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Annual Report 2003 In January and February of 2002 over 30 citizens from seven towns in the “Upper Valley” of Vermont and New Hampshire held meetings to consider forming “Building Bridges: Middle East-US.” By March, having gathered an Executive Committee and Advisory Council, we announced that we planned to address the long-term issues that citizens have become aware of since September 11 through a program of public education, including the creation of opportunities for regular dialogue, via exchange visits, between citizens of the US and citizens of Middle East countries. We had our first public meeting at the Norwich Congregational Church on May 20, 2002 when about 50 people gathered to listen to Professor Gene Garthwaite of the Dartmouth History Department talk on exchange visits with Iran, and Nahid Tabatabai of the Dartmouth Economics Department followed with “Iran: a Personal Perspective.” Prof Garthwaite felt that visitors would be greatly welcomed in Iran and that communication would be relatively easy since English is the second language of most Iranians, but the visas and the international situation could hold up visits. Ms. Tabataibi particularly focused on her early life in Iran and unforeseen problems that arose during the “White Revolution” under the Shah during the 1960’s. In agriculture, there was a fall in production and collapse of infrastructure, particularly in irrigation systems, when the farmers became owners of the land. She did note the many literacy efforts and passage of women's suffrage during this period. In September, 2002 Ann Holmblad of Chelsea met at another public meeting with the Bridges group. She described her two week trip (March, 2002) to Syria and Lebanon as part of the Mid-East Citizen Diplomacy Compassionate Listening Project (www.mideastdiplomacy.org). She had traveled to the Middle East with an international group of 14 people who listened and learned about problems of that area from the perspective of the people involved. During the summer, our Executive Committee members met with some influential scholars of current and historical Iran, and the first event that came from those contacts was a presentation of two Iranian films in Woodstock, Vermont, on September 17 & 18, “The Son of Maryam” and “The Longest Night.” These films were greatly enhanced by the presence of the filmmakers who gave some background on the films and answered questions from the audience of about 75 people who attended each showing.
The Ilex Foundation of Boston, Mass was the major force in bringing the filmmakers to the Upper Valley, and Ilex also helped Building Bridges bring the former Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Mahallati, to various talks here in late January. He spoke after the Sunday service at the Norwich Congregational Church, then that evening spoke at Dartmouth under the auspices of the Tucker Foundation, and finally, on Monday, met with the War and Peace Group of the Rockefeller Center and Prof. Garthwaite's class, before returning to Montreal.
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