NCRI – "My message today to the EU officials …is to take the bold step of lifting the unjustifiable and perverse restrictions imposed on the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and instead support democratic change in Iran. Then the people of Iran… may look forward to the dawn of a new freedom, of democracy within their great country, and the restoration of their country to a rightful place in the international community," Baroness Joyce Gould, a Labour Peer and deputy speaker of the House of Lords, told a gathering of more than 70,000 Iranians in Paris on June 28, 2008.
Text of her speech follows:
NCRI – "My message today to the EU officials …is to take the bold step of lifting the unjustifiable and perverse restrictions imposed on the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and instead support democratic change in Iran. Then the people of Iran… may look forward to the dawn of a new freedom, of democracy within their great country, and the restoration of their country to a rightful place in the international community," Baroness Joyce Gould, a Labour Peer and deputy speaker of the House of Lords, told a gathering of more than 70,000 Iranians in Paris on June 28, 2008.
Text of her speech follows:
Madam Rajavi,
It gives me the most enormous honor to be here at this wonderful celebration today. It is the first rally I’ve been able to attend, but my goodness, I think I picked the right one. It has been absolutely wonderful to be able to celebrate the removal of the terror tag from the PMOI [the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran(PMOI/MEK)] , after many years of campaigning, after many setbacks, and many frustrations.
And, over the years, I must give credit to the wonderful team of Iranians who have worked tirelessly in the UK. Those who have inspired us, who have helped us to be able to resist our own government. And, I give all credit to them. I know we’ll go on working with them.
I also want to applaud Madam Rajavi for her courage and determination to continue to lead this struggle for freedom in Iran. And thanks for her inspiring words today. She is so right. The answer is not war and it is not appeasement, but the "third option."
History tells us that appeasement never works. It is by people getting together with a united voice that success is achieved. The British government, in removing the terror tag, said that they shared the desire of those 35 of us, who I was very pleased to be one of, to see the advance of democracy and human rights throughout the world.
We will be looking to the British government to help us to achieve that democracy and those human rights in Iran. This is the beginning of a new era, a new stage in our campaign, a campaign for democracy in Iran, and a campaign to achieve equal rights for the women of Iran.
I got involved in this movement because I have spent my life campaigning against brutality against women, and I could not have continued to try and see what I could do to try and help the women in Iran. There has to be an end of the brutality which too many suffer from. There has to be and end to the hangings and the floggings. There has to be an end to stoning to death of women.
These actions show who the real terrorists are: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards. There has to be an end to the torment for the families by the invidious regime in Tehran.
By deproscribing the PMOI [MEK] from the terror list, on which it should never have been in the first place, we are sending a strong message to the mullahs and the rulers of Iran. And there was unconcealed joy in Parliament when in fact the government finally dared to agree to remove the terror tag.
My message today to the EU officials, if they are listening, is to take the bold step of lifting the unjustifiable and perverse restrictions imposed on the PMOI [MEK] and instead support democratic change in Iran. Then the people of Iran, the new future generations, may look forward to the dawn of a new freedom, of democracy within their great country, and the restoration of their country to a rightful place in the international community.
It is your day, it’s your victory today, and it is your celebration. We are here just to join you in that celebration. We hope to start on the road for a wonderful future of Iran. A future based on freedom and democracy. And maybe next time we have a rally, we’d be able to all come and join you in Tehran.
