Hello and welcome to our gathering on this day of remembrance. On behalf of MCSDI please allow me to express our deepest gratitude to everyone that has supported our effort to echo the voices of the Iranian people in their struggle for liberty and justice.
We especially would like to thank Mayor Frey for his support and declaration of this day as Mahsa day. In addition, we very much appreciate the messages of sympathy and support from Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Congressman Dean Phillips, Congresswoman Betty McCollum. We also thank The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) for their presence and message; and Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC) and The Advocates for Human Rights, for sending messages of support.
Dear friends, One year ago on this day, the streets of Iran erupted in massive protests all around the country. The killing of this innocent young girl, Mahsa Amini, at the hands of the “Islamic morality” police and the outrage that pursued, plunged the country into a major social unrest. During which the security forces in Iran violently attacked the peaceful demonstrators, killing hundreds, amongst them many children, injuring thousands and arresting tens of thousands of protestors. Months later as the protest movement continued, the regime in fear of its downfall and to terrorize the population, resorted to executing some of the arrested protestors under bunked up charges.
As the protest movement led by the brave women of all ages spread out and started to spin out of control, in desperation to snuff the rebellion, the regime resorted to something as evil as exposing young girls to poison gas in the schools. For a government to use chemical weapons on its population especially its children should only display the extent of brutality and criminal behavior the Islamic regime is willing to pursue in order to avoid its inevitable demise.
Today, as Iranians in their country and around the world commemorate and mourn the tragedies which took place a year ago, our small community of consciences, like minded expats in Minnesota gather to pay our respect to all the victims and honor their sacrifices for the struggle for freedom, equality and justice in our birthplace. Our simultaneous outcry around the world is to echo the voices of our brave and freedom loving brothers and sisters in Iran. Its message is to seek liberty and justice and ask for support from all freedom loving people around the world and to remind our political leaders there can never be a realistic expectation for a normal and peaceful coexistence with this sponsor of terrorism, as long as the Islamic Republic exists.
Whether supporting the Russian’s criminal war efforts against Ukraine, or attempt at threatening the world with its nuclear ambitions, any idea that suggests there can be a reasonable accommodation with the evil clerical regime in Iran, is nothing but either ignorance or naiveté. Negotiating with and paying ransom to the hostage taking government and expecting a different outcome, as we have witnessed for the past 44 years, is nothing but wishful thinking and would only encourage the bad behavior to continue. On the other hand, supporting the democratic aspiration of Iranians fighting for freedom, desperate for living in a normal society, will not only be in the best interest of the United States, but it will also ensure peace and stability for civilized world as a whole.
Thanks again for your continued support and your presence here today as we celebrate the bravery and determination of the people in their peaceful struggle for woman, life, freedom.
September 16, 2023
Minneapolis, MN
