The majority of participants were Guards Corps members or school students whose attendance was mandatory. In addition, Afghan workers made up a large portion of the crowd.
The public's refusal to participate in this show reaffirms that this regime has no social base or legitimacy, that any investment in this regime is doomed to fail, and that all forms of assistance to it run counter to the Iranian people's aspirations.
Today's demonstration marked the culmination of a ten-day propaganda blitz which was universally ignored throughout the country and received scant attention abroad, despite the mullahs' efforts. For example, renowned international artists who had been invited to take part in the regime's international film festival refused to do so and the festival ended with the display of locally-produced movies.
Khatami again used the occasion to emphasize the need to obey Khamenei, the mullahs' supreme leader, and rally around him as "the unwavering axis" of the regime.
The demonstration's final statement laid emphasis on the need for "unquestionable obedience" to velayat-e faqih and Khamenei's leadership as the "irrefutable principle of the Islamic Republic", calling it "the only way to save the nation, preserve the Islamic regime, and neutralize the enemies' conspiracies." The resolution condemned "any notion of negotiation" with the United States as "a futile and harmful idea."
Beset by internal crises and a growing popular resistance movement, the regime has no way but to underscore the importance of the principle of velayat-e faqih, demagoguery, and export of crisis.
Last week, on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution, the regime used one of its front organizations, "Global Assembly of the Ahl Al-Bait," to gather its terrorist agents from various countries in Tehran. They met with Khamenei, Khatami and Rafsanjani.
Export of terrorism and fundamentalism continue to remain the most important pillars of the regime's foreign policy and the common feature of all factions within the regime.
In its final statement, the assembly stressed that export of revolution can be accomplished by "extending" Khamenei's leadership "beyond national and regional boundaries" and "making Shiites more familiar with the powers of the supreme leader of all Muslims."
In an address yesterday to the people of Iran, Iranian Resistance Leader Massoud Rajavi said: "Just like the last days of the shah, the days of the mullahs' rule, particularly after Khatami's presidency and the troika leadership, are numbered. Iran's valiant children in the National Liberation Army are opening the way for the final showdown."
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 11, 1998
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