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Hopi steering committee
as elected at the Hopi annual conference on December 13 2008. The first meeting of the steering group decided on the responsibilities of each committee member.
Yassamine Mather, Glasgow (Hopi chair)
Yassamine Mather is an Iranian socialist in exile in Scotland. Her political activities on the Iranian left started in the 1980s in Tehran and later in Kurdistan. In exile, she has been a member of the coordinating committee of Workers Left Unity Iran. She is a member of the Centre for Socialist Theory and Movements (Glasgow University) and the deputy editor of the journal Critique. Recently she has been active in the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign and a member of the Faslane academic blockade.
Mark Fischer, London (Hopi secretary)
Mark is the national organiser of the CPGB and a member of its leadership. He has been centrallyl involved in setting up Hopi.
MarshaJane Thompson, London
I am a member of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), elected to the LRC National Committee and co-Chair of the Socialist Youth Network (SYN), youth wing of the LRC. I was instrumental in securing the affiliation of both SYN and more recently the LRC to HOPI and would like to continue this work as a member of the Steering Committee. I am also a UNISON activist and Chair of UNISON United Left the broad left organisation within UNISON. I believe that the working class movement needs to show solidarity with the people of Iran, who face the prospect of imperialist aggression, without offering uncritical support to a sexist, homophobic and anti-working class theocracy. To do this we need to build the widest possible support within the trade union movement in particular.
Ben Lewis, London (Hopi branch organiser)
A gap-year student living in London, I am a well-known student
activist with much political experience. I have been politically active since the famous Stop The War march on February 15th 2003, after which I joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. I have been an active member of the Wahlalternative Arbeit und Soziale Gerechtigkeit in Germany and am on the National Executive of Communist Students. I have spoken for HOPI at numerous meetings both across the
country and also in Germany and have helped to bring HOPI's message
onto campus at numerous Freshers' Fairs. I am in regular contact with
radical anti-war students in Iran, allowing me to gain an insight into
the nature of their struggles and to express active solidarity with
their actions, such as the demonstrations on December 4. I believe
HOPI has the potential to become a campaign with significant roots in
society and I believe that my experience and commitment could help to
do this.
Vicky Thompson, Manchester 
(Hopi students)
I am an independent Libertarian Marxist based in Manchester. Ever
since the shameful exclusion of Hands Off the People of Iran from Stop
the War Coalition, I have been helping to build HOPI in the North
West. I am the co-founder and Treasurer of the University of
Manchester HOPI student society and on the provisional North West
committee. I have helped to co-ordinate HOPI interventions at meetings
and demos and in November I chaired HOPI's Manchester launch meeting,
which, in spite of an SWP-organised counter-meeting, managed to
attract an audience of over 40. Additionally, I am the secretary for
Manchester University Unite Against Fascism, an activist in Action
Palestine and an officer in the Stop the War Coalition's student
society. I am also the Treasurer of the Manchester branch of
Industrial Workers of the World (a registered Industrial union).
Moshé Machover, London
Moshé Machover is an Israeli socialist, founding member (1962) of the Socialist Organization in Israel (Matzpen). In the 1970s and 80s, he was co-editor of Khamsin, Journal of revolutionary socialists of the Middle East. He is on the Editorial Board of Middle East Forum (formerly Iran Bulletin). He is author of many articles on the Middle East and socialist theory, as well as of several books, including Laws of Chaos: A probabilistic Approach to Political Economy (co-authored with Emmanuel Farjoun), Verso, 1983.
Jim Jepps, Cambridge
I'm a socialist, UNISON member and member of the Green Party. I work in international development for a small NGO. I've been active in a number of different kinds of local campaigns, the anti-war movement and international solidarity work. I also blog at The Daily (Maybe) http://jimjay.blogspot.com. I'd be happy to serve on the steering committee in order to help liase with the Green Party and promote the work of the campaign more broadly.
Tina Becker, London (web and e-bulletin)
Tina has been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain for over 10 years, since moving to London from Germany. She is also a member of the German party Die Linke. She has been heavily involved in the European Social Forum movement and has written extensively on the subject. She has also helped to set up Hopi in London.
Stuart King, London (Hopi trade unions)
Stuart is a member of Permanent Revolution.
Torab Saleth, London
Torab Saleth is an Iranian Socialist who was a member of the International Executive Committee of the USFI (United Secretariat of the Fourth International) at the time of the Iranian Revolution and the National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party of Iran. He was very critical of the USFI's line on Iran and left that organisation in 1984. In exile he was the editor of the journal 'Socialism and Revolution', he is currently on the editorial board of the journal Critique and a prominent member of Workers Left Unity Iran.
David Broder, London
I am a member of the International Communists (The Commune), and support the principles of the HOPI campaign. I have written various articles and motions arguing for internationalist positions in the last couple of years, including as a member of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty. I am not only adamantly opposed to all sanctions, surgical strikes and military attacks against Iran (as well as the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan), but also reject any support, even if guarded or critical, for the Iranian ruling class, including in the case of a military confrontation with the US, Israeli or UK governments. I believe that HOPI needs to sink deeper roots in the labour movement as well as making appearances at trade union conferences, and to this end I think we should make a drive to report more on the state of the Iranian workers' movement, its struggles and the effects the imperialist 'soft war' of sanctions and military threats has on its fighting strength.
Charlie Pottins, London
Charlie is a member of the Jewish Socialists Group and Brent Trade Union Council