How to help Iran’s transition to a democracy
The revolution in Iran has been dealing with many hurdles and contradictions in its path to realize freedom and democracy. One pressing issue remains overcoming the West’s appeasement policies, which have provided a life rope to Tehran for 40 years and counting.
The most disastrous historical example and byproduct of the infamous appeasement policy can be linked to Neville Chamberlain, the former British prime minister prior to World War II who faced Hitler's fascism, and in practice made it easier for the Nazis to achieve their goals.
As far as their interests and priorities are concerned, global powers prefer to pursue their objectives by maintaining the last bridges of communication until the final moments prior to the fall of a dictator. The appeasement policy will only come to a halt when it becomes costly. In other words, the West’s pursuit of political pragmatism hinges on economic interests.
When it comes to Iran, the West’s modus operandi pivots on a certain duality and dualism. While the media supports the ongoing uprising of the Iranian people described by some experts as a “revolution”, behind the scenes western officials are busy tracing their relations with the established dictatorship.
The decisive element in pushing back this policy and urging the international community to support the Iranian people’s revolution is the ongoing resistance inside the country and expansion of the uprising by people from all walks of life and cities across Iran.
On December 17th, the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC), held a conference in Washington during which prominent American dignitaries delivered remarks in support of the Iranian people's uprising for a democratic and free republic. OIAC is a supporter of the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its cornerstone member entity, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The conference, titled "Supporting Iran Uprising for a Secular, Democratic, Non-Nuclear Republic", saw the likes of former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Washington Governor Gary Locke, former Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army General Jack Keane, and former director of the White House Public Relations Office Ms. Linda Chavez, deliver powerful speeches in support of the Iranian people’s uprising and protests.
The Iranian opposition holding a conference focusing on the U.S. and western countries adopting a correct policy vis-à-vis Iran's democratic revolution is a step necessary to neutralize the appeasement policy that Iran’s dictatorship is feeding off of.
“I want to begin by recognizing Maryam Rajavi and her leadership… the NCRI is laying the groundwork for a free, sovereign, and democratic republic in Iran,” said Sec. Pompeo, while emphasizing “this is in fact a revolution in the making. It is organized, it’s powerful, it’s bigger than any one of us. Three months of powerful, unyielding protests, uprisings don’t happen randomly. They’re not the product of foreign meddling, though the regime loves to lie and say it is so. No, these protests are the result of 40 years of organized opposition to Iran.”
This redoubles the necessity to emphasize that while the mullahs’ regime enjoys next to no legitimacy among the Iranian people, it is high time for the West to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian people and recognize their revolution instead of siding with religious tyranny.
“The people of Iran have paid a heavy price in their resistance against two dictatorships, the Shah and the current regime,” said Gov. Gary Locke at the conference. “Never again can there be a return to such dictatorship and the international community must instead side with the Iranian people in their heroic struggle for freedom and democracy,” he added.
Gov. Locke went on to emphasize on the vast bipartisan support enjoyed in the U.S. by NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi.
“She has put forth a ten-point plan for a democratic Iran which includes being governed by a rule of law, which is so fundamental to a free and just society. And this plan has been endorsed by more than 250 Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress. To Mrs. Rajavi, thank you for your leadership and dedication to a democratic and free Iran,” he underscored.
Further emphasizing on the Iranian people’s desire to establish democracy, Gen. Jack Keane highlighted this nation’s long struggle for these values that we in the West tend to take for granted.
“The people must change the government...The people want democracy, not the mullahs’ brutal theocracy and not the Shah’s authoritarian rule,” Gen. Keane explained, adding how the Iranian people can bring down this regime on their own. “The people, led by Maryam Rajavi, want a true democracy. This has been a long journey for four decades for the Iranian people, where tens of thousands throughout the country have been sacrificed, to include the 30,000 massacred in 1988 by the current president of Iran,” the retired general explained while touching on the atrocities of Iranian regime President Ebrahim Raisi and his role in the 1988 prison massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners across the country. This crime against humanity has also gone unpunished thanks to the West’s appeasement policy.
The history of revolutions throughout the world and in Iran show that if the rising peoples do not have a democratic, credible and well-known alternative, the result of their sacrifices, even if they enjoy support from world powers, will be in vain. Fortunately, as explained by these three distinguished Americans both sides of the aisle, the Iranian people’s democratic revolution has this worthy alternative.
The continuation of Iran’s nationwide uprising proves that we are indeed witnessing a "revolution" in Iran, as the people in the streets have been chanting. And this revolution is the result of 40 years of nationwide efforts, resistance, and the ultimate sacrifice by hundreds of thousands of people.
Iranians from all walks of life across the country are present and taking part in this revolution. The PMOI/MEK, as the cornerstone member of the Iranian opposition coalition NCRI, has established a vast network of “Resistance Units” across Iran that has been very active in the protests and uprisings of the past three months, and many episodes in the years prior to that. Regime authorities in Iran have grave concerns about such a network of dissidents inside Iran, considering them the main threat to their rule.
Governments across the globe should meaningfully stand by the people of Iran. This spells out in the following:
- Recognizing the Iranian people’s right to self-defense
- Blacklisting the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) as the regime’s main crackdown arsenal
- Providing 24/7 uninterrupted internet access to the Iranian people
- Severing all diplomatic and economic ties with Tehran
These measures, being in contrast to the West’s active appeasement policy vis-à-vis Tehran, significantly weaken the mullahs’ regime. The Iranian people and their organized resistance can and will take of care of the rest.