Akbar Ganji Quotes

You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it.

Negotiation talks are the best way to solve anything. We must replace wars and weapons with negotiations and talks.

We must struggle for creating a democratic system that is dedicated to democracy and human rights.

Revolutions invariably don't solve the issue of justice, and in its place, suppression and limiting freedom replaces that idea.

When there is a crisis, the first thing that gets damaged and gets harmed is democracy.

We should put away the militaristic outlook. The U.S. should start talking about disarmament, nuclear disarmament, of the region.

The regime kept saying that all of my opponents are lackeys of the United States. We used to say that this is all lie, that we are lackeys of the United States.

Today, as a result of a miraculous set of circumstances, Iran is going to get between $50 to $55 billion in oil revenue, which is unheard of in the history of the revolution.

Let me begin by saying not only you can't have democracy with $75 million. You can't even have it with $750 billion.

When I say that I am opposed to this budget, everyone says, "Well, what do you think the United States should do?" My response is, "Why should the United States do anything?"

I am only speaking of my own behalf.

I did join the Revolutionary Guard, but I was simply a simple Revolutionary Guard, never a commander.

I went to the front, but I never participated in the war itself.

The Revolutionary Guard was created to help defend the revolution, but it soon was diverted from its initial path.

We have two kinds of oppression. Oppression that is universal - everyone in Iran is subject to it. But everyone has also their own, unique way of experiencing this oppression.

We can certainly be on the same side and the same front with the workers and with the oppressed people of Iran. We can certainly be on the same front with them.

The solutions to the problems of the distraught lower strata of society are problems that can only be solved in the context of an overall political, cultural, economic development.

It was universal pressure on the regime to secure my release. International pressure was certainly helpful in my release.

Why did the regime put me in prison in the first place? I was put in prison for six years and it has been all illegal.

The ecological movement is concerned about this, and this is in here, where everything is public. In Iran, where everything is covert, we have no firsthand information.

We've had 60 years of intellectual development in Iran. How can we have the same system? Even theories of secularism are constantly being revised and changed.

I, too, am against the dismantlement of Iran.

[In] every revolution, there is a great divergence between what the revolutionaries expect and what the revolution actually accomplishes.

The number of the opposition has certainly increased [in Iran]. There is more disgruntlement, but because there is no media, the voice of this opposition is not heard outside Iran.

There is no possibility of a public demonstration [in Iran] of such defiance, but these defiant acts are certainly going on.

The modern infrastructures that exists in the world all contribute to the advancement of human rights and democracy.

When I talk about secularism, I'm talking about theories today. To give you for example, one example: Those who consider themselves followers of Mosaddeq today are adamantly against federalism.

Religion is separate from the institution of the state.