Manifesto of the

Bam Earthquake Emergency Coordinating Committee

Whereas

- the human tragedy unfolding in Bam assumes profound and immense dimensions;

- it is vital that the survivors of this catastrophe continue to receive extensive and long-term aid;

- the Islamic Republic of Iran has already revealed its utter negligence and irresponsibility for the plight of the people in Bam and surrounding districts;

- the people, worldwide, have clearly expressed their total distrust of the Iranian regime for its record of corruption in handling donations;

- the Islamic regime continually creates restrictions and hurdles for the relief and rescue efforts;

A Bam Earthquake Emergency Coordinating Committee has been established, which will work under the Executive Board of the Worker-communist Party of Iran. The members of the Coordinating Committee are: Maryam Namazie (coordinator); Mina Ahadi; Fariborz Pooya; Nahid Riyazi; Halale Taheri; Asad Golchini; Bahram Modaresi; Mehrnousch Moosavi; Esmail Moloodi; and Kazem Nik-Khaah.

Bam Earthquake Emergency Coordinating Committee will make effort to:

1- keep public opinion increasingly up-to-date as to the dimensions of the tragedy, and enlist the growing support of the people as well as international institutions;

2- ask governments and international institutions to bypass the Islamic Republic of Iran because of its untrustworthiness and send aid directly to the victims;

3- ask the people of the world to hand over their financial and in-kind donations to credible international institutions that are non-religious, non-governmental, and non-affiliated with the Iranian regime;

4- lay stress on the necessity of international institutions' taking control over the distribution of donations, and over immediate assistance and re-construction;

5- expose the obstacles created by the Islamic regime of Iran in opposing the spontaneous as well as organised relief efforts on the part of the people, and to attempt to get those obstacles removed by the people’s power and under the pressure of public opinion as well as international authorities;

6- do its best to help develop and organise people’s own innovative aid groups and caravans already started by the people in all parts of the country;

7- be the voice and the consistent advocate of the interests of the survivors, and to make sure that world public opinion stays continually aware of their fate;

8- keep the Islamic regime of Iran under the pressure of international inquiries into its negligence in relief and rescue responsibilities; in its careless attitude towards the recommendations of earthquake research institutes; in its excessively low construction standards set throughout its 25-year long rule; and in its imposition of scanty dwellings on the majority of the poor, working people.

The Worker-communist Party of Iran calls upon all humanist institutions and people all over the world to co-operate with the Bam Earthquake Emergency Coordinating Committee.

Worker Communist Party of Iran

December 29, 2003