“Gohar Eshqi” and “Kamal Jafari Yazdi”: We Consider the Electoral Show Devoid of Basis and Legitimacy

Gohar Eshqi and Kamal Jafari Yazdi, by publishing a joint message, spoke of the electoral show as meaningless and lacking legitimacy.

Gohar Eshqi is the mother of the immortal “Sattar Beheshti,” an Iranian blogger who died in November 2012. She turned Sattar’s death into a media issue and caused widespread controversy. Gohar Eshqi is also remembered as a political activist.

She, along with Dr. Kamal Jafari Yazdi, a civil activist and political prisoner who is also one of the signatories of the famous letter known as “Fourteen Signatures,” in a joint message addressed to the people of Iran, expressed their views and opinions regarding the dire conditions of the country and the elections.

Gohar Eshqi and Kamal Jafari Yazdi expressed their joint message as follows: “We share our views and opinions on the bad and dire conditions of the country with you, the people of Iran, who are the true beneficiaries of any sovereignty.”

The text of the joint message of the aforementioned civil activists is as follows: “Oppressed people of Iran! The current corrupt regime is trying, through widespread repression and intimidation policies, to convince us that there is no way out of the current situation and that those who remain are slaves of this inhumane and hellish system, forgetting that history shows that the people of Iran will never tolerate any tyrannical government forever. In our view, not much time remains before the people finally settle accounts with the oppressive actions.

The current dire conditions have had a horrifying impact directly on the quality of life, social welfare, and access to equal opportunities in education and health, especially for our bold women and girls, and have deepened social inequalities and class divisions! In our view, this gender discrimination and systematic oppression are the main causes of the Woman Life Freedom revolution.

The execution of Iran’s citizens to create fear and terror and prevent the collapse of the regime’s weak foundations has deprived a large section of society of security and psychological peace, and has created an atmosphere of despair, disillusionment, and public mourning. This social depression, like a deep fault line, has engulfed Iranian society and caused youth and adolescent suicides, widespread migration, and even the flight of elites from the country and a severe decline in the quality of life of our young people.

Of course, we all know what the class-based and autocratic ruling system really intends with these insane behaviors. The Islamic regime, aware of the blind knots it has created itself, cunningly squanders the country’s resources, and with the false display of elections, which in the best case are sham appointments, it tries to project an image of legitimacy and pseudo-democracy in the eyes of the world. We consider this show to be devoid of any basis and legitimacy, and we call upon Iran’s conscious people to boycott it.

We are aware of the oppression that the Islamic Republic’s ruling system inflicts on Iranian ethnicities including Kurds, Balochs, Turks, Gilaks, Arabs, and others, and we stand with and beside all of you. Here we call upon the people of Iran not to remain silent in the face of division-mongering and the oppression of the ruling system and not to allow, under false pretexts, Iranians to be turned against each other and, by creating a bipolar atmosphere, to divert your attention and focus from the country’s main problems. We are also supporters of equal rights for all Iranian ethnicities and the full realization of their rights.

We consider the corrupt and incompetent government of the Islamic Republic to be primarily responsible for the widespread poverty and misery of our compatriots. The current regime, except for squandering the country’s vital resources and spending huge sums on regional arson and of course theft, embezzlement, and plunder of Iran’s national treasury, has done nothing to serve the economy and human dignity of Iranian citizens.

Deprived and desperate workers, unemployed and hopeless graduates, hordes of destitute youth have turned life under Islamic Republic rule into a great hell for most social classes and groups. The removal of meat, poultry, eggs, proteins, fruits, bread, and many basic food items from people’s tables is an obvious catastrophe that has been rare in historical periods.

Today, most of our people are only looking to survive, not to live. It is such that garbage collection has also become a profession, and the pits at the outskirts of cities are growing larger every day. The primary culprit for this frightening free fall is the ruling plunderers.

In our view, as long as the current ruling system continues its rampant corruption and violence, there will be no hope for saving this country. For this reason, we ask not only the people of Iran but also the international community to support the oppressed people of Iran so that they themselves can demolish this rotten structure and attain true freedom.

We emphasize that the people of Iran have no enmity with any people in the world, and it is this ruling regime that, without the consent of the people, inflames the flames of ethnic hatred, division, and terrorism to make the region and the world insecure and to fish in troubled waters. In this regard, we also ask Iranians outside the country, by moving in the right direction of the Woman Life Freedom revolution and echoing the voices of their compatriots inside the country, not to allow political opportunists to exploit their feelings.

We hope to soon witness deep changes at the hands of the Iranian people on the political horizon of our homeland. Until then, we will be with you.

Long live the nation of Iran, eternal be Iran”