July 30, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 135 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
FREE IRAN GLOBAL SUMMIT; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 135
(Extensions of Remarks - July 30, 2020)
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[Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E706-E707] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] FREE IRAN GLOBAL SUMMIT ______ HON. TOM McCLINTOCK of california in the house of representatives Thursday, July 30, 2020 Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the following remarks by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Mrs. Rajavi addressed the three-day Free Iran Global Summit in July 2020 in Albania, home to thousands of members of the principal Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK). The online summit linked Iranians and 1,000 current and former government officials, bipartisan lawmakers and international dignitaries from 30,000 locations in 102 countries . Below are excerpts from Mrs. Rajavi's speech: This summit echoes the voice of the Iranian people's 40- year resistance against religious dictatorship and fascism and for freedom and democracy. This is the voice of the largest, the longest-standing, most sophisticated, and most serious organized resistance in Iran's history, with the roaring river of its martyrs' blood, and the moving chants of massacred Mujahedin members who continued to insist on their belief to the end, against the most murderous and cruel rulers. This summit echoes calls for the clerical regime's overthrow, which were heard during successive uprisings from December 2017 and January 2018 to November 2019 and January 2020. It is the people's calls for the regime's overthrow after the conclusion of ``reformer vs. principlist'' theatrics that was aimed at preserving this very regime. This summit is the voice of Resistance Units and rebellious cities across Iran who have put an end to a history of despair, incredulity, and inaptitude, replacing it with the pledge of ``we can and we must.'' Today's summit represents our enchained homeland in three of its most prominent features: A rebellious and revolutionary Iran; an Iran united in solidarity; and a free and democratic Iran of tomorrow. We have come together to underline three monumental and historic commitments that we have pledged to accomplish. Our first commitment is that we, the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance, will overthrow the clerical regime and will reclaim Iran. Our second commitment is that we, the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance, will build a free and democratic Iran. And our third commitment is to remain faithful to our people's sovereignty and their vote; to not seek power at any cost, but to establish freedom and justice at any cost; to never return to the dictatorships of the Shah and the mullahs. As the majority of elected lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe have pointed out, we want to establish a democratic, secular and non-nuclear Iran. From all indications, the ruling theocracy is at the point of being overthrown. The uprisings that spanned from December 2017 and January 2018 to November 2019 and January 2020 were not about reforming the regime. Rather, these uprisings sought to overthrow the clerics. [The young] generation delivered the thunderous chants of ``Death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the [supreme] Leader.'' ``We don't want the Shah or the Leader, we don't want a choice between bad and worse.'' This generation chants ``Our enemy is right here. They lie when they say it is America.'' The Iranian Resistance relied on precise and well- documented reports to register the figure of 1,500 martyrs during the November 2019 uprising. The actual figure is much higher. These uprisings checkmated the Iranian regime's political apologists, advocates, lobbyists, and paid operatives, by completely discrediting their deception and lies. The regime's puppets kept saying that it would be inconceivable for the people of Iran to turn to uprisings and revolution to overthrow the mullahs. They kept saying that change in Iran will not happen except from within the regime itself. And time and again, they repeated the mullahs' false claim about the PMOI/MEK's lack of popular support. This explains why the mullahs and their mob of interrogators and functionaries have unleashed against the Resistance and the PMOI/MEK. They see themselves about to be overthrown and are in agony over the fact that these uprisings and rebellious youth have adopted the roadmap and the strategy of the PMOI/MEK. The volcanic uprising in November washed away all unfounded claims. It was proven that it is possible to inspire and organize protests. It was proven that despite all the repression and crimes, our people have a spectacular desire and readiness to continue their uprising. And it was proven that a force capable of overthrowing the regime has emerged and is lurking in the hearts of Iranian cities. It is this rebellious force which, despite unrelenting arrests, empowers resistance units to constantly regroup, reproduce, and multiply themselves. Over the past two years, the emergence of rebellious cities and the operations of resistance units against repression, aimed at breaking the suppressive atmosphere, fueling the engine of the uprisings, and mobilizing the people, have made the regime feel the clearly and vividly. [[Page E707]] If they [the mullahs] continue to pursue their current path and course of action, namely belligerence, missile launches, terrorism, intimidation and closing ranks, they will inevitably crash head first. If they make the slightest retreat, namely, if they change their behavior and abandon their suppression, terrorism and belligerence, then they would undermine the very existence of rule of the velayat-e faqih (absolute clerical rule). For this reason, Khamenei calls for the creation of ``a young and Hezbollahi government'' and sees a monolithic Parliament and a murderous Judiciary as the only way out of the vortex of crises and the only way to preserve the regime. The international community's decision to activate the snapback mechanism would be the coup de grace shot to the regime's windfall achievements under the JCPOA and the policy of appeasement. To date, the accelerating outbreak of the coronavirus has taken the lives of at least 72,000 people in Iran. In March, Khamenei admitted that he sought to create an opportunity and a blessing out of the coronavirus crisis. The abnormal surging trend of the number of corona virus victims in Iran is a product of the criminal policies of Khamenei and Rouhani. The strategy of launching mass casualties as a barrier against the threat of an uprising and eventual overthrow is exactly designed to pacify and demoralize the Iranian society, rendering it hopeless and paralyzed. During the breathtaking coronavirus crisis, the mullahs continued to launch expensive satellites into space. Concurrently, they pursued their belligerent and terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria and escalated their ominous nuclear activities to a new level. The ruling mullahs must answer why the value of the country's official currency has plunged so much? Why is there no ability to create jobs? Why is Iran one of the four countries in the world with the highest inflation rates? And you must say where did Khamenei amass 100 billion dollars in his executive headquarters? The 15 institutions and foundations under Khamenei's control have a total of one trillion dollars' worth of assets. We pledged to overthrow the regime, take back Iran and restore all the violated and plundered rights of the people of Iran. Our people must enjoy the right to be healthy, have shelter, to employment, to organize and have syndicates, autonomy for ethnic minorities, equal participation in running society's affairs, gender equality and popular sovereignty. They must be free of religious slavery and sexual exploitation. They must enjoy freedom of expression, opinion, and choice. They must be pulled out of poverty and be free from fear; this means ending torture, executions, and social and economic insecurity. We have pledged to restore all these freedoms and rights. We make this pledge before the Iranian people and history. This is our pledge to 120,000 martyrs who fell for freedom. Today, in Iran, one of the greatest battles and one of the greatest tests of our time rages on between freedom and religious fascism, between democracy and religious fundamentalism. We urge all governments and international bodies to stand with the people of Iran in this historic showdown against the greatest threat to world peace and security. The Iranian regime's leaders planned to launch a major terrorist attack against the Free Iran Grand Gathering in Paris, in 2018. The terrorists in possession of the bomb were arrested by the Belgian Police. The regime's diplomat, who delivered the bomb, has been in jail for more than two years. For the first time, a serving diplomat faces trial in Europe for direct involvement in terrorism. This is a great disgrace for the regime, and it shows that the regime spares no effort to commit any crime and pay any price to destroy its alternative. The trial of the four detained terrorists as the perpetrators of this terrorist act is a necessary step. But the real decision makers were Khamenei, Rouhani, Zarif, and Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi. As I have reiterated time and again, we have not come to gain something for ourselves; we have come to sacrifice and pay the requisite price. We are determined to restore freedom and people's sovereignty in Iran, and this will happen. Long live freedom. God bless the people of Iran. ____________________