I am against revolution and am proud of it. Democracy cannot be created through revolutions.
AKBAR GANJIWhen I was on my hunger strike, and I was in a hospital, the guards who inflicted all manner of injustice against me, and all manner of hardship…
More Akbar Ganji Quotes
-
-
The ecological movement is concerned about this, and this is in here, where everything is public.
AKBAR GANJI -
When I talk about secularism, I’m talking about theories today. To give you for example, one example: Those who consider themselves followers of Mosaddeq today are adamantly against federalism.
AKBAR GANJI -
Religion is separate from the institution of the state.
AKBAR GANJI -
The modern infrastructures that exists in the world all contribute to the advancement of human rights and democracy.
AKBAR GANJI -
[In] every revolution, there is a great divergence between what the revolutionaries expect and what the revolution actually accomplishes.
AKBAR GANJI -
Khomeini obviously had many problems, but he had one clever side to him.
AKBAR GANJI -
It was universal pressure on the regime to secure my release. International pressure was certainly helpful in my release.
AKBAR GANJI -
I did join the Revolutionary Guard, but I was simply a simple Revolutionary Guard, never a commander.
AKBAR GANJI -
And amongst the lower strata in Iranian society, we are witnessing an increasing rise of the expectation and it’s clear that the regime is incapable of satisfying these demands.
AKBAR GANJI -
I, too, am against the dismantlement of Iran.
AKBAR GANJI -
It began early in the revolution. It was a process that was unfolding on a daily basis. We expected the system to be dispensing justice, but every day that passed by.
AKBAR GANJI -
Recently, we witnessed massive demonstration by Iranian woman in the 7th of Tir square, and it was brutally suppressed.
AKBAR GANJI -
The U.S. should start talking about disarmament, nuclear disarmament, of the region.
AKBAR GANJI -
We have two kinds of oppression. Oppression that is universal – everyone in Iran is subject to it. But everyone has also their own, unique way of experiencing this oppression.
AKBAR GANJI -
When there is a crisis, the first thing that gets damaged and gets harmed is democracy.
AKBAR GANJI -
You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it.
AKBAR GANJI -
All manners of freedom, including freedom of expression, freedom of conscious, freedom of thought…it accepts tolerance. But it is not an atheist society.
AKBAR GANJI -
I am only speaking of my own behalf.
AKBAR GANJI -
We should put away the militaristic outlook.
AKBAR GANJI -
There are varieties of theories of revolution. According to one of these theories, only one of these theories, revolutions occur when there is an explosion of rising expectation.
AKBAR GANJI -
They lie on railroads, they tie themselves to the gates.
AKBAR GANJI -
It is like living with your wife, with whom you are in love and you are intensely involved in, but you also have tensions. And their position is that they want to deny that these tensions exist.
AKBAR GANJI -
When I say that I am opposed to this budget, everyone says, “Well, what do you think the United States should do?” My response is, “Why should the United States do anything?”
AKBAR GANJI -
The Shah’s regime was an incorrigible regime and after a while, when the revolution happened.
AKBAR GANJI -
It is not clear what they have bought, how many secondhand materials they have bought. I am very worried that something like Chernobyl will happen to Iran.
AKBAR GANJI -
The entirety of this discourse was such that it encouraged the kind of ascendancy for a man like Ayatollah Khomeini.
AKBAR GANJI