During a great rally held in New York on September 19, 2023, US Senator Sam Brownback delivered a speech. The rally was held outside the UN in support of uprisings for a democratic republic in Iran and in condemnation of the Iranian regime and its president, Ebrahim Raisi, during the session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The text of Senator Sam Brownback’s speech follows:
Free Iran! Free Iran! Free Iran! Free Iran! That’s what we see. That’s what we want. And Joe and I were just talking before we came on about Senator McCain being for this topic and for the people to be free in Iran. And it’s time. It’s past time. It is now time for the people of Iran to be free.
Free Iran! Free Iran! Free Iran!
This is the heart of the people of Iran. They have had control of Iran for nearly 45 years. It’s fair to ask, how have those decades been for the people of Iran? They have been disastrous. The shattered economy, your best and brightest have left fleeing for freedom and opportunity, secret police, summary executions, no human rights, no right to vote in open elections, no religious freedom to pursue the own course for your own soul, even though the Koran says there’s no compulsion in religion.
Now, if you are one of the rulers, one of the rulers over this past 45 years, it’s been very good. You’re now rich and have power for now, but not for long. The end is coming. Each of the succeeding protests in recent years has been longer and more widespread than the prior one. The patience of the people is gone. They want regime change and they want it now.
You can hear, you can hear the chants from inside of Iran. What do you want? Regime change. When do you want it? Now.
Now is the time. It’s also, it’s fair to ask, how has Islam fared under the ruling clerics? This too has been a disaster. There is great discontent among the people for the compulsions foisted upon them by the ruling regime. Instead of attracting people in Iran and around the world to Islam, the rulers have driven them away. Forced religion ends up forcing souls away.
And there is clearly, there is clearly another way for the great people of Iran. And it’s called democracy. It’s called human rights. It’s called human dignity. It’s called freedom. Freedom for the people in Iran. This alternative is called for and stood for by the MEK.
These are tried and proven methods for human flourishing and growth and for opportunity. This path is available now for the people of Iran. There is an alternative. It’s called freedom. Let the people choose their own leaders, their own way, and fair and free and open elections.
Now to the people of Iran, I say, what do you have to lose? The last 45 years have proven disastrous. Listen to the call for freedom. Continue to push for freedom inside Iran and to the world community, I say. Let’s back to the yearning of the people of Iran. No more money to the ruling mullahs.
If we’ve learned nothing else, giving money to terrorists only gives you more terrorism. This Iranian regime is in partnership with totalitarians like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
They seek a new world order of dictators. They oppose freedom and free societies. They oppose human rights. Now we see things like human rights and religious freedom as a foundation of society. They see it as an existential threat to their control. This is a stark difference.
The world has a dark future if this alliance of madness between Iran, Russia, and China prevails. But it will not prevail. It will not prevail. The human spirit will not let tyranny prevail.
History and the hand of God move inexorably towards freedom. It’s towards freedom, if often takes time and much struggle. But the natural state of human beings, of men and women around the world, is to be free. It’s the freedom that we seek. It’s freedom for the people of Iran. Free the people of Iran.
Let’s pray and let’s act to free the people of Iran for an end to tyranny and terrorism. Thank you. Thank you for staying in the fight all these years. We will prevail. God bless you all.
