Iran: Theocracy Should Make Method for Democracy, Not Dynasty
Persian language information channel Iran Worldwide stories {that a} petition marketing campaign has been initiated by some Iranians endorsing exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi as their consultant to guide a transitional authorities from clerical to secular rule in Iran.
The marketing campaign grabbed the eye and endorsement of some Iranian celebrities and athletes like Ali Karimi however drew silence from well-known anti-regime Iranian diaspora activists Nazanin Boniadi, journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, actress Golshifteh Farahani and activist Hamed Esmaeilion.
Nonetheless, many ethnic peoples and political representatives with different democratic forces within the opposition have been alarmed by this unilateral and unseemly marketing campaign. Many took to social media to reject Reza Pahlavi, and his supporter’s try and hijack the revolution and assume management.
In Balochistan, many protesters held signs stating, “No to Mullah and Shah, no IRGC terrorists, Sure to freedom.” One other well-known revolutionary slogan chanted on metropolis streets throughout Iran is “Dying to the oppressor, whether or not he’s the shah or the supreme chief.” If Reza Pahlavi and his supporters actually cared about democracy and human rights, they absolutely couldn’t have missed the voices of the folks dealing with weapons and bullets on the streets in Iran.
Videos present protesters chanting different frequent slogans that reject the goals of the Pahlavi marketing campaign like “no monarchy, no chief (supreme chief), democracy and equality.” Much more direct was a placard held up by protesters in Zahedan, Balochistan that reads, “Reza Pahlavi just isn’t our consultant, perceive that we’ve got our representatives.”
It could be incorrect to say that Reza Pahlavi doesn’t have supporters. However, most Iranians don’t wish to sacrifice their lives in a revolution to overthrow the theocratic state of the ayatollahs solely to have it changed by the son of a earlier dictator overthrown by a revolution in 1979. The Ayatollahs and Pahlavi have had many years to control Iran however each have been impediments to democratic actions all through Iran’s historical past. This amongst many different elements demonstrates the absurdity of the Pahlavi marketing campaign.
Why the marketing campaign does extra hurt than good
Anybody advocating for Reza Pahlavi’s management by means of this marketing campaign is really not in contact with actuality and is aware of little in regards to the legislation or how political processes work. The petition titled, “Prince Reza Pahlavi is my consultant,” states, “Contemplating the revolution that is happening in Iran and contemplating that Reza Pahlavi requested the folks of Iran to offer him energy of lawyer to guide this motion.” There is no such thing as a authorized foundation beneath home or worldwide legislation to offer somebody such energy. The complete premise of the marketing campaign has no grounds in democratic processes or authorized code. The marketing campaign illustrates that Reza Pahlavi and his supporters are zealous to monopolize the revolution and safe energy for themselves.
Having the Shah’s son function interim chief in a transitional authorities if the revolution efficiently overthrows the Islamic Republic sends the unsuitable sign to folks inside and out of doors of Iran as a result of the folks don’t wish to return to the times of the monarchy. They’re additionally firmly in opposition to the theocratic system of the Ayatollahs. The folks in Iran have realized from the final revolution that getting behind a self-declared messiah (Khomeini) could result in one other authoritarian system.
If Reza Pahlavi helps ladies’s rights then he ought to step apart and let a girl lead. If monarchists wish to set up the monarchy on the backs of the men and women who’ve died or are being tortured and imprisoned on this globally acknowledged ladies’s revolution, then I suggest that considered one of Pahlavi’s sisters marketing campaign for management. It could be fairly progressive however the Pahlavi monarchy is gender biased.
Having a marketing campaign for management at a time when the revolution has not succeeded in overthrowing the theocracy illustrates the immaturity of the prince and his supporters. They declare to be for democracy but try and arbitrarily impose upon the folks an exiled Pahlavi in search of to proceed a household legacy of assimilation, compelled homogenization, and authoritarianism beneath the guise of freedom and modernity.
Reza Pahlavi just isn’t a unifier however a divider
In a current interview with Manoto TV, Reza Pahlavi makes it clear that he has no democratic resolution for Iran’s multitude of issues nor does he suggest any governing construction that may assure the rights of Kurds, Baloch, Azeri and Ahwazi Arabs.
The journalist asks Pahlavi about how he views the demand by ethnic teams in Iran who say that they’re able to be part of the coalition and an exile authorities if Pahlavi and others acknowledge them as distinct nations in a multinational Iran. His response, applauded by his supporters, shocked many others.
Pahlavi responds, “Any democratic pressure that believes in democratic establishments and political transparency could be part of the political coalition that we’re demanding however they need to imagine that the territorial integrity of Iran is a crimson line. Anybody who doesn’t imagine within the unity of Iran’s territory can’t be part of the political coalition and that is our clear message for all events.”
His dismissal of the rights of such nations as mere calls for of separatism and a menace to Iran’s territorial integrity signifies that he doesn’t imagine in democracy. He seeks to hijack the Jina Revolution like Khomeini did with the 1979 Revolution and impose homogenization and assimilation very similar to the Islamic republic has been doing and his father earlier than them.
Regardless of dwelling within the West and having connections with many western governments, he has completed little to analyze the power-sharing establishments and rules that preserve social and political cohesion in democratic international locations that might function believable options to the calls for of the totally different nations in Iran. He resorts to the Khomenian techniques of interesting to fears and accusations as a substitute of diplomacy and cooperation.
Is the separatist label reality or fiction?
In his current Manoto TV Interview Pahlavi goes on to say, “Inform me what Iranian would need his nation to be divided into items? Those that discuss separatism have to know that the chants inside Iran are nationalistic and never native or particular to any ethnic or non secular group. The folks need one Iran.”
None of what Reza Pahlavi says is true or helps to unite the various peoples who inhabit Iran. When Jina Amini died, the revolution for ladies, life, and freedom started in Kurdistan in her hometown and unfold throughout Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran blamed the Kurds, bombed Kurdish opposition events throughout the border within the KRG and even got here out with statements accusing the Kurds of orchestrating the revolution with the assistance of Israel. It’s because the revolution sparked by the demise of a Kurdish lady in a Kurdish city and by a Kurdish slogan began in Kurdistan earlier than spreading to the remainder of Iran.
What the folks need in Iran is freedom however meaning various things to totally different folks. This can be a indisputable fact that Pahlavi and different Iranian leaders haven’t considered or maybe have chosen to disregard in favor of a extra absolutist governing construction that basically modifications little for non-Persian nations or the institution of a working democracy in Iran.
Within the Forties, Qazi Muhammad, president of the Kurdistan Republic, made efforts to peacefully resolve the Kurdish query by means of the institution of pluralistic and democratic Iran. With the assistance of the Brits and Individuals, the final Shah of Iran hanged Qazi for establishing an autonomous Kurdistan authorities and advocating for democracy in Iran.
Within the Nineteen Eighties, the Kurdish chief Abdul Rehman Qhassemmlou, who as soon as stated that “we is not going to permit anybody to assert that they’re extra Iranian than us Kurds,” and who made well-known the slogan: Democracy for Iran, Autonomy for Kurdistan, was assassinated in Vienna by regime brokers whereas negotiating with the Iranian state.
Equally, his successor Dr. Sadiq Sharafkandi was assassinated in Mykonos whereas assembly with Iranian opposition leaders to unify opposition in opposition to the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic of Iran justifies the homicide of the Kurdish leaders with the identical argument that Reza Pahlavi makes, that they have been separatists or a menace to the territorial integrity of Iran.
As well as, The Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran have articulated related calls for. The Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran which is an alliance of political events and advocacy teams campaigning to exchange the present Islamist authorities system in Iran with a secular, democratic, federal authorities has additionally rejected these allegations of separatism.
None of those nations demand independence or separation from Iran, but, monarchists like Pahlavi and the Islamic Republic each proceed this rhetoric of separatism and territorial integrity as a result of they don’t wish to share energy and construct a tolerant and pluralistic democracy in Iran that acknowledges the elemental rights of all nations in Iran.
It has been 72 years for the reason that institution of the Iranian nation-state. The Kurds and others proceed to battle for his or her rights as nations but Iranian leaders like Reza Pahlavi and the Ayatollahs proceed to label them as threats to territorial integrity.
The separatism accusation illustrates that Iranian leaders within the monarchist and Islamist camps proceed to carry outdated views about calls for for self-determination and democracy that make them unfit to guide Iran.
If Iran fragments into separate states like the previous Yugoslavia did within the Nineties, It is not going to be as a result of the non-Persian nations didn’t attempt to resolve their points peacefully and democratically. Will probably be as a result of the Iranian state compelled upon the varied peoples a coverage of assimilation and homogenization to erase the id of marginalized nations in Iran.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Truthful Observer’s editorial coverage.
