March 20, 2022: On the occasion of the Iranian New Year 1401 and Nowruz, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran(NCRI), sent a message to the Iranian people.
The full text of this message is as follows:
O you who have the power to change hearts and visions so that people can rise up and free themselves
You who transform night into day so that those afflicted by darkness may see the dawn.
O you who change what exists into what should be;
Lead our people to the happiest days, to the days of freedom and popular sovereignty.
Although we are in pain from the plight of our people who are captive in the clutches of the Velayat-e Faqih regime and are still struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than half a million coronavirus deaths so far,
Although we share the pain of the devastation and homelessness of the people of Ukraine,
Although we are saddened by the passing of our beloved companions and vanguards like Dr. Manouchehr Hezarkhani and Rahman Karimi,
But once again, we greet Nowruz as a sign of the end of all sorrows and pains. Turning against the enemy, we face our homeland and congratulate our nation.
Dear compatriots,
Congratulations on the beginning of (the Solar Hijri Calendar year) 1401, the beginning of the 15th century AH, and the beginning of a new era in the destiny of the Iranian people.
Congratulations on Nowruz and the beginning of spring,
To those who sacrifice for the genuine spring of Iran,
The courageous members of the Resistance Units who set alight the dark night of repression,
To the People’s Mojahedin of Iran who incite protests and uprisings,
To the supporters of the Iranian Resistance who relentlessly shoulder their missions,
To the National Council of Resistance, which promises a free and prosperous future for Iran,
And to Massoud Rajavi, who leads the Resistance, uprising, and the Liberation Army towards a new day in Iran.
It is the “blood that keeps dripping from flowers” that has encouraged the winds of Iranian uprisings to blow, inviting “hundreds of thousands of flowers to bloom,” securing the season of change and transformation. So, blessed is the Nowruz of Iran. Blessed is the victory of Iran. Blessed is the freedom and the rising sun of Iran, which shines on the world thanks to resistance and uprisings to overthrow the mullahs.
My fellow compatriots,
We spent the 14th century with four savage tyrants in power; the 15th century is the century of democratic alternatives and freedom, democracy, and equality for the Iranian people.
A new era is emerging: a period of significant international changes, a period when the religious dictatorship has irreversibly entered a state of overthrow, and a period of unstoppable uprisings by the Iranian people; Yes, a new page is turning in the history of this era.
The year of the uprisings of the resistance units
Throughout the past year, in terms of the protest movement, Iran has roared like a lion in chains.
Such was the year 1400 (20 March 2021-20 March 2022):
The year of uprisings in Khuzestan, Isfahan, and Chaharmahal-o Bakhtiari,
The year of unprecedented strikes by contract workers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries and power plants,
The year of expansion of the perseverance of political prisoners in Iran whom I salute,
The year when pensioners repeatedly staged demonstrations across the country, when the people of Astara, Aleshtar, Abdanan , and Yasuj held protests and confronted the Revolutionary Guards.
And the year when our teachers combined science, education, and culture with uprisings against tyranny and oppression in 21 nationwide protests. They taught the lesson of perseverance and protest by chanting, “this is today’s lesson: learn freedom…”
With their students saying: “Dear teacher, you might not have cannons or guns, but you have your students…”
As the mullahs sought to save their regime by enriching uranium, the general will to uproot the mullahs’ regime reached its maximum enrichment. The mullahs will be swept away by a vast social upheaval.
The Resistance Units’ anti-repression activities lit flames of hope in our society throughout the year. Just like the final months of the Shah’s rule when people brought down the statues of the Shah, the infamous images of Khomeini and Khamenei and the statues of Qassem Soleimani are burning one after another in the flames of popular fury. The expansion of Resistance Units in many cities across the country represents the flowering and the sprouts of Iran’s political and social spring.
The regime’s radio and television programs and the websites and servers of the regime’s Ministry of Guidance (censorship) were interrupted, and calls for the regime’s overthrow appeared on their broadcasts. On the other hand, Resistance Units in major cities, one after the other, broadcast messages of resistance and calls for overthrow in public thoroughfares. The mullahs admit that they are shocked and caught off guard.
The continuation of these activities is a significant development that is tied to the living environment of the deprived masses, and finds its fighters from the fiery objective conditions of the society. The fact that a thriving, flourishing, and fighting alternative on the ground has risen in Iran’s cities is one of the crucial and vital turning points that lay the corner stone for the victory of peoples.
Thus, despite all the bitterness and suffering that beset our people and us at this time, I must reiterate that victory and the political and social Nowruz in Iran are within reach. The fifth round of the founding of the Liberation Army was a response to the consolidation of the regime by the appointment of Ebrahim Raisi, the henchman of the 1988 massacre, as president. This response was the preamble to this political advance and transformation.
That is why Massoud [Rajavi] addressed all members of the People’s Mojahedin and the founders of the 5th Liberation Army in January, so that in his words, everyone is “alert and ready to fight.”
Massoud said, “Today, after the appointment of [Ebrahim] Raisi, it does not matter whether the regime retreats or doubles down when it comes to the cat and mouse game in the nuclear negotiations in the New Year (2022). It does not change anything. The outcome of the talks, whatever it may be, will intensify uprisings and will feed social upheavals. The regime, especially in the post-Covid-19 era, which allowed it to hold on for two additional years, must always be on guard to face protests and revolts. If it is slow to respond, it will lose control, and the only solution will be Raisi and massacres. Therefore, we must not linger in the pre-Raisi period because the henchman of the 1988 massacre has emerged and is the most obvious indicator of the phase of the regime’s overthrow. So for us, as the opposition and fighting force, the core issue is not the nuclear problem, but how to break the spell of repression, i.e., the repressive Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). This would ensure that uprisings are linked and not fragmented, and so that the Resistance Units can join together and leverage the objective conditions of society so that rebellious cities can rise up.”
And I would add that against the backdrop of the regime’s strategic bind, the vanguard women and men of the People’s Mojahedin are so fortunate because by making their ranks more cohesive and stronger, they are passionately fulfilling their historical mission. They inspire Iranian youth to revolt and sacrifice. With the re-election of Zahra Merrikhi as the organization’s Secretary-General last September and as the head of the Central Council consisting of 1,000 heroic women and a generation of selfless men, PMOI members have decided to meet the demands of this period.
Perhaps, Khamenei never thought that the appointment of the henchman of the 1988 massacre would enable us to awaken the world. But it happened, and we will continue to do so. The regime’s leaders must face justice for committing genocide and crimes against humanity before the people and the international community.
From this standpoint, the call by 462 current and former United Nations officials, prominent jurists, judges of international courts, prominent political figures, and Nobel laureates to the United Nations for an urgent inquiry into the 1988 massacre was a turning point for the Iranian Resistance. Yes, the Iranian people’s uprising and call for justice are advancing in Iran and abroad, with great power, and the religious tyranny will not survive the outcome.
A republic and democratic aspirations of the Iranian people are within reach more than ever before.
The prospect of the separation of religion and state, the equality of men and women, the autonomy of oppressed nations, the abolition of the death penalty, and a non-nuclear Iran with regional and international peace and friendship is on the horizon.
The spring of popular sovereignty is on the way,
The new day of Iran’s freedom is looming,
The spring of Iran’s freedom and prosperity will come.
Happy Nowruz and the beginning of 1401 to all of you!
