at the site where you are staying, please do so.
5. Once you are in the meeting room, you will not be permitted to leave. Please be sure to go to the bathroom before entering.
6. Out of respect for the holy month of Ramadan and the daytime period of fasting, no food will be provided in the room.
7. Cameras will be permitted. However, you will not be permitted to move around, once seated for the meeting with the President. Please exercise appropriate discretion in your use of photography. We plan to have two video cameras filming the proceedings as well.
8. A small number of members of the media have been invited to attend the meeting. They will not be permitted to ask questions during the meeting, only to cover its proceedings. To repeat our earlier communiqués on this issue: all media coverage of the meeting is embargoed until after its conclusion. Please abide by this request.
9. A list of registered participants is being prepared for distribution to each of you. If you do not want to have a phone number listed, please email editor@forusa.org by 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday to inform us. More than 150 participants are registered to attend, representing several dozen peace, justice, and anti-war organizations and Iranian-American friendship initiatives from throughout the United States.
10. If you have any last-minute concerns, you may call FOR staff member Ethan Vesely-Flad, cell #510.701.5267. We will attempt to assist you within our capacity.
Also, as we have noted earlier, a follow-up strategy meeting focused on strengthening and networking our numerous efforts to prevent war with Iran will be convened the next morning, Thursday, September 25th, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. It will be hosted at Middle Collegiate Church, at 50 East 7th Street in the East Village neighborhood of downtown Manhattan. The church is located at the intersection of 7th Street and 2nd Avenue, close to Astor Place (accessible by the 6, N, and R trains, and various public buses) and just a few blocks from Union Square.
Each of you is invited to the meeting on Thursday morning. We hope and expect that several dozen people representing a wide number of our participating organizations will attend that gathering.
Thank you again for your commitment and participation. We do apologize for the lateness of this message; as many of you have thoughtfully noted in correspondence with members of our planning team, this effort has been a huge undertaking in a very short timeframe.