Get Involved!
There are numerous ways you and your groups can get involved, either by organizing an event for the day or by participating in the online pledge drive. Read on to learn more! Looking for resources? Check out this page.
Organize an Event for June 12, 2011
Get active! Organize or Join a Walk or Bike-a-thon. Assemble a caravan of walkers, bikers, swimmers, or anything else, take posters, wear your messages on your t-shirts, and take to the streets (or water!). Alternately, many charity runs take place over the summer. Check around your area to see if there is one coming up that you can join. Click here to see an example from Amsterdam last year.- Coordinate Public Art Installations to engage the public in activities like responsible graffiti, stenciling human rights messages in high traffic or key areas, assembling tile-printed posters, and whatever else you can dream up. Click here to see an example from Berlin last year.
- Organize Small, Informal Gatherings at a park, a café, book store, or any other convenient location. Urge activists to meet and participate in letter writing or postcard signing, and encourage your community to join!
- Use Theater as a Medium to host spoken word events, readings, film screenings, concerts, and other creative uses of the stage. A well done flash-mob in a high traffic area is also a creative way of highlighting the day and its demands. Activists in Prague did something similar last year.
- Host Educational Events addressing the rights situation in Iran. Events can be anything from a teach-in, to a lecture, to engaging panel discussions. Organizers in Houston coordinated such an event last year.
- Reach Out to the Media. Host press conferences, invite the media, and try to get prominent activists (Iranian or not!) to attend and speak at these types of events. Video footage of this would be ideal! Last year, Paris-based Move4Iran hosted a Press Conference.
- Get Creative! There are dozens of way to get involved to meet the day’s goals and highlight the day’s demands. This could be anything from a 2 minute video project, to temporarily renaming a location Azadi Square, to organizing visuals in public to grab the public attentions. If you have any ideas, please feel share them so we can post them.
Pledge Drive
U4I welcomes everyone to take part in the day by participating in the online Pledge Drive! You and your group can commit to completing one or more Iran-focused actions over the coming year. You can also see what other individuals and groups are committing to accomplish over the next year! Some of the pledge options are below. The pledge will be posted online in the coming days.
Pledge to Support Human Rights In Iran
Pledge ongoing advocacy for a specific prisoner of conscience over the next year. This can include anything from monitoring and highlighting his/her case, to updating the media on the situation, to urging your government to take action.- Pledge to write to your respective government representatives “X” number of times over the next year urging they address Iran’s deteriorating rights situation.
- Pledge to pass a Resolution of Support by working with your university, student leadership, or city officials. A sample resolution can be found here.
- Pledge to send “X” number of postcards and e-letters to various world leaders, UN officials, and Iranian authorities, whether it be personally, as an organization, or as a community via letter writing events.
- Pledge to organize “X” number of events. This could include rallies, marches, demonstrations, panels, art installations, teach-ins, or any other events that will highlight the situation in Iran.
- Pledge to utilize and build relationships with the media. Maintain international attention via the mainstream media is integral to spotlighting the situation in Iran. Using the media could include hosting press conferences with prominent activists, writing letters to the editors of your local publications, approaching TV news stations with your efforts, and more!
- Pledge to participate in visual arts campaigns as a means to support the cause. Make video messages or take photos of solitary, either by yourself, with your group, or in public (ask people walking by to participate!).
Pledge to Support the U4I Network
- Pledge to recruit “X” number friends to join the U4I network! Reach out to new communities, especially those dedicated to the budding movements across the Middle East and North Africa, to combine efforts.
- Pledge to join the social media blitz! Sign up for Twitter, make sure to follow and re-tweet United4Iran where possible, and participate in Tweet Storms! “Like” the U4I Facebook page to keep updated on the going-ons in Iran and to be alerted of urgent actions. Please take a few minutes a day to repost and share these!
- Pledge to forward and share actions you take, the posts that touch you, the campaigns you like, and U4I’s e-blasts (sign up here). Use your network to spread awareness!
- Pledge to become a reoccurring monthly donor to help us fund advocacy tools and offset costs associated with events, campaigns, and other action efforts. A one time donation is always appreciated as well!
- Pledge to fundraise by recruiting “X” number of friends to donate a few dollars a month to help U4I continue its operations or via fundraising functions.
Know the U4I team is here to support you and help you meet your commitments and pledges, whatever they may be! If you have any questions, please e-mail us at info@united4iran.org.
Interested? If you or your organization is interested in coordinating an event, please e-mail us at info@united4iran.org so we can share your plans with the world via the U4I calendar and Google map.
Please share footage of your actions by e-mailing pictures or links to uploaded videos to share@united4iran.org. Please also include a short summary of your event, where it took place, who it was hosted by, and what was done.
