Mousavi Statement on 16 of Azar

Here is what he says:

I congratulate the coming anniversary of Qadir Eid to the Muslim nation of Iran. I pray the great God to get our nation and all the Muslims around the world closer to the ideals of the person [Imam Ali] who the Qadir occasion belongs to. In this time of celebration, the Shiite wishes wellbeing and prosperity for one another and ask each other for gifts that would help them accomplish such wishes. They wish for a fine destiny for our nation and country especially in these crisis stricken times. It is expected from us to commit to the same action. It was still our duty to fulfill the wish [of putting our nation onto a path to a find destiny] even if this expectation did not exist. What we can do in this regards is to maintain loyalty in looking for the good [of our nation even when it is not accepted as is] and persistence in thinking for the future [of our nation even when it is not called as such.] Dangers ahead are too serious to let us or others think of our own interests, and the realities we face are too severe to disappear through ignorance. With the help of the atmosphere of elegance that the eid has provided in addition to the anniversary of 16th of Azar (December 7) as the day of University Students, no topic would be better to talk about other than a solution to our current crisis; a pill that is not necessarily bitter to swallow if we put away our prejudgments.

University Student day is ahead of us. In our modern history student movement has always been the flag-bearers and has acted as the reason and purpose for people’s movement. During the bitter days following the coup, and in some of the darkest times in the history of our nation when all hope seemed to be lost, what happened in the 16th of Azar of 1332 (December 7 of 1953) was a clear sign that the spirit of people and their historical demands are still alive. Those ‘three drops of blood’ and ‘three godly Azar’ (pun: Azar is the name of the month in the Iranian calendar, but also means flares of fire) that created a basis for the University student day are after half a century later still a vivid and enlightening reminder in the memory of people because they signified the existence of greater reality in the lives of people. In the years and generations that followed these signs were maintained through the student movements and still does. For countless reasons, the society does not reveal its inclinations to those who only see the appearance. Great transformations are often accused to happen suddenly such that they refuse the political players the opportunity to adjust. Of course, basically no transformation has been realized suddenly, it is only their manifestation and rise that takes a sudden form. In such conditions, signs that tell of the unknown abyss of society are truly invaluable.

The student movement in our modern history has always contained reports of formation of deep political and social currents in our society. If the officials have had reacted to this role [of university students] tactfully in the past and now, we would have had a smooth path toward development and advancement. Instead, they violently break these invaluable artifacts. They rather pacify themselves that silencing a couple of loud and young individuals would solve the problem as if removing the question would remove the problem from its origins. This is story that we have heard over and over. It is the same story of ignorance towards realities, and interpretation of news from social conditions to the taste of a group in power. No era of power has ever ended without at least a few signs of such stories. [Quoting Quran:] “They said that these are an insignificant group”, as these days they (referring to Ahmadinejad directly) say they are but a dust. “And they enrage us.” “And we are all at the state of readiness [to fight them.]” “So God threw them away from the gardens where springs originated.” “and from their treasures, and desired positions.”

It is very sad and bitter to see the same mistakes repeated despite all the similar lessons in the recent past in and even further: those who insist on saying that people are calm again and it’s only the university students now; and that among the universities, it is only those universities in Tehran that are not calm, and among those there even fewer universities server as leaders. They think that in these leader universities there are couple of organizing centers run by several young members and that if they were to be expelled from the campus, or threatened to deny continuing their education, even they would quite down and that would be the end of story. Ok! But these students were threatened, and they were expelled, why is the story still dragging on? It is because the student movement is a proof of realities greater than itself. Alas, I wish they would appreciate this. I wish they would learn from the insight such a movement is providing to the transformations in the distant and far future so that they would adjust accordingly, especially in times like this when university students are not a minority group but constitute one of the most expansive and active social layers in our society. Right now, there is one university student out of every 20 Iranians. If those responsible in power had paid attention to the university students’ role as a proof and sign to our future, today we would not be in such a critical condition.

Of course, this story has two sides to it. University movements are only as strong and as rooted as the relation of their message to real inclinations within the society because the power of social movements [or the student movement for that matter] is tied to the necessities which create and sustain them. When our generation was participating in the student movement, it clearly saw how effective is its connections to the society essential to sustain its strength. During that time there were many inclinations among the students. If the student Islamic committees were the strongest it was because they were representing a greater number of social realties.

Many of the activist students of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. This is an additional reason why they should not stop serving as the symbol of our social realities. Their vitality and strength depends on this. The secret to the success of politicians is the same thing. They will be able to server their country or at least remain powerful only until they are willing to understand the needs and inclinations of their society, and even become the symbol and proof of such needs and inclinations. This thought that someone can rule over people despite their inclinations is nothing but an illusion. Even when a government manages to survive by relying on repressive forces it is in fact only relying on society’s inclinations to remain indifferent towards oppression, although such an indifference will never last forever.

Our society is experiencing the greatest transformations these days. Who is to deny this truth after the incidents seen during the recent months? What is the exact nature of such a transformation? This is the greatest question to us and our opponents. If they know what great and prosper phenomenon is heading our way, they too will put away their helmets and batons and start seeking for means to look after this delicate plant that has just risen out of our land.

Among many beauties of the days before election, the most beautiful phenomenon was the gathering of people with different tastes .to become successful about that they did not put aside their differences and diversities, but recognized them. No one found it necessary to lose their identity in order to contribute in this integration and become a different person. There was a joy in that integrating which was accepted by our nature. The green human chain that surrounded our cities was not an untruth show. We were not supposed to ignore each other's fate after passing that bridge and our spirits didn't want to scatter after experiencing that integration. Undoubtedly such a thing is a sign of rising growth and dignity in the life of a nation.

The dignity of a nation is not based on being rich or powerful, they are only small parts of its effects. The dignity of a nation is based on the greatness of its spirit. Dignity is when we can have apparently incompatible affairs together. A small house is a place only for "me", but in a big house there is also space for others. An employer which has small spirit thinks he can not exceed property but by assaulting labor's rights, while a great employer knows that benefiting others, is the only way of gaining benefit. The difference of small employee and a great employee is also the same. Based on thousands of reasons, the only way of benefiting is to benefit others, but those who are small do not have enough capacity to infix others on them. It is also the difference of a religious which is big and a religious that is small. A great religious is Imam Sadeq (6th Imam of Shiite) who sat in the house of god and had conversation with an atheist. The truth of the house of god is his heart that has capacity for everyone, and respects everybody's right, the right of living, right of hearing, right of choosing, and the right to make mistakes, the right to be great. Yes, being great, otherwise, what a great person has to do with a small person? They see an irreligious in a place where can face the beauties of religion. if could not find a truth, do not ignore the possibility of understanding it by others., or they can be small and ignore whatever they have not heard before, whatever they can not understand, and without sitting and listening to understand it recognize other ideas baseless.

Our nation is now showing the signs of its greatness; this is that wonderful change which our nation was in search of experiencing it. Of course what is important is that this greatness and not its signs. I repeat its signs to believe that it comes like spring and changes our lives, to believe in its consecration and do not scare of changes it will bring. This is that growth that our revolution was founded based on. Some times passed, and we neglected it, but our god did not neglect. He developed the seed which was planted 30 years ago by many hopes, until now when its sprouts are ahead of us.

The greatness symbols of a nation are qualities that are expected from a brave human being. A man who has no ideal is a man worth nothing. However, who can be an idealist while not losing the touch of reality? A brave human being and a great nation.

If people are still demanding the full execution of the Constitution as their main slogan despite of all those bitter scenes they have seen in the last months, is not because their other demands can not be met. It was only and only the realistic sense of people and their wisdom that did not allow a volatile and radical reaction to the horrendous behavior of the rulers.

In another example, imagine the quality of bravery. The courage that a brave person (like a father who is defending his young daughter) shows is not with an uproar. It is not without a foresight and it is not necessitated with accepting an unreasonable price. However, [this courage] is more fearsome and more effective than the strength of others. Haven’t you seen this level of courage in the brevity that people demonstrated?

In another instance, adaptability of a brave person is not translated into giving in. It only means that (s)he has many problem solving options. In the last six months any window [of opportunity] that people opened was closed. However, they have created new solutions without leaning towards confrontations and without compromising on their ideals.

As another example, look at the patience and firmness in the movement of people.
They live their demands in such patience that it looks like they have lived them for a hundred years; A patience that exhausted their opponents; a patience that resembles growth.

As another example, a brave human being is some one who has self-confidence i.e. he is aware of the values that exist within him. We have not been like this for a long time. We had to keep our heads down. The self-confidence of our nation was taken away in two centuries of subordination, until the Revolution repaired this fallen barricade. However, did we reach this goal immediately and cleared the historical damages from our souls?

So why were we surprised when our artists were praised throughout the world?
As if we did not even suspect ingenious form an Iranian. Or as if we were so pessimistic, that if we had the slightest praiseworthy feature in ourselves we were looking through the conspiracy theories. Does a brave human being react like this if he is praised? Or is he aware of his qualities such that neither applauds make him overwhelmed with joy nor deviate him from his path. In the last few months the nation of Iran was praised tremendously. Now compare our people’s reaction to these applauds to their previous reactions so that you believe the essence of our society is experiencing their symbols of greatness.

It is mentioned in our 20-year Perspective Document that Iran must be the most powerful country of the region in the year 1404 [2025 in Georgian Calendar]. Are we supposed to tell the truth about our greatness to the world and the region or are we supposed to lie in that year? Are we just supposed to wear the big clothes to look great while we have not grown and prospered? Are we just supposed to inaugurate uncompleted civil projects in the level of the countries in the region? Are we supposed to consider our lost cause [diplomatic] travels as victories with the help of the media? Are we expected to put ourselves in the middle of continued controversies and contempt others so that we can claim greatness? Or are we supposed to be really powerful?

I ask this question because I believe that a country is only great when it has a great nation.
Our wish came true and our great nation matured to a well deserved degree, only by relying on itself. However, the problem is that this great nation will not keep quiet if its votes are taken away. A great nation does not tolerate degraded elections with fixed results. When a nation becomes great, its [public] servants can no longer tell the people what to eat, where to go, who to elect, and whom or what to trust. This great nation expects the guardian council to convince them of the legitimacy of the elections. They don’t accept from the council to claim only one thing [that everything is ok] and to annul all the observations and documented facts.

They ask us to forget about the election results as if the problem is only the elections. How are we supposed to explain that it is not so? The problem of our people is not who the head of the government is or who is not. The problem is that this some are blustering their ego to the face pride of great nation. What makes people angry is that their greatness is denied explicitly.

Don’t you want to be the government and for us not to? The way is to pay attention to the reality: people have no fraternity agreement with anybody. They choose the one who has more respect for their greatness. Paying attention to this fact will solve the election problem too, but if neglected be aware that the problem is not going to be limited to just the election results.

[Dear] brothers of ours! If you are not getting anywhere with your enormous efforts cumbersome costs, perhaps you have mistaken the battlefield. You fight people on the streets, but you are constantly losing your dignity in people’s minds. So you won’t tolerate the celebration of Azar 16th in the universities, what you are going to do with Azar 17th, and Azar 18th? How do you capture the minds of those who saw with their eyes your useless battles in the universities and your fear? Even if you silenced all the students, what are you going to do with the reality of the society?

These are the words we say with good intentions, but they don’t listen. If they listened, we would have been very close to victory. The victory I speak of is not that of any specific party; it’s the expanding of the nation’s maturity; the victory that makes the people, individually and in groups, greater, to the point that even the warder will be ashamed.

Recently I heard that Basij in one of the universities has given the opportunity of speaking up to the opposition. That’s a good start. I also heard that they gave each other green scarves as gifts for Qadir eid. From our point of view this is the greatest gift. It wasn’t us who chose green. It was green that chose us. Is it possible for green to choose our brothers too? We think it’s possible, because the good-hearted is one who doesn’t look at the deceiver’s deception and the way to becoming green is not closed to any one.