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Iran: 109 years of unrelenting struggle for liberty

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NCRI – Exactly 109 years ago today Iran underwent a Constitutional Revolution, defining a new era of struggles for liberty and revolutions to come.

Since 1906, the people of Iran have revolted three times against their oppressors, whether classical dictators like the Shah or fundamentalist tyrants like Khomeini and Khamenei.

The 1906 Constitutional Movement saw the formation of a Parliamentary assembly that eroded much of the Shah’s political clout. A second major tipping point came in the 1952 uprisings which netted the democratically elected government of the nationalist Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh who expelled the British colonial domination over Iran’s oil industry. Then came the 1979 revolution in which democratic intellectuals spear headed by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) played a leading role but the leadership of which was hijacked by Ruhollah Khomeini who transformed it into a state of fundamentalist terror.

In the past century there have been innumerable uprisings and anti-regime protests by the Iranian people, and the movement for genuine democratic change continues to this day.

Of the past 109 years of struggle, the last 50 have witnessed a remarkable resistance by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (or Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK) which is the only group to have continued a day to day resistance unremittingly for such a length of time.

The PMOI (or Mujahedeen-e Khalq MEK) was founded on September 6, 1965, by three university students, Mohammad Hanifnejad, Said Mohsen, and Ali-Ashgar Badizadgan to combat the Shah’s regime. The original members were mostly middle class, technocrats and professionals living in Tehran. At a time of severe repression by the Shah’s secret police SAVAK, the members came together regularly to discuss religion, history, philosophy, and revolutionary theory.

Though all three founders were later executed by the Shah’s regime, from prison, the sole survivor of the central committee Massoud Rajavi re-built the PMOI which became a pivotal force in the 1979 anti-monarchical revolution.

The fundamentalist mullahs in Iran believe interpreting Islam is their exclusive domain. The PMOI reject this view and the clerics’ reactionary vision of Islam. The PMOI’s comprehensive interpretation of Islam proved to be more persuasive, appealing, and successful than any attempt in the past.

For the Mojahedin, freedom, as well as gender, ethnic and religious equality, human rights and peace are not merely political commitments, but ideological principles based on its view of the Quran and the traditions and teachings of Prophet Muhammad, Shiite Imams, and other leaders.

While the fundamentalist mullahs believe in the concept of velayat-e faqih, which invests law, power, and legitimacy to a Supreme Leader, the PMOI believes the sole criterion for political legitimacy is the ballot-box. It is the electorate, expressing itself in a free and fair election that gives a party, group, coalition, or individual the mandate to govern.

For about two and a half years after the revolution, the PMOI used the little political openness that existed to spread their message and garner support. On June 20, 1981, a peaceful demonstration by half-a-million PMOI supporters in Tehran was turned into a bloodbath on the orders of Khomeini, and the PMOI were forced to go underground and begin a Resistance campaign to expose and unseat the Khomeini regime.

On July 29, 1981, Mr. Rajavi announced the formation of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the democratic alternative to the religious, terrorist dictatorship. The umbrella coalition which includes representatives from various opposition groups with varying views has been the most long-lasting coalition of the opposition so far.