Announcement of the 29th Conference on the Killing of Political Prisoners in the 1960s
In the 1960s, the Islamic Republic, in pursuit of establishing its absolute government, committed the most heinous and bloody massacre in Iran’s contemporary history. It began the massacre on June 21, 1981, and culminated in the mass murder of political prisoners in the summer of 1987. In this way, it eliminated a generation of its political opponents who had played an important and influential role in the revolution and the transformation of the political atmosphere of Iranian society and were very popular among the people, and in this way, it paved the way for its consolidation as a capitalist-religious absolute government.
The Islamic Republic knew that if it did not eliminate its opponents, it would not have absolute power and that, as people’s awareness gradually increased, it would not be able to continue its existence and use religion as a tool to suppress and fool the masses. The Islamic Republic had to act quickly to establish itself as an absolute government. To do this, it was not enough to simply eliminate its opponents physically. It also had to erase their traces from the memory of society and this historical period. As a result, it turned to a policy of denial, denying everything and everyone except itself and completely falsifying the history of Iran.
The killing of opponents in the 1960s was the beginning of subsequent repression and killings, especially the killing of youth, the poor, and the hungry in January 1996 and November 1998.
It took ten years for the people to realize the true nature of the Islamic Republic. When the Islamic Republic, in the second half of the 1970s, noticed the spread of discontent among the people, in addition to repression, killing, and arrest and detention, it used classic capitalist tricks to create opposition within itself, into two main factions: fundamentalists and reformists, and by this means, it channeled the people’s discontent within itself. The people also entered the game, thinking that perhaps they could transform the regime and achieve some of their social rights and freedoms in this way, and chose the Islamic Republic as their playground. With the passing of three decades, especially with the worsening economic and social situation of the society, the majority of the people have come to the conclusion that the Islamic Republic is not reformable and that they have been deceived by its tricks all these years. The vast majority of the people have turned away from religion, and now they know for sure that they do not want the Islamic Republic and a religious government, and they must take direct action to dismantle it.
People now know that they must rely on their own power for this change and should not go under the banner of individuals and groups who, by wrapping democracy in a beautiful paper, are waiting for America and its European supporters to help them, seize power in Iran and rule over the people and replace the religious tyranny with another tyranny. What America, England and France did to Khomeini and brought him to France, Persian-language radio stations abroad put their pictures on the moon and gave Khomeini their microphones in the service of the coming to power of a religious tyranny. His deceptive slogans regarding freedom of the hijab, freedom of women, freedom of parties, etc., echoed from their loudspeakers with great pomp and show.
Khomeini went even further and promised to make water and electricity free and to deliver oil to people’s doorsteps for free. The people of Iran are still witnessing the US and the European Union, and of course China and Russia, trying to keep this criminal, tyrannical and murderous regime afloat. The people have learned from experience that they do not care that people in Iran are oppressed, arrested, tortured and killed, struggling with poverty, hunger, unemployment and homelessness.
The reality is that global powers need authoritarian governments to protect their interests in the region and the Middle East. They know very well that these governments oppress their people. They are not happy with the establishment of an independent, popular and democratic government in Iran. Because with such a government in Iran, they cannot achieve their political, economic and strategic interests in the region. Such a government will not be willing to sell the freedom, rights and interests of the people and the country and its interests. For this reason, they will try in the next revolution to help individuals and those who can replace the current tyranny with another tyranny and take back from them what the people have achieved through resistance and struggle in these years. The people are aware and awake, they will no longer submit to any leadership except their own. The people of Iran have paid a heavy price to reach this point. But to overthrow the Islamic Republic, they need unity of action, solidarity, and organization and leadership from among themselves. Without organization and leadership from among themselves, others will reap what they have sown with the blood of their loved ones.
On the anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in the 1960s, the Iranian Political Prisoners Association (in exile) honors the memory of all the innocent lives that the Islamic Republic took from the Iranian people in the 1960s, before and after.
We pledge to our allies and strongly believe that the people of Iran, on the day after the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, will investigate the crimes of all those who ordered and carried out the massacre in the people’s courts that they themselves will establish.
Iranian Political Prisoners Association (in exile)
September 15, 2022 equals Shahrivar 24, 1401