Supreme Leader’s Speech to Students
10/08/2011
The following is the full text of the speech delivered on August 10, 2011 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in a meeting with university students in Tehran.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I am thankful to Allah the Exalted from the bottom of my heart who gave me another opportunity in the month of Ramadan to be in the company of you dear, motivated and dynamic youth and to listen to your comments for a few hours.
The points which were raised in this meeting by my dear brothers, sisters and children were exactly the same things that I expected to hear from you dear youth. In certain cases my humble opinion may not be the same as the opinion expressed by those who speak in the meeting. That is to say, I may not agree with certain opinions expressed in such meetings, but the spirit of thinking, making choices and expressing opinions with motivation is the same thing that I wish to see among our youth. I want you to think, choose on the basis of your thought and have the courage to express your opinion on the basis of your choice. What you say, demand or propose may not be realized in the short term. Your opinion may change over time as a result of a new experience. All of these things may happen and nothing is wrong with this. But the spirit of thinking, making choices and dynamism are what our youth need today.
I would like to start a discussion about something, but before that, I would like to make a few points about the comments that our friends made in this meeting. I would say the friends spoke very well. In particular, some of the comments were perfect in terms of logic and reasoning. I have written down the main topics that the ladies and gentlemen spoke about.
One of the friends asked me to express my opinion about the upcoming election. I believe it is too early now. I have a few things to say about the election, but I will say these things in the future.
One of the friends reported that a student organization has been formed in order to research economy of resistance. This is a very interesting thing to do. Such profound actions are exactly what the country needs. You should think, study and do research. Your research will definitely benefit yourselves even if it is not good or favorable for the organizations in charge. This is a very interesting thing to do.
Moreover, another friend reported that a research center has been established in Sharif University of Technology and that it is working on such areas. These are very important things to do. The motivation of our young and thinking students is very important for the country.
Of course some of the solutions which were discussed were completely right. I know for a fact that some of the points which were raised about economic issues are the same things that our government officials have in mind. They are working on these things. They are making decisions and taking actions, but not everything is reported, or appropriate to be reported, in the media. Anyway, it is not the case that our government officials are not concerned about economic issues.
Criticisms were made of certain governmental organizations. There is no doubt that some of these criticisms are valid. I would accept some of the criticisms, but many things that seem possible on an intellectual level are things that are not easy in practice. When you enter the arena of action, many obstacles appear in the way of your wishes, decisions and judgments. Obstacles should be eliminated, but it is not easy to clear all obstacles: sometimes it takes time to do so. It is necessary to pay attention to this point.
For example, regarding the regional issues one of the friends said that there has not been enough action. I would tell you that in general this is not the case. Regarding the regional issues our governmental organizations have taken good actions. The region is currently a big arena for muscle flexing and the organizations that are in charge of this issue are in the middle of the arena and they are making efforts. Certain things cannot be made public: making them public is either impossible or unnecessary or problematic. However, many things are being done. Pay attention to this point. The general atmosphere inside the country was also good in this regard. The presence of our students in different areas, opinions that are expressed regarding the regional issues - all of these things are helpful. These efforts are being continued and by Allah's favor, their scope will grow and improve on a daily basis. My purpose is to dispel the misconception that no actions have been taken. No, certain things are being done and the measures that are being taken are good measures.
The esteemed lady who spoke in this meeting raised a point about humanities that is completely right. First of all, what she said was absolutely well-thought-out and accurate. She said that behind the progress of humanities is the progress of thought and that thought comes before knowledge and experience. These are tried and true facts. This is why I am so sensitive about the issue of humanities. I never said we should not learn the knowledge of westerners who have made a lot of progress over several centuries. I never said we should not read their books. My point is that we must not imitate them. The lady rightly pointed out the same thing in her statements.
The principles of western humanities originate from materialistic thought. This is completely clear to anybody who has read the history of the Renaissance and anybody who has become familiar with the people of that era. Well, the Renaissance became the source of different transformations in the west, but our intellectual principles are different from western principles. There is nothing wrong with benefiting from the kind of psychology, sociology, philosophy, communication sciences and other fields of humanities that have been established or promoted by the west. I have repeatedly said that we do not at all feel ashamed of learning. We need to learn: both from the west and from the east. "Seek knowledge even if it is in China." [A famous tradition from Prophet Muhammad (s.w.a.)] Well, this is clear. We would only be disappointed and ashamed if our learning did not lead to knowledge, awareness and thinking. We cannot remain an apprentice for ever. We work under a master in order to become a master. Westerners do not want this. This has been the colonial policy of the west since old times. They want a kind of discrimination and division in scientific matters.
History is one of the branches of humanities. Once again I would like to advise you to read history. Read the history of the era of colonialism in order to see what great violence westerns caused in spite of misleading appearance and their claims of support for human rights. This is not to say they only killed people. They also made a lot of efforts to keep their colonies backward and to deny them the opportunity to make progress in different areas. We want to prevent this from happening. What I am trying to say is that we should learn humanities so that we can produce an indigenous form of humanities and export it to the world. Yes, when this happens, then every single person who goes out of our borders will be a source of hope and confidence for us. This is why I say we must not imitate westerners in humanities. This is what I want to say as far as humanities are concerned.
One of the friends pointed out that in his letter to Malek al-Ashtar the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) had told Malek to publicly punish wrong-doers. He said that I have recommended the opposite course of action. The Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) did not tell Malek al-Ashtar to disgrace people before their offences had been proven. The Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) never said such a thing and definitely such a recommendation is not Islamic. How can we publicly identify a person by name simply because an accusation has been leveled against him, an accusation that has not been proven? The accusation may be so serious that a group of people might consider the accusation as a fact without having any proof or logical reason to believe so. We have no right to publicly identify the accused by name. In a meeting with judiciary officials, I went further than this and said that even if a crime has been proven, public identification of the convict should not be the primary course of action. After all, somebody might slip and do something wrong, for which he gets punished, but his family, his children and his parents have not done anything wrong to be disgraced. There is no reason to disgrace their family unless this is done out of concern for the greater good. Yes, sometimes there is a wisdom to publicly identifying a convicted criminal by name, in which case nothing is wrong with doing so. This is our logic and there is no narration from the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) or any other infallible Imam (a.s.) that goes against this logic. We do not have any right to publicly identify people by name in websites, newspapers or other places simply because they have been accused of something. This is not at all lawful. It is necessary to preserve the dignity of people.
I was asked to express my opinion regarding the extent to which the policies specified in Article 44 of the Constitution have been implemented. Well, I cannot speak in detail in this regard. Each of the sections requires a particular explanation. But in brief, I would say that good things have been done. Of course this is not to say that what has been done is completely satisfactory. No, there are shortcomings, but certain things have already been done. Our government officials have presented a number of reports in this regard. It is necessary to trust these reports. That is to say, we must not assume that whatever government officials say is a lie. No, we should assume that they are simply reporting the facts. The assumption should be that the reports are accurate although they may contain a little exaggeration or lack of attention to negative aspects. However, official reports are often accurate. In any case, there are certain shortcomings and certain measures have been taken to address them.
As far as reforming the High Council of Cultural Revolution is concerned, I would say we have done what we were supposed to. It is true that there are special procedures for the High Council of Cultural Revolution. It should be noted that you want is usually different from what happens. But certain measures have been adopted in order to increase the benefits of the council.
One of the dear youth said that if the young generation wants to take on responsibilities, it should step into the arena. I confirm this. The young generation should step into the arena, but in what sense? The young generation should acquire qualifications - theoretical and practical qualifications. There are some people who have been involved in theoretical work and are scholarly, but they are not prepared to enter the arena of action and deal with operational problems. However, certain qualifications are required of somebody who wants to have a position in the government and thinks that this position is what is important, not rendering services. Of course rendering services may involve holding a position of responsibility. Being present in a position of power is a kind of effort to render services, the kind of effort that is more effective, more common and better. But such positions require theoretical knowledge and practical qualifications. They also require motivation to enter the arena of action.
When you decide to walk down a crowded sidewalk, you may walk into other people or they may walk into you. This is natural. If you do not want other people to walk into you or if you do not want to walk into other people, then you must stay home. Of course it is possible to stay home or retreat from public life and still do something positive. But when a person enters the social arena - be it political or managerial arenas - he should be prepared for problems.
You dear, pure-hearted and motivated youth stand in front of me and level criticisms against everything and nobody holds you responsible leveling such criticisms. As your addressee, I praise you - not verbally, but in my heart. But who do you think the people you are criticizing are? They are yesterday's good youth who worked hard and selflessly and now they are holding a position and doing their responsibilities. They may make certain mistakes and your criticisms may be fair. But this is the nature of managerial work. When you enter the arena of management, the same things will happen to you. A young man or lady will come and criticize you.
Currently you complain why the manager is old and his consultant is young. You complain that the manager should be young and the consultant should be old. For example, I receive letters in which people complain about a young consultant working for a particular organization. This is while the young consultant is a young student, a young MA or Ph.D. student or a young man who has graduated recently. And he has not made a mistake, yet he becomes the target of criticisms. If a person is prepared for such things and has such qualifications before entering the arena of action, he or she will definitely get a position of responsibility.
One of the dear brothers who spoke very well in this meeting said in the beginning of his statements that we are working like this so that they realize there are still people who want to work. Do not use the word "still". It suggests that the expectation was different. No, there was no such expectation. As far as the Revolution is concerned, our expectations are far beyond these things. Do not say "there are still people...." I will start a discussion later on which is partially related to this issue. As for the student movement for construction, I would say it is very interesting and absolutely necessary. It is a very good movement.
These were the points I wanted to discuss. I have written down a summary of the comments made by the friends so that I do not forget them later on. Of course the details will be available. They will be investigated and followed up. It is wrong to think that these comments will be forgotten. No, your comments will either be the focus of special attention and work, or they will at least be used to add to our collective knowledge and experience. That is to say, none of these statements and opinions will be ignored.
The next point that I want to raise is in fact the beginning of a discussion. By Allah's favor, you dear youth will follow up this discussion in your meetings. Over the past 6, 7 months, I referred to the stability of the Islamic Republic and the Revolution in several speeches. I said that the stability, continuation and establishment of the Islamic Republic has been among the main factors that has instilled hope into the hearts of the regional nations and Muslim nations and we can say that this factor has played a significant role in provoking the impressive Islamic movement in the region - the movement for freedom and awakening. Today I want to briefly discuss the stability, continuation and establishment of the Revolution. I want to explain the issue a little.
Great transformations may happen in a society. Political and social revolutions are examples of such transformations. Who gives rise to such transformations? An entire generation does this. Of course what happens is the result of certain conditions in which the revolutionary generation lives, conditions that did not exist for previous generations. The Islamic Revolution is a case in point. There are two possibilities. One possibility is that when a transformation is carried out by a certain generation, later generations of the same people follow up and complete the transformation. In this case, a permanent movement is created. "As for that which benefits the people, it remains in the earth." [The Holy Quran, 13: 17] That is to say, the movement is replaced with other movements and it becomes established. Of course when I say "later generations", I am not just referring to age-based generations. I am referring to those who pick up where the first group leaves off and they may be of the same generation in terms of age. The other possibility is that later generations do not follow up the transformation due to different reasons. They come to suffer from stagnation and deviation, in which case the transformation fails to benefit the people the way it should, but the damage that has been caused by the transformation remains for the people and it is not possible to make up for the damage.
I carefully studied the developments that have happened over the past 2 or 3 centuries - during which great revolutions have taken place - but I did not find a single case like the Islamic Revolution. I advise you to study the history of the same era: you may find a similar case. I did not find a transformation that started in a particular way and pursued the same path, the same goals, the same ideals and the same positions during later stages. They either did not continue at all, like the Russian Revolution, or they continued but with a considerable time lapse and with many hardships, like the French Revolution or the movement that led to America's independence, which might or might not be called a revolution. The initial goals were finally reached in one way or another, but with a lot of efforts and with a considerable time lapse. For example, the Great French Revolution has been called "great" because after this revolution two or three other revolutions happened in France over the next 50, 60 years, but the initial revolution was more important and more significant which was carried out in the year 1789 against the French monarchy, the same thing that happened in Iran. Of course the royal family that was ruling France at that time was far more established and powerful than the pathetic Pahlavi family. They were the Bourbons. They had ruled France for several hundred years and there were very powerful rulers among them. As I said the French Revolution happened in the year 1789.
The French Revolution was a popular revolution in the real sense of the word. That is to say, the people were present in it, just like our own Revolution. The leaders were also purely populist leaders with new ideas and they were after establishing a society pivoted on the role of the people. Of course what they had in mind was not ideological, but they wanted to have a populist government. They wanted to have a democratic government. The revolution took place in the year 1789. In only 3, 4 years, the first group that had carried out the revolution was sidelined by an extremist group. Some of the revolutionaries were executed and the extremist group rose to power. The extremist group was in power for 4, 5 years. Then the people reacted and remove them from power because of the radical way in which they treated the people. Some of them were executed and a third group came to power.
That is to say, three different groups of people came to power in 11, 12 years and each new group eliminated members of the previous group. Over the first 10, 11 years, famous political figures from different revolutionary groups were executed. Later on the chaos that resulted from these events - it is obvious that chaos would be created in such a country - exhausted the people's patience. In the end, a group with three members was formed and Napoleon was one of the members. He was a young army officer who had made certain achievements in Egypt. He became famous and came to dominate the other two members of the group. Later on he became king and emperor. The country that had suffered all those losses in order to remove a king from power, the country that had executed King Louis XVI and his wife turned back into a monarchy after Napoleon. Of course Napoleon was an active and powerful military leader and he did great things for France. He had non-military achievements as well, but his achievements were mostly military achievements. He annexed several European countries to France. He annexed Italy, Spain and Switzerland to France. He conquered several European countries and annexed them to France. Of course after the fall of Napoleon those countries regained their independence one after the other. That is to say, his conquests were not stable. But a country that had suffered all those losses to carry out a revolution and establish a populist government easily turned back into a monarchy. After Napoleon's exile and death, monarchy remained the system of government in France for around 50 years - that is to say, until around the year 1815. Of course there were very difficult and bitter upheavals. If you read 19th century French novels, including the books of Victor Hugo, Balzac and others, you will clearly see the signs of the upheavals and the hardships and bitterness that the people of France went through.
Of course later on in the 1860s, another revolution took place and Napoleon III who was a relative of Napoleon Bonaparte was removed from power. A republican government came to power. Later on the republic changed as well. There was the French First Republic, the Second Republic, the Third Republic and so on until the country turned into what is known today as France, which is a democracy. The French Revolution had to face all those hardships. That is to say, after its emergence the French Revolution did not have the capacity and power to integrate with the people. It did not have the power and capacity to establish its foundations among the people and to continue. This has been the case with almost every development that has happened in the world over the past 100-200 years.
The same things happened in America. The American Revolution - namely, America's liberation from the British government - took place 5, 6 years before the French Revolution, around 1782. Of course America's population was not more than 4, 5 million at that time. They started a movement and established a government. Certain figures - such as the famous George Washington and others - came to power, but the same things that happened to the French Revolution happened to the American Revolution as well. After the initial movement had been carried out, the American nation went through a lot of hardships. They went through extraordinary civil wars. At least one million people were killed during one of these civil wars, which was the most important civil war and it happened between North and South. In fact the war was between the north eastern part of America and the south eastern part because at that time the American government had just gained control over the western part. At least one million people were killed. Of course accurate statistics did not exist at that time. The statistic is based on the estimates of those who have spoken or written in this regard. Finally after the passage of around 100 years since America's independence, the American government gradually became established and managed to continue its movement on the original path.
Of course the crimes that were committed and the tragedies that were caused by the rulers and their armies are a long sad story: attacking the neighboring countries and massacre of Native Americans. I am sorry that our youth do not know about these events. When a person knows that the civilization, progress and wealth of certain countries is the result of a large amount of vandalism, misconduct, brutality and injustice in the past, he will gain a new perspective on what he has to do and on the duties he must fulfill.
The same things happened in the Soviet Union in another form. The goals that had been specified in the Soviet Union were not fulfilled. The goals were ideological in nature. It had been claimed that the Soviet government was a populist government - a socialist government, a government founded on the people and committed to fulfilling their needs. These principles were violated from the early years. After the Russian Revolution took place in the year 1917, the path of the revolution changed in 5, 6 years. The people were eliminated from government calculations in the real sense of the word. A communist party with millions of members came to power, and within the party power belonged to the few individuals who were at the highest levels of the party. During certain eras such as the Stalin era, power was in the hands of only one person. However, later on the central board of the communist party had control over everything in the country. A lot of pressure was exerted on the people. Many limitations were imposed. The people went through a lot of hardships. During those times, certain writings used to leak out of Russian borders. Some of these writings used to be translated into Farsi and I used to read them. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union many of these bitter and unpleasant dimensions were kept hidden. It was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union that many things became clear: what they had been doing and what limitations they had imposed on the people. The literary works of the time show the hardships that the people of Russia went through during the rule of the Soviet Union. That is to say, the revolution was totally derailed from the beginning. The revolution did not just fail to continue. No, the original promises were not fulfilled at all.
These are the revolutions that have taken place over the past few centuries. Of course there were also certain pseudo-revolutions in the Middle East region and mostly in North Africa and Latin America, which were not genuine revolutions. They were mostly coups. In the late 1950s and early 1960s a leftist revolutionary movement was started in North African countries - namely, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Tunisia. All these countries became revolutionary. But apart from a few exceptions, the same people who had carried out the revolutions started to stray away from the original path. The revolutions were leftist, anti-America, anti-England and anti-France. This was how they had encouraged the people to step into the arena. But the same people who led the revolutions to victory suffered from a deviation and developed a tendency towards colonial forces. One of these people was Tunisia's Bourguiba. He was the leader of the Tunisia Revolution. Basically he was the one who gave rise to the Tunisian Revolution. But he turned into a puppet for France and the west. He went off in a direction which was later on followed by Ben Ali. Similarly, in Egypt, Anwar Sadat was one of the supporters of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was among the people who had carried out the coup or what they called "Free Officers Movement". Basically, during the time of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Free Officers Movement had been started with the goal of liberating Palestine. But there was so much deviation that they made peace with the regime that has occupied Palestine and they hatched plots against Palestine. Finally, a few years ago, they even cooperated with the Zionists to put a siege on Gaza and to eliminate the people of Palestine. That is to say, the original movement made a complete U-turn.
The same thing happened in Sudan. I do not think you remember Nimeiry. I remember the time when he obtained his first official position. He was a revolutionary officer who actually saved Sudan from the clutches of the west. But the same person developed a tendency towards the west. He turned into a puppet for the west. The revolutionary people who are currently in power in Sudan rose up against him and removed him from power. Jaafar Nimeiry gradually changed from an anti-west element who had carried out a coup against his pro-western government to a western puppet and mercenary. The same is true of the others.
I remember that during the 1340s when Gamal Abdel Nasser was in office, we used to tune in to the Egyptian radio station "Sawt al-Arab" in the city of Mashhad. Gamal Abdel Nasser had travelled to Libya and he delivered a speech on Sawt al-Arab along with Jaafar Nimeiry and Muammar Gaddafi - who was a young man in his late twenties and had just carried out a coup. They used to get together and make radical revolutionary statements. Even Gaddafi used to invent slogans that filled us with excitement at that time. We were engaged in revolutionary activities and it was illegal to listen to the Egyptian radio station. We used to gather in a house at night: one of my friends had a radio and we used to use it to listen to Sawt al-Arab.
This was what the movements were like. That is to say, due to different reasons, revolutions deviated from the original path at the beginning or later on. In certain cases this deviation lasted more than several decades. In a country like France the deviation lasted for more than 70 years before they gradually managed to realize some of the original goals - and not all of the goals, but a portion of them.
The Islamic Revolution is an exception. The Islamic Revolution was a movement that was carried out with specific goals in mind. The goals that had been specified were general in certain cases and they were gradually broken down and made more specific later on, but the Revolution had clear goals. Demanding islam, fighting the arrogant powers, demanding independence for the country, bringing about dignity for humanity, defending the oppressed, bringing about scientific, technological and economic progress for the country - these were the goals of the Revolution. A look at the statements of Imam Khomeini (r.a.) and the main documents of the Revolution would reveal that the goals were rooted in Islamic texts. Being popular and relying on the faith, beliefs, motivation and passion of the people were among the essential pillars of the Revolution. This path has been continued. There has been no deviation. This is a very important point considering the fact that thirty three years have passed since the Revolution.
This is what I mean when I say the Revolution is stable and established. "Those who say our Lord is Allah, then continue in the right way." [The Holy Quran, 41: 30] The Iranian people said "our Lord is Allah" and they stood firm. This spirit was passed on to later generations. Probably all of the dear youth who made those enthusiastic and sincere statements in this meeting were born after the Revolution. None of you saw the revolutionary era. None of you saw the war. None of you met the Imam (r.a.). But the path is the same path. The goals are the same. The statements that are made are the kind of statements that would have been made at that time. I used to go to University of Tehran once a week and I used to arrange meetings with students. We used to pray. Afterwards I used to answer the questions of the students and deliver speeches. And this continued for a long time. The statements that students used to make at that time were the same statements that you make today. Of course today the comments are more calculated and well-informed. Emotions are as strong as they used to be, but the statements that are made today by our students are more rational than the statements which were made those days. This is very valuable.
The goals have been realized so far. What next? What I want to say is that from now on the responsibility of our young generation - who are mostly students - is to pursue this path with the same orientation and to move towards further development. This specifies our responsibilities in academic environments. You are the ones who should do the work. Our generation is growing old and weak, just like anything else in the world. You are the generation that should step in today. It is our youth and young students who should take on the responsibility. In the future you will have to shoulder the responsibilities in the country. You will be the ones who will make plans and decisions for the country. You can continue the same path. You can complete the movement that was started. You can utilize the capacities that have not been exploited. You can make up for the shortcomings. You can eliminate the flaws that you rightly point out all the time. Or you can choose a different course of action. Today the young generation can choose inaction. Of course such a decision will not be made. I have no doubts in this regard. Our young generation will continue this path because the movement enjoys religious roots and strong ideological foundations. For the first time in the history of revolutions in the world, a Revolution has been carried out that will present itself to the world and will pursue its original principles with all its power. And by Allah's favor, the Revolution will achieve its ultimate goals.
You are from our student organizations and from among our prominent students. In fact you are a sample of millions of students throughout the country. You are the ones who should make decisions. Of course my statements will be televised and published in our press. Naturally anybody who wants to listen to my statements will be able to do so. You should know that this auspicious movement which is based on these values depends on your motivation, determination, courage, power of thinking and strong willpower.
Thankfully the Revolution has made good progress so far. As I said, we have not strayed away from our goals. What happened to those great revolutions did not happen to our Revolution. The Revolution always overcame different events that happened. The Revolution managed to preserve its essence by relying on its principles and it has also moved ahead on the path of perfection. The Revolution has pushed the country forward. The advances that we see in different areas have been unprecedented in the country over the past few centuries. A few days ago I briefly mentioned some of these advances in a meeting with our government officials. Of course we had similar achievements in the old times, but the advances that have been made are unprecedented in recent centuries. You have helped the country achieve this position. The country should move forward. We are still taking the first steps. We are still at the beginning of our path. As I said, one of the most important characteristics of the Revolution is that it creates role models. You can pursue the goal of setting a role model for Islamic communities. Show them how to move forward and how to achieve what they want. This is possible.
Naturally student organizations have a role in this regard. When you look at the enemies - namely, the arrogant powers, the camp of oppression, the camp of big international capitalists, cartels and trusts and other such camps - you should see them as a unified front. This is my first recommendation to the student organizations that think about different issues related to students, the country, the Revolution and different other things. There is a unified front that is opposed to the Islamic Revolution, which is a spiritual, religious, cultural and ideological Revolution. When you consider them a unified front, many of their actions will reveal their real significance. This issue clarifies the responsibility of students and student organizations.
Imagine that assassinations take place in the country and people like Ali-Mohammadi, Shahyari and Rezanejad get martyred. Well, this is an act of terror. One way of looking at the assassinations is to consider them an act of terror, an anti-security operation. It makes you sad that the enemy or some terrorists have targeted a number of scientists in your country. Another way of looking at the issue is to consider the assassinations as part of a large-scale plot against the Islamic Republic. For example, in the eight-year war that we fought with Iraq, when the enemy artillery targeted a particular spot, it did not mean that the enemy was focusing all its attention on that particular spot. It meant that the enemy was using the attack as a means to divert attention from another attack. They call this strategy diversionary attack, which is in fact a trick. Another possibility was that the attack had been arranged to weaken our front at a particular place so that the enemy could carry out a large-scale operation. When you look at the issue from this perspective, it becomes clear that the enemy is after thwarting the scientific movement in the country. That is to say, the assassinations should be seen as a link in the chain of the enemy's plots. There are several integrated levels of action, including economic sanctions, promotion of corruption, promotion of addiction, security measures and undermining the faith of the people - both their faith in Islam and their faith in the Revolution. These are different inter-connected levels of action. One of these levels, which is a link in the chain, is to thwart the scientific movement in the country by intimidating and eliminating our scientists. This is the perspective we should adopt on the issue.
If we consider the enemies as a unified camp with divided responsibilities, then our sense of responsibility will take on a different form in the case of different issues. Regarding the assassinations, I believe that our student organizations backed down. That is to say, they were not as active as they should have been. You should have highlighted the issue. Of course this is not to say that you should have exaggerated the issue. This is because the issue was big enough, but you should have reflected the importance of the assassinations. I did not even see a poster of the martyrs prepared by our student organizations in an effort to keep their memory alive. No, this issue must not sink into oblivion. It is not something insignificant.
The issue of science in the country is another link in the chain I explained. This link is related to the essential thing which we have been pursuing for 10, 12 years. Knowledge is power. According to a narration, anybody who has knowledge will be able to dominate those around him. That is to say, he will be able to pursue his goals. Anybody who fails to gain knowledge will be ruled. This is the logic behind our scientific movement over the past 10-15 years. Fortunately this scientific movement has produced good results in the country to a large extent. They want to thwart this movement. You must be sensitive in this regard.
Therefore, this is the way we should think of the enemies. We should consider the enemies as a unified front. Then their support for certain movements, their aggression against certain other movements and their interference in our domestic affairs will all become meaningful. It will become clear what goal they are pursuing. This requires that we be vigilant against their actions.
One of the things that I would particularly like to tell our student organizations is that they should engage in profound, purposeful and planned intellectual and cultural work. Sometimes the enemy openly attacks our academic environment. This is where you should have an active presence, just like the issues that happened during the fitna of the year 1388 or similar other issues. Other times there is no open aggression. In such cases, our student organizations should play an important intellectual role. You should do profound work regarding logical issues, moral issues, historical issues and issues that are related to the Revolution. You should work on different issues of the country - such as the issues which were discussed by the friends. Imagine that you are doing research about the Central Bank, the health system of the country or the issue of economic jihad, which is very good, but you should not limit yourselves to these things. It is necessary to do profound work regarding logical issues. Sentimental work should be avoided in the case of political issues of the country. Of course emotions are good and pure. I am not at all opposed to expressing emotions and being emotional, especially in the case of our youth. It is neither possible nor favorable to suppress emotions. However, apart from these things, logical thinking is necessary, especially when it comes to political issues.
Avoiding corruption in cultural and artistic endeavors is one of the things that I seriously recommend. Be careful. I can mention a few examples in this regard. Of course all of them were done around 17, 18 years ago. At that time I was informed that there were traces of corruption in the ceremonies held by a certain student organization. I issued a message at that time, but the message was ignored. The issue did not end well. It is necessary to seriously avoid and counter moral and cultural corruption. Today one of the policies of the enemy is to promote corruption. You should fight this arrogant policy. Just as they plan economic sanctions, so they plan promoting corruption. This is not just a claim. I know for a fact that this is the case. They sit together and make plans. They say that it is necessary to promote corruption among youth in order to break the resistance of the Islamic Republic. That is to say, they make things political. It is necessary to counter this policy. Of course this should be done in an appropriate way and this is a very valuable form of resistance against the plans of the arrogant powers.
Another recommendation is that our student organizations should show cooperation and solidarity. I do not want to suggest that this should definitely happen, but it appears that there should be an organization to coordinate these student organizations so that they can move ahead in the same direction. Of course the general orientations are almost the same and this is good. I do not want to say that all these student organizations with their particular characteristics should become indistinguishable. No, nothing is wrong with having variety and difference in student organizations, but as far as general orientations and moving towards the goals of the Revolution are concerned, there should be a kind of coordination so that they can influence academic environments. Student organizations should be able to influence academic environments. Fortunately our academic environments are good. This is not to say that there are no shortcomings, deviations and mistakes. Is any organization free from these problems? Even in the most sacred organizations and environments, you can see certain deviations. But in general, our academic environments are considered to be dynamic, active, religious and committed to the principles. This is a very valuable thing. This is what our academic environments are like. It is necessary to benefit from this reality. It is necessary to influence these environments and to give them an appropriate orientation.
Another recommendation is that our university officials and student organizations should try to cooperate with each other. I have received reports that this cooperation does not exist in certain cases or that there are conflicts, which may lead to certain problems. For example, one of the friends mentioned the issue that happened in the city of Bushehr. They should cooperate. They should have solidarity. This is because the goals are the same - the same goals that the Revolution is pursuing. Our government officials are working hard. Everybody can see that they are making efforts. They think about the problems. They are trying as hard as they can. Members of our student organizations are motivated, dynamic and pure-hearted youth. These organizations should cooperate with each other.
I would like to raise a point about the issue of humanity which was also discussed in the meeting. My opinion about humanities is what I explained before: we need to develop our own theories. We must not just imitate the west. But a certain field of humanities may be totally eliminated from university or it may be sidelined. I do not have any opinion about these things. I neither reject nor endorse such measures. This does not concern me. The decision is up to our officials. They may have good reasons to eliminate or not eliminate certain fields. This is not my point. My point is that there should be profound work in humanities and that intellectuals should work on this issue.
I think our time is up. I said whatever I thought was necessary to say. May God protect you.
Dear God, by the blessedness of your saints, bestow Your blessings on our youth. Dear God, make our youth get closer to Islamic goals and ideals on a daily basis. Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (s.w.a.) and his household, fulfill the wishes of these youth. Bestow Your grace on our government officials and on all of us so that we can take big steps towards these ideals. Dear God, let these youth see the formation of a genuinely Islamic community and country. Make the holy souls of our martyrs and the immaculate soul of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) satisfied with us.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings
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