26 May 2020

Maryam Rajavi : Eid al-Fitr, the promise of liberation from the yoke of the mullahs

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Maryam Rajavi : Eid al-Fitr, the promise of liberation from the yoke of the mullahs

Concurrent with the martyrdom anniversary of PMOI founders who were harbingers of freedom and justice

  

Happy Eid al-Fitr to everyone who fasted during the month of Ramadan and to all my beloved compatriots across Iran and throughout the world.

The historic endowment of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) was the sacrifice of the organization’s founders and historical leaders on May 25, 1972.

They were harbingers of freedom and justice and they opened a new chapter in our nation’s history. They were the great Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen, Ali Asghar Badizadegan, and their colleagues Mahmoud Asgarizadeh and Rasoul Meshkinfam.

For members of the PMOI/MEK, Eid al-Fitr represents a universal celebration of freedom, and a reunion with the true essence of humanity in confrontation with the rule of the Shah (monarchical dictatorship) and the Sheikh (theocracy).

Although today, our cities and villages are afflicted with tremendous pain and suffering because of the coronavirus outbreak, and although the mullahs’ religious fascism, repression and poverty are tormenting society, the symphony of liberation can be heard even in the midst of this agony.

Eid al-Fitr bears the promise of victory and is the indispensable destination of our society, whose anger erupted like a volcano during the November 2019 protests.

For our people whose discontent and defiance have been accumulating against the mullahs, day by day under the pressure of the coronavirus crisis, and for the rebellious youth and Resistance Units who are counting down the days to overthrow the mullahs’ criminal regime, Eid al-Fitr is the promise of certain triumph.

Ultimate freedom will come out of the Iranian people’s battle against the regime

In our prayers during Eid al-Fitr, we asked God to save our people out from every misery and misfortune and endow them with goodness and beauty.

The greatest virtue of our time is the full-fledged struggle for the destruction of the evil mullahs’ regime, who have usurped the Iranian people’s right to sovereignty as well as their freedom.

Eid al-Fitr celebrates humanity breaking free from chains of coercion and servitude. It is a celebration of the power of humanity’s willpower and its capabilities.

Eid al-Fitr shows that a human being’s fundamental qualities, consciousness and the ability to choose, can shape his or her behavior. Human beings are not doomed to arrive at a certain destiny. They are not hapless. They are not doomed to be blind followers. They are not doomed to be seized by their instincts. Human beings have an endless power to build a new world and new relations based on emancipation and equality. They are fully capable of fighting exploitative ideologies and those that run counter to the tide of evolution.

Imam Ali said that the purpose of fasting is not self-mortification or deprivation. It is, rather, akin to waging a type of struggle or battle.

Everyone who fasts and all Muslims must answer this question: fasting is a fight against which forces? The answer is: against forces that deprive human beings of their essential human nature and core identity; forces that take away humanity’s combative willpower in the realms of individuality and society, combating against systems and ideologies that enslave human beings. In contemporary times, these forces are personified in the regimes of the Shah and the Sheikh (mullahs).

It is out of this struggle and battle that the Fitr or true freedom emerges.

So, like other Eids, the message of Eid al-Fitr focuses on the essence of humanity and the glorious destiny of human beings. The same humanity that during the Eid of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) praises its endless ability to make sacrifices.

The same humanity that during the month of Ramadan shows the definitive power of its consciousness and willpower, pledges to write its own fate during the Night of Destiny, and celebrates its victory in the Eid al-Fitr.

According to the PMOI/MEK teachings, “every Eid represents a return to the soul and coordinating and aligning with it; an evolutionary and conscious return to the origin and fountainhead of liberation and salvation. It is not about retreating or aimless repetition and it is not a vicious circle. Rather, it is all about a tortuous and blood-drenched struggle and an enduring path to shake off all the semblances of alienation and overcome the obstacles of achieving unity and harmony.

“This is how human kind overcomes divisions and separations, including forms of discriminations based on gender, ethnicity or social classes. In the end, by reining in his cruel instincts, which are common with animals, humanity overcomes the compulsions and paves the way towards a world commanded by consciousness and free choice. Thus humanity unravels the unmatched secret and mystery that defines its divine being.”

At the conclusion of the month of Ramadan, everyone, whether they have fasted or not, must make a donation.

The donation must be the equivalent of three meals to feed a hungry person. This donation symbolizes a collective pledge to end hunger within society. One can speak of a reunion with humanity’s essence only when hunger, poverty and destitution have been eliminated universally.

Khamenei seeks to take advantage of the pandemic to preserve his regime

Sisters and brothers,
Fellow compatriots,
In the great uprising of November 2019, the mullahs clearly saw that their regime is trapped in a vortex of destruction and they have no options to save it from inevitable overthrow.

Therefore, several weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spread throughout the country due to the mullahs’ own inhuman policies, they attempted to conceal the ambers of discontent under the ashes with a thick cover of the coronavirus crisis. They sought to extinguish the blazing flames of the November uprising, with all its 1,500 proud martyrs. They wanted to instill the impression that the social rebellion, which rapidly spread to hundreds of areas across the country, never even happened.

With the outbreak of the pandemic, the mullahs found themselves in an extremely critical position. As the state-run press noted, they clearly saw that “the slightest miscalculation in managing the disease” would spell an existential catastrophe and they would – and will – be the biggest losers of the crisis.

Yes, the mullahs’ supreme leader sees the eruption of people’s fury and uprising on the horizon.

Therefore, instead of fighting the coronavirus, the first and foremost priority for Khamenei and (his president Hassan) Rouhani became the regime’s security.

They refused to allocate the minimum budget for treating patients in order to avoid the slightest reduction in the financial pot that has been allocated to suppression inside Iran and to warmongering and commission of other crimes in the region.

They refused to use the resources and equipment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Army for the treatment of patients so that they could have all the resources at hand to preserve the regime’s security.

They avoided using even a penny from the wealth accumulated in Khamenei’s Setad (or Headquarters conglomerate) or other plundering foundations to fight against the pandemic.

Instead, they increased the prices of commodities and food, such as bread. And, they paved the way for the spike in the value of foreign currencies in order to replenish the coffers of a bankrupt government.

Indeed, when it came down to a choice between using foreign exchange reserves and other financial sources to avert an economic collapse on the one hand, and sending off underprivileged and hardworking people to production centers on the other hand, the regime’s leaders chose the latter option and thus caused a further spread of the disease.

And, as if that is not bad enough, they shamelessly blamed the people themselves for the coronavirus tragedy and scolded the population.

Today, Khuzestan Province has turned into a killing field for the coronavirus. In mid-May, more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients lost their lives in this province, demonstrating just one outcome of the regime’s inhuman policy. The clerical regime’s officials openly admit that the soaring number of infections began on April 11, when the regime ordered a re-opening.

In reality, Khamenei wants to use the coronavirus crisis as a beneficial parameter to prolong the regime’s survival.

For this reason, the mullahs tried to cover up the reality of the enormous and expanding protest movement; they tried to conceal the growing impact of PMOI/MEK Resistance Units and Resistance Councils inside Iran, and they tried to deny that the regime is moving down the irreversible path to being overthrown.

The regime’s endless fear of the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance

To achieve these goals, the mullahs carried out a chain of activities and offensives in various arenas. For example:

– They launched missile attacks against U.S. forces and facilities in Iraq;
– And they launched a satellite into space; and
– They launched attacks and made widespread arrests of rebellious youths and families and supporters of PMOI/MEK and severely tortured them.
– They sent their mercenaries to Albania, with a list of 8,000 signatures of so-called families of the PMOI/MEK, who in the midst of the pandemic and social distancing measures, claim that they have missed their parents at Ashraf 3.

The motto of the backward supporters of this circus in foreign countries is “Long live the Shah,” the same slogan chanted during the 1953 coup (against Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq), which is an affront to Iranian people’s history and revolution. It is an affront to millions of people who toppled the monarchic dictatorship with the chants of “death to the Shah” and freed the political prisoners.
The mullahs’ reactionary and ignorant ideology dates back to 1,400 years ago, but the people of Iran have a longer history of thousands of years, to the days when Kaveh the Blacksmith rose up against Zahhak, the tyrant that had snakes on his shoulders.

The same rings true today. The reality of popular uprisings and resistance cannot be denied, just as the final phase of the regime’s life is a formidable reality.

Khamenei’s remarks on May 22, and earlier on May 17, reflect this truth and the regime’s endless fear of the PMOI/MEK and the Iranian Resistance.

On May 17, Khamenei admitted that the regime has not been able to exploit the outbreak for its own benefit, and as an opportunity to prolong its survival. Therefore, he attacked the PMOI/MEK while calling for a young Hezbollahi government following in the footsteps of a henchman like Qassem Soleimani.

Khamenei says any form of retreat would be too costly for the regime. This is because he has the experience of the Shah’s downfall.

Khamenei pointed to the large number of youth who joined the ranks of the PMOI/MEK after the 1979 revolution. He wanted to focus the attention of his mercenaries on the great threat gripping the regime in the current situation, namely the youth’s draw and attraction to the PMOI/MEK and Resistance Units.

He urged the regime’s forces to draw a solid red line between themselves and supporters of the PMOI/MEK, and to forge a front against them. He said: “Do everything you can to expand (the regime’s) ranks and recruit,” adding: “Of course, I do not mean recruiting hypocrites (PMOI/MEK).” Yes, the most dangerous name is still the PMOI/MEK and the only red line continues to be drawn against the PMOI/MEK.

Khamenei then warned the regime’s forces that they must be careful about the inevitable orientation of protests and uprisings toward the overthrow of the regime, adding: “Don’t allow demands and protests to be interpreted as a protest against the Islamic system. This is important. … Seriously prevent this from happening.”

What the regime’s tyrant has said represents a political watershed moment. Initially, he wanted to exploit the situation arising from the coronavirus spread as a means of averting the regime’s overthrow. Now, he has exposed the discord and divisions at the helm of the regime and is urging the young generation not to support the PMOI/MEK.

Of course, Khamenei himself explicitly said after the November 2019 uprising that the protests had taken on a greater security import due to the presence of the PMOI/MEK and the establishment of Ashraf 3 (in Albania). He claimed that several days before the protests against the spike in gasoline prices broke out in November 2019, the PMOI/MEK met with an American official in this “small but sinister, and truly evil, European country” and they planned the protests. According to Khamenei, that plan was rolled out several days later during the gasoline price protests. He added that “what I mean by saying several days … is that the plan was updated in several days,” otherwise “they had carried out activities before and they had prepared individuals on the ground.”

$30B from the Iranian people’s wealth spent on propping up the dictator of Syria

On Friday, May 22, the last Friday during the month of Ramadan, when the regime was forced to scrap its plans to set up the unpopular theatrics of “Qods Day,” Khamenei maneuvered toward the Palestinian issue and proceeded to unleash a wave of slander and criticism against the late historic leader of Palestine, Yasser Arafat, which is actually a badge of honor and a further testament to Arafat’s integrity and pride. The criminal supreme leader of the regime praised Hezbollah and Hamas in opposition to Arafat, and openly said that he has drawn up plans to deliver weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas.

This is while the people of Iran chant: “Not for Gaza, nor for Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran.”

Just recently, the former chairman of the regime’s parliamentary Security and Foreign Policy Committee confessed that so far $30B from the Iranian people’s wealth has been spent on propping up the murderous dictator of Syria, and that the regime pockets about 200 billion tomans (roughly $11.5 million) every day as a result of increasing gasoline prices. That is the blood-stained money that was taken by the regime while killing Iranian protesters (in November 2019).

When the number of deaths as a result of coronavirus had just reached 2,000, in his statement on March 7, 2020, the Iranian Resistance’s Leader Massoud Rajavi declared: “Khamenei has to allocate the $100B of wealth in the ‘Setad-e Ejraee Farman-e Imam’ and the vast funds accumulated in the cooperatives belonging to the IRGC, Bassij, and State Security Forces (SSF), and in the Mostazafan Foundation, as well as the funds that are being spent in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and Lebanon, toward providing healthcare to the Iranian people and for the treatment of patients.”

He emphasized: “The budgets allocated to the regime’s nuclear and missile programs and the capital and resources at the hands of the Red Crescent, which has set up numerous locations in the Middle East and Africa in order to advance the regime’s reactionary ideology and terrorism objectives, must instead be spent on treating coronavirus patients.

“The assets of the Astan-e Qods Razavi in Khorasan province, which has amassed huge wealth and capital by exploiting the name of Imam Reza and obtaining astronomical religious endowments, and which is controlled by Khamenei, can currently pay for the delayed wages and salaries of workers, teachers, and office employees on the eve of the (Persian) New Year, and it can also pay for their treatment.”

He added: “Prisoners, particularly political prisoners, must immediately be released. This is the only way to prevent a coronavirus catastrophe in the regime’s prisons.”

The Resistance Units, capable of overthrowing the regime, have exhausted the enemy

Today, after 2.5 months and in comparison with statistics in early March, the number of coronavirus deaths is 22 times higher. It is immeasurably unfortunate that the number has surpassed 44,000. Observers believe the real figures are much higher.

This is where one can see the regime’s final fate and road ahead.

Today, all of the causes and factors that triggered the vast November 2019 uprising are not only still in place, but they have been considerably aggravated due to the coronavirus catastrophe and the mullahs’ inhuman policy response.

The economy is contracting by 9%, the inflation rate ranges from 50% to 60%, the government budget has a 50% deficit, and the devaluation trend of the national currency continues, with the regime slashing four zeros from it. All this indicates that the regime’s economy is on the verge of collapse.

Today, the erosion of the regime has not only been reversed, but under the pressure of social protests and political and economic failures, the entirety of the regime has been rendered weak and powerless. Half of Rouhani’s government is essentially not operational. The regime’s spokesmen and officials cannot do anything other than to lie. Regime institutions are engaged in infighting and quarrels, and Khamenei is setting the stage to take down Rouhani’s government.

Today, not only the force capable of overthrowing the regime has not been stopped even after being subjected to numerous suppressive measures and arrests, but it has rather multiplied among the younger generations, and its fighting spirit shown in Resistance Units has exhausted the enemy.

Yes, the mullahs have failed to exploit the coronavirus situation and the people’s poverty and destitution to hide the fact that they are on the verge of being overthrown.

The Fitr of the Iranian people’s liberation

Sisters and brothers, today is May 24.

It is the 48th anniversary of the year that (PMOI founders) Hanifnejad and his friends became eternal. While this day is drenched in blood, it contains the cornerstone for the Fitr of liberation for the Iranian people.

The bullets that were fired at the most loving spirits of our time in that blood-stained dawn sparked a vast fury that ultimately brought down the Shah’s dictatorship.

We renew our endless praise for Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen, Ali Asghar Badizadegan, Mahmoud Asgarizadeh and Abdol-Rasoul Meshkinfam, who were all executed by a firing squad of the Shah’s regime in 1972.

The Shah could never imagine of the social whirlwind that would result from these executions in Iran. Similarly, even though the mullahs have put in practice all the lessons learned from the experience of the Shah in order to prevent their own downfall, but after the execution and massacre of the PMOI/MEK and murdering of rebellious youth, they have eliminated all other options for their miserable rule and have instead opened the path toward their ultimate overthrow.

It was in that tumultuous and blood-drenched spring in 1972 that Massoud assured Hanifnejad that his generation will persevere.

And, since then, Massoud has endured the great suffering associated with the perseverance and salvation of this generation and this Resistance, thereby guaranteeing its victory, freedom and bright future.

Yes, today, it is this rebellious and enthusiastic generation and Resistance Units who have forged their iron resolve even more, and have risen up to overthrow the religious fascism.

Now, it is time for us to spread the flames of resistance and hope everywhere, ensuring that these flames burn ever brighter.

That is how the Fitr of the Iranian people’s liberation will arrive, and that is how freedom will dawn on Iran.

Hail to freedom
Hail to the Iranian people

Maryam Rajavi

President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

The President-elect of the NCRI for the period to transfer sovereignty to the people of Iran

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