Let me congratulate the None Violent Radical Party for arranging this congress and within its framework giving a voice to people who are not heard otherwise in the international community. I especially want to thank Mr. Marco Pannella, Marco Perduca, Marco Capatto.
For many decades authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and Gulf region have oppressed liberal, democratic and social democratic forces in the area. This suppression has led to growth of reactionary and extremist forces which uses religion to gain power -like the event that took place 32 years ago in Iran and led to the installation of a theocratic regime. Today it is one of the most damaging, oppressive dictatorships in the world, a danger to its own people, to the region and to the world.
The Iranian constitution has institutionalized discrimination; it permits and defends discrimination against women, it legalizes racial discrimination against oppressed nationalities. In short, it has created an apartheid system. Iran has adopted an ethno-centric state identity based on Farsi language and Shiite religion.
Oppressed nationalities - the Arab, Baloch, Kurd, Lor, Turk and Turkmen are treated as second or third class citizens.
Women are not considered equal to men, and are treated with medieval law in the case of adultery; women are sentenced to death by stoning. The most recent case was that of Ms Ashtiani which fortunately led to international condemnation.
One of the worst elements of state sponsored oppression is discrimination against its own citizens those who are the non-dominant nationalities. They are marginalized and discriminated against from birth. They are not provided education in their mother language - although the constitution provides for it, and they are later discriminated in process of admission to higher education by a system of selection which discriminates against certain religious and thereby national peoples. The same process is used in employment application procedures.
The worst suppression that Non-Dominant nationalities face is physical insecurity. Extra-judicial killing is daily occurrence in the nationality regions especially in the Arab, Baloch and Kurdish regions.
In proportion to its population, Iran has the highest number of execution in the world, two thirds of which belong to non-dominant nationalities. The Baloch are vastly over represented in this terrible static.
The Iranian government is investing the countries huge resources in armed and security forces. In addition to its regular army and police, it has created religiously indoctrinated armed forces, the Revolutionary guard and a paramilitary force Baseej, which are responsible for the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators in different cities in Iran. These two forces benefit most from the current system, the revolutionary guard is the power which controls the nuclear industry. This group has benefited most economically by the different companies that it has created and they win government contracts: These are the organizations responsible for supporting terrorism abroad.
The internal and regional ambition of this regime has made it a destabilizing force not only for the neighboring countries but for the entire world.
While Iranian state uses all kind of force and methods to suppress opposition, the opposition groups are not united.
The only working coalition is CNFI, which consist of political parties and activists belonging to oppressed nationalities.
The Balochistan Peoples Party is one of the founding members of the Congress, together with other member of the Congress we are working to build a more broad-based coalition.
To achieve this broad based coalition we have tried to create a systematic dialogue with groups which are not member of CNFI with the help of UNPO and Radical Party, one in Brussels in 2009 and last one in Rome in 2010. It is to emphasize that the Rome conference was one of the most successful conference between Iranians, in this we together succeeded to bring people from different ideologies to start a dialogue about true, genuine democratic reform which promotes equality between all citizens of Iran and not the elite, chosen few.
Here I would like to thank UNPO organization, especially Marino Buzdachin, and Marco Parduca and of course especially Maggie Murphy who worked tersely to make the conference in Brussels and Rome to happen.
In line with the tradition that we have started in 2009 to hold conference to enhance dialog among opposition groups in Iran I hope we can together again arrange a conference, in 2011, to bring opposition groups closer, to create a more broad based coalition, which can help to create favorable condition for transition to a democratic and secular state with a federalism structure in Iran.
Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to speak here today.
This document was presented by Nasser Boladai in the congress of the Transnational None Violent Radical Parties congress which was held between17 to 21 Febraury 2011 in Italy. Nasser Boladai is the spokesperson of the Balochistan Peoples Party and a member of the International Delegation of the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran.
http://www.ostomaan.org/articles/news-and-views/8422
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