PDKI Leader Mustafa Hijri Speaks at Progressive Alliance Gathering in Barcelona
PDKI leader Mustafa Hijri delivered a speech at the Global Progressive Mobilisation conference in Barcelona. At the event on 17–18 April, the Progressive Alliance brought together progressive leaders from across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and beyond — in dialogue, in solidarity, and in common purpose.
Hijri participated as one of the key speakers during the “PA Global Connect” session, representing the Iranian Kurdish opposition.
The full speech
Dear friends, dear comrades!
Thank you for this opportunity. It is an honor to stand before a gathering of progressives who understand that the struggle for democracy in one country is the struggle for democracy
everywhere.
I bring you greetings from the Kurds in Iran. A nation that has resisted dictatorship for nearly half a century, and who have been at the forefront of a struggle for democracy in
Iran.
Comrades,
The world speaks of Iran in the language of nuclear files and oil prices. It rarely speaks of the Kurds, the Baluch, the Arabs of Ahwaz, the women in Evin prison, the workers whose strikes are crushed, the torture, the executions, or the mass slaughter of peaceful protesters.
Iran is a torture prison for its citizens, and peace or stability for the region or the world is not possible without a democratic future. Recognizing this truth should be the priority of progressive forces all around the world.
With the Iran–US war reshaping the Middle East, the danger to our party and the Kurdish people has never been higher. We face threats not only from the regime in Iran, but also from its proxy groups in the region.
Since late February, Iran has attacked our party close to 100 times with ballistic missiles and drones. The attacks against camps run by our party have been indiscriminate, targeting hospitals, schools, civilian homes, and water and electricity supplies.
In the middle of all this, our challenge is to place the future of all of Iran’s different nations at the Centre of the international conversation, before others decide our fate without us.
To do this, we must present an alternative to the regime. In February, together with other
Kurdish political parties we founded the Alliance of Political Parties of Iranian Kurdistan. We are also engaging other political groups in the broader Iranian opposition.
This is done with the hope of building a democratic alternative worthy of the sacrifices of all the people in Iran who have been killed, imprisoned and tortured by this regime. This is our most important task, and you can all play an important role in this process.
We do not come asking for charity. We ask for solidarity, the kind that progressives once gave to the ANC in South Africa by doing these three things, concretely.
First, political recognition. Raise our voice in your parliaments, in the European Parliament and at the United Nations. Ask what about the Kurds? What about political prisoners? What about the executions? Do not engage in silent diplomacy with this regime, it only plays in the hands of the regime by giving it legitimacy.
Second، demand accountability for the cross-border attacks on Kurdish political refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan. These are war crimes against people under international protection. Your parties can move resolutions. Your government can impose costs.
Third, partnership. Invite us into your policy work on Iran, on the Middle East, on democratic transitions. Share expertise with our party and our younger members. Invite our experts on Iran related matters. Host our activists. Translate our voices. Treat the PDKI not as a distant cause, but as what we are, your sister party, a social-democratic party with a century-long tradition, fighting the same fight you are fighting, only on harder ground.
The Islamic Republic will fall. The only question is when and what rises in its place. Help us ensure that what rises is democratic, federal, pluralist, and not just, for Kurds, for all Iranians, and for the region.
Thank you!
Jin, jyan, azadi
