Friday, June 19, 2009

My Speech at the FPA

Below is the text of my speech today at the Foreign Press Association in Pall Mall, in front of TV and Radio networks from around the world.

I was speaking to a friend in Iran and told him I will be speaking at the FPA. I asked him what do you want me to say? He said tell the World:
‘WE ARE NOT AFRAID TO DIE, WE ARE AFRAID THAT OUR CHILDREN WILL MISS THEIR CHANCE TO LIVE IN A FREE IRAN’

The repression which is taking place in Iran is much grimmer than what you see on the international media. So many horrific scenes and footage cannot be shown because they are too distressing to be viewed by the public. Even Youtube is forced to remove some of the footage because they are too distressing.

Yesterday I heard a friend’s cousin in Shiraz was wounded and taken to hospital. He was taken to the operating theatre for emergency operation. The savage thugs that you see in the media and on the internet who are attacking our people, went to the operating theatre and dragged him away and left him for dead outside the hospital.
A family in Shahrake Gharb who were holding a wake for their son killed in the protests were attacked by the riot guards in their home. Their home was set ablaze and all present in the wake were beaten up. Their crime was that they held a mourning ceremony for their son.

The repression is beyond belief. Not even the war veterans and their families are left alone. Yesterday the wife of the former assassinated prime minister, Rajaii, and other relatives of the war martyrs who had backed candidates other than Ahmadienjad were also arrested.

If the repression is beyond belief, the resentment towards the regime is deepening too. In our mythical stories, Iran is taken over by Zahak the usurper who has two snakes coming out of his shoulders. Incidentaally the depictions of Zahak in our text books were very similar to the Supreme Leader's pictures. The snakes on Zahak's shoulders needed to be fed with brains of two youngsters every day. Kaweh the blacksmith finally rose up against Zahak and liberated our people but not until he had 17 of his boys killed. It seems our people have a large capacity to accept oppression but there comes a point where they will take no more. That point has reached now.

This is not just the students, not just the teachers, not just the trade unions, not just the feminists, this is all of Iran, young and old, rich and poor plus part of what has up to this point been the establishment, plus part of the clergy against a minority who have become so arrogant with what they believe they can get away with that through their own foolishness, they have managed to do what seemed to be impossible. They have united the Iranian people against them.

Today it matters not if you called for a boycott or took part in the voting. It matters not who you voted for and whether you were part of the establishment before. What matters is are you against this coup or not??

No ordinary human being can watch the images from Iran and not get emotional. How can a human being not be moved to see a footage of a university student in his dying seconds after being beaten up by some savage Neanderthal? How can one not be moved to see riot guards break into someone’s house and beat a protester to death on the balcony?

With such images one would have thought the regime’s promoters and apologists will finally see the light and join the people’s side. Yet sadly and strangely with the help of the media, they seem to be re-forming and re-grouping with their new outrageous justifications for their paymasters. They are talking about that the elections were in fact fair and Ahmadinejad has won. They are talking about waiting for the ‘legal process’ to go through and the Arch stooge of dictators, George Galloway, refers to this as a protest by the rich North Tehran kids against a simple living president and a working class cabinet, and Galloway predicts this movement will fizzle out soon.

Of course Galloway works for Press TV which is funded by the Islamic Republic. They are his paymasters but it boils my blood when I see Press TV advertisements on the back of London buses and in the underground.
- While the leaders of the bus drivers union in Iran are in jail,
- the foreign journalists are kicked out from Iran,
- foreign satellite TV programs like the BBC Persian are jammed,
- Internet is slowed down and filtered,
- sms texting is stopped
- and citizen journalists with their mobile phones are told they will face severe punishments
- and savages beat our people to death, Press TV advertisements on the London buses and underground claim they give Voice to the Voiceless!
The Voiceless people now are the people of Iran. Make no mistake about that.

How are the people of Iran reacting to all this savagery and brutality and lack of international support ? In the most NOBLE way. I am proud to say.

If you have seen the footage taken by the Italian cameraman you see the protesters capture a riot guard. With the images you have from the Middle East and the Iranian regime, you may have thought the captured riot guard would be beaten or mutilated to death. But our noble people give him some water to drink and wash his face with and ask him to take his uniform off and tell him to go his way. The Neanderthal moves away without remorse or thanks.

This is our noble people of Iran, This is the noble struggle of the Iranian people and this is why when we win it will change not only the face of Iran but the whole region for a better and a more humane one. Victory to the noble people of Iran!

22 comments:

Unknown said...

great! let me know if you find the footage of you talking anywhere

aez said...

Please forgive the silence of high-level US elected officials. Some of them fear thin ice here and everywhere.

The hearts of American citizens of conscience are with the people of Iran, and not with the thugs. I hope, hope, hope that I and fellow citizens would be able to muster such courage and discipline in similar circumstances.

Anonymous said...

Is anyone taking seriously the reported call by Mousavi for marches in capital cities on Sunday? If so, are there any plans in London. I would attend.

Anonymous said...

Azarmehr,

You are not afraid to die?

Why dont you go to your homeland and fight there?

You are a coward, hiding 5,000 miles away from your enemy.

Waiting till others have sacrificed themselves for freedom, only then will you crawl out from your hiding place.

Anonymous said...

Potkin,

You have a very nice writing style. How you brought Zahak in was very nice. We need indeed a Kaveh the Blacksmith to lead an uprising. Lets hope Mousavi is that Kaveh.

That footage from that Italian camera man is striking. The people see a chance and attack one of the thugs who fell behind his herd from all sides. This is by the way the second footage that shows if people are united the thugs run away. They had beaten him up a bit, but it was nothing. He barely had any bleeding nose or scars on face. At that point when I saw it I was trying to picture myself being there. I was so angry I could imagine myself keep hitting his head with my feet until he dies. Then I saw the next scene how some young people shielded him and others gave him water. The thug was looking into the camera and I found a shameful look. He was ashamed. They let him go. It was amazing. In any other Middle eastern country he would be dead. Iranians are indeed noble people despite the shit they go through everyday. I am Iranian by birth but have forgotten these values. I lived for too long in the West I think.

You are also right about Casmii and few other journalists trying to shine by saying something different. They say now the votes initially were correct. Its ridiculous. I am happy though that the majority is helping us. Did you hear about Twitter and Facebook? They are now working 24/7 on a Persian language support. hackers are providing software for us to attack the government websites in Iran. I could cry sometimes just by seeing the solidarity.

I am very happy about what Khameni said today. There is no more back. He became a new Shah. The system is finished. From now on, people start feeling frustrated and start hating him. A revolution is coming my friend...a revolution is coming...We have waited 30 years....30 fraking years...

Yours
H.

Anonymous said...

http://www.tehruni.com/2009/05/28/press-tv-advertises-in-london-underground/

Anonymous said...

I thoroughly support all of you brave and noble lovers of freedom. I'm glued to the Internet now to see how your revolution is going. I'm an American counter-jihad fighter. Are you guys also fighting to end the perpetual jihad and to end the war against Israel (who only seeks peace with you)?

Anonymous said...

To the hateful person who avails himself of anonymity to post: "Waiting till others have sacrificed themselves for freedom, only then will you crawl out from your hiding place."

What's your contribution to the effort? In case you haven't heard, the effort in Iran is a peaceful one.

Anonymous said...

This event is so momentus that an outsider has difficulty comprehending the emormity of it all. I am so ashamed that the USA President has not come out and fully supported the people of Iran who yearn for democracy, peace, and prosperity. Thank God that the USA House of Representatives today passed a resolution of support for the brave people. Our so called student revolutionaries here would never have the kind of bravery that the people of Iran are showing. They are coddled, given press interviews, and cushy jobs for being 'protesters' here.

It would be good to know what the ordinary citizen can best do to help the brave people of Iran?

Anonymous said...

What kind of human being could watch the footage of the WTC victims jumping to their deaths and not get emotional. Most of the muslim world, that's who. Yes, even those poor bloodied and dying "victims" in Iran, many of whom felt satisfaction or even glee at that site. Now we are supposed to feel sorry for them because the monster of hate that they, created, they nurtured and that they thought they could control has turned on them. That monster- Islam. What is going on now pales in comparison to all the many slaughters in islam's history. Let them die like the millions of Germans civilians did in wwII. They fed the monster, now it is devouring them.

Unknown said...

Our prayers are with the good multitudes of people of Iran to have the courage, the strength, and the perseverance to topple and forever crush the brutal dictatorship of your terrorist mullas and terrorist ayotolas.

We support your quest for freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, a free press, freedom of religion, women's rights, and human rights 1000% in the United States of America.

God bless your full revolution against your terrorist tyrants and thuggish dictators!!! The civilized world is praying for your swift victory over your enemies of freedom within your country.

Unknown said...

In the United States of America, we are praying for the vast multitudes of oppressed, good people in Iran, for your swift victory over and against the terrorist, thuggish, oppressively brutal dictatorship of ayotollas and mullas who should be rotting at the bottom of hell - God willing!!!

We pray for the success of your revolution against your brutally evil government by oppression.

We pray for you to speedily enjoy the fruits of liberty, the fruits of freedom of speech, the fruits of freedom of religion, the fruits of freedom of assembly, the fruits of a free press, the fruits of a free exchange of ideas, and the fruits of free electronic communication across the internet, across the communication satellites, and across the cell phone towers.

Your blood will not be shed in vain. Your children will bear the fruits of your victory. God bless you in your battle. Right is on your side. So is the civilized world, and so is God. Amen.

Anonymous said...

You have decided to fight the good fight because you know it is right to do so and you are brave and will not let anyone or anything stand in your way! I commend you and feel so helpless with only words to offer. Yet, I do so because I need to express how I feel and to let you know all freedom loving people need to band together. God bless all of you.

Anonymous said...

A free and friendly Iran is not in the cards. Sorry to say. Russia and China need a proxy to develop nukes and use them on the USA, Israel and some Western Countries.

All evil in the world stems from two places....the Kremlin and the Chinese ruling communist party. This is the truth.

I feel bad for Iranians. Such a smart peoples oppressed by one dimensional tyrants who are also in turn oppressed by their master manipulators in Russia and China.

I pray the Iranian people can overthrow them all. I really do, but it will be really, really bloody as the forces that be do not yet want to lose a valuable pawn and buffer.

Anonymous said...

What are you willing to give up for Freedom?
The time to fight is NOW.
Iranians wax poetic about there past
WHEN WILL THEY START DREAMING ABOUT THERE FUTURE!!!???
God Bless a free and open Iran.

Jeffreyp123 said...

It reminds me of the American revolution when the Americans got to the point they were not going to take it anymore and fought the british rule.

Anonymous said...

The people of America care and support the people of Iran. Unfortunately the government of Iran and of the United States have little to do with the people of these countries. Stay strong!

Anonymous said...

I have wondered how long the Iranian people would continue to tolerate these Religious Nazis. The Persian people have a long and proud legacy of independant thinking and tolerance that is not in keeping with the criminal mullahs who are trying to turn back history to an imaginary Iran that never relly existed.

in the end, Jefferson was correct- the authority of all governemnets comes from the consent of the governed. The Mullas will probably win this battle, but their days are numbered.They will eventually lose

selahgreen said...

"So many horrific scenes and footage cannot be shown because they are too distressing to be viewed by the public."

How nice of you to be so concerned about our delicate western sensibilities. Our daily consumption of gore, slashings, rippings, gut explosions & crushings on TV, in movies, and in video games just hasn't prepared us for the Tehran demonstrations.

What a crock. If there were 'horrific' scenes, they would be all over You Tube. But your convoluted, narcissistic attempt to display your fake compassion & concern qualifies you for a position in the Obama administration.

Anonymous said...

Too bad Ronald Reagan isn't around to say "Ayatollah Khamenei, let your people be free." Instead we have Obama who must ask the pollsters and reporters at ABC, CBS, CNN and MSMBC and his teleprompter what to say.

Anonymous said...

The future of the USA, Just add U.S. in place of Iran, in thin article.

Anonymous said...

"....Yes, even those poor bloodied and dying "victims" in Iran, many of whom felt satisfaction or even glee at that site. ...."

You're confusing them with the Palestinians. I don't think Iranians did that also.

As for Obama - don't expect anything from him. He is not Bush Clinton Reagan or any president who cares about freedom and democracy. His youth education mentors friends colleagues are mostly from the same kind of authoritarian Left as Galloway (altho not that blatant or nutty). At least France & Germany are speaking strongly.

Please believe most Americans support you (and the ones who support you AND voted for BHO may dispute my description here) even if our elected officials aren't as emphatic as we would like.