My dear compatriots,
Once again, I salute you!
Today I would like to address you – the youth of Iran – who are the most precious asset of our beloved nation. You have inherited your nation’s glorious past and are the architects of its future. However, during these years, because of the benighted nature and enmity of the current regime, you have not had the benefits of a well-deserved education.
A proper education, needs both the best & most sophisticated educational, athletic and recreational facilities along with a free environment, wherein the youth could enjoy all their individual freedoms – where they could select the field of their interest and could debate and research any topic they so desire – where they could realize their dreams in a peaceful environment. But, instead of all this, what do we witness in our nation and our society today? We see a regime which 22 years ago under the name of the Almighty and with the pretense of religion grabbed the helms of power and yet, did not adorn the nation with anything other than war, destruction, poverty, injustice, insecurity, misery and sorrow.
Via the inauspicious Cultural Revolution, this un-Iranian regime dragged the university, the most important base for progress and modernity in the society, through the dark and downhill path of stagnation. A large number of enlightened and experienced professors along with the freethinking patriotic student body were purged from the academic institutions. It was due to this catastrophic event that academic expertise was sacrificed for dedication to theocracy and hence the quality of education was lowered to disastrous levels. This anti-cultural attack paved the road for future violations of the sanctity of the university by the clerical regime’s lackeys.
The catastrophe is not merely confined to the able students being banned from the facilities and deprived from the benefits of – higher education, freedom of speech and thought or from the minimum standards of a decent life – millions of other sons and daughters of Iran, who were admitted to the universities, are facing a dark & gloomy fate, with a large majority of them being denied a fruitful and humane lifestyle, and hence, have little or no hope for their future.
Why should you, young hopes of Iran, be so disappointed with the prospects of your future? The same youth who comprise more than half of Iran’s population and do not lack anything in intelligence, talent and diligence from your counterparts around the globe. Why is “brain drain” still a rampant malady in Iran? Why should the youth of Iran, the youth who belongs to Iran and Iran belongs to them, ponder nothing – out of desperation – other than the desire to leave their motherland for good? Why should the children of Iran be deprived from the minimum in educational tools and facilities? Or deprived from the gift of a prosperous employment? Why should they not have the benefits of a suitable income and housing or lack the prospects of starting their own families?
Whatever became of the $300 Billion in oil revenues, which this regime has received during the past 22 years? The torrent of the revolution changed the structure of the previous regime but whatever became of the riches of the nation that it inherited? The bitter truth is that obscurantism in economic, social and political arenas commenced from the early days of the revolution and it is still persisting.
Concurrent with these maladies, the leaders of this regime, the same propagandist of the Revolution of Flower against Bullet, did not hesitate to substitute bullets for flowers when you demanded your basic and fundamental rights in a peaceful demonstration. They did not hesitate to throw you off the rooftop of your dormitories, imprison you or torture you. What persists today is the same suffocating environment.
Is this the future we wished to have? On the verge of the 21st century, is this what we Iranians deserve?
Flag bearers of freedom! The enlightened youth:
We have recognized this notion quite clearly that the salvation of Iran lies in a government wherein the people, without any guardians, participate fully and freely in determining their future and their affairs. Iranians know full well that freedom has no meaning within the framework of a theocracy. Religious democracy is merely a mask meant to hide the dead-end faced by the clerical regime.
The 22-year experience of the Islamic Republic has clearly proven that the interference of religion into State is inimical to both. The genuine clerics, from the very beginning, have concurred with this principal and are re-iterating it more openly today.
The separation of Religion and State is one the most primary and essential steps in institutionalizing a true democracy – A democracy in which the people are the legislators of contemporary and modern laws, intended to safeguard their social, political and economical interests. This is the same path traveled by the democratic nations of the world. However, the leaders of this regime, even the clique who claims to be well intentioned, would never take such a step and would never walk that path. This regime and its constitution, which deems the people of Iran as minors in need of a guardian, is not capable of meeting the justified needs of the populace. Therefore, we ought not waste any time witnessing the decay of our nation through a futile hope that democracy and freedom are achievable under the framework of the clerical regime.
The diligent and noble youth of Iran:
Today the time has come for us to prepare the grounds for cooperation in a national level. The requirement for this task is creating unity in the spectrum of all the political organizations – which will in turn, temporarily set aside their ideological differences for a single cause. All these groups, from left to right, from Constitutional Monarchists to Republicans, ought to know that the priority today is freedom and the self-determination of the people. All other beliefs, goals, and agendas in comparison to this cause are secondary and subordinate today. We should only think and focus on unity these days.
Let us create the groundwork for this unity so the rest of the world could witness our solidarity against the injustice and tyranny in our nation. However, we must walk the entire path together and alongside one another – peaceful yet determined. The leaders of this regime should know nonetheless, that if they resort to violence, the gallant people of Iran will courageously defend their god-given rights.
My goal is to bring about the unity amongst all freedom loving tendencies and groups, which find and consider a national referendum – without the interference of the Islamic Republic and with the oversight of impartial international organizations – effective and liberating. I do sincerely hope that all Iranians who believe in this principle to lend me a helping hand in this vital movement.
I do know however, that I am not alone in the path of liberating our nation, in the struggle against a regime, which its dismal report card deteriorates further every time it ignores your legitimate needs. A regime that ignores the needs of 19 million Iranian students and does not hesitate to support the whims and vile intentions of terrorist groups is not sympathetic toward Iran or Iranians. No nation deserves such a government.
The noblewomen and noblemen of Iran,
Believe in yourselves! I assure you that upon witnessing your unity the people of Iran, with all their hearts and souls, will come to your support – bringing this national will closer to fruition and reality.
Those clerics who sincerely believe in the separation of Religion and State, must wash their hands of politics and pursue their traditional role in providing moral guidance so the youth of Iran could guide their country to the gates of freedom and prosperity and turn our nation, in the shortest of times, to a powerful, progressive and free country.
The day that you cast your vote in a free election, selecting the nature of your future government, I have reached my heart-felt goal. Today I am determined to lead this movement to the gates of liberty. With your support, I am determined to save my nation from decay, and in this path, akin to many of you, will not hesitate to sacrifice my life.
May the Almighty protect Iran!
