Maryam Rajavi: “A song for Iran” links the Iranian People to the People of Greece

Message to the concert, “A song for Iran” in Greece

Dear Friends,

Greek artists and sympathizers of the Iranian People and Resistance,

I send my greetings to you and the great nation of Greece. With its rich culture and long standing civilization, as well as its resistance against fascism in the Second World War and in its brilliant struggle against the ruling Junta, Greece has earned respect and admiration within the world community.

I sincerely thank you for holding the night “a song for Iran” in solidarity with the Iranian Resistance.

“A song for Iran” is today the voice of my nation that has arisen against injustice by religious theocracy.

“A song for Iran” is the desperate look of teenagers before being publicly executed.

“A song for Iran” is the voice of Iranian women who have been denied their most rudimentary human rights.

“A song for Iran” is the voice of 30,000 political prisoners who were massacred in the 1988.

“A song for Iran” is at the same time the song of our nation’s existence that reverberates in the protest of Iran’s brave students and young people and in the perseverance of the combatants of freedom in Ashraf City, this bastion of freedom, the heartland of resistance and an inspiration to protest and persevere against religious fascism.

Indeed, “a song for Iran” is composed out of both a great suffering and a great resistance. It is the euphoric epic of human beings who are sacrificing themselves for freedom and who will bring the defiant destiny to its knees even if manifested in the most barbaric dictatorships.

This “song of Iran” links the Iranian people to the people of Greece. We do not forget the magnificent resistance by Greece against the ruling of the Colonels. In the 1970s, Iran’s students, Mojahedin and Iranian combatants found the Greek on their side and in sympathy. They also honored the symbols of their resistance such as Melina Mercury, admired Greek heroes in torture chambers and sympathized with the students and those killed during the November 17 uprising. They felt fulfilled with Theodorakis’ Zed and Zorba the Greek. When climbing the snow-covered mountain peaks in Tehran, they sang his melody “The Executioner of man is afraid of us.”

It is not without reason that today, the Iranian Resistance finds Theodorakis and Farantouri standing beside it, is inspired by the solidarity of enthusiastic women and men in Greece and hears in Nena’s songs the voice of its own suffering and perseverance.

Dear Friends,

Since 40 years ago, the Iranian Resistance movement has struggled against two dictatorships, first against the Shah’s regime and then with the mullahs’ dictatorship that remains in power today.

The clerical regime is a religious dictatorship. It has been condemned by the United Nations in 51 resolutions for flagrant violation of human rights. It is the sole state sponsor of terrorism in the world today. It not only threatens the lives and destiny of the Iranian people, but also peace and security in the Middle East and the world. The regime’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons have created horrific prospects.

The Resistance movement seeks to overthrow the ruling theocracy and establishing freedom and democracy. It wants to establish a republic based on the separation of church and state and free elections. It is committed to full gender equality in the social, political and economic spheres. It wants a nuclear free Iran and for this reason has played a decisive role in revealing the clerical regime’s nuclear projects and secret sites.

Some 120,000 children of the Iranian people have so far lost their lives in the confrontation between the Resistance and the mullahs’ dictatorship. At least half a million have been tortured in the prisons.

In our country today, the situation of human rights is painful and tragic. A pervasive repression has enchained the entire nation. Three months ago, the mullahs put a henchman in the seat of the President who is notoriously known as the “Terminator” for firing coup de grace to 1,000 executed political prisoners.

Today in Iran, between two to three thousand people are arrested everyday on bogus charges. Detention centers are kept busy to ensure that society remains intimidated and frightened.

Any ties with the resistance movement or any attempt to provide them with aid is followed up with imprisonment and hanging. Torture and mistreatment of prisoners abounds. No daily, weekly or radio and television are free and all media, including internet sites and networks are completely blocked.

Young people are interrogated in the streets. Students face security investigation on campuses or are detained. The regime scrutinizes the most private aspects of people’s lives. The religious fascism ruling Iran is a thousand times more barbaric and cruel that the Colonels’ dictatorship. It is an ogre that destroys society’s human face and values. For this reason, it is deeply hostile to women and has enshrined misogyny in all its relationships, policies and laws. As the antithesis to religious dictatorship, the Iranian Resistance has arisen to revive human values. The status of women and the Resistance’s attention to arts are the results of this process.

In this regard, the activities of the combatants of freedom in Ashraf City are rather interesting. A large number of them play in symphony orchestras and have created invaluable works.

In reality, because of its human essence, artistic activity is part of the resistance against the ruling regime. For their part, in all these years, the mullahs have spared no effort to suppress artists, because they oppose anything with the scent of humanity.

Regrettably, in recent years, European countries have pursued the policy of appeasing the mullahs and have tried to strengthen and preserve the regime. They placed the Iranian Resistance movement in the EU terrorist list and impeded the path to the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom.

The Iranian Resistance is opposed both to appeasing the regime and to military intervention in Iran. It has presented its own solution: Democratic change. It urges everyone to support this option.

On behalf of the Iranian people I call on Greece’s artists, intellectuals, peace and human rights advocates, equality movement activists and citizens to support the Iranian people.

I offer my greetings to you and wish you and the people of Greece a future abound in peace and friendship.

God bless you all