NCRI provisional government conference for a democratic Iran
Maryam Rajavi: The Announcement of the Provisional Government Raises the Flag of Democracy and People’s Sovereignty
Today’s conference is dedicated to the extraordinary situation in Iran.
Iran’s history is at a critical moment, shaped by long-term developments over the past five decades.
Ali Khamenei died. Now it is time for the entire regime of religious dictatorship to be overthrown by the Iranian people, the Liberation Army and their organized uprising.
An Active Force on the Ground
Now, Khamenei’s remnants have proposed a temporary leadership council to appoint a new supreme leader. However, it makes no difference who they appoint. The Velayat-e Faqih regime must go, and this will happen at the hands of the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance.
At the same time, they continue using threats and pressure to remove any possibility of a popular uprising by people who have reached the limits of their endurance. Under these conditions, the regime’s agents intimidate the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and issue threats of missile attacks on them at Ashraf-3 in Albania.
However, it is impossible for them to escape being overthrown. Because the January uprising in Iran was not extinguished despite the regime’s bloody crackdown and will return with a far stronger force against this regime.
In recent days, the Resistance Units have increased their activities and attacked centers used to suppress the people.
These activities carry an important message: there is an active force on the ground in Iran. It is organized and capable of organizing. It is willing to make sacrifices, and in combination with the uprising, it can achieve the overthrow of this regime.
I have always said and repeat that the overthrow is possible only by the people of Iran and their organized resistance.
A Guarantee for Transition of Power to People
Honorable dignitaries,
On February 28, the National Council of Resistance of Iran announced a provisional government for transferring sovereignty to the people of Iran and establishing a democratic republic based on the Resistance’s Ten-Point Plan. The announcement of the provisional government, whose history dates back to October 1981, guarantees democracy and people’s sovereignty after the overthrow of the mullahs’ religious dictatorship in opposition to all efforts aimed at continuing a religious dictatorship or returning to a dependent dictatorship.
We are fighting to establish a republic based on freedom and democracy, the separation of religion and state, pluralism, and gender equality; a system that upholds the violated rights of our fellow citizens — Baluch, Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen — who have suffered double oppression under both the Shah’s regime and the current regime.
These positions, in addition to the Ten-Point Plan, are detailed in the platform of the provisional government and in the resolutions of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The Plan for the Autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan of Iran (approved in November 1983), the Plan for the Separation of Religion and State (approved in 1985), and the Plan on Women’s Rights and Freedoms (approved in April 1987) are among them.
According to the NCRI’s program, the provisional government must hold free elections within a maximum of six months to form a constituent assembly. When the constituent assembly is formed, the provisional government’s mission ends, and all power is handed over to the representatives of the people in this assembly.
The Constituent Assembly has several duties, including drafting a constitution for the new republic and appointing a provisional government to run the country’s affairs until the new constitution is drafted and approved.
I must reiterate that in light of social conditions in Iran and the role of Iranian women in struggle, any viable alternative to this regime must defend women’s active and equal participation in leadership both for overthrowing the regime and for the era after the overthrow.
Without commitment to democracy, it is impossible to mobilize the people to overthrow the regime. Neither is it possible to overcome the enormous political, social, and economic problems after its downfall.
Indeed, the remnants of the Shah’s regime, who promote a return to the old dictatorship as an alternative to religious rule, are working in favor of the present regime before anything else.
Nothing helps the remnants of Khamenei’s regime more than convincing people that its fall would bring a monarchic dictatorship — one that changes the name of the intelligence ministry to SAVAK.
Whereas, beyond removing a dictatorship, our people’s struggle with more than 100,000 martyrs has always aimed and continues to aim at bringing down all forms of dictatorship.
As Massoud Rajavi, the Leader of the Iranian Resistance has stated, “This is a struggle between the past and present on the one hand and future on the other. It is a conflict between regression and progress.”
It has been a long and difficult struggle continued for 120 years to free Iran from all forms of dictatorship. The fascism that began with the slogan “Only one party, the party of God” and is now reaching its final days cannot be revived with the fascist slogan “long live the Shah.”
No Future for Iran Can Be Created from Outside
Distinguished guests,
Regarding the war that has begun over the regime’s nuclear weapons and missile programs and the IRGC’s proxy groups, allow me to emphasize on behalf of the Iranian Resistance that the parties involved must exercise the utmost care to prevent any loss of life or damage to the country’s civilian, educational, and medical facilities.
Amid the bombardments, the lives of prisoners are in greater danger than ever. I call on the international community and human rights defenders to pressure and compel the regime to immediately release of all prisoners, especially political prisoners.
In conclusion, I wish to emphasize that only the people of Iran have the legitimate right to determine the political future of their country. No future for Iran can be created from outside.
The bitter experience of the coup against the national government of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh must not be repeated.
That coup imposed a violent one-party dictatorship on the people of Iran for 25 years, paved the way for the rise of Khomeini in Iran, and delivered one of the greatest blows to democracy in the region.
Now is the time to recognize the struggle of the Iranian people, the Resistance Units, and the Liberation Army against the Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) to overthrow the regime.
The regime’s embassies that act as centers for espionage and terrorism must be closed down.
Supporting the democratic alternative is not only standing with the Iranian people’s desires, but it is also necessary for the fight against terrorism and for establishing peace and stability in the region and the world.
Distinguished friends and supporters of the Iranian Resistance,
At this very sensitive moment in history of Iran and the region, I urge all of you to raise awareness about misleading currents that, through false propaganda, promote a return to the previous dictatorship — an effort that will only benefit the clerical regime.
I also call on you to give more active support to the people of Iran in their resistance to establish a democratic republic.
Long live freedom.
Victory to the democratic revolution of the people of Iran.
