Please join us for two events on

Thursday, June 10 

One Year Later: Prospects

for a Democratic Transition in Iran

a half-day conference

8:30 a.m. - 2:15 p.m.

at the National Endowment for Democracy

1025 F Street, NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20004 

 and

The Presentation of the 2010 Democracy Award

to the Green Movement for Democracy in Iran

 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-339/340

South Capitol Street and Independence Avenue

Washington, DC 20515

RSVP by June 7 (acceptances only):

rsvp@ned.orgor (202) 378-9690 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (202) 378-9690      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

please indicate conference and/or reception 

______________________________________

Conference Agenda

8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Opening Statements 

Senator Ted Kaufman(confirmed)

SenatorJohn McCain (invited)

9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

Panel I: Lessons from Other Transitions to Democracy

Presenters

Larry Diamond, Stanford University

Dan Brumberg, Georgetown University

Commentators

Abbas Milani, Stanford University

Azar Nafisi, Johns Hopkins University

Moderator

Marc Plattner, National Endowment for Democracy

10:45 - 11:00 a.m.

Coffee Break

11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Panel II: The Road Ahead - Strategic Challenges for the Democratic Movement in Iran

Presenters

Ladan Boroumand,The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation

Nikahang Kowsar, Iranian satirist and blogger

Ali Akbar Mousavi, Stanford University

Fershteh Ghazi, Journalist and human rights campaigner

Moderator

Mahnaz Afkhami, Women's Learning Partnership

12:30 p.m.

Lunch

1:00 - 2:15 p.m.

Film screening: For Neda

The new HBO documentary tells the personal story of Neda Agha-Soltan's life and tragic death in the context of the protests following the presidential elections last year in Iran.

One year after the disputed June 12 election in Iran, which sparked the mass protests called the Green Movement, the conflict between the Islamic regime and the opposition remains unresolved. The regime retains control of the governing institutions and instruments of coercion, but its legitimacy has been gravely weakened. Thousands of opposition activists have been exiled, jailed, or murdered, and the besieged movement's access to the Internet has been severely restricted.   But the movement has survived this first year and shows no signs of retreating. Its resilience in the face of harsh repression has been a triumph of courage and a source of hope to people in Iran and throughout the world. Still, the challenges that lie ahead are formidable. Are there lessons that Iranian democrats can learnfrom freedom struggles in other regions? Will the democratic movement in Iran be able to broaden its base by reaching out to the poorer classes in the cities and provinces?  And will it be able to unite reformers and those seeking more fundamental change around a common vision of a new Iran based on the values of human dignity, freedom and opportunity? These are among the momentous questions that will be addressed at this conference on the eve of the first anniversary of the Green Movement's protests for democracy in Iran.

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National Endowment for Democracy

1025 F St. NW

Washington, District of Columbia 20004