Excerpts of the speech of Bill Ritter, the 41st Governor of Colorado (2007-2011), at the Free Iran 2022, is as follows:
Hello. I’m Bill Ritter, the 41st governor of the state of Colorado in the United States of America. And I’m here today with a message for all of you in the audience and other people who may see this, those like me who aren’t able to be there today.
To the people who are members of the democratic opposition of the regime in Iran, to the women in the audience who have experienced gender inequality in Iran their entire lives, to the political prisoners who have been tortured for their beliefs, and who have been tortured for their principles, those who have been imprisoned and have suffered mightily.
To all the people in the world who have moved from Iran and are part of the Iranian diaspora. And for those in Iran who are subjected to the totalitarian regime that governs in Iran. To all of you, there’s a message coming from the United States of America in a state called Colorado. It’s a message of hope, and it comes from me, and I believe a lot of other political leaders in the United States who feel like me, that regime change is coming in Iran.
The regime is weaker than it ever has been. And there are leaders like Maryam Rajavi who believe that there can be a different type of Iran, who believe in the democratic rule of Iran. And it’s only leaders like Maryam Rajavi and people who, like her, have put together a plan for a post-totalitarian regime that believe in certain rights and certain freedoms that are fundamental to democracy.
The right to free speech, the right to vote and have your vote counted, the right to assemble and to freely assemble, the right to protest, the right to ensure that church and state are separated, and that you are able to practice your religion apart from state interference. And certainly, as I said before, the right to gender equality where women are treated equally as men.
Only in a country with those types of freedoms are you able to have a democratic, institutionalized government that serves for the people. Our great elected leader, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, said it should be a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people. And that’s what a democratic Iran would represent.
Only if there is a government like that can you protect people of Iran from human rights abuses, from torture, from being imprisoned, as I said, for things that they believe and for their own principles. There’s a lot of work to be done in Iran, but there’s work to be done elsewhere in countries like Belgium. There was a treaty that Iran concocted with Belgium in order to have a terrorist released from a Belgian prison and return to Iran for terroristic activity inside of Belgium.
That can’t happen either. And there are a lot of Western leaders and people in the Western world who understand that that was the wrong direction. You should all know that there’s hope. We know that there’s a cost that you’ve paid to try and get to a place of democratic institutions and of freedoms that I spoke to, and there may be further prices to pay.
But we stand in solidarity with you, saying it is worth the price. Your well-being and your livelihood will be changed forever by your efforts and by your successes. Thank you.
