Posted on 03/19/2006 1:40:32 PM PST by nuconvert
Reza Pahlavi’s Message On the Occasion of Persian New Year 2006 (Nowrooz 1385)
March 20th, 2006
All nations’ festive occasions are a reminder of past glories and happy times. For us, the people of Iran, Nowrooz is that and more: It is a reminder of our national and historical identity; it connects our ancient heritage to today and the future, having endured through foreign attacks and domination of anti-Iranian orders; it is thus the mark of the continuity of our national history.
This year, Nowrooz comes under conditions where the anti-Iranian policies of the Islamic regime have brought our homeland to the edge of an abyss; a perilous precipice more terrifying than the war with Iraq, one which could destroy our economic life and national assets.
Desperate to find a diversion from its inability to provide welfare and tranquility, this regime may once again find war a godsend. We must ask however:
A regime which demoted our nation to the level of a submissive congregation, that derided our national rituals and reduced the status of our people, particularly women, to that of minors;
a regime that denies the legitimate rights of workers, teachers, farmers and other hardworking citizens, despite a five-fold increase in oil income, and, instead, spends our national income on terrorist organizations and state-sponsors of terrorism;
a regime that violently suppresses the most basic social rights (even the right to show our joy on national holidays and festivities such as Nowrooz and Chaharshanbeh Souri); a regime that has broken the limbs and pens of our great poets and writers;
is it not that regime’s only demonstrable talent to bellow “nuclear technology is our national right”? Whereas, the question it should be answering is why can it not secure that right?
There was a day when the United States of America, France and Germany were competing to sell their high technology nuclear reactors to Iran at the lowest price. Continuation of the conditions on that day would have provided Iran with 30 reactors by now. Instead, this regime has not managed to complete even one technologically backward reactor. What we see is a regime that continuously places Iran in a position where Iranians cannot reach their legitimate rights, or their most elementary needs.
My fellow Iranians,
Our country is at the crossroads of destiny. The slightest neglect will cause irreparable loss for our motherland. Our responsibility before history demands that we spare no effort to save our nation from the tyranny of this insane and inhuman regime. Differences of views and opinions between political leaders and organizations are natural in any open society. It is a fruitless exercise to argue and linger on these differences, however, while the people are forced out of the arena of decision, and there is no freedom of discussion or choice inside the country.
I earnestly hope that political leaders and organizations will be able to make freedom of expression, assembly and organization in Iran their priority for the New Year, and spare no effort to realize those goals.
We will then be able to end these years of darkness and herald the spring of freedom, opening the road to development and progress for our country.
In anticipation of that day, and with my best wishes for peace and prosperity of our nation, let me congratulate my fellow Iranians on the occasion of the ever-glorious Nowrooz.
May God bless Iran
Reza Pahlavi
Wasn't he the Shah....I thought he was dead?? Or is this a son or something???
pong
The shah dies in 1980. This is his oldest son
Isn't that statement spot on for most of the middle east?
The son.
He is a never was.
A wanna be.
He is working as a unifying force of opposition groups for a democratic movement in Iran.
Let's hope he's successful.
True. But he occasionally has had some insightful and fittingly pointed and articulate things to say.
'Twould be nice to see him establish a beachhead in the country, perhaps with help from us. I think his statement is well done.
And you say that because you know the US is responsible for his father's downfall?
"Wasn't he the Shah....I thought he was dead?? Or is this a son or something???"
Your ignorance is appalling. I suggest you ask Jimmy Carter, without whose betrayal of the Shah of Iran, that simian creature threatening the world would probably be driving a taxi.
Beautifully stated message. I hope some in Iran will hear it.
I remember celebrating Nowrooz in the park by the see-o-say pol in Esfahan. What a great time was had by all that attended the festival in the park. This is one of the many good memories that I have of Iran.
Reza is the eldest son of the deceased Shah. He's a trained fighter pilot and earned his flight wings in the US Air Force flight training program. He's US-educated and I believe, a citizen of the USA. He's very westernized and pro-American. It's people like him who will help turn Iran around.
I remember seeing a photo of him (Reza Pahlavi) as a teen strapping on an F-16. I think the shot was in National Geographic.
I was a little envious of the opportunities he had by birthright, but I also decided then and there to strive harder.
I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I'm still trying!
So is Reza Pahlavi, and I wish him Godspeed in his mission to reclaim his place, and free the people of Iran.
JMHO, YMMV
I've read his statements and he is very intelligent and offers quite a bit.
He does however want to be what his father was only more.
It ain't gonna happen.
It would be great if he was successful and hopefully he can help Iran out of the morass the folks there are in.
He also wishes to take the top spot his father once held and I just don't see it happening.
It would probably be a good thing if it did happen. His father led Iran into the 21st century through education and he would probably lead the govt now if his fathers regeim weren't so brutal.
His father was resonsible for his own downfall because it was quite brutal.
His father led Iran into the 21st century by stressing education but it was a brutal regeim. Many folks rebelled and supported the Mullahs not understanding that they would lead the country back into darkness and would be much more brutal. I think most folks would rather go back.
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That is a bald-faced lie. The people threw the bum and his secret police out. And they did it 25 years after the US put him there in a coup orchestrated by the CIA (who in documents available on the net described him as "pathologically afraid".
This family is not and never was royalty or dynastic - unless two generations of Western installed puppets equals a dynasty.
Yeah. I agree with that.
Though he should be able to have some impact on the world in some discrete, smaller defined sphere, area with the money his family likely spirited away from Iran! LOL.
Thx
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