(Video) Iran Uprising, Role of Women and Youths, and Prospects of A Democratic Republic

Atifete Jahjaga, President of Kosovo, “Iran’s history is replete with instances of women being at the forefront of political movements, for democratic values."

PARIS, FRANCE, September 17, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The National Council of Resistance of Iran-(NCRI) Foreign Affairs Committee in an article stated that on September 15th, a significant event unfolded as thousands of Iranians convened in Brussels for a major rally, leaders and legislators from various nations congregated in a conference in the Belgian capital. This gathering commemorates the one-year anniversary of the nationwide uprising that profoundly shook the ruling establishment in Iran.

Titled “Iran Uprising, Role of Women and Youths, and Prospects of A Democratic Republic,” the international meeting aimed to draw the global community’s attention towards the imperative need for a shift in policy concerning the oppressive regime in Iran. Moreover, it sought to underscore the Iranian people’s right to dismantle their oppressors and pave the way for a democratic republic. (continue with this link to see the whole article. https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/iran-uprising-role-of-women-and-youths-and-prospects-of-a-democratic-republic/)

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

As the conference’s keynote speaker Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), saluted women and youths who have kept the candle of the freedom-loving and justice-seeking movement alight, leading the Iranians’ long-time struggle towards a democratic republic of Iran.

“Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the start of the great uprising of the Iranian people. An uprising that highlighted the potential for the downfall of the regime and has put the Iranian people on the cusp of a new era in their history, backed by four decades of organized resistance,” Mrs. Rajavi stated.

“The uprising ignited with the tragic death of the innocent Zhina Amini (Mahsa) as a result of the blows from Khamenei’s brutal forces during a patrol to suppress women. I called for public mourning on the same night."

“Khamenei had put a lid on the powder keg of people’s anger after the November 2019 uprising with the Coronavirus. He explicitly and formally banned the import of vaccines from Europe and America to create a human shield against uprisings with the lives of 550,000 of our compatriots. Meanwhile, fatalities in neighboring countries were much lower compared to Iran."

“However, in the meantime, popular uprisings had erupted in regions like Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Khuzestan, Lorestan, and Isfahan. These were the uprisings of the thirsty and hungry for bread, water, and freedom, reaching a climax in Isfahan."

“The collapse of the Metropol Tower in Abadan due to corruption and theft in the construction of this building in collusion with the Revolutionary Guards and the trapping of innocent people under the rubble brought people’s anger to a climax. Finally, the spark ignited, and the pent-up resentment flared up across Iran.” She added:

“I vividly remember that when the Iranian Resistance announced on the 52nd day of the uprising, on November 7, 2022, that the regime had arrested more than 30,000 people, nobody outside Iran believed it and considered it an exaggeration."

“Two months later, however, the regime itself announced that Khamenei had, so to speak, pardoned 100,000 prisoners, 30,000 of whom were related to ‘the riots,’ which is a euphemism for the uprising. An uprising in which the aware and rebellious force loudly declared that they did not want dictatorship in any form, neither the Shah nor the mullahs."

“In this uprising, the world clearly saw a regime that covered its instability with warmongering and terrorism, and by making noise about its missile and nuclear programs. In reality, it is sitting on a powder keg and has no future.”

Mrs. Rajavi continued:

“Indeed, why does the regime resort to these desperate efforts? The answer must be sought in the outcomes and achievements of the uprising. Namely: The boundary of “neither Shah nor mullah” has become prominent and robust, raising the flag of a “Democratic Republic” at the pinnacle of the uprisings.

“The barriers of the popular front against any form of dictatorship and dependency have solidified, and the ranks of duplicitous individuals and currents in the front of tyranny and dependency have been exposed."

“In summary, everything about the regime suggests fragility and instability and indicates its end. As for the Resistance, the path of the democratic revolution, which started 42 years ago, is solidifying and ascending.

In fact, the future is sealed in the name of a democratic revolution, a democratic alternative, and a democratic republic. This is the same fundamental and genuine direction that the National Council of Resistance of Iran has had since 42 years ago when founded by Massoud Rajavi.

As he said, “It can be confidently stated that, unlike the Constitutional Revolution and the anti-monarchy revolution, this time the revolution is enduring, and its theft is not possible.”

Mrs. Rajavi highlighted the threats derived from the appeasement policy against world peace, saying:

“The ruling clerics in Iran have never been more in need of appeasement than they are today. Under the immense impact of uprisings, they need diplomatic maneuvering more than ever before. "

They are trying to win the support of both the West and the East against the people of Iran and their democratic revolution. Their methods for coercing Western governments are well-known:

“Hostage-taking, terrorism, warmongering, and playing the nuclear card are their tactics. Their central demand from Western governments is to limit the PMOI and the NCRI, and to close the path to uprising and freedom in Iran."

“One of the Friday Prayer leaders and senior representatives of Khamenei revealed that in indirect negotiations, regime officials have convinced America that demands regarding the nuclear program are dependent on their approach towards the PMOI. He said, ‘We have clarified to both America and Europe that the PMOI is an obstacle to understanding between the regime and them.’ This report was published by the regime’s official media on June 23, 2023."

“Earlier, Kazem Gharibabadi, the Judiciary’s deputy for international relations, had declared, “There is no meeting (with foreign officials) where we do not raise the issue of the PMOI.”

Stephen Harper, Former Prime Minister of Canada

Today, the regime and its appeasers in the West will proclaim that the protests have subsided, never to return. But we know the opposite is true. The protests will return as they have returned before. And each time they return, they are more widespread, more aggressive, and more enduring than they were before.

Just as each time they are more brutally suppressed, with more imprisonment and with more deaths, so that they lay the groundwork for the next round of protests. And so the cycle of protests and repression returns and returns. But it also escalates and escalates until it ends the only way it can end; with the people of Iran liberated from that vicious and evil regime.

This time, friends, the protesters burned down the ancestral home of the regime’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini. Next time, they will burn the entire regime to the ground.

As I said, each time the protests expand from the city to the countryside, from minority communities to the Persian majority, and this last time from men to women, although in fact, women have long played a leading role in organized resistance to the regime women, of course, like President Maryam Rajavi. They have because Iranian women have long known that their basic human rights depend on the destruction of the regime and its primitive ideology and its replacement by a free, constitutional, secular, and democratic state.

And friends, the forces exist on the ground in Iran to bring that future into being. As I’ve told you before, dismiss the propaganda that the regime is well entrenched and that it has no organized opposition.

If the regime had no such opposition, why would it expand so much energy into denouncing and demonizing this organization, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and all its organs and cells? If such opposition did not exist, why would the regime imprison some three and a half thousand of your members?

No, friends, the regime’s propaganda betrays its own lies. But I tell you not just to dismiss the propaganda of the regime but also the propaganda of the regime’s appeasers in the West, for they claim much the same thing, That there is no organized resistance, no viable alternative to the vile theocracy and all that it stands for.

Dismiss the propaganda of Western appeasers, these self-styled experts. And dismiss them not just because their propaganda is morally reprehensible, but because it is also factually wrong. It always is. Appeasers have always consistently overestimated the strength of regimes that govern solely by brute force and consistently underestimated the underlying fragility and inevitable fall of such regimes.

The Ayatollah’s regime is dysfunctional. It faces more overt opposition. And it has been rotting at the core almost from day one. Corruption is alive at every level.

The economy only gets worse. Poverty keeps increasing, inflation keeps rising, and services are nonexistent. No wonder the regime must resort to ever greater brutality. Because it has nothing that would engender the loyalty of any ordinary citizen.

Friends, let us again challenge the fundamental premise behind the appeasers’ belief system. That somehow things could be worse if the regime fell.

Worse how? How could it be worse than a regime with an apocalyptic ideology and a relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons that openly lists the nations it wishes to wipe off the face of the earth? How could it be worse than that?

How could it be worse than a regime that funds terrorism and war from Syria to Lebanon to Yemen and Iraq, and even to Ukraine and beyond? How could it be worse than that? How could it be worse than a regime where the supreme leader is an extremist fanatic and its president is a mass executioner? How could it be worse than that?

So, friends, I’ll say it again: The solution is not to try to strengthen relations with this regime. It is to do what my government did in Canada, close down the regime embassies around the world.

I’ve always been very careful to say that it’s not my place to tell the Iranian people who should be their government. That is for the Iranians to decide, but we have an alternative to offer them. I remind you that I am a signatory to an open letter of over 100 former presidents and prime ministers from around the world that urges the globe to ignore the appeasers and instead reach out to organize Iranian Resistance.

It’s really simple. Stand with the Iranian Resistance and in solidarity with the people of Iran in their desire for a free, secular, and democratic state.

And friends, that is the future that you, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, have constantly and tirelessly advocated something that needs to be acknowledged by all governments.

Atifete Jahjaga, President of Kosovo (2011-2016)

I admire the women of Iran who are continuously struggling against the regime’s repression. All repressive regimes try to shape people’s way of thinking, and all of them have failed. So will this regime.

The resilience of Iranian women deserves the world’s attention. But it does not receive the attention it deserves. Iranian women’s fight against the regime is also shaping the political landscape of their country.

The women are fighting a regime that is limiting the freedom of its own citizens.

Iran’s history is replete with instances of women being at the forefront of political movements, and fighting for democratic values. In Iran, brave Iranians fight repression. They are advocating progress.

In both Iran and Kosovo, women stood tall. They are a testament to the human quest for freedom and equality and women’s role as catalysts for change against internal tyranny and external subjugation.

My country is a testament to the fact that oppression will not be able to push women into the shadows. Women constitute half of the world’s population and they can’t be suppressed by the other half.

The ongoing revolution in Iran might be challenging, but Iranian women are not fighting alone. Hundreds and thousands of us fight with them. Despite being subject to trauma and constant terror, Iranian women show determination.

We will not stop until all women receive an equal place as everyone in society. We will not stop until freedom is guaranteed and the rights of every citizen are ensured.

Natalia Gavrilita, Prime Minister of Moldova (2021-2023)

It is such an honor and a privilege to stand here, first and foremost with the people of Iran and with so many prominent leaders from around the world, in defense of women’s leadership and, more broadly, in defense of the fundamental values of freedom.

These protests continue to simmer and are widespread. They transcend geographical, generation, and social lines. This was the first big revolution led by women. Half measures do not work. Short-term appeasement doesn’t work. It is no longer effective to make deals with totalitarian regimes that want to keep their people in the Middle Ages, that want to keep their people in the past.

The youth strive for democracy not simply as a way or an instrument to oppose a totalitarian regime. They actually support it as an assumed choice and a path to a better future. They understand that democratic institutions are the best way to ensure peace, freedom, and prosperity for our people and a place where our children can live their lives to their full potential.

Many reports show us the dire state of the world with democracy being on the decline. But if you look at women-led movements, it shows us a sign of hope, not just in Iran, but around the world.

If we look at the war in Ukraine, We can see how the totalitarian regimes work together to create instability in the region and around the world. So we see the cooperation through the use of drones between Russia and Iran through the use of drones, joint evasion of economic sanctions, and the same methods that are employed against their own people.

I don’t understand how it is that we want to end the war in Ukraine, and at the same time even consider the policy of appeasement.

Do you know what will future generations face due to a policy of appeasement today, and how it should look? How can we ensure that the will of the people is expressed and the will of the people is for a free democratic and secular Iran?

We must find solutions, and we must find solutions for people to live in freedom and fully realize their potential.

Shahin Gobadi
NCRI
+33 6 61 65 32 31
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Natalia Gavrilita."It is such an honor & a privilege to stand here, first and foremost with the people of Iran and with so many leaders from around the world."