Mousavi's 13th Statement: Violence is Not The Solution

Mousavi's 13th Statement: Violence is Not The Solution
Source: MowjCamp
Date: September 28, 2009


In the name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate,

Without a doubt, the Quds day demonstrations remain a highlight of the events of the past few months. Promising results are expected out of what occurred during this event, which cannot be attributed to one faction or one view. Rather, [these] achievements belong to all of those who have roots in this land, even if some are not able to feel this blessing and this gift due to their own incorrect judgments.

This gift is the gift of the Imam’s [Khomeini's] foresight. He repeatedly told us to establish the right foundations such that when we are gone, they will not be able to destroy them, even if they so desire. Maybe we have not been able to truly act on this advice, but that is the path he always took. He based the pillars of the Islamic Republic on the trust of the people and created opportunities for them to come out [in public] so that no one would be able to destroy them.

Quds day is one such day. With such traditions, people cannot be deterred and forced out of the scene. Without addressing and providing justice inside, [the authorities] cannot invite people to such rallies to protest tyranny in faraway lands. To leave behind no doubts, He [the Imam] declared that this day is not only specific to Palestine, but the day of the oppressed and the day of Islam. We now realize the efforts of that caring father who made sure that people always remain present on the scenes in the millions.

Thirty years ago, our Imam asked Muslims across the world to set aside their differences and come together to rise against a common agony that pains them all. This message is so close to our circumstances today. Islam did not say that we must think alike to be united. The unity to which we are invited is the same as accepting differences, and Quds is a day when Muslims should come together while tolerating the vast differences that exist among them. That is why if this event is attached to one particular political faction, it will lose its glory year after year. It will not achieve its promised vision, and it can no longer be the day of Islam and the day of the oppressed.

The vision of this day is to bring together different colors in one scene. This year, our Quds day did not achieve this [ideal], but it strived for it. In fact, this year on Quds day I was among people who greeted me with tight fists (Mousavi was among the state-supporters in the rally) and who wished my death. On the chaotic road we were marching together, I took a good look at them and realized that I love their faces and I realized that our victory is nothing that will bring about defeat for anyone. We must all achieve prosperity, even though some will realize this prosperity later than others.

In fact, those who felt defeated by this year’s Quds, gained the most. They saw in the clearest sense that three months of unprecedented violence did not have the smallest effect on the presence of the people, and in fact, made it stronger. If not for the opportunity on Quds day, it would have been months from now when they would have been met with their own blunders in the celebrations of Bahman (the demonstrations held in celebration of the revolution in February) and they would have come face to face with the high cost of their own mistakes at a time when it would have been much too late.

Violence is not the solution. Meet all with empathy (as opposed to enmity.) Violence is like a horse that throws the rider to the ground. People have every right to feel angry about hostile security measures and unrelenting provocative propaganda, even if justifiably their righteousness does not change the consequences of their anger. The amount of fruit we harvest from our endurance depends on the amount of patience thoughtfulness that we are willing to maintain. If we move towards unreasonable extremes, it is possible to, in one day, lose the fruit of a week’s or a month’s hard work. Our people deserve better treatment from the authorities because they are alert and thoughtful. And a thoughtful person is he who can not only distinguish between good and bad, but also between good and better, or between bad and worse.

There are still better conclusions that we can arrive at, than those we arrived at on Quds day. At the same time, worse conditions are possible than the ones we are currently suffering from and are subjected to. On the road ahead of us, and in our historical context, there is no clear image of the consequences of acting against the current structure of government. As mentioned in the letters sent to the Marjas, Afghanistan and Iraq act as two big lessons on each side of our land. We should never ignore them. Of course, these lessons do not stop us from demanding our rights, because we have the patience and wisdom to change our destinies for the better without having to pay so high a price.

What can achieve the goal [of peaceful reform] is a commitment to the golden messages that we have chosen. A message that interferes with the friendship and brotherhood of our people will not help us restructure our national unity or our identity. We see the compassionate Islam as a cure for our pain. We see that what the authorities introduce as the banner of religion is a dress worn inside-out.

We demand the unconditional enactment of the constitution and the return of the Islamic Republic to its original ethical foundations. We demand the Islamic Republic, not a word more, and not a word less. To us, anarchists and people who act against the structure are those who avoid the Islamic laws, either with or without an excuse. They are also those who pull the plug on the constitution for their own personal gain.

Today’s political environment is not what Iranians wished for 30 years ago. Now, people are asking themselves: What has stopped us from achieving our ideals and has instead got us here? This is a fundamental question that we should ask of our struggle today and in future. What should we do so as not to face the same question thirty years from now?

We can only be certain [of the right answer] when we base our sociopolitical achievements on our everyday life. In the past century our people have had more than a few of such achievements. However, their achievements have been a result of a [direct] struggle. As long as the environment of struggle and endeavor lasted, these achievements were sustainable. But as soon as people were exhausted or thought they had to return to their homes the fruit of their struggle was lost. To fight [for a cause] is holy, but it is not long-lasting. What lasts is life.

This is a lesson we have learned from those of us who fought in eight years holy defense [against Saddam.] During those years two groups of people would leave for the war fronts. The first group fought during the war and then thought to themselves the time has come to live a life, to pile money and accumulate wealth or to build high-rise buildings one after another. The second group left [to war] for the more exuberant spirituality. They did not go just to make a sacrifice; they went to take part in that spiritual atmosphere.


Digesting these words may not be easy for people who have not experienced that atmosphere, but it is real. Not that they did not make sacrifices, in fact they were our most renowned heroes. But in the light of gems they gained they did not believe they were making any sacrifices. They lived the years of the war and then [after the war] started their own struggle, a peaceful struggle to protect that living experience or at least the memory of it. Without them, we could not have lasted [the war] empty-handed for eight years.

During the election campaign I was proud when a group of them honored me and formed the Isargaran[those who sacrifice for others] committee as one of the most active committees of my campaign. They said we have gathered together hoping to revive the spirituality of our days with Imam [Khomeini] and thus we believe our responsibilities are more burdensome. I doubt there is anyone in our nation who would not be proud of them. They are exactly on the common green intersection that connects us all to one another.

In following them, we should also live The Green Path of Hope, it is only in that case that the miracle they created will also awaits us. The importance of this year’s Quds day was that it revealed that the new life people have chosen is not something temporary and ephemeral. If we had all remained home [during the rally] but this message was [somehow] communicated with this clarity, we would have achieved nothing less.

Living the green path means that every day, while we are busy with our chores at home, at the workplace, in every street or alley, we repeat this message with an authoritative voice (in the same way that we continue to be Muslim, to be Iranian, to be of this age).

Soon after we spoke about strengthening social networks or living the green path, people asked: ‘How?’ The answer is: ‘Merely by being’. We don’t talk about creating a social network that doesn’t exist and strengthening it; we say that the people’s power is embedded in those social networks which exist naturally, based on innate guidance. We should recognize their importance.

This year, Quds day showed that this network is like a toddler who is growing incredibly quickly. This toddler is going to start talking in no time; it will be mature soon, and will compel everybody to admire and respect it. Our task is to nurse this blessed phenomenon by repeatedly expressing the thoughts which come to existence around it and to repeatedly reiterate their importance.

Likewise, when we are talking about living the green path, we don’t mean something complicated, innovative, or new. Rather, it is pointing to something that is currently being experienced. It is also pointing to the fact that our people’s movement nowadays, unlike in the past, is the beginning of a certain type of life. There is great pleasure in being smart and lively; in homophony and communication; in closing an eye to others’ faults, which makes life bountiful.

In addition, there is a power in the awareness of our nation that saves our nation from bearing many miseries. Our people are not afraid to pay the cost to revive their rights because ‘a place in heaven is earned with a price, not based on a desire.’ At the same time, if we want the results of our social movement to last, we better use a mixture of bravery and wisdom.

Now because of the wrong and adventurous foreign policy of a government that people have to bear, the country is on the verge of crises that will hurt the poor the most. If we had a confrontational approach, maybe in our simple minds we would have thought that this is a point for our green movement, but when we want to live through our green path, this [approach] cannot be our approach.

This is our country and these are our lives. It is we who should be concerned about and sensitive to these problems. Based on official reports of this very same government reports, economists announced that tens of billions of dollars of this country’s foreign income has disappeared. Meanwhile, [Judicial] institutions that ought to respond to these absent figures – which can even equip several armies – are ignorant and trapped in political games.

Which of these [institutions] can we expect to attend to the grief they have inflicted on the people? If we do not react to the things that disrupt life in our beloved country, nobody will. Our economists are alone in their objections because they fear the same fate as those who protested the shameful conduct that took place during confinements in detention centers. There was a time when missing twenty thousand dollars in the treasury was enough for a government [of this country] to fall. Now, warning cries for the loss of such a high figure are not even grounds for the slightest reaction.

Recently, a group of Iranian professors abroad provided their analysis and interpretation of the Green Path of Hope. They confirmed that the goals of this movement will indeed protect the interests of the nation. As a result, they have suggested that while sending our gratitude to other nations for their support in the last few months, we should ask them not to impose any sanctions against Iran. I liked their idea and I support it. Sanctions would not actually act against the government – rather, they would only inflict grave distress against a people who have experienced enough disaster in their own melancholic statesmen. We are opposed to any types of sanctions against our nation. This is what living the Green Path means.

However, this is just an example. No one has informed those who have offered this suggestion about the necessity of living the Green Path. Whether the rest of us are aware of this necessity or not, we are all naturally guided towards it. As a result, it is not necessary to indoctrinate each other with these values. It is enough just to be aware of them and to attend them.

Life goes on, and individuals are [living] in the interim. Any crowd or community that bases its very existence on one individual will be disappointed – at least when that individual is lost. [History shows] that whenever people have afforded unnecessary advantages to their ordinary companions, they have inevitably relinquished their intellectual opinions. Moreover, this has allowed the opportunists to become increasingly avaricious.

People who want to be independent and experience a congenial life should prevent the very first steps that lead them to failure. My birthday is not the 7th of Mehr (September 28th), it is the day that I got to know you. Even if I was born the 7th of Mehr, it would not have been appropriate for your movement to deteriorate with personalities. I hope you see that these words stem from my sincere concern and not from false modesty.

Your Brother,
Mir Hossein Mousavi

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Mousavi's Letter to Grand Ayatollah Montazeri and the Subsequent Response

Mousavi's Letter to Grand Ayatollah Montazeri and the Subsequent Response
Source: Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's website
Tuesday, September 22, 2009


Letter of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi:

In the Name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate,

To the honorable Marja, the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri,

Greetings,

I released the attached statement in response to the events of the past few months. We have always felt a need to work with the honorable marjas and devoted clerics, and this encouraged me to send a copy to you in order to ask for your guidance.


The first goal of this statement is [to disseminate the message] that if people feel anger and discontent, they should not direct the negative feelings that fill their hearts toward religion. This reminder is the responsibility of all of those who have been deeply influenced by Islam – especially the clerical elite. They must not allow different social groups (especially the youth, who compose the majority of our population) to be fooled by the shallow, mistaken and selective interpretations of our religion and to distance themselves from Islam based on sudden surges of emotion.

State media persistently attempts to portray us as the source behind the recent unrest. All this, while the behavior of officials (not only in the election, but in years before) has created a mountain of straw that was set ablaze by the recent blunders. The wind of arrogance that was blown through this mountain created bigger and bigger fires each and every day. I personally take the side of a people whose rights have been trampled with illegal, unIslamic and unjustified actions. By referring to undisputed documents, I am certain that without a doubt, there has been systematic fraud in the recent election. At the same time, it would not have been difficult to stay silent for another 20 years if I didn’t feel an imminent threat to the system in the people’s wave of anger.

However, if one [leader] keeps silent and yields, the people will not renounce their movement similar to what they have never done so in the past. Instead, after a brief period of confusion, the movement would start anew. Their movement would start again, this time blind, with none of the devotees of the establishment to rely upon. Then, maybe others who have their eyes set upon our nation would step in to take advantage of this movement with their own intentions and to feed their own greed.

Another goal of this statement, along with my other statements and activities, is to keep the people’s movement within the framework of the establishment so that it doesn’t sink into the dangerous path of bringing down the whole structure. If this danger is turned into reality, it could easily make another Afghanistan or Iraq out of Iran. We cannot forget our duty to prevent such dangers from spiraling, just to make some ignorant people happy. Similarly, we cannot invite people to keep calm if we are unable to prove to them that we stand and speak for their well-deserved rights on their behalf.

In his treatise titled Olfat, the late Mullah Mohsen Feyz Kashani writes that the final goal of most sharia laws is to establish friendship and belonging in society. The result of this friendship and belonging is what modern sciences call social networks – a means to restrain ruling systems and to keep them from repeating mistakes, and a method to create a society infused with life and a platform to gently hold on to ignited emotions and talents and to keep them from descending into the hills of destruction. In this statement, a strengthening of these networks has been suggested. According to the words of Feyz, this network could be perceived as the exemplar of Islam, although those who are grossly unfair portray it as a paradigm of the CIA.

And, finally, I hope you will attend to my suggestions on solving the current crisis as outlined in this statement.

With regards,

Mir Hossein Mousavi
13 September 2009

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Response of the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri:

In the name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate,

Dear Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi,

May God support your success,

First, please accept my greetings. I received your letter dated 09/12/2009 and reviewed the attachments. You are a man of great character and your commitment to the ethical and religious values and goals of the revolution are obvious to all. The tremendous services of your government during the imposed war, and your constant support of the departed Imam Khomeini (may the love and mercy of God be upon him) are clear to everyone. During the recent presidential election and the subsequent confrontations and atrocities, you became the focus of numerous classes of people and gifted individuals. This was, in fact, a test imposed on you by the great God and by our vigilant people. You have indeed passed it. So far, and to the best of your capacity, you have defended the desecrated rights of those people [whose high turnout and participation in the election] was a great source of pride for our country. As such, you deserve acknowledgement and gratitude.

The initiatives you suggest in the attachment will work to activate and strengthen social networks and organizations. These ideas are prudent and rational, in context with the current conditions of the country, and in accordance with the commands of the holy Quran that tell us:

“O ye who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; and in such perseverance strengthen each other; and fear God so that ye may prosper.”

If the authorities put aside their act of ignorance and consider [your recommendations] in an unbiased manner, put them to use and put a stop to this environment of policing and detainments, [your ideas] can offer a beneficial and effective path out of the current crisis – a crisis dominating the Islamic republic through their selfishness, pride, mismanagement and ambition. [Your recommendations] could be the stepping stone for a positive move towards reform and towards protecting the system from separation, disintegration and division.

Of course you are aware that in choosing the aforementioned solutions to defend the people’s rights and to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic, you can expect an arduous task of reform that will be resisted through countless threats and pressures from those who have created the current crisis. Please be confident that through unity, patience and endurance, God has promised to reveal the way to guide people to victory. In addition, [according to the holy Quran in support of humans who struggle down this path God would send his] angels to pronounce messages of security, and strip the heart of all grief and fear.

Unfortunately, many politicians, political activists and journalists were detained after the election. Against Islam and the rule of law they were pressured into false and deceitful confessions, some of which were televised via national media. It is certain and evident that a person’s implication of others under such conditions is without merit and should not be recognized. Moreover, further confirmation exists in the holy stories of the prophet and the Imams that even self-directed confessions extracted under any kind of pressure or torture (including but not limited to threats, intimidation, infliction of physical pain, confinement, and so on) are without merit.

A claim of jurisprudence that denies these lessons is a false one and opinions that negate these lessons clearly deviate [from the true foundations of Islam]. The Quranic verse “self-implication of a rational person is permitted” – confirms that only if revealed without pressure or force, is a confession valid.

In addition, article 38 of the constitution reads: “Any form of torture to force confessions, or to obtain information is forbidden. A person should not be obligated to swear, confess or bear witness as any action of that sort is without worth and legal value. Any defiance of what has been mentioned in this article will be punishable by law.” Based on the general application of this article as well as its implications, any [form] of torture to collect information or to force a confession is unlawful and confessions extracted in such a manner are without legal value and merit.

It is obvious that long-term imprisonment in solitary confinement – an act that places the accused under severe pressure to confess – is a clear example of torture. The confession of the accused (even if it’s self-implication) is neither valid nor recognized when it is a product of exerted pressure and torture, especially in its recent fearsome form and the horrifying consequences. In this situation, repeated confessions (even if announced many times in roundtable discussions and interviews) would be as worthless as the initial confession.

Moreover, it is written in Article 39 of the Constitution that “In accordance with the law, all affronts to the dignity and repute of persons arrested, detained, imprisoned, or banished whatever form they may take, are forbidden and liable to punishment.”

So, what has happened [to this country] now that prominent figures who have a long history of remarkable civil service are desecrated, and not only has nobody been punished, but the perpetrators have even been endorsed and encouraged? Moreover, the “confessions” have been recognized as credible?

What has complicated the problem and invalidated the “confessions” even further is that in our current judicial system, the plaintiffs [and prosecutors] acting against politically accused defendants (in opposition to the current government), are themselves among the interrogators and come from legal institutions tied to the government. Nowhere in the world would any sound reasoning place even the smallest amount of legal credibility or legitimacy on such trials and confessions because the plaintiff and the judge therein are one and the same. Clearly, this is contrary to the condition of having a jury based on Article 168 of the constitution. Unfortunately, this clause – like many others – has also been ignored.

The recent course of action taken by the government (including the staging of the latest show trials) is not only against the law and the benefit of the country, but also unlikely to help the authorities remain in power. If they had been more politically prudent and listened to the warnings of prominent politicians instead of clamping down on people and committing the recent atrocities; if they had listened to religious leaders and chosen an impartial committee accepted by both sides of the conflict, we would have never fallen into the current crisis of illegitimacy.

A government that has dissatisfied many classes of people and placed its intellectuals under duress is not one that will survive. The Shah’s regime could have remained in power if governance was possible with fear-mongering, with oppression and by filling the prisons with gifted, freedom-seeking individuals and various political activists.

By committing such atrocities, a system under the rule of Islam – a system that takes pride in being Shi’ite – generates pessimism towards Islam and proclaims the inability of Islam to bring about justice in a society not only on a global scale but also in our own nation; among our own masses and our youth. Unfortunately, decision-makers at the top have turned a blind eye to these obvious truths and are content to the eulogies from their poets, and the flattery from their fawners. I beseech the great God for your well-being and success on this treacherous path.

May the grace and mercy of God be upon you,

Hosseinali Montazeri

Holy City of Qom
22 September 2009

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Response of the Grand Ayatollah Saanei to Mir Hossein Mousavi's Letter
Source: Grand Ayatollah Saanei’s Website
Wednesday, September 23, 2009


In the name of the Great God,

Greetings to my honourable friend – the kind and faithful Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, long-time supporter of the departed Imam and of the nation,


I received your letter. We wish you success with your noble plans and projects. We hope that they will be met with increased social awareness – something that has always been at the fore of the missions of the great prophets, the sacrifices of the martyrs, the devotion of the pious and the prayers of those close to God. In addition, we anticipate the attainment of civil rights and the realization of justice as a cultural product of our society.

"Justice will be established by the people"

We must be mindful of the fact that one of the key goals of any plan is to strengthen the union between all abused people because the source of all happiness and hope lies in this very unity on the path of God. We must take great care so that, God forbid, this message of unity does not become a tool for the oppressors to [take advantage of and] attack the oppressed. Such a development would lead to nothing but further oppression.

Holy city of Qom
Yousef Saanei
Wednesday, September 23, 2009

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Mousavi's 12th Statement: Beware that they do not destroy your country while they continue to destroy themselves

Mousavi's 12th Statement: Beware that they do not destroy your country while they continue to destroy themselves
Source: Kalemeh
Wednesday, September 9, 2009


In the name of God the Merciful and the Compassionate,

News of detainment of our dear brothers, Dr. Seyed Alireza Beheshti and Morteza Alviri, (both responsible for the committee investigating injuries triggered by recent events), and [former] Commander Moghadam (responsible for the Devotees committee of my election campaign), have produced waves of doubt and shock in those devoted to the Islamic establishment.

They are held captive while guilty of nothing but following the path of the revolution, demanding justice for unjustly-spilled blood, and assisting the families of the innocents imprisoned after the election. Right now they are in prison, while those who committed the recent atrocities are free. Meanwhile, the officials responsible claim that they will categorically investigate the recent violence. Are they doing so by destroying the evidence of crimes committed and by imprisoning those who are pursuing the rights of the victims?

People’s honor is protected through their descendents

Reverence for a celebrated figure is preserved by respecting his descendents. Today, our people are asking those who claim to be the ‘flag-bearers’ of the Islamic Revolution: in what way are you doing this for the oppressed martyr, Ayatollah Beheshti [1]?


People of Iran!

It is obvious that your efforts to return peace to our society calmly will not be met with a sensible response. Dangerous days lie ahead. The arrest of people like Dr. Beheshti is a sign of bleak events yet to happen. The unjust will perish, but what remains is what is beneficial to people.

So, what benefit is there for people in claiming the earth [when God is the only true owner]

Remain calm and vigilant. This new chain of events – like other careless actions in recent days – will lead to nothing but the destruction of your opponents. Make sure that they do not provoke you and destroy your home and your country, while they destroy themselves.

I send my condolences for the disrespect shown to Ayatollah Beheshti: to his family, his friends and his pupils, as well as to those who admire the Revolution and Islam. And I pray to God that this injury to the hearts of our people is healed by making his family’s prestige eternal.

Mir Hossein Mousavi

[1] Father of Dr. Ali Reza Beheshti, who was martyred in 1981 when he was head of the judiciary

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