Iran's Road to Democracy
Fascist Mullahs must change, says former Iranian government minister, Mohsen Sazegara. The former loyal lieutenant of Ayatollah Khomeini turns on Iran’s ruling Mullahs, and demands a new constitution.
(PRWEB) April 13, 2005 -- Sazegara narrates a unique journey – from his
arrival in Tehran on a plane with soon-to-be–leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979,
to imprisonment, hunger strike and flight from Tehran under threat of death in
2004: the extraordinary story of the cruel disenchantment of the “generation of
the revolution.”
In a major statement published on openDemocracy.net
Sazegara asks for worldwide support for a referendum to change the Iranian
constitution:
“We need democracy, but not by means of invasion. We must
grow it ourselves” he says. “I realized that there were big mistakes underlying
the ideas of the revolution. I saw a kind of fascism at work in the Islamic
Republic of Iran.”
Reform in Iran is impossible, he concludes, with the
present constitution.
Sazegara opens an important new debate on
openDemocracy.net - Democracy and Iran - which will examine Iran’s options at
this critical moment in her history.
Twenty-five years after revolution the
reform movement seems to be defeated. But the young, web-savvy, culturally and
politically literate population wants democracy and George Bush has Iran in his
sights. Which way will the mullahs turn? Can a democracy movement head off the
threat of American military intervention?
Read the full article: http://www.opendemocracy.net/entry_points/sazegara.jsp
Iranians
from around the world debate the referendum and Iran’s political future on www.openDemocracy.net
Visit the debate: http://www.opendemocracy.net/entry_points/iran.jsp
For
more information email Caspar Melville
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openDemocracy was founded in 2001 and has 45,000
members. It offers a unique global space for democratic debate and high quality
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prweb227712.htm