The Message of Solzhenitsyn to the People Of a Free Iran: Live Not By Lies

by Shirin Neshat of Sarbazan

February 4th, 2005

Los Angeles, CA

To My Loved Ones in Exile Who Desire a Free Iran Again:

As the daughter of my beloved late father, General Ali Neshat, Supreme Commander of the Shah's Imperial Guard; as President of Sarbazan; and as your fellow companion in suffering and exile, I write from my adopted home in Los Angeles tonight to say again what is evident: that the Islamic Republic in Iran (IRI) regime and its latest "President," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are an ongoing threat to a Free Iran and the security and wellbeing of the entire planet. They must be defeated in the name of humanity before it is too late.

This regime is our deadly enemy and the enemy of all who love peace, freedom, and human rights in the world. The blessed martyrs of a Free Iran, who have died at the hands of these malignant criminals, cry out in one voice of corporate witness to the truth--and as a voice of encouragement to all of us who remain--to resist Islamic theocracy and its evil proponents until our last very breath in this life is drawn.

This evil movement and government have many dark allies throughout the world, including elements in the West, Communist China, Russia, and in the Arab World who finance them, trade with them, and turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the evidence of their massive crimes against law and decent humanity in these last 27 terrible years.

But there is an even bigger and more dangerous alliance that has been made with the Islamic Republic in Iran (IRI) regime and which continues to delay the realization of the goal of the liberation of the Iranian People and Nation from this insidious menace: the collective timidity and cowardice of good people, who have decided in a spirit of fear and despair not to stand against the Lies upon which this terrible government is based. These Lies include the farcical notion that the Mullahs speak in the name of God; can violate every premise of life, love, and law which emanate from that God, in the dark shadows which enshroud the Islamic Republic and its followers; and can do so with impunity because there are not enough good Iranians with sufficient courage, to oppose them in the name of a Free Iran dedicated to human rights, national independence and autonomy, and the restoration of the 2,500 year old and divinely-instituted Persian Monarchy.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian writer and human-rights activist, opposed Stalinist Communism even under fear of death, imprisonment, and exile. On February 12, 1974, the day of his arrest by the Soviet secret police and subsequent banishment to the West, Mr. Solzhenitsyn wrote to the people of the former Soviet Union about the only method by which their spiritual, political, and economic freedom could be restored. It is a simple, but profound directive he issues, not only to the original people to whom his words were written, but now to the good and decent Iranian People within and outside Iran at this very moment. Do not live by lies---especially the foundational lies of the Islamic Republic in Iran (IRI) regime. Oppose these lies with a consistent commitment to the truth, regardless of the personal cost. And the exhilirating liberation of the individual which results from this re-dedication to the truth and absolute opposition to lies, will eventually result in the collective liberation of an entire nation from the pack of certifiable international thugs who have falsely claimed the mantle and title of leadership of the Iranian Nation since 1979.

Please read Mr. Solzhenitsyn's words for their own merit at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/livenotbylies.html

I am especially moved by his ideas offered to all of us who desire the liberation of Iran in the following exhortation:

So in our timidity, let each of us make a choice: Whether consciously, to remain a servant of falsehood--of course, it is not out of inclination, but to feed one's family, that one raises his children in the spirit of lies--or to shrug off the lies and become an honest man worthy of respect both by one's children and contemporaries.

And from that day onward he:

• Will not henceforth write, sign, or print in any way a single phrase which in his opinion distorts the truth.
• Will utter such a phrase neither in private conversation not in the presence of many people, neither on his own behalf not at the prompting of someone else, either in the role of agitator, teacher, educator, not in a theatrical role.
• Will not depict, foster or broadcast a single idea which he can only see is false or a distortion of the truth whether it be in painting, sculpture, photography, technical science, or music.
• Will not cite out of context, either orally or written, a single quotation so as to please someone, to feather his own nest, to achieve success in his work, if he does not share completely the idea which is quoted, or if it does not accurately reflect the matter at issue.
• Will not allow himself to be compelled to attend demonstrations or meetings if they are contrary to his desire or will, will neither take into hand not raise into the air a poster or slogan which he does not completely accept.
• Will not raise his hand to vote for a proposal with which he does not sincerely sympathize, will vote neither openly nor secretly for a person whom he considers unworthy or of doubtful abilities.
• Will not allow himself to be dragged to a meeting where there can be expected a forced or distorted discussion of a question.
• Will immediately talk out of a meeting, session, lecture, performance or film showing if he hears a speaker tell lies, or purvey ideological nonsense or shameless propaganda.
• Will not subscribe to or buy a newspaper or magazine in which information is distorted and primary facts are concealed.

Rise up, free people of Iran, and reclaim your land, your families, your homes, your religious freedom, and your divinely-imparted human right to live a life apart from fear, terror, oppression, and war. Solzhenitsyn's call to the people of Russia is a now a call to freedom-loving Iranians in our darkest hour of misery and need. Abandon lies. Abandon the fear upon which lies are based and perpetrated. Embrace courage, love, truth and liberation at this pivotal moment in time. Rise up as one single voice in the desert wilderness and be a part of the victory which is sure to come to the people of a Free Iran who join a righteous struggle: resulting in the consignment of Mr. Ahmadinejad, Mr. Khamenei, and the entire Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) regime to the ashheap of history, to be banished into an eternal outer darkness beyond human imagination, in payment for their crimes against humanity, the law of God, and the freedom-loving tradition of the Persian Empire and People since the time of King Cyrus the Great.

These are my thoughts. This is my call to each of you on this winter night in Los Angeles, to hear and to act---your hour and mine of national liberation approaches quickly, in the approaching sounds of the Hoofbeats of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Payandeh Iran,

Shirin Neshat
Sarbazan
P.O. Box 16166
Beverly Hills, CA 90209
Phone: 310 863 8218
shneshat@aol.com