I seek refuge in God from the accursed Satan
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Right of self-determination
Out of those two fundaments we and the Iranian nation propose three principles: the first one; the Pahlavi dynasty is not legitimate. Hence, it should be ousted. The second one; the very monarchy with its regime is not rightful, and should be eradicated. Let us now turn our attention to this article (on monarchy) in the Constitution. Muhammad Rida Shah «1» based his reasoning on this constitutional principle that" the monarchy is a divine gift granted to the king by the nation." Well, a nation comprises the population presently inhabiting this land, being the native of this country, and united in their beliefs and several other directions. The population in Iran forms the nation at present. What about those who no longer exist nowadays? Are they to be regarded as the Iranian nation?" Were" they the nation or" are" they the nation? It is beyond doubt that, say, five hundred years from now, Iran will have a population; can they be considered Iran's present nation? Those who are yet to be born, can they be from Iranian nation of today? In the same way, can we say that the Iranian `ulama' and the people's political parties of today are the `ulama' and parties that will come into existence five hundred years from now? For instance, if it is to be desired that an issue must be decided by Iranian `ulama' or physicians; who are they? Whether those who are yet to come into existence are the `ulama' of Iran? Or, those who are not existent now should be named as Iran's physicians or `ulama'? As it has no bearing on the persons yet to come, similarly this law too cannot be applied to the claim that the nation of Iran would come into being later, bestows the kingship. Every nation is regarded a nation of the time wherein it actually exists. Those who are now existing, such as the physicians of Iran who are now living, are the present physicians of Iran; their `ulama' now are the `ulama' of present Iran; their engineers today are the present engineers of Iran; their tribes, say, of Kurdistan, are the present tribes of Iran. But those who will be born five hundred years from now cannot be regarded as the `ulama', engineers, physicians and nation of present-day Iran. Likewise, those who existed five hundred years ago and are now out of existence constituted the Iranian `ulama' of that time and not of any other time; their engineers" were" and not" are" the engineers of Iran.
The regime now resorts to the Constitution which holds that" the monarchy is a divine gift granted to the king by the nation." Well, according to this criterion, the nation that exists now should confer the monarchy upon a certain individual. Let us assume that the people who lived five hundred years ago had knowledge of the unseen, and based upon that knowledge, they knew that Muhammad Rida Khan would emerge in Iran in such and such a year and that the kingship should be granted to him who would come into existence five hundred years later. But they are not the Iranian nation of today. They made up the Iranian nation of their own time when they were living. So, at present, it is the present Iranian nation that should bestow the kingship on him. The present Iranian nation is made up of the people who exist now. If, and only if, this Iranian nation, according to the constitutional law to which the Shah refers, votes him as king, then he can be the king. But the present Iranian nation has not given him its vote. Who, from among the nation, has voted him to be the king?
Now, we do not want to base our argument on the fact that the people have already withdrawn their vote because they are now saying" no" to his rule. Before delving into this issue we say that you (the Shah) yourself are saying that the Constitution says that" the monarchy is a divine gift granted to the king by the nation." Those who confer this position on the person of the king should constitute the nation at the time. Those who, for instance, voted for the kingship of the great, great grandfather of a king, made up the Iranian nation as far as the king of that time was concerned. Well, according to the Constitution, they gave their vote to that person and he became king.
But they gave their vote to that man who existed in their own time and not to the present king who did not exist at that time that is of course assuming that they did indeed give their vote to the king of their time. However, those voters do not comprise the present nation of Iran. They are all decomposed (in their graves) and so have their votes; their story is now a closed book. Neither do they exist now, nor do their votes.
Can anyone claim that the decision of the people who lived five hundred years ago still holds at the present time? Well, those people have no vote now. They have all passed away and may God bless their souls! So, on the basis of the constitutional law, the nation has not voted for him to be the king, because we all know that there has been no consensus among the people to give their votes to him. We assume that those who lived during Rida Shah's time did give their votes to him. But except for, maybe four, five, ten or maybe a hundred old men, no one has survived since then. They are not the Iranian nation which is made up of those who exist at present.
Opinion of the Iranian nation
So the bygone generations are not the present Iranian nation, that is, those who have passed away- our forefathers- are not the Iranian nation. The present Iranian nation is made up of us who exist now. You can survey the whole Iranian territory to find who gave his vote to him within the framework of this constitutional article that regards the kingship as a divine gift to be granted to the person of the king by the nation. This law does not apply to him.
Illegitimacy of the regime
Another issue arises here and that is the fact that this law as the article contends that the kingship is a divine gift that the nation grants to the person of the king. Assuming it is true, although it is not, that fifty years ago, the nation intended to grant the kingship to the present Shah's father who was a real living person. Those who gave their vote to him later extended the votes to include" his dynasty." But" his dynasty" is only an attribute, not a person. A" person" has to be real. The term" scholar" is an attribute, not a person. This man present here is an actual person. The law holds that the kingship is a divine blessing to be granted to the" person" of the king by the nation. We take it for granted that it did not really matter that the nation of Rida Shah's time is not the nation of today. We assume that it is the same nation. However, the law says that the kingship should be granted to a person, a real being of such and such height and weight with such and such characteristics by the name of, say, Muhammad Rida Khan who possesses such" magnanimous morals" that drive him to massacre all the people! [Laughter from the audience] But Rida Shah was an external (not a subjective) being- a being with two ears and a head is an external being. Let us assume, too, regarding Rida Shah's rule which was absolutely, definitely and positively false and wrong from its very inception, that the people gave, God forbid, this divine gift of kingship to him. [Laughter from the audience] However, the nation did not give their vote to him (Muhammad Rida). Later, they included the" Pahlavi dynasty and his progeny." "His Progeny" is a general name, not a real" person". This utterly contradicts the law which holds that the kingship should be given to his person because in fact it has not been bestowed on his person.
Obscene regime
All these are based on the assumptions, although false, that when Rida Khan launched his coup d'etat, occupied Tehran and committed all those atrocities and sordid acts, the Iranian people should have voted for Rida Shah! In fact the people of Iran had no knowledge of the whole affair and indeed they were inherently against Rida Khan. But the bayonet had been brought into play. Just as today the military government rules by the force of the bayonets, at that time, too, Rida Khan's forces marched in with their bayonets and set up the Parliament. They brought in a band as deputies without the knowledge and consent of the nation. Everything was done at bayonet point. It was by the force of the bayonets that they established the Parliament, coerced it to depose the Qajar dynasty and install Rida Shah. Every single thing was done at bayonet point. There has never been a time that the nation ever implemented this particular article of law. In other words, if we take a look at history, from the time that (as the regime says) Iran had its first monarch up until the present time, that is from 2,500 years ago, or shall we say a hundred thousand years ago, from the time that kings emerged in this world, they were no more than a bunch of thieves who invaded and occupied a land by force and set up their rule. Had the people voted them to power? Had these kings ever cared for the people? Before the constitutional movement, not even this view or law (that the kingship should be bestowed by the nation) was existent. So, anybody could invade and occupy any place! At first the thief was merely a thief, but later, after he conquered a land, he became" His Imperial Majesty"! [Laughter from the audience]
This law article has never been enforced since the constitutional movement. From the beginning of this movement, that is, since the time of Muzaffaruddin Shah, up till now, your time, the few kings who came to power- with Muzaffaruddin Shah being succeeded by Muhammad-`Ali Mirza who was then replaced by Ahmad Shah who was then toppled by Rida Shah and eventually, this man (the Shah), ascended the throne- this law, which holds that the kingship is a divine gift the nation grants to the person of the king, has never been implemented. Muhammad Rida Shah must produce a single witness to state that a village- if he can produce a village (of voters), let alone a whole nation- had given its vote to him. Leave the people to their own volition; do not force them to vote at bayonet point. They (the regime) should let the people be free and set aside their bayonets; and like an ordinary citizen, he (the Shah) should come forth and ask the people who they will vote for. If a single village casts its vote in his favor, then we will confirm that he is the" King of kings"! But this will never happen. Neither have people voted him to power nor has this law article ever been implemented, not in the past, or during his monarchy. Even if we forego all its other flaws, this article has not been acted upon or implemented, like many other constitutional law articles which have been ignored from the very beginning.
Illegitimacy of all the affairs during the Shah's rule
Well, based on the illegitimacy of this man's monarchy, he is, first and foremost, a usurper. One whose rule is illegal and imposed on us is a usurper according to the Constitution. He should be prosecuted and made to answer as to why he has kept the reins of power; why he claims to be the king; why he held a coronation ceremony and why he treated the people iron-handedly; why he levied and collected taxes; why he got the monarch's salary; there are so many `whys' and he does not have any answer to give. And more importantly, according to the Constitution, all contracts which have been made since the constitutional movement until the present time are void and illegal. The Constitution holds that the Parliament should be set up based upon popular vote, and it is only when the incumbent king who has sworn to serve and be faithful to the people, etc., decrees that elections be held freely and honestly within the framework of the Constitution and its subsequent amendments, then the vote of the people acquires legal merit regardless of whatever the election outcome might be. None of the contracts entered into since the constitutional movement, whether under Muzaffaruddin Shah and Ahmad Shah, or under these two from the Pahlavi dynasty, are legal, for the simple fact that neither the kings nor the Parliament have been legal according to the Constitution.
As I have just mentioned, the king has no legal standing because the people never voted him to the throne. The Shah himself should succumb to this reality. But he and his clique claim that the nation and every child that has been born have come into existence with a love for monarchy! If you ask them even now that people are shouting" Death to the Shah," they will still say that the people are king-lovers! The people's cries are signs of their" love" for the Shah! [Laughter from the audience] Therefore, his kingship is" legal" indeed!
The illegitimate parliament
Let us now talk about the Parliament. As we know, the Parliament has not been set up as a result of popular vote. It is one of those crystal-clear facts that popular vote was never sought during the reigns of Rida Shah and Muhammad Rida Shah. Everybody knows this. Just think about the present Parliament. Those of you who are aware of such matters, can you believe that the people in Tehran, Isfahan, Yazd, or Kerman ever gathered to elect their representatives to the Parliament? Or, was it the case that, as the Shah himself admitted sometime ago, the list containing the names of the Parliament deputies would come from these foreign embassies dictating who should become a deputy. Of what import are the people that they should decide? What is the government to decide on such matters? Who is the king to make any decisions? Our fate is decided by the American, the British and the Soviet embassies. And this is what has been going on so far. The list containing the names of Parliament deputies was determined by them. They included in this list only the names of their cronies, or, in other words, their lackeys whom the foreign embassies had determined, so that they would ratify in the Parliament whatever bill will secure their own interests.
So, as far as we remember, under these two dictators there has never been a legitimate Parliament, nor has there been a national one based upon popular votes. Perhaps there were, say, four deputies whom the nation popularly elected to the Parliament, but the rest were not elected in the proper manner. Four deputies, say, from Tehran, were somehow popularly elected. Electoral formalities were accorded due regard and the people elected four people to the Parliament such as the late Mudarris «2» whom the people voted for, but a Parliament is legitimate only when all its members are elected according to legal procedures so that one can say it has been formed upon the (people's) vote. The majority of the Parliament deputies who voted for a contract,(setting up) a company or an issue were not legitimate, although a few of those deputies were nationalist elements and were elected by the nation. No one can ever claim that during the reign of Rida Shah and Muhammad Rida Shah, the Parliament was a National Assembly formed through the votes of the people. No one can ever say that the people elected those deputies. Yes, Mudarris and very few individuals like him entered the Parliament by popular vote, but one, two or three rightfully elected deputies cannot sufficiently legitimize a system. All of these deputies should be national deputies, that is, the nation should have voted them to the Parliament in order for the legislative body to acquire legitimacy. If this had been legally done, then when the majority of the deputies voted on something, that vote would have been valid and legitimate; but it was not like this.
Illegitimate contracts
All the contracts signed during the constitutional years, or under Rida Shah and Muhammad Rida Shah, were approved against the Constitution and contrary to the will of the nation. This nation is opposed to all those contracts. Not even one of them is legitimate. As such, all these contracts, with whomever they have been concluded, even if some are useful to the nation, are yet illegal. Yes, if an Islamic national government is formed, all these contracts will be re-examined and if one or two are found to be beneficial to the nation, if they exist, then such contracts will be signed again and approved. That is, these contracts that have been null and void in the past will now be legal ones. In other words, if such a government, which is legitimately set up, accepts a contract as legal, then that contract becomes legally binding. But this cannot be retroactive or vice-versa because they were all illegal. So, if those who are backing Muhammad Rida Khan, these governments which are propping him up, persist in their support for him, all their contracts with Iran, even if they are to the national interest, will be cancelled. They should reconsider their stance regarding these matters. «3»
The criteria of today's world
The Iranian nation will not give in to their current threats. There is a possibility that they will unleash their lackeys on the people and beat them up as they are doing so in the cities at the moment, or hire kolis (to carry this out) or disguise military men as hooligans to attack and beat up the people. «4» Or, it may be assumed that the Soviet and American governments will deploy their troops (to help the regime). But this is just empty talk! These ploys will not work because of the criteria current in the world. Today's world is totally different from that of yesterday. It is not the case anymore that one does as one pleases, at will, and one uses one's force to impose one's will on others. Everything has to be done according to a certain criterion. Now, a whole nation has risen up and says it wants to be independent. This means the Iranian nation does not want the US to meddle in its affairs and this applies to the USSR as well as Great Britain. We want our country to be totally ours.
Threatening to cancel the foreign contracts
Now we declare here that if these governments persist in their policy of supporting Muhammad Rida Khan, once the desired government is set up, the Iranian nation will ordain to nullify all their contracts with Iran even if they are favorable to the nation. If the US does not change its stance, no more contracts will be signed with it. From today, the US officials must define and rectify their stance. Each of these foreign governments and presidents had better correct their stances toward Iran. That is, they must stop supporting this man who, with his family, has persecuted the people in the last fifty years, and who has, on numerous occasions over these recent years, especially this last year and also on Khordad 15 (1342 AHS) [June 5,1963], massacred so many people. «6» He is the archenemy of the nation and the people are his enemies. If these foreign governments continue backing him and persist in their support of him, the Iranian nation will cancel all the contracts signed with them, and will never enter into any other deals with them. There will be no oil or anything else for them [Laughter from the audience]! We will not give them even a drop of venom [Laughter from the audience]! However, if they desist from backing him, behave themselves like decent human beings and clearly define their stance toward Iran, we will sell them the oil, as we cannot guzzle it down! But we will take the money from them to ameliorate the nation's conditions. We will not sell the oil to buy their arms that will be used to safeguard their own interests in Iran.
Gendarme of Persian gulf
Just a few days ago, Mr. Carter spoke about Iran. Among the things he said was that Iran has purchased 18- billion worth of arms from them and a strong country has been established which serves their interests and staves off the communist threat and that of the Muslim leftists. He also said that Iran was their gendarme in the Persian Gulf and that this was very important to them. Well, it is on account of these very statements that the Iranian nation says:" We don't want this man who has purchased 18 billion worth of arms and is siphoning our oil to you in order to be your gendarme and guard." It is for this very reason that the Iranian nation is sacrificing its youth and giving up its wealth and everything it has to eliminate this man who has betrayed the nation so willfully. Carter regards this 18- billion-dollar arms purchase an issue to laud him for, because he has made the country strong enough to face American foes- the communists and Muslim leftists- and to safeguard their interests in the Persian Gulf, and so on and so forth.
Poverty and deprivation of people, the shah's heritage
People's poverty and deprivation, the Shah's legacyurine to wash the trachoma-infected eyes of their children so they can open their eyes. Do not be deceived by Tehran's few posh streets that have been factitiously decorated to show off its prosperity to foreigners. All parts of the country should be seen. Go to the remote areas. Right here in Tehran, go to the shanty towns and see how people are living. The Iranian nation has raised its voice in protest at these bitter realities that the regime has brought about.
On the one hand, there is the regime's propaganda machinery: each time one turns on the radio you hear nothing but cries, praising" His Imperial Majesty, the Aryamehr". You probably could not find any station which did not report constantly on the activities of" His Imperial Majesty" or this or that" Exalted Highness". «7» While the people are kept abject, helpless, all of them hungry and miserable, a particular group has acquired wealth for themselves either because they are from the Shah's clique or because they are in liaison with him, or, are rich themselves.
People are awake
In any case, people no longer heed the regime's propaganda. Nothing changes whether you (the Shah) impose martial law or set up a military government. The situation remains the same even if you change its name and call it a" government". Iran has for a while now been under martial law. Some cities are officially under martial law, while others unofficially. The military is involved in everything; is everywhere. Can you (the Shah) ever manage to survive without the force of the bayonets behind you? Spare the bayonets for a single day and you will be destroyed. You cannot survive for a minute without coercion. Assuming that the US plans to set up another government in Iran, take the Shah away and stage a military coup, nothing will change, it will be the same situation, the same massacres, the same crimes, the same discipline. And neither will the people change; they will not give up their struggle. The people want to be free from the Shah's shackles. They (foreign powers) should think. They should leave Iran alone and mind their own business. They should let Iran be free.
May God grant all of you success and may you all succeed in your undertakings, God willing.