|
Iranian’s have for many years struggled and sacrificed for the same dream Martin Luther King spoke of. They have suffered long and intolerable sentences and almost always reach a point where they would not even dare speak of the dream. Placed in front of state run television cameras, they were asked to say that the dream is in fact, forced on their lives and souls by the enemy.
We also have a dream. It matters not that we have been repeatedly assassinated, yet it is devastating that our dream has been assassinated. In our country, it is not enough for the person with a dream to be assassinated, but the dream itself is most often targeted, a tragedy that repeatedly occurs throughout history.
Was the group who assassinated the dream victorious at the end? Many think that it must be an accepted fact that the dream has been assassinated in Iran. The dream that prevents the dreamer from having a peaceful life must be forgotten forever. Yet the dream keeps resisting. If it is swept out of the door, it glides in through the window. The dream cannot be blocked.
The one who withers away in the darkness of the dungeons always has a dream, the dream of freedom. Many things can be blocked but the dream cannot be. Let it be known that we also have a dream.
In the last 150 years, time and time again steps were taken towards materializing the Iranian dream into a Goal. Each time, those who opposed the dream, that was becoming a goal, attacked it so violently that it turned back into a dream. Sometimes these opposing elements were internal and other times external (Mossadegh). The first time we could form our dream into a legal action was in 1906.
Following a revolution in 1906, the Iranians were able to end the absolute rule of the Shah (king) and establish a constitutional monarchy. For the first time in the Iranian history, an independent parliament was established that housed the representatives of the people, all of whom were elected democratically through direct votes of the people. Of course this does not include women who didn’t get their voting rights until 1963. At this time, Iranians were mostly illiterate and lived in rural areas. Many of the residences of these rural areas followed the guidance of their intelligent leaders and made the constitutional revolution happen. The 1906 constitution said that the king was to rule not to govern and hence, ended the absolute power of the monarch. In spite of what the constitution said, the kings that followed, each found a loop hole to be able to enforce their absolute power. All in all, the constitution was much ahead of the society and was respectful of citizen’s rights.
It is, however, difficult to say that the 1906 constitution had fully accepted and facilitated religious freedoms. In this constitution, the official religion of the country was isna ashari shi’a Islam and only three religious minorities of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians were officially recognized. These three minorities had representatives in the parliament but they could not have a presence in the higher political circles.
It wasn’t only the official religious minorities, or even the non-official ones such as the Baha’is, who faced limitations for political participations but also, after 1906, the Iranian kings acted in a way that even the Shi’a majority were not able to fully enjoy the civil rights bestowed upon them by the constitution.
The second time we came close to forming our dream into a goal was in 1979 when Iran was struggling with the early stages of the Islamic Revolution. At the time, the country was lacking independent and opposing political parties. There was only one party that was more of a formality party, and the shah had ordered everyone to join it (rastakhiz). The absence of democratic parties when the Islamic revolution happened is one of the instances when the goal turned back into a dream. In this instance, people came to the streets to change absolute political power to conditional political power.
The result of this revolution is the Islamic Constitution of 1979, according to which all freedoms are conditional on valuing the Islamic principals and fiqh. However, there is no definition in Iranian legal system for Islamic principals and so, any political group that has the power in hand, forces an interpretation of Islam on people that suits their needs best. Therefore, social realities are completely ignored in the legislative work.
The Islamic revolution of 1979 truly changed the course of the constitutional revolution. Also, the authorities of the Islamic republic of Iran disregard the small possibilities of democracy that the Islamic constitution has left for Iranians, particularly for dissidents, NGO’s and those promoting civil society. Since the type of legislation and even the execution of the laws legislated are completely at loss with the social realities, there is constant crisis throughout the society. A good example of it is the crisis rising from clashes of the officers with women due to not adhering to Islamic dress code. One major reality in Iran right now is that a portion of Iranians do not want the Islamic dress code as it is, while another portion of Iranian women don’t want the Islamic dress code at all. Another example of such social realities is that 65% of university students are women, which means that a large percentage of the women in the Iranian communities are educated and so they no longer accept the degrading laws women are subject to in Iran. They want equality and human rights.
The democratic organs, in spite of being in the constitution, in effect are not allowed to be formed or grow, same as independent parties in true form not as a formality. Even though the previous three religious minorities were recognized in the constitution, but we can never claim that they have equal rights as the Muslim Shi’a majority do, (see Islamic Constitution Articles 12-13-14). Up until three years ago, diyah or the blood money of these three minorities, was very insignificant and this well shows that legislation in Iran is never based on reality or equality of the citizens regardless of their belief or gender. In Iran, according to the law, Islamic dress code is mandatory even for the non-Muslim women. The situation of the unofficial minorities such as the Baha’is in Iran is even worse. There is much more discrimination and, as reported many times in the news, they are not granted many basic social rights such as university education. Also women, who comprise half of the population, live under completely unequal laws in all respects. This is to the point that we can say, violence against women in Iran can be done with accordance to the law. This type of legal, political and governmental violence is the worst disaster ever to befall Iranian women.
Aside from all this, inflation and high prices is putting Iranians under unbearable pressure. Add to that the severity of the human rights situation in Iran and depravation of having an organized democratic election and having independent parties. The mother of all these rights is freedom of speech, a right that is not tolerated in Iran. Again the goal has turned into a dream.
Currently, due to the policies of the extremists in the country and the absence of democratic election, the Iranians are in a conundrum and they can’t reform the political situation of the country. On the other hand, the international situation is so that the Iranians repeatedly face different sanctions. Furthermore, the possibility of military action creates a never ending fear for them. Those who oppose freedom in Iran abuse the existing conditions to intensify violence against the critiques of the regime and those who request their basic rights are branded with charges of “actions against national security” and “collaboration with the enemy” (laborer, teachers, university students, civil society, women and human rights activists).
In spite of all the unfortunate matters we passed by so quickly, and all the things we did not mention, under no conditions will the Iranians allow a military attack from America and its allies on Iran to happen. Iraq’s model is in front of them and, in the Iranian point of view, this model serves as an excellent lesson.
This is how our goal has turned into a dream once again. With this dream, we have kept ourselves alive and hopeful that:
1) Social movements in Iran that have recently form do not completely diminish.
2) Change in the conditions and situation by combining the movements be possible, free of revolutionary violence.
3) Military attack of the west does not happen and the situation does not become worst than what it already is.
In order to foster these three dreams in our hearts, we need the support of the international community. However, military attack and sanction do not support the dreams of the Iranian people; on the contrary, they work against their dreams.
* speech delivered at Yale University, April 2008
|
