Hi John,
On Sunday, December 18, 2022, NIAC participated in an eight-hour critical debate with opposition figures on Clubhouse called The role of Iranians outside the country [Iran] in protecting people protesting [in Iran] hosted by “My Iran”. This session had 20,000 viewers, with NIAC staff, volunteers, and prominent figures speaking up publicly to defend NIAC.
The key takeaway is that NIAC and our supporters, in real time, answered questions from the opposition, leaning on our major accomplishments for the Iranian-American community over the last 20 years. Below are a few highlights from the discussion:
1. NIAC's Financial Transparency: [[link removed]] Ehsan from our team answers questions on how NIAC is funded, that we received support from major foundations like Ploughshares and grassroots donors, and that NIAC holds a platinum seal from Guidestar for financial transparency. You can read more in our Transparency page [[link removed]] .
2. NIAC Educates Our Community for Civic Engagement: [[link removed]] Parisa on our Leadership Council shares that the NIAC members she knows come from diverse backgrounds and live all around the U.S. She says that as an immigrant from Iran, she also learned about civic engagement and how U.S. democracy works through NIAC.
3. NIAC is an American organization: [[link removed]] Ehsan from our team explains that NIAC has never claimed that it represents the Iranian people in Iran, it is an American organization working to give Iranian Americans a voice in U.S. policy. Read NIAC’s mission statement here [[link removed]] and learn about our 20 years of accomplishments here [[link removed]] .
4. Iranian Americans and Diplomacy: [[link removed]] Kowsar on our Leadership Council shares that NIAC's record of support for diplomacy was always based on the fact our membership has voted to support diplomacy and that polling data has consistently shown that the broader Iranian-American community strongly supported diplomacy as well.
**You can listen to the entire Clubhouse session here on the Clubhouse app [[link removed]] and on YouTube [[link removed]] .**
Team NIAC