Republican Manifesto II, Section I:

"Political activism and critique of the ruling system are important: intellectuals have a moral obligation to reduce the pain and suffering of human beings (Popper, Rorty). Dictatorships and Tyrannical systems impose pain and suffering on their people in various ways. The endeavour to rid people of the evil of authoritarian systems and to replace them by free and democratic ones is valuable on its own right. In today's world dictatorship has become so infamous and the appeal of democracy so universal that even tyrants try to present their systems as a kind of democracy (native democracy, religious democracy, Asian democracy, African democracy, people's democracy, etc.).

Intellectuals and the elite should not excuse themselves of their moral duty. The intellectual elite have been injecting disappointment and hopelessness, passivity and indifference into the Iranian society in the past years. Whereas one must create hope, inject life and passion and exuberance into the society. Doing this demands self-sacrifice, boldness and intrepidity. History has shown that giant steps have been taken only by men who were brave, idealistic and self-sacrificing.

They say the age of heroism and awaiting saviors is gone, and thus pull the rug from underneath the struggle for justice and freedom, unaware that one can't deduce from "The age of heroism is gone," that one shouldn't fight the tyrants. The struggle for freedom is on and by itself valuable. Neither is it true that democratic societies are devoid of heroes. In such societies one encounters a myriad of heroes. While in dictatorships the leader acts as a god and his self-sacrificing opponents turn into heroes. In such societies ordinary people expect heroes to solve all their historical and social problems. But neither can any single human being accomplish such a feat nor is democracy the solution to all the problems of humanity.

Yes, it is true that all the problems and dilemmas aren't going to be resolved by politics alone or solely through democracy. Neither is the only, or even the biggest, problem of society the ruling political system, so that by changing it all the problems would be resolved. Cultural problems have cultural solutions. Economic problems have economic solutions. Social problems need social solutions....

As the current global struggle against Islamofascism plays itself out, the contrast between a man like this and nauseating poseurs like Art Spiegelman is a steadily-widening chasm. In the coming days, I'll be publishing more excerpts from Akbar Ganji's manifesto...

(A much shorter version of this article was originally published on July 8, 2005)