The entirety of this discourse was such that it encouraged the kind of ascendancy for a man like Ayatollah Khomeini.
AKBAR GANJIReligion is separate from the institution of the state.
More Akbar Ganji Quotes
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The number of the opposition has certainly increased [in Iran].
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Let me begin by saying not only you can’t have democracy with $75 million. You can’t even have it with $750 billion.
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We recognized that the justice we expected and hoped for was not about to be achieved.
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Supporters of the national front, Mosaddeq, believe that in Iran, we don’t have a nationalities problem, we don’t have an ethnic problem.
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The modern infrastructures that exists in the world all contribute to the advancement of human rights and democracy.
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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.
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The Shah’s regime was an incorrigible regime and after a while, when the revolution happened.
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Even theories of secularism are constantly being revised and changed.
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Iran is going to get between $50 to $55 billion in oil revenue, which is unheard of in the history of the revolution.
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We see that the ecological movement, environmentalist movement, organizes all kinds of demonstrations against these.
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We used to say that this is all lie, that we are lackeys of the United States.
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When 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…
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Would Americans accept if we decided to come here and decide who your rulers should be? So why do you expect us Iranians to accept the idea that the United States shall come in there and decide who shall govern us?
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You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it.
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What I’m worried about is that, in case that happens [nuclear explosion], then the Iranian people are the ones who are going to pay the heaviest price. But none of the Western countries have seriously talked about this.
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I am against revolution and am proud of it. Democracy cannot be created through revolutions.
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Three of our provinces have seen mass uprisings. The three provinces are Khuzestan, Azerbaijan, and Kurdistan.
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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.
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In a totalitarian state, the state views any act of an individual to be political in nature. For example, the clothing that a person wears in a modern state is a private affair whereas in the Islamic Republic all women are forced to wear the hijab (Islamic attire).
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We’ve had 60 years of intellectual development in Iran. How can we have the same system?
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We should put away the militaristic outlook.
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Today, as a result of a miraculous set of circumstances,
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There is more disgruntlement, but because there is no media, the voice of this opposition is not heard outside Iran.
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I am only speaking of my own behalf.
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I did join the Revolutionary Guard, but I was simply a simple Revolutionary Guard, never a commander.
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Of course, everyone knows that I’m also opposed to the Iranian regime and I have said that we must change the regime. But it is us, the Iranians, that must change the regime.
AKBAR GANJI