Iran will never return to the past
The following article was published by the Iraqi Kurdish website Brwska on June 13, 2009;
The uprising of the people of Iran and an obligation
By Mostafa Zanganeh
As the uprising persists in Tehran and other Iranian cities, dozens are slain, injured or arrested on a daily basis. On the other hand, the largest Iranian opposition movement has been pinned down in Iraq and in Western countries. This landscape, albeit in a different scope and obeying different processes, is reminiscent of the Iranian people’s uprising in 1979. Those protests took shape while the majority of revolutionary forces were incarcerated by Mohammad-Reza Shah’s regime. They continually grew to such an extent that brought the Shah’s regime, the “regional police,” to its knees even as he was backed by the most powerful army in the Middle East.
Contrary to what the regime’s Supreme Leader claims, the uprising of the people of Iran, which started in most cities a day after the presidential elections, is a popular upheaval involving all of Iran’s ethnicities, religions, and social sectors. This is an uprising which must be examined more thoroughly by looking at the main sides of the clash, even though at first glance it looks to be about a mere conflict over the counting of votes, electoral fraud and backing one candidate against another. The faces, fists, slogans, shouts, moods, and feelings of the street protestors serve to reflect the real motivation, which shows that in fact, the people of Iran are protesting against a regime they detest. After 30 years of being subjected to the mullahs’ rule, the Iranian people are disgruntled with the regime. Their bodies have been bruised and their rights have been trampled upon by the ruling mullahs. They are sick and tired of the injustices draping every inch of Iran.
What can be clearly discerned from the people’s uprising in Iran is that the real and perceived conditions for a revolution are in place in Iranian society. Without a doubt, if the intensity of suppression had diminished, the uprising would have rapidly taken hold all over the country. Nevertheless, such an outcome remains as a prospect.
But, there is also a painful reality in the midst of all this, which puts a heavier burden on Iraqis than other people. That reality is the pinning down of Iranian opposition movements on our soil. Although all of Iran’s opposition forces that are in Iraq’s territory are under enormous pressure and restrictions by the Iraqi government, my emphasis is specifically on those residing in Camp Ashraf.
Currently, at the behest of the Iranian regime, the Iraqi government has transformed Camp Ashraf into a prison and in some cases even much worse than a prison. Since the time the control of the camp was transferred by American forces to the Iraqi government, there has not been a day where the latter has not stepped up restrictions and the unjust siege against this camp. For example, the transfer of food has been repeatedly disrupted, and doctors, Iraqis and even European delegations including lawyers, journalists, parliamentarians, and relatives of Ashraf residents have been banned from entering the camp. More important are the psychological pressures and threats against Ashraf residents regarding their expulsion from Iraq or extradition to Iran, which will lead to their torture and execution.
Simultaneous with the continuation of the uprising, the silence around the camp’s situation is setting the stage for the occurrence of a humanitarian catastrophe committed by the Iraqi government and initiated by the Iranian regime. The ruling mullahs in Iran aim to plot against Camp Ashraf and its residents in order to compensate for the blows they have received during the nationwide popular upheaval and to export their incurable crisis beyond the Iranian borders.
Now, every single one of us and every democratic individual in the world, regardless of being in Iraq, Europe, or the US, is confronted with this agonizing picture, consisting of the killing of people in Iranian cities by the mullahs’ dictatorship on the one hand and the enchaining of opposition forces, including the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, outside the country and especially in Iraq, on the other.
As a Kurdish author, I think it is imperative to rise up in support of the Iranian people’s upheaval, especially now that it has been completely set off in motion and Ali Khamenei and the dominant faction refuse to back down in regards to the election and gear for an intense suppression of election opponents. Supporting the uprising is crucial. At the same time, we must raise our voices against the maintaining of the PMOI on the US terrorist list and especially against the Iraqi government’s measures pertaining to Camp Ashraf residents.
It is imperative to demand the delisting of the PMOI in the US as well as the lifting of the siege on Camp Ashraf. As Ayad Jamaluddin, an intellectual and Member of the Iraqi Parliament, told al-Arabiya TV in an interview: “The PMOI must be allowed to carry out political and awareness campaigns against Iran, because they are opponents of the Iranian regime. They must be provided with radio, television and a newspaper, and be able to conduct their activities as they choose. These rights belong to all refugees around the world. We must not fight against the PMOI, because we have no other means to block Iranian influence in Iraq other than this group.”
All of us have a role in this regard, and can help the Iranian people and opposition in various ways. We can form a link with the help of which the Iranian people and opposition can reach a democratic Iran.
