We used to say that this is all lie, that we are lackeys of the United States.
AKBAR GANJIWe believe in equal rights for all people in all nations. If Israel, the United States, Russia, Pakistan, other countries, China, have the right to have a nuclear program and nuclear bomb, Iran, too, must have that same right.
More Akbar Ganji Quotes
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We see that the ecological movement, environmentalist movement, organizes all kinds of demonstrations against these.
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We should put away the militaristic outlook.
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The entirety of this discourse was such that it encouraged the kind of ascendancy for a man like Ayatollah Khomeini.
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When there is a crisis, the first thing that gets damaged and gets harmed is democracy.
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The number of the opposition has certainly increased [in Iran].
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I have spent six years in prison, the last six years. Even if I was outside the prison, how much actual space was there for an investigative journalist to do his work in 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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You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it.
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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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I, too, am against the dismantlement of Iran.
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They obviously collected a lot of votes, but these monies could not solve the structural problems that these people face. But the only result, the only consequence, was that a big sum from the budget was wasted this way.
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The U.S. should start talking about disarmament, nuclear disarmament, of the region.
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There’s all kind of evidence that there is enormous corruption in the distribution of that money. For example, they gave about $100 to $150 dollars to each of the teachers. They gave about $500 dollars to those who were getting married. Through this process.
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The regime kept saying that all of my opponents are lackeys of the United States.
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It was universal pressure on the regime to secure my release. International pressure was certainly helpful in my release.
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In the West, when all of these reactors, nuclear reactors, are matters…part of the public domain, there are all kinds of supervision over them.
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Religion is the private affair of an individual…be present in the public domain, but state has to be clearly separated from religion.
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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.
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When I’m speaking, I’m speaking only for myself. At the same time, I know that these ideas have wide support among the Iranian population.
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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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But I know one thing for sure: That we, the Iranian people, are much more in line of danger than the West.
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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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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.
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We must struggle for creating a democratic system that is dedicated to democracy and human rights.
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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.
AKBAR GANJI