By Mo Parvin

12/30/2022

Demonstrations against the Islamic Regime in Iran (IRI) continue. Although under the world's watch, IRI is escalating its push to demolish this historic movement. Based on the Iran Human Rights report on November 24th, at least 459 people, including 64 kids and 29 women, have been murdered and more than 18000 detained.

 All we hear outside Iran from "democratic" governments are only concerns using words:

We support you. We condemn your murderer. We want them to stop. Army corps leaders (All have multiple IDs under hidden names) are sanctioned!

 Some work has been going on to form a committee in the United Nations to investigate the crimes committed in Iran. It still needs to pass the "word" stage and clarify what sort of punishment may come out of this investigation. So far, no tangible action whatsoever!

 All international human rights groups also report the atrocities of IRI daily and condemn them. 

 Amnesty International, along with 42 other organizations, has called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to act urgently by holding a special session and establishing an independent investigation of serious human rights violations committed in Iran [1]. Nothing has come out of it yet!

 A few more examples of the "harsh words" are posted on MEHR's website [2]:

 And more and more words and words can be added to it every day!

Some people may refer to sanctions imposed by some governments and consider them as actions. For example, five days ago, the European Union and the United Kingdom set a boycott (travel bans and asset freezing) against 29 individuals and three Iranian entities involved in the violent crackdown on protesters.  

 Both travel bans and asset freezing for the high-ranking members of the Revolutionary Guards or people like Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi are meaningless. It is known that all these people have investments outside Iran under fake identifications. They do not need to travel, but if they do, they can easily do it! 

 Since the violation of human rights and criminal acts of the Islamic regime in Iran are enshrined in its constitution and annexes, the only way to get rid of it is to overthrow it. The overthrowing of this regime is possible through the participation of organized Iranian freedom fighters in the disobedience fight. 

 Power is defined by obedience. If a situation is created where millions of organized people can say no to their abusers, they are finished. That is called a "civil disobedience" fight in contrast to an armed uprising. 

 As I have been indicating for years [3], the life of this regime is over when millions of women remove their head and body covers and, supported by freedom-loving men, take to the streets and say "no" to IRI. We are witnessing the beginning of this historical movement in Iran.

 Its success is a challenging task, but it can be done. There is no other feasible option. How civil disobedience can be taught, learned, and practiced has been investigated and documented for years. Those interested can refer to many documents, books, and interviews on the MEHR's website [4]. 

 The details of planning and involving people in an organized disobedient effort are private. The informed Iranian activists familiar with civil disobedience concepts would know how to expand the movement without writing statements!

 What can be said publicly is that initially, the process involves organizing small groups secretly that only have their representatives in contact with the central organizers. 

 Iranian expatriates have become involved in worldwide demonstrations in solidarity with the movement in Iran. It is necessary to inform the world about what is happening in Iran. However, the main question is, what do we want from informed people of the world? Only slogans are heard in these gatherings, where several thousand people are participating. Different groups and individuals have issued a wide range of petitions. Unfortunately, even the pleas that address essential issues stop at demanding actions. There needs to be a reference to how and why these demands will occur.

"Women, Life, Freedom" and "Mahsa Amini" slogans will become part of the history books. Nevertheless, to achieve this task, we need to follow up on these protests and take actions that will help, support, and empower the movement inside Iran in a practical manner. 

 Iranians abroad and other freedom-loving world people should use their voting power. They should participate in the political process of the countries where they live and demand that the Islamic Regime not be recognized until its human rights violations have been stopped. The release of political and human rights activists and no interference with women's type of dressing or hair covering must be considered as a first step. The lack of recognition should be at least reflected by observing the following actions: 

• No involvement in the UN (Suspension rule according to Article 5, UN Chapter [5]). 
• No visit of any official to any occasion.
• Temporary closure of embassies. 

 MEHR wrote a letter to President Biden regarding the above-suggested actions [6]. We received a response from President Biden that expressed nice "words" about Iranian movements [7]. As you can read in the letter, he says, "we are making it easier for Iranians to access the Internet" and that the US will hold Iranian officials responsible for employing violence". We must keep pushing in a meaningful way to force politicians to act.

 The all-out efforts in the world, which can involve countless people, even if they do not achieve their goal, the widespread movement that has been created sends the message to the Iranians that the whole world is watching them and demanding their rights. This situation will enable activists inside Iran to organize many more disgruntled masses and continue disobedient struggles until overthrowing the powerless regime that, no matter how murderous, cannot murder millions under the world's watch is overthrown.

References:

  1.      AI and other 42 organizations asking UN to keep Islamic Regime in Iran accountable
        https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/6123/2022/en/

2.      Words and Slogans in Solidarity with Iranians Movement

                 http://mehr.org/words_en.htm

              3.      Passing by the Islamic Regime or overthrowing it?

                https://mehr.org/overthrow1_english.htm

4.      The Power of Nonviolence

                https://mehr.org/index_nv.htm

5.      UN Chapter

                 https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text

6.      Letter to President Biden

https://mehr.org/Biden_Petition_Letter.pdf

7.      President Biden's Response

https://mehr.org/Biden_response.pdf