American CH. Society Terminates Membership Of Iranian Chemists

[Rasputin]

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY TERMINATES MEMBERSHIP OF IRANIAN CHEMISTS

www.ics-ir.org)

[Rasputin]

Notwithstanding the rhetoric and provocations leading to a possible disastrous confrontation by governments, a true scientist, or a credible organization of scientists such as the ACS, which does not recognize the boundaries of the world, should be capable to transcend all political barriers for the advancement of science.

Excerpt: www.sciencemag.org

[mike435]

sad to see acadamia suffer and advancement suffer becuse politics

ironic how it is the academic sector that bears the most price

[Rasputin]

Chemical reaction

Dear University Friends:

You have heard that the American Chemical Society (ACS) has adopted a new policy to expel its members from the Embargoed Countries including Iran, and to restrict their access to its publications. ACS is giving for this new policy exactly the same reasons that we have heard from IEEE (Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers) 6 years ago, namely the possibility of heavy fines if they continue to have members in Iran.

It is very disturbing, because the Congress has not passed any new Sanction Law, and OFAC has not issued any new rulings since September 2003, when it revised its ruling and declared a general license to all organizations regarding activities such as information exchange.

Other US professional organizations like American Physical Society (APS), have not accepted to exclude their members in Iran, and until now no US organization has been fined for disobeying the law!

For the last few weeks, Dr. Rahni and several other senior Iranian members of ACS have been trying to resolve this issue by talking to ACS, but ACS is not willing to change its position.

Last Friday I wrote the following letter to ACS to update them of what was achieved in the last 6 years. I have also accepted to work with a committee of several senior Iranian chemists and representatives of other Iranian organizations to coordinate the campaign for restoring membership to excluded Iranian members of ACS. You will hear about this later.

But the experience with IEEE and AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) has showed that only a massive engagement of members, together with other professionals and university community can have any chance for success. It is an issue of Academic Freedom & Free Information Exchange, and it is not limited to chemists or members of ACS.

Please let us know if you are willing to write a letter to ACS officials and voice your opposition to their new policy. The number of E-mails they will receive on this issue is crucial!

E-mail addresses of ACS are:

* annn@cameron.edu
* m_jacobs@acs.org
* R_Baum@acs.org

Regards,

Fredun Hojabri

****** ****** ******

Subject: ACS New Policy toward Iranian Members
Date: 4/13/2007 11:59:17 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
From: Fredun Hojabri
To: secretary@acs.org
CC: m_jacobs@acs.org, annn@cameron.edu

[Rasputin]

برقراری دوباره عضویت ایرانيان در انجمن شیمی آمریکا


انجمن شیمی آمریکا می گوید ارائه تخفیف های ویژه به محققان ایرانی ساکن این کشور خلاف قانون است
انجمن شیمی آمریکا چهارده تن از اعضای ايرانی خود را که چند هفته پيش از عضويت اين انجمن محروم شدند، بار ديگر به عضويت انجمن بازگرداند، هرچند اعضای ايرانی از اين پس از برخی خدماتی که انجمن برای اعضای ديگر فراهم می کند محروم خواهند بود.
انجمن شیمی آمریکا در راستای تحريمهايی که دولت ايالات متحده بر انتقال فناوری به ايران اعمال کرده، عضويت آن دسته از اعضای اين انجمن را که ساکن ايران بودند لغو کرده بود.

اين تصميم اعتراض مجامع علمی ايرانی و همچنين واکنش رسمی وزارت علوم و فناوری ايران را به دنبال داشت.

پس از آنکه شمار زيادی از اعضای غيرايرانی انجمن نيز به اين تصميم اعتراض کردند، مديريت انجمن شيمی آمريکا از تصميم خود بازگشت و عضويت اعضای ايرانی را دوباره برقرار ساخت.

با اين حال انجمن شيمی آمريکا در مورد خدماتی که برای اعضايش فراهم می کند، برای ايرانيها دو استثنا قائل شده، يکی اينکه آنها نمی توانند برای شرکت در همايشهای انجمن شيمی از تخفيفی که به اعضا داده می شود استفاده کنند و ديگری اينکه اعضای ايرانی نمی توانند از عضويت اين انجمن و خدمات آن برای پيشرفت شغلی بهره بگيرند.

اين محروميت شامل آن دسته از اعضای انجمن شيمی که در کوبا يا سودان سکونت داشته باشند نيز می شود.

[Aresime1980]

Seems really unfair to me. Such a mysterious reasons.