Imam Khamenei: Colonial powers try to persuade nations into ignoring their talents

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): On November 17, 2021, a group of Iranian academic elites and top talents in science met with Imam Khamenei. During this meeting, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution after hearing the remarks made by the academic elites and scholars, stressed on the destructive role colonialism has always played in keeping other nations back by trying to persuade them “to ignore their talents.”

Expressing his satisfaction with this meeting with the academic elites, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution described genius as being a divine blessing and reminded the youth to be grateful for this blessing.

Explaining the characteristics of a genius and outstanding person, His Eminence added, “That which makes an outstanding person outstanding is not merely talent and mental capacity, because many individuals have a high mental capacity but it is wasted in them.”

He mentioned that this divine blessing should be appreciated and it should be supported with hard work, “If a talented, gifted individual does not take advantage of and use this blessing and if they are lazy, uncaring and negligent, they will definitely not become an outstanding person. An outstanding person is a person who thanks God.”

Imam Khamenei reiterated that it is primarily up to the outstanding person himself to appreciate this blessing. Secondly, it is up to his environment, or in other words, his family, his teachers and ultimately the government and the officials of the country to help him in doing this.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed that Iran’s level of talent and intelligence is higher than the global average. He added, “One important part of the soft war waged by the colonizers at present and at all times has been causing the Iranian nation to forget its talents, to become indifferent about them or to cause the nation to deny its talents.”

His Eminence described Africa as being a continent of great historical civilizations, but he explained that the arrival of colonialism completely destroyed that continent. Referring to the book written by Nehru, he said, “Nehru said that before the British entered India, India was a self-sufficient country in terms of its own domestic industry - the industries in the early 19th century. However, when the British entered - first the East India Company and then the British government - they caused the people of India to feel that it was impossible to live except with British and foreign products. This means the denial of a nation’s capabilities.”

In analyzing Iran’s history over the past two centuries, Imam Khamenei stated that Iran too suffered from the same fate before the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

In examining the behavior of the colonizers in colonized countries, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution stated, “When neglect of one's power and capabilities becomes dominant in a nation, plundering that nation becomes easy. Notice that neglect and plundering come together. Negligence is the introduction to plundering, and plundering increases negligence... This holds true about countries that were colonized directly and also about countries like ours that were not colonized directly. This is why they want us to be negligent about our capabilities.”

Referring to the commotion surrounding Iran’s missiles and defense weapons, His Eminence stated that this is one of the propaganda efforts made by the enemies in order to make the Iranian nation disregard its own capabilities.

In speaking about the existence of certain hurdles and unfair actions that are sometimes taken against the academic elites in Iran, Imam Khamenei encouraged the youth to fight against and to eliminate the hurdles. He said that one of the ways to thank God for being outstanding is to use one’s talent in the way of God.

In defining certain stages that are involved in turning Iran into a scientific center in the world, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “The first stage is to bridge the gap that exists between us and other countries in terms of science. There is a gap to be filled.”

He went on to say, “Of course, we admire the scientific progress we have made as our statistics, which are based on global statistics, prove. This scientific progress is commendable and we have truly made progress. However, we are far from being on the frontlines of science in the world and this is due to the fact that they have held us back for two hundred years.”

Referring to the rapid pace of progress after the victory of the Revolution, Imam Khamenei defined the second and third stages as follows, “The second stage is to progress past the borders of global science. In other words, we should be able to offer new scientific aids and new scientific discoveries to the world... Then, the next stage is to pursue a new Islamic civilization.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution urged the academic elites to show creativity and innovativeness in scientific areas and stated, “Innovativeness means discovering a natural law that has remained undiscovered until today. Then on the basis of this discovery, you should produce science and create many new technologies. You must pursue this path.”

He called on the scientific community of the country to pay attention to the current issues of the country and to conduct problem-oriented research. He asked them to focus their attention on finding scientific solutions for solving problems such as environmental issues and traffic problems.

In discussing research in the area of artificial intelligence, His Eminence emphasized that one of Iran’s goals is to be among the top 10 countries in the area of artificial intelligence. He requested that scientists focus their attention on this area.

At the end of his statements, Imam Khamenei pointed out that Iran belongs to the youth. He described them as being the builders of Iran’s future. He asked the administration to employ the youth in various areas. He also called on the academic elites to ready themselves and to find their role in the management of the country.




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