WEEKEND OF ACTION
LETTER TO SARAH FROM A FRIEND: #1YR TOO LONG
Aug 5th
LETTER TO SARAH, WRITTEN ON 30 JULY 2010:
I wrote the following letter to Sarah late Friday night before the next day’s action—I’d like to send it to her. For now, I’m sharing it here.
~ J. Heyward
Dear Sarah,
First…I miss you so incredibly. I’m pretty sure an hour doesn’t pass in any given day when I’m not thinking of you and Shane and feeling the very complete frustration of this unlikely entanglement, this unjust punishment you’re receiving for the truly nefarious deeds of the US you were trying to counter. It is unconscionable and becomes more outrageous each day.
Over the past year, I’ve imagined—many times—a conversation with you once you’re released from that cage. I’m often transported back to that last place where we sat together, at the top of the stairs at my house in San Francisco, when you told me you were going to Syria to live with Shane for a year, maybe more.
Sarah & her Mother Nora Hug for the First Time in Over a Year
But now, while so many of my visual memories of you are being threatened to be replaced with pictures that are recycling through the daily press, I can feel your presence as much as I ever did in person. And it is a strong, unique and unmistakable presence. It feels like commitment, honesty, perseverance, justice. This is very personal to us and political to them…politicians…and this is nothing we could’ve ever been prepared for. Your spirit and Shane’s is with me often and it is clear why we are friends and comrades; the justice we seek is very powerful, universal, transformational.
I was afraid that night you told me you were going to Syria…not afraid for your safety but afraid that I would never get to spend more time with you and talk with you more, as I suppose you had intended by inviting me to the Radical Reading Group before. And actually, there were so many invitations you extended to me that I didn’t return. You can’t imagine how regretful I am of this now. There is nothing I wouldn’t give to be sitting with you now, even in silence.
I think that you may know, I have a solitary life even in relation to my work. There’s no particular reason for this other than that I am incredibly scared and sad to know of all of the terrible things that happen in the world. Sometimes I just want to cry—actually sob and sometimes scream—until I find that rooted place in me that can move forward with confidence to fight alongside others who appear to already have the resolve and peace and vision that I have yet to earn. This is why I didn’t seem to fit into the reading group—even though you picked good books: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Regulating the Poor, End of Capitalism. I didn’t want to read any more theory. I wanted to get out and talk with people, talk about what was going on around us and do something about it. And so did you, I know. It’s just that somehow you manage to squeeze all of it in. I’m still catching up, can only do things one at a time.
Sarah on a Train, Shortly Before her Detention in Iran
Now you’ve often entered that solitary space where I am accustomed to stowing myself away as I try to imagine what we’re going to do to end these wars, to turn this colonialist nightmare around. So really, I think I’ve spent more time with you (however remotely) in the past year than in the past seven or eight years because I know that’s what you were doing in Syria, ending the isolation—bridging a cultural gap and providing solidarity like so many people have throughout history when the US has waged war on entire regions and millions of people. I didn’t know that when you left but I know it now.
It will be amazing if you receive this letter. Can you write back? How will I know. How can you know how much people are thinking of you? Maybe you do know somehow.
Please rest if you can, knowing that there are many of us working day and night to gain your freedom. I think you, Shane and Josh have more than 17 thousand supporters online who are following case, rooting for you. And there are literally hundreds of people who are connected to friends of yours who know your vision and purpose and are telling a true narrative of your indomitable, kind spirit. You will meet all of them soon.
A new article came out today in the Christian Science Monitor that is the best one yet, about your commitment to ending US-Israeli war and aggression and your connection, same purpose and direction as Tristan Anderson and Rachel Corrie. Shon has been working really hard to get these facts out there, and it looks like some US press is finally starting to cover your story from this perspective. We’re really trying to make sure that your work in Syria and Shane’s purpose in Iraq is supported in all of our actions and conversations.
Tomorrow is the big day. One year. Please hold on, Sarah. We still have a long way to go in life together.
Miss you so much.
Love to you, Shane and Josh.
Heyward
SARAH, SHANE & JOSH: WHY WE ARE NO DIFFERENT BY @YUMIWILSON
Aug 2nd
REPUBLISHED FROM CITY BRIGHTS:
Posted By: Yumi Wilson | August 01 2010 at 07:00 AM
Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll probably say I’m a bit too trusting. I tend to believe in the goodness of people, unless I see otherwise.
I thought about that a lot today, after losing my wallet and cell phone near the corner of 17th and Mission streets.
Granted, losing the phone is never a bad thing. We could all stand to spend more time connecting with people the old-fashioned way: By meeting them in person.
Still, there is something disturbing about losing your phone—and your wallet.
It all happened so fast. I had just finished interviewing some friends of three American hikers who are being held in Iran on suspicion of spying. I had planned to update my blog, telling readers that friends of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal wanted everyone to know that the three young Americans are not spies, and that they had simply wanted to go on vacation to the mountains of Kurdistan for adventure and fun.
The friends and supporters, I had learned earlier, were going to march to Dolores Park from 16th and Mission streets.
Group demanding release of hikers in Iran marches to Dolores Park.
Hoping to catch them from the start, I had taken BART and gotten off at the 16th street station. I didn’t see them there, so I hurried toward Dolores Park, where they had said via Twitter they would end up.
At the park, my son seemed pleased that he had elected to come with me to the Mission, a place we haven’t frequented since he stopped going to Synergy in the first grade (he’ll be a freshman next month).
Together, we counted about 40 people, but I noticed that there were many more people at the park who didn’t seem to care about the marchers. In fact, I didn’t think the rally would last that long, and I envisioned getting back home quickly.
But with my son wanting to stay longer to enjoy an accordion player at the rally and then a trapeze artist in another area of the park, I took my time to meander, to observe and to listen without saying a word.
Rally in Dolores Park
Still, I had the same question that many people seem to have: What were Sarah, Shane and Josh doing so close to the border? Why didn’t they know better? Why did they go there in the first place?
And then, just like a bad Hollywood ending, the same thing happened to me. Only I wasn’t in Iran. I was in the Mission District.
“Where are we?” my son asked.
I had strayed a few blocks past my favorite restaurant on 16th Street. But even I knew enough to sense I had entered an “iffy” area. Within a minute or two of having my phone, someone had brushed past me and taken my wallet and phone. By the time I called to stop my credit cards and phone, someone had already made a purchase at a gas station in the Mission.
“We should have taken the car,” my son said.
Of course, I tried to assure my son that our choice of transit had nothing to do with my credit card being stolen. I also tried to shut out what a man had said about the Mission: Avoid it, unless you want to be messed with.
I had tried to ignore the advice, casting it off as an unfair stereotype of a neighborhood often misrepresented in the media. But now, huddled under a storefront in fear of every person who passed me, I wondered whether he was right.
I know it’s silly. The Mission is a wonderful place, filled with good people. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as some of people at the rally noted about the three hikers.
“They are innocent people,” said Meredith Walters, an English student at UC Berkeley. “They are good people who dedicated their lives to making the world a better place.”
Messages to the Hikers from Supporters
And that might be among the greatest lessons learned Saturday afternoon by attending the “Free the Hikers” rally in Dolores Park.
“They are extraordinary cultural diplomats,” said Margaret Roberts, who works as a Spanish interpreter in Oakland’s courts. “We are all safer and better informed and more connected to the larger world with people like Sarah, Shane and Josh out in the world.”
Jennifer Miller, another friend at the rally, added: “They were living and working to make a bridge between cultures.”
Sarah, Shane and Josh took a road less traveled for many of the same reasons we all do. We are curious about the world around us. We are adventurous and want to try new things. And we believe in the goodness of people, just as I am trying to do, even now.
See more photos of the event:
PHOTOS FROM SOME #1YR @FREETHEHIKERS WEEKEND OF ACTION EVENTS
Aug 1st
As the WEEKEND OF ACTION continues, we bring you some images from events so far:
FOR EVENTS TOMORROW, PLEASE VISIT UPCOMING EVENTS!
SISTER OF IMPRISONED HIKER SHANE BAUER HOLDS VIGIL IN BOULDER, CO
Aug 1st
REPUBLISHED FROM COLORADO DAILY:
Hikers have been detained in Iran for one year
By Joe Rubino, Camera Staff Writer
At 1:33 p.m. Saturday, 24-year-old Boulder resident Shannon Bauer stood in front of the Boulder County Courthouse, amid Pearl Street Mall shoppers and tourists on a hot summer day.
At that very minute, exactly one year ago, Bauer and her family first received word that her older brother, Shane Bauer, his girlfriend, Sarah Shourd, and their friend, Josh Fattal, had been captured by the Iranian government while hiking along an unmarked stretch of the Iraq-Iran border. The three remain captives in Iran to this day.
The Boulder “Free the Hikers” vigil, held Saturday afternoon on the Pearl Street Mall, was one of more than 15 events worldwide—some as far away as New Delhi, India—commemorating what organizers call one year of unjust detention for the three American citizens.
Bauer, who was helped by a rotating group of 10 to 15 friends and volunteers Saturday, held the vigil to continue spreading awareness of her brother’s plight and to apply pressure to both the Iranian and United States governments to release her brother, Stroud and Fattal.
“I have a goal of at least one person finding out about it and going on the Web site and showing how much they care,” Bauer said of Saturday’s vigil. “The ultimate goal every day is that they come home.”
A table set up for the vigil featured photos of the three captives. Volunteers sold T-shirts and buttons and accepted donations to support the “Free the Hikers” cause. The main goal, however, was to gather signatures on a petition asking the Iranian government to release the hikers. More than 60 signatures had been collected by 2 p.m. Saturday
“I had a couple of people telling me signing something wasn’t going to do anything,” said Sarah Kubley, a neighbor and friend of Bauer’s who helped out Saturday. “That’s just a good excuse to do nothing.”
Bauer and several others read prepared speeches at the vigil. Barbara Petersen, of Littleton, studied abroad with Fattal in South Africa in 2009. She was too emotional to finish her speech, so her father, Craig, read most of it.
Bauer hasn’t spoken to her brother since his arrest. She found out about his engagement to Shourd after their mother briefly visited him in his Tehran prison cell in March.
“Everything kind of changed,” said Bauer’s partner, Natalie Seuske. “We can’t leave cell phone reception because we’re always waiting for that call. Shannon has had health issues related to the stress.”
Despite the emotional distress it has caused her, Bauer takes solace in the community response.
“This situation generally is not something many people go through,” she said. “So to have this type of support is one of the main things getting us through this. People who don’t even know them want to see them come home.”
Melissa Parker, a resident of Union, Ky., signed the “Free the Hikers” petition. She was vacationing in Boulder with her family.
“It’s just really sad to think there are people over there that our government can’t help release,” she said. “We just keep them in our prayers.”
CHECKOUT MORE PHOTOS FROM THE BOULDER EVENT:
VANCOUVER WEEKEND OF ACTION BENEFIT TO @FREETHEHIKERS
Aug 1st
The Free the Hikers Benefit Concert in Vancouver was a success last night. Jackie, Kate and I invited over 200 people by evite and were a little worried that folks would not be able to make it since this is a long weekend in Canada and most people we know had plans to get out of town. It worked out perfectly though and Jackie’s back yard was filled with families. Jackie had her garden decorated with banners, flags and lanterns. People set up blankets on the lawn and relaxed in the warm summer evening. For two hours, Kate shared the kid’s songs she has written over the past two months. We sang and the kids danced and we thought about Josh, Shane and Sarah writing songs and singing them in Evin. We made lemonade and served a mountain of “prison pie” cookies baked by Tara, Mum, Kate, Jackie and me.
The crowd was a real mix of people and many were hearing about Josh, Shane and Sarah for the first time. Lots of the kids asked why Josh, Sarah and Shane were in jail. It was actually a hard question to answer in terms the 7 year old set could understand. However, they got the message that the detention of the hikers is a serious injustice and were suitably outraged.
It was a busy night. We had an information booth with pictures of the Hikers and the their story, we wrote collective letters to Larijani and Ahmadinejad , we handed out 80 white ribbons with the FTH website address, we made a card for Josh, Shane and Sarah, we created a photo montage of everyone holding messages the kids had written to Iran and the Hikers, we got a bunch more signatures for the petition, we gave everyone stacks of flyers to give to their friends, we raised $820 dollars (Canadian funds) by donations, we sold some of Sarah Taylor’s lovely Free the Hikers necklaces, we sang, the kids danced long into the night, we ate the cookies, and we drank the lemonade.
Our hearts were with Josh, Shane and Sarah. Please let them come home soon.
In solidarity,
Rachel, Jackie, & Kate
CHECKOUT ALL THE PICTURES AT PICASA:
LIBEREZ LES RANDONNEURS #1YR PARIS
Jul 30th
PROTEST & PICNIC IN PARIS
- Date: 31 Jul 2010
- Time: 12 h to 16 h
- Place: Place d’Iéna
- Paris, France 75116
- Location Details
LIBEREZ LES RANDONNEURS—PARIS, FRANCE:
Join us on Saturday for a Protest and Picnic in support of Sarah, Shane, and Josh, illegally detained in Iran for one year. Meet at 12pm at the Place d’Iéna, right outside the metro Iéna in the 16th arrondissement. Following the protest, enjoy a picnic and participate in a “hike” around the neighborhood.
Invite your friends!
Rejoignez-nous ce Samedi 31 pour une manif’ et pique-nique en soutien de Sarah, Shane, et Josh, détenus au prison en Iran depuis un an Rendez-vous à 12h à la Place d’Iéna. Après, on goutera les fruits de la saison lors d’une pique-nique et une petite “randonné” dans le quartier.
Invitez vos amis!
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DEPECHE: LIBEREZ LES RANDONNEURS/ FREE THE HIKERS
- QUOI: Une manifestation près de l’ambassade d’Iran à Paris pour soutenir les trois randonneurs détenus au prison en Iran depuis un an.
- QUAND: Samedi 31 Juillet 31 2010, 12h
- OU: Place d’Iéna, 75116 Paris
BACKGROUND
Shane Bauer et sa fiancée Sarah Shourd habitaient depuis un an a Damas, où Shane était journaliste et Sarah enseignante des réfugies Irakiens. Josh Fattal leur rendait visite. Ils ont décide de prendre l’aire un peu, et tous leurs amis Syriens leur ont dit d’aller aux montagnes en Kurdistan, pour voir ses jolies cascades. Ils sont partis dans un endroit vacancier connu. Lors d’une randonné, ils se sont approchés, sans le savoir, trop près de la frontière Iranienne (pas du tout marquée). Ensuite, soit ils ont traversé par erreur cette frontière, soit (comme suggère une enquête du journal The Nation) la police de la frontière Iranienne leur ont enlevés, étant au courant de leur présence en Kurdistan.
Ils sont au prison Evine près de Téhéran. Sarah. 31 ans, est en isolement total 23 heures par jour. Les lumières restent allumé 24/24. Ils ont eu droit à 1 appel de 3 minutes avec leurs familles, et une visite de quelques heures (supervisés) avec leurs mères. En un an. Sarah a une condition grave (qui pourrait devenir le cancer) qui demande l’attention régulière d’un médecin. Elle est allée voir une fois le médecin depuis un an. Ils n’ont pas le droit de voir leur avocat Iranien, malgré le fait qu’il demande chaque jour de voir ses clients. On n’a aucune nouvelle des trois depuis Mai.
En solidarité avec ces trois citoyens du monde, une groupe des Parisiens organise une manifestation pour appeler à leur libération immédiate, en présence de Ides van den Bosch, un belge qui a été au prison Evine pendant trois mois. Cet évènement se rejoigne à d’autres partout dans le monde ce week-end du 31 Juillet, le triste anniversaire de leur arrestation.
INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITES: Ides van den Bosch, qui avait été au prison Evine pendant trois mois, sera disponible pour des entretiens. Possibilité d’organiser un entretien téléphonique avec d’autres membres du mouvement et de la famille des randonneurs.
 | WEEKEND OF ACTION EVENTS:These events are part of a Weekend of Action, including events around the world to mark ONE YEAR of unjust detention for Sarah, Shane and Josh. For updates & to see our growing list, goto: |
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- Please contact Julie at juliekleinman@gmail.com for information and/or to volunteer support for organizing this event.
- Please contact events@freethehikers.org if you are able to organize something in another location. Even something small will be very helpful and we will provide as much support as possible.
- Please also spread the word about the Weekend of Action and invite your family members, friends and colleagues to join us!
UPCOMING @FREETHEHIKERS WEEKEND OF ACTION #1YR EVENTS
Jul 27th
These events are part of a Weekend of Action, including events around the world to mark ONE YEAR of unjust detention for Sarah, Shane and Josh. For updates & to see our growing list, goto: | WEEKEND OF ACTION EVENTS:
BENEFIT CONCERT: |
