The nature of the Iranians
struggle for freedom and democracy and US/Iran Relations
The English and Persian texts
of the speech made by MEHR’s representative at the University of Washington,
Seattle, on May 17, 2003 may be viewed at the following links:
MEHR Iran
P.O. Box 2037
P.V.P., CA 90274
USA
Tel: 310 - 377 - 4590
Fax: 310 - 377 -3103
E-mail: mehr@mehr.org
URL: http://mehr.org
MEHR is registered as a non-profit organization.
Contributions to MEHR are tax-exempt
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We cannot
discuss the relation between the US and Iran and come to a meaningful
conclusion without analyzing the circumstances under which this topic is
discussed.
Under normal conditions,
I believe that Iran, as a nation, should have friendly social, economical, and
cultural relations with all other nations. The true representatives of Iranians
should also have just and fair relations with the world community. Iranian
people have expressed their will to establish relations with the U.S., and I
believe the overwhelming majority will respond positively if they are asked the
same question again.
However, the
situation in Iran is far from normal, and the question is not the relation
between the Iranian people and the US. The question is the relation between the
US government and the Islamic Regime of Iran, a regime that has tried to
stabilize its system of terror and repression for the last 24 years. In a desperate attempt to survive, this
failing regime is now seeking help from western countries, including what at
one time it called “The Great Satan.”
This regime has failed because in spite of its brutality, and repressive
methods of imprisonment, torture, and killing, people have not complied with
their reactionary and medieval system of thinking and governing. Iranian people
are using every opportunity to show their hatred for the regime. They showed in
recent elections that they no longer have any faith in the so-called reformists
within the Islamic Regime. They want a secular, democratic regime.
What is the
nature of Iranian’s struggle?
The struggle of
the Iranians for freedom and democracy, manifested in their demonstrations,
strikes, and non-participation in the so-called elections is a non-violent
struggle to challenge the authority of the regime and to denounce its
legitimacy in representing them. This is the essence of the freedom movement in
Iran. It is a civil disobedience movement to prove that the Islamic Regime doe
not have any legitimacy. We will see the end of the Islamic Regime when such
movement becomes organized, independent from outside interferences, and
mobilizes thousands and millions of people to disobey the regime. This is a
huge task; but it has to be done and can be done.
The power of a
regime can only be measured in terms of the degree of the obedience of the
people. Without obedience, power does not mean anything. If you don’t submit,
don’t yield, and don’t obey or follow regime’s rules and regulations, then you
have denied its power. This is how our people will topple the Islamic Regime of
Iran.
As a side note,
since there are a lot of discussions about referendum in Iran, I should
indicate in passing that it would be very naïve to assume that this regime will
yield to a referendum and submit its power to the will of the people. A call
for a referendum is an excellent tool to challenge the legitimacy of this
regime. It is a challenge to all those who still want to portray this regime as
the representative of Iranians. Non-violence struggle is the method chosen by
our people. This certainly would not be honored by the Islamic regime. The
regime will attempt to change such effort to make it violent and bloody on its
own terms. That is the time when the determination of non-violence advocates
and hopefully millions of its followers will be tested. It will take much more
than a referendum to get rid of IRI.
Unfortunately, the Islamic Regime is not
the only obstacle against the struggle of the Iranian people for freedom and
democracy. Outside Islamic Regime, Iranians must face interest-driven
governments, lobby groups with shady funding, and an American journalistic and
academic community that lack honest reporting and scholarship. These
individuals and groups legitimize Iranians’ oppressors.
The “interest” factor has made the European countries eager to
establish relation with the IRI. Disregarding the human rights violation in
Iran, they have escalated their fierce competition as to which one will take a
bigger portion of the lucrative one-sided deals with IRI, a regime desperate to
survive.
The US, lobbied
strongly by the financial institutions and especially oil companies, is
pursuing a dual policy towards the Islamic Regime. One day, it becomes the axis
of Evil, and the other day it is portrayed as a democracy, as was done recently
by Mr. Armitage at the State Department. I have a question for Mr. Armitage and
all others with similar views:
If only priests approved by Vatican were
allowed to run for the U.S. presidency, could anyone in their right mind call
the United States a democracy?
The US position with respect to IRI is
quite unstable and can make a drastic shift overnight. One day, we hear the
emphasis on the terrorist nature of this regime and next day we hear about the
secret negotiations between the US/IRI representatives.
For IRI to qualify itself for help, and
for the West to justify relations with one of the most brutal regimes of all
times, both needed and still need a wide spread cover up. While human rights
abuses escalated in Iran, conference after conferences were held in Iran and
abroad on issues like human rights, civil society, dialog among civilizations,
women rights, and child abuse. Western media and government authorities
publicized these events, and participated in them and argued that they should
support the so-called “reformists” vs.
“radicals” knowing well that all real reformists are in jails.
Did you know that as we speak, a
conference is in session in Iran sponsored by the Sheikh Mofid School in the
City of Qom under the title of “Theoretical Foundations of Human Rights? Sheik
Mofid is a state run religious school that trains military seminaries. Can you
imagine that this conference is held with the cooperation of the United Nations
and the International Center for Dialogue among Civilizations?
Some argue that even if it is for window
dressing, it is still good to have these relations. They argue that the people will be exposed to the principles of
the human rights and will be more demanding. I believe, they are
underestimating our people. Our people know their rights and know that they are
violated by the Islamic Regime and don’ t need these disgusting shows that are
mockery of the human rights.
In spite of the
fact that IRI has been placed on the top of the State Department list of
Terrorist Regimes, many groups, led by the American Iranian Council (AIC), with
the support of some American financial institutions and lawmakers are
vigorously lobbying for the Islamic Regime. I am wondering how some American
lawmakers including Senators Biden and Hegel, and congressman Bob Ney can
openly appease the most active sponsor of terrorism while the USA Anti Terrorism
Act prohibits any association with terrorists.
Let’s examine
the intention of those who lobby for establishing relations with the IRI and
argue that it will be for the benefit
of Iranian people. And who could be a better candidate than Gary Sick for this
study. Gary Sick is one of the AIC’s Board members, the leading lobby group for
IRI, as well as the Director of Gulf 2000, an International Research project on
policy developments in the Persian gulf. He was National Security Council
Staff, with Carter Administration. He has been vigorously lobbying for the relations with the Islamic
Regime for years.
In an article about Iran under the title of: The Stalemate in
US-Iran Relations” [1], and in an attempt to correct the US policy towards
Iran, he writes in part:
“Present
US policy calls for Iran to change its behavior in six different areas (active
opposition to the peace process, fishing in troubled water in other countries,
terrorism, purchases of conventional arms, acquisition of weapons of mass
destruction, and human rights). If the Iranians were miraculously to comply,
our policy statements mention no benefits that they could anticipate because of
their newfound enlightenment.
Assuming a
dialogue were to begin, the US would have to (1) define more clearly which of
these behaviors are more important, (2) offer a more precise definition of what
we would expect from Iran, and (3) give some indication of what we might be
prepared to offer in return.”
Gary Sick has
outlined the US conditions for relations with IRI and suggests that we should
define which of these behaviors are more important. Let’s find out which
conditions are un-important! He continues:
“ …. In reality, we
might have to settle for something less.”
He then states that “ A realistic negotiating objective might
incorporate the following elements”
In what follows in his
article, we see that one of the conditions just vanishes! Can you guess it? It
is the condition of human rights in Iran. This is the un-important area that he
was trying to take out of the conditions set for re-negotiation with the
regime.
He then elaborates on
this and writes:
“The revolution is over,
and the fiery slogans have a hollow ring. Khomeini said the revolution was not
about the price of melons, but it turns out that it is! The demonstrations in
Iran are not about clerical rule or a return to the monarchy or even
about democracy and human rights. They are about quality of life,
drinking water, inflation, housing, and jobs. The demonstrations are
serious—not because they threaten to overturn the government but because they
force the government to confront its failure to keep promises and to deal with
fundamental economic issues.”
This is the only benefit that Iranian will get out of US/IR
relation. Their human rights will be compromised and sacrificed as a pretext
for the negotiation.
Gray Sick, AIC, and their other proxy organizations, along the activist and lobbyist of the
Islamic Regime, are advocating for the unconditional resumption of relations
with the U.S. An orchestrated effort
has been underway for years to pressure Congress and the Administration to lift
the sanctions unconditionally and re-establish relations with IR.
I should
emphasize that our desire is by no means any sort of sanction against Iranian
people who are the victims of this regime. We just believe that this murderous
regime must be sanctioned and that the US must not deal with the Regime's owned
financial institutions and individuals that have been robbing the Iranian
people for the last 24 years and have created hunger, unemployment, and misery
for the people of Iran.
This regime does
not represent Iranians and does not protect their interests. Iranian people and
their independent financial institutions would have been capable of entering
into genuine and constructive cultural and commercial and educational relations
with the U.S. if the regime and its financial institutions had not monopolized
trade and other relations.
According to the
statistics published by Oxford Analytica and reported in the Iranian press
(Payam-e Emrooz), more than %50 of Iran's economy is run and owned by an
organization called "the Deprived Foundation " (Bonyaad-e
Mostaz-afaan) that is fully exempted from audit and taxation. This organization
has 7 branches in the areas of Trade, agriculture, Industry and mines,
Transportation, Import and export. Each of these branches acts like a ministry.
A 1986
statistics indicates that the assets of this foundation includes 140 industrial
complex, 64 mines, 2786 pieces of agricultural land, 230 import and export
companies, 90 movie theaters, 3 newspapers, 200 loan offices, 2 insurance
companies and several shipping and airplane companies. It has 150,000
employees. 22% of concrete 28% of textile, 45% of the non-alcoholic beverage
industry, 28% of the plastic products, and 25% of the sugar production are
controlled by this foundation.
This organization and others similarly structured by the regime have a hand in
every financial deal and do not answer to any elected body. Under this
condition, there is no guarantee that any foreign aid will ever reach the needy
people. It only subsidizes the terrorist activities of the regime.
On the other
hand, any direct deal with the so-called "private sector" in
Iran is practically impossible. We have ample proof and can provide testimonies
of involved parties residing in Iran that any deal no matter how small must go
through a very sophisticated process through which handsome bribes and
commissions must be paid to the government or their facade organizations before
and after any such deal is made. There is no doubt that any American financial
institution willing to deal with Iran, must directly or indirectly get involved
in this corrupt process. This is in gross violation of many U.S. laws including
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) that prohibits acts of bribery in trade.
What is to be
done?
Those Iranians
and Iranian/Americans who care for the human rights in Iran and seek a free
democratic regime in Iran should help the democracy movement in Iran. This
movement is aimed to undermine the legitimacy of the Islamic Regime through
civil disobedience and non-violent struggle. To support this movement we should
do the same thing outside Iran. We have to stop the legitimization process of
the Islamic Regime. We should not allow this regime to be recognized as the
representative of our nation. We should not let the western countries help this
regime for their own interest.
When the
interests of the US financial institutions are linked to Islamic regime, they
will be even more concerned about the survival and stability of this regime.
They need a stable regime in Iran for their investments to be safe. Do you
invest in a bank that is in danger of bankruptcy? And if you did, hoping that
the bank will somehow survive, would you allow anything happen to it? Wouldn’t you do everything in your capacity
to protect your investment?
Just look at
what European Union is doing. They have not yet been fully committed and yet,
they are fully supporting this terrorist regime. When asked a few weeks ago
about the possibility of attacking Iran, the foreign Minister of the UK, Jack
Straw, said: “Iran is a democracy and we don’t need to attack it.”
What a shameful
reason for making a right decision. We have a message for Mr. Straw and all
those who for their own interests and without any shame are trying to portray
this regime as a democracy:
Iranian people
don’t need the interference of any foreign government and, we are absolutely
against any military action by an outside power. Just show some dignity and don’t support this terrorist
regime, don’t recognize it as the representative of Iranians and let their
struggle for freedom and democracy prevail.
But, are they
going to listen to us? Is our humanistic appeal enough to make them change
their policy? We must be very simple minded and naïve if we think so. The
determining factor is the interest factor. We must be able to enforce our will.
Our will is that the world community including the US should not recognize the
IRI, and should stop all relations with it as long as human rights violations
in Iran continue.
However, we know
that the human rights violations committed by the Islamic regime are allowed by
its constitution. In fact, all the atrocities committed by this regime are
lawful acts according to the constitution. Therefore, the compliance of the
regime with the principles of human rights may happen only after the
constitution is fully changed and is no longer over sighted by the Islamic
rules. Such conversion of the constitution can only happen when the era of the
Islamic Regime has ended.
We need to
outline and enforce the details of this boycotting policy in such a way that
only the regime is targeted and not our people. In order to accomplish such
thing we need to be in a strong position and become a power.
I believe this
is doable and can be achieved through two available avenues:
1- The power of the Iranian-American votes
2- Bringing to justice those who have
committed crimes against Iranian people
We can make it
impossible for the US and other countries to host criminals and deal with them
as the representatives of the Iranian people, by taking legal actions through
the international instruments. An
example is the Convention Against Torture to which the U.S. is a signatory. This is what we at MEHR have been trying for
years and in spite of lack of resources will hopefully file our first law suite
against the Islamic Regime within the next few months.
We can form a strong single issue-voting block that will take part
in the political process of the US and will vote only based on the position of
the candidates with respect to the Islamic Regime of Iran. We believe this is a
very effective way that we can influence the foreign policy of the US and
resolve the conflicting policies in favor of the Iranian people rather than the
Islamic Regime.
In my opinion, the coordinated activities of the Iranian
oppositions outside Iran to achieve these two goals that will eventually result
in undermining the legitimacy of the Islamic Regime is along the struggle of
the Iranians inside Iran, and will result in a strong coalition in its most
natural way.
In absence of a
powerful opposition, the Islamic Regime’s lobby is seeking to fill the policy
vacuum with calls to normalize relations.
Right now, the
battle is moving to the U.S. Congress.
The U.S. House of Representatives is now considering House Resolution
59, a bill sponsored by Congressman Bob Ney. Behind
all its nice words and alleged good intentions for the people of Iran, the
hidden agenda of resolution 59 is crystal clear! In a resolution that claims
to be in defense of Iranian people, one does not find a single reference,
[directly or indirectly], to the Islamic regime having abused the Iranian
people during its quarter of a century existence.
Last Year, Ney
proposed resolution 505 which urged the United States to support a Muslim society in Iran with
“greater freedom and tolerance.” It didn’t acknowledge that the Iranian people
deserve anything more than Islamic Regime.
Ney may have the well-financed American
Iranian Council on his side, as well as oil companies like Exxon and Shell, and
willing to sacrifice the human rights of Iranians for their interests, but the
vast majority of Iranians want democracy without compromise on freedom and on
human rights.
Fortunately, there are other lawmakers
and policymakers who are siding with the Iranian people. House Resolution 140
introduced by Congressmen Tom Lantos and identical Senate Resolution 81,
introduced by Senator Sam Brownback are supporting democracy and human rights
in Iran. They recognize that legitimizing the Islamic Regime stifles, rather
than supporting democracy and human rights. They recognize that holding the
Islamic Regime accountable for all its actions and those of its proxy groups
enhances America’s security. Lantos and Brownback recognize that the U.S.
should direct its positive gestures to the Iranian people, and not to the
politicians who exploit their offices for personal gain.
However, as I have repeatedly indicated, freedom for Iranians is
not the responsibility of the U.S. or any other government. So far, we have failed to have our voice
heard in Washington. We must form a strong, non-partisan voting block to
support those who take a firm position for human rights and oust those who seek
to appease dictators for short-term financial gain. With more than 1000,000 Iranians in the United States, free
Iranians have a lot to say.
References:
1- Fighting Proliferation, Chapter 13, Edited by Henry Sokolski,
Air University Press