While fundamentalism has become the new global threat, what is the strategic response to this threat? The response, in a word, is democratic Islam. Clearly, no one could warn the world's 1.5 billion Muslims or 750 million Muslim women against the threat of fundamentalism with an un-Islamic model. So the central issue in our response is Islam itself. It is the genuine, democratic Islam that exposes the true nature of Islamic fundamentalism and provides an alternative to it.

Immediately, we find ourselves facing another question: what is genuine Islam? Are the crimes that the mullahs' regime is committing in Iran in the name of Islam truly based on Islam's teachings? The fact is that the mullahs have nothing to do with Islam and it would be the biggest gift to the mullahs to call their acts Islamic.

The biggest deceit and demagoguery is that power-hungry, evil fanatics such as Khomeini say that they represent Islam.

Islam is the religion of hope, mercy, liberation, freedom, love and friendship and the religion of peace, development,  progress, beauty, tolerance, lenience, kindness and sacrifice to attain prosperity and freedom for others. Islam is the religion of all the beauty that the earth bears and what is instilled in humankind. It holds humankind in the highest esteem, especially women, and seeks equality and freedom for women in away no religion had ever done before, with no
parallel in history.

In contrast to this, the mullahs and reactionaries present Islam as a religion of strictness, torture, retribution, war, misery, hopelessness, compulsion and all that is bleak and dark in this world. It can best be described as a world the grave in which God has the role of the torturer of humankind.

The fundamentalists intentionally and on the basis of their gender-based worldview project an inverted image of Islam by making a huge issue out of such matters as the veil, as if Islam is only about the veil and nothing else. In more than 90 percent of the Quran, no distinction is made between women and men. Equality of women and men and their joint responsibility have been emphasized with unrivalled decisiveness throughout the Quran and they are jointly addressed
hundreds of times.

The vision of democratic Islam put forward by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian resistance which is developed on the basis of this philosophy and interpretation long before Khomeini's rise to power.

Their Islam was diametrically opposed to the fanatic and feudalistic interpretations of Islam by the likes of Khomeini.

Outlines of the Iranian people’s resistance program for the Iran of tomorrow put forward by Mrs. Rajavi in a gathering of 30,000 Iranian expatriates in Paris in July 1, 2006. This program reflects the Iranian people's historic aspirations.

1. In the future Iran the natural and inalienable human rights of every Iranian must be respected. The rights to life, freedom, and security of every citizen of the Iranian nation will be considered equal under the law regardless of their gender, race, religion, ethnic makeup, and dialect. We are committed to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.

2. In the future Iran all individual freedoms will be recognized. These include freedom of speech, clothing, marriage and divorce, employment, travel, choosing one’s residency and citizenship.

3. The litmus test of the legitimacy of the country’s political and legal makeup is the universal suffrage. In the future Iran the right to make key political decisions in society and the people’s right to change the government will be respected and various councils will be set up in all spheres of society in order to uphold and guarantee democracy.

4. We seek a pluralistic republic, in which complete freedom of parties, associations and unions are guaranteed.

5. In the free Iran of tomorrow we will defend the abolition of the death penalty. This is our response to the ruthless killings and brutality with which the mullahs have ruled clutched on to their reign. Torture will be banned under any circumstances. There will be no room for cruel and degrading punishments under whatever pretext, including under the cloak of religion.

6. The Iranian Resistance is committed to the separation of church and state. In the Iran of tomorrow the principle of freedom of religion will be respected. The country's laws will not ban any religion. No religion will enjoy privilege over another and no citizen will be subjected to any personal or social privilege or privation in their individual or social rights because of their belief or non-belief in any religion.

7. We are committed to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. In the Iran of tommorow, men and women will enjoy equal rights in all political, social and economic sectors. Women will have equal participation in the political leadership of the country.

8. In the Iran of tomorrow all forms of sexual exploitation of women will be prevented. Polygamy will be banned. Physical, sexual and psychological violence against women will be considered a crime.

9. In the Iran of tomorrow oppression, discrimination and lawlessness concerning children and child labor will be banned.

10. The judiciary of the future Iran will be founded upon a uniform system of justice. It will be a two-tiered system based on the presumption of innocence, the right to defense, the right to seek justice, the right to be tried in open courts with the presence of the jury. In this system, their will be no discrimination on issuing judgment. The complete independence of the judges and the Bar Association will be guaranteed.

11. In the Iran of tomorrow the free market will be respected. Economic opportunity will be provided to the people equitably and all restrictions on self employment will be lifted.

12. We are determined to ensure that in the Iran of tomorrow every member of society will enjoy access to social services, including education, hygiene and athletic opportunities. Universities will be governed by independent councils elected by the faculty and students.

13. In the Iran of tomorrow the just right to autonomy of the people of Kurdistan will be recognized. We seek the eradication of dual discrimination against all ethnic minorities in Iran in the framework of the country's indivisible territorial integrity.

14. In the Iran of tomorrow, interference in the internal of affairs of other countries will be banned and others will be banned from interfering in our internal affairs. We demand peace, mutual respect in international relations, good neighborliness and the establishment of diplomatic relations with all countries of the world. The Iran of tomorrow will be a non-nuclear country and devoid of weapons of mass destruction.