President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
Ahmadinejad (R) and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki
Protesters against Iranian madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were in full force outside the UN.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Iranian leader, touting his victory in "glorious" June elections, which the opposition claimed were stolen, did not mention the country's nuclear program in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. He addressed the annual gathering immediately after six global powers who have been trying to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions announced they expect a "serious response" from Tehran in nuclear discussions on Oct. 1.
The streets of Midtown Manhattan were filled with other Iranians who had traveled to New York to protest Ahmadinejad's presence. Some had demonstrated there against the shah three decades ago. Some said they, too, hoped to get the president's attention. They staged a sound-and-light show Tuesday night in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, projecting images of Iranian unrest on the white T-shirts of volunteers and declaring, "Ahmadinejad is not my president." They sang songs Wednesday outside Iran's U.N. mission and marched with green banners -- the Iranian opposition's signature color -- as close as they could get to where he would be speaking.
When the Iranian president comes to the United Nations each year, he often meets with handpicked guests, including American academics and Iranian expatriates. But this year, many who were accustomed to receiving invitations didn't get them. Others who did declined in protest.
It was hard to find anyone in the crowd who knew anyone attending, but some said they had moles.
"We have people that are in the U.N. who are keeping us apprised. And there are also people who work in New York City hotels who will tip people off," said Sheida Jafari, a protest organizer. The organizers had been bombarded by messages in recent days from all over the world, including Iran. "They say, 'Why don't you barricade this door or that door or attack his motorcade?' " Jafari said, adding that the organizers did not promote such actions. "They have a lot of anger, but we want to focus on human rights rather than espionage."
As the day progressed, the crowd grew larger. One group had cycled in from Toronto; several had flown in from Iran. "We hear they didn't give him a room," said Hassan Alizadeh, 38, who had come from Iran and planned to bike to Washington, Charlotte and Atlanta in protest. Over the summer, he had taken part in the demonstrations in Iran. "We asked, 'Where's our vote?' and they answered us with tear gas and batons."
Ali Reza Sadr, a 30-year-old dentist, had flown in from Tokyo on Tuesday. He said he had hoped to move back to Iran but now had no intention of returning.
"We're all displaced," he said. "If I had a chance to meet Ahmadinejad, I would say to him, 'You don't deserve to be Iran's president, because you are a cheat and a liar.' "
"If I see him, I'm going to throw my shoe, minimum," said Vahid Nasir, a real estate agent from Los Angeles. Nasir also planned to serve Ahmadinejad with a summons to appear in court and answer charges of human rights violations.
Ahmednijah Speech
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the restructuring of the UN in order to transform the world body into an efficient organization.
Ahmadinejad, in his address to the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday said that the reform in the structure of the UN should turn the body into a "fully democratic organization, capable of playing an impartial" role in international relations.
Ahmadinejad also called for reforming the structure of the Security Council, especially by abolishing "the discriminatory privileges of the veto right".
The Iranian president also called for restoring the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people by organizing a referendum and free elections in Palestine.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the "unfair capitalism" system has reached the end of the road and the world needs fundamental changes.
Ahmadinejad, in his address to the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday said, "Continuation of the current circumstances in the world is impossible."
He noted that the present unfavorable condition in the world runs counter to the very nature of human kind and contravenes the goal behind the creation of the world.
"It is no longer possible to inject thousands of billions of dollars of unreal wealth to the world economy simply by printing worthless paper assets, or transfer inflation as well as social and economic problems to others through creating severe budget deficits," Ahmadinejad said.
"The engine of unbridled capitalism with its unfair system of thought has reached the end of the road and is unable to move," the Iranian President stated.
"The era of capitalist thinking and imposition of one's thoughts on the international community, intended to predominate the world in the name of globalization and the age of setting up empires is over," Ahmadinejad concluded.
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