Leader of Islamic Ummah: Faithful Youth Must Demand Realization of Revolution Ideals

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - In a three-hour intimate, lively and fervid meeting between hundreds of students from various universities and Leader of the Islamic Ummah Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the representatives of various scientific, cultural, political and social associations and unions of students expressed their viewpoints, criticisms, suggestions and demands of the three branches of the government and other state bodies.   

In the meeting, Imam Khamenei described “the youthful spirit, the sense of an influential identity, the faith- and ideals-based motives of student movements and demand those ideals” as a source of hope for the future and stressed the need for “being revolutionary, remaining revolutionary and acting revolutionarily” considering its nuances and requisites. He reiterated, “Given the capacities and facilities of the country, we should continue the proud movement toward the ideals with greater power and pace.”

At the beginning of his remarks, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution described the day’s meeting and the remarks of the students, which contained a whole range of domestic issues as well as suggestions, grievances and objections, as a student meeting in the true sense of the word. He said, “The most important and outstanding result of this meeting was the revelation of the lively, fervent and motivated spirit and movement among students of various inclinations, and this genuine atmosphere is direct opposite to insinuations by the enemies, foreigners and some domestic elements that Iranian universities are filled with depression, despair and hopelessness.”      

Ayatollah Khamenei added, “The existence of such a spirit will lead to the student feeling effective and to speak and make demands based on this feeling.”

 He pointed to the remarks of the students in this meeting and their complaints against some of the issues of the country, described most of these grievances as valid and at the same time, reiterated, “The materialization of the wishes which are easily expressed by passionate youths is not so easily possible considering the realities but require work and effort and some preparations.”  

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed, “One of the necessary preparations for the realization of wishes is the presence of passionate and motivated youths on the scene and their thought and effort to remove the problems.”

Ayatollah Khamenei then pointed to some criticisms by the students of some institutions, adding, “The management of some institutions such as the Armed Forces rests with the Leader; however, in the case of the Judiciary and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), their management does not lie with the Leader although their heads are designated by the Leader and for example as with the IRIB, whether under its current management or previous managements, I had and always have a critical stance on various issues.”        

Ayatollah Khamenei added, “The fundamental solution to fixing the flaws and problems in some institutions such as the IRIB is the injection of young, active, faithful and motivated youths into these apparatuses and I have repeatedly underscored this point to them.”  

He stressed that there is no doubt that the Islamic establishment and the country is moving forward, saying, “I have repeatedly said that the future is better than today and belongs to the youths; however, the prerequisite for this is staying on the correct path and continuous and indefatigable movement.”  

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “This student meeting bore great hope and good tidings, namely the existence of a current of faithful, zealous, motivated and resolved students in universities.”    

In the same regard, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed, “Considering this reality, those who speak of despair and hopelessness with regard to the future and universities should rectify their thinking.”

Continuing, he launched into his main topic, namely how to “be a revolutionary, remain a revolutionary and act revolutionarily”  

At the outset, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution outlined the five stages of the Revolution, saying, “There was a wrong mindset from the beginning of the triumph of the Islamic Revolution that the Revolution will end after the formation of the Establishment and there should be a move to setting up institutions and bureaucracy. The wrong mindset believes the Revolution to be tantamount to tension, brawl or other illegal acts.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said the formation of “the Islamic and Revolutionary Establishment” constitutes the second phase, adding, “The Islamic and Revolutionary Establishment has goals, aspirations and values whose materialization requires the third stage, namely the formation of a ‘revolutionary government;’ a government which believes in the pillars of the Islamic Establishment.”    

He stressed that with the correct performance of the Islamic and revolutionary government and the realization of aspiration, the fourth stage, namely ‘an Islamic and revolutionary society’ will take shape, adding, “The Islamic establishment, Islamic government and Islamic society will pave the ground for the fifth stage, namely the creation of ‘Islamic and revolutionary civilization;’ therefore, the revolution unending and will always endure.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution subsequently stated the ideals of the Islamic and revolutionary establishment, reiterating, “One of these aspirations, which is very important is ‘national dignity,’ namely the sense of pride based on the realities within the society and not based on delusions and imaginations.”

Ayatollah Khamenei cited “national self-confidence,” “political, economic and cultural independence” and “freedom” whether as in “the freedom of thought, expression or action” as other ideals of the Islamic Establishment, saying, “Without freedom, there would be no spiritual growth and societal progress, but this very freedom requires law and frameworks, otherwise it would lead to entropy, instances of which are abundant in the Western world.”

Ayatollah Khamenei cited “the establishment of justice,” “material and civilizational progress thanks to technology,” “the growth of socialization ethics” and “setting the stage for the growth of spirituality and emancipation from lust and rage” as some other ideals, reiterating, “The realization of these ideals is not possible in the short term, but requires a long-term movement based on awareness and vigilance.”   

He reiterated, “Without ideals and absent continuity, the revolution will just be a change in the managers of the country from some people to others; therefore, the movement toward ideals must continue.”   

Summing up the second part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei approved the demanding sentiment and spirit of the students with regard to aspirations, saying, “I am aware of the issues of the society through various channels and am mindful of the affairs and taking all of the issues into account, I believe that the Islamic Establishment has advanced in all of these ideals in the past forty years.”

He added, “Even with regard to justice, where although we are behind in comparison with the expected progress, we have had some good progress in this sector and a comparison with the destruction and backwardness of the tyrannical times (pre-Revolution era) with the current conditions prove this issue.”   

Ayatollah Khamenei said the current freedoms in the country in the social, political, media and cyberspace realms is incomparable to the stifling atmosphere during the ousted oppressive regime of Mohammad Reza Shah, adding, “It might be asked ‘Why isn’t a so-and-so criticism discussed in the IRIB?’ but on the other hand, administration officials are repeatedly complaining about the critical contents of the IRIB and some news segments.”    

The Leader of the Revolution pointed to the palpable and visible progress in the areas of science and technology, adding, “We have also had such advances in the field of aspirations; indeed we should not be content with this limit and we should continue this proud movement with more power and pace considering the capacities and facilities of the country.”

The remarks of Ayatollah Khamenei among the students continued with a study of the obstacles in the path of following the aspirations and their causes.

He said a “revolutionary government” and a “revolutionary administration,” meaning the country’s management package, are among the reasons for the fulfilment of the aspirations, adding, “If there is any disruption in this important factor, we will certainly hit a snag in the course of the revolution.”

The Leader of the Revolution described influential strata such as academics, seminarians, artists and scientists as among the other reasons for movement toward ideals, saying, “Young forces as the propellers and locomotives of the general movement of the country can play a key role in the realization of the ideals.”

“The spirit of hope, resolve and planning” was among the other issues that Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out on the subject of the factors for the progress of aspirations.  

In this same regard, he reiterated, “Those who infuse despair and hopelessness into society may not be the enemy but their actions are the actions of the enemy.”

Elaborating on the obstacles to the realization of aspirations, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution pointed to one specific point, saying, “Some people ask ‘Why does to the Leader blame all of the problems on the evil US and UK?’ This is a wrong interpretation, because I believe most of the problems are domestic and internal, which, of course, the enemy exploit.”  

Ayatollah Khamenei said “misunderstanding the issues of the country and the issue of the Revolution” is among the obstacles to the realization of ideals, stressing, “University students and the faithful and revolutionary intellectual elements of seminaries and universities must work on this issue.”

The Leader of the Revolution said “not properly knowing the environment” and “confusing the enemy and friend fronts” as among the other obstacles to the endurance of the movement toward ideals, adding, “‘Passivity, sloth and impatience’ will also slow this movement down.”

On the same topic, he added, “In contrast, we also have ‘revolutionary fury’ and ‘revolutionary patience’ such that Amir al-Mu’minin (Imam Ali) as the complete and quintessential manifestation of justice exercised patience at times.”

“Not becoming engaged with destructive and divisive issues and excuses” and “Not being drawn into marginal issues” were among the other strong recommendations of the Leader of the Revolution.

As an example on marginal issues taking on central importance, he said, “On the issue of cyberspace and such-and-such messaging application something must be done and something is being done, but paying excessive attention to this issue is an example of engagement in marginal issues.”  

After elaborating on the domestic impediments to the realization of ideals, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution turned to the foreign barriers to this process.

“The instillation of despair and incapability in the Iranian society,” “the inculcation of the true democracy of Iran as being a dictatorship,” “false and unreal descriptions and distortion of historical realities such as about the corrupt, dependent, dictatorial, extremely weak and tyrannical monarchic regime,” “trivializing the victories and exaggerating the weak points” and “treachery and sanctions” were among the outside factor that Ayatollah Khamenei cited as obstacles to the acceleration of the materialization of ideals.   

On the same topic, he pointed to a wrong trend in ascribing managerial weaknesses to the Establishment, adding, “Some generalize the wrong actions of some managers to the country’s managerial totality and even attribute it to the Islamic Establishment to question the Establishment [‘s performance] and strict attention must be paid to this issue.”


As a kind of summary of his remarks to the students, the Leader of the Revolution said, “The Establishment is amid a great campaign and you, being in the centre of this all-out campaign, must sense and understand this confrontation and by understanding the opposite side, know your revolutionary duties and implement them.”

Ayatollah Khamenei stressed, “Revolutionarism in the sense of ‘the correct, wise, brave and motivated approach’ is only possible and meaningful in the framework of the Islamic establishment; therefore, those who question the Establishment and its foundations and values and wreak havoc and break structures are in fact engaged in destructionism not Revolutinarism.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described as very necessary the repetition and underscoring of ideals in the society and demanding them, reiterating, “If the widespread and massive anti-Revolution offensive on the public opinion does not face the highlighting and demanding of the aspirations, it will certainly wreak devastation.”   

He reiterated, “The army of faithful and revolutionary youths must engage in constantly and vigilantly demanding [the materialization] of the ideals and helping the fulfilment of the objectives of the revolution and erect a bulwark against the agitation of public opinion and elite and managerial environments.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said explicitness and courage in the same special language of faithful and revolutionary youths in demanding the realization of the ideals is absolutely necessary, adding, “Aristocracy and ideological attachment must be rejected and condemned in public opinion.”   

He said the preference of foreign products over Iranian goods is a serious mental problem in the society, adding, “A dramatic change must take place in minds, so that the notion of the superiority of foreign goods is erased from minds.”

The Leader of the Revolution said “demanding an Iranian-Islamic lifestyle” and “countering fecklessness, laziness, facelessness and religiophobia” are among the other necessities of a revolutionary student movement, stressing, “Of course, all of these requisites must be carried out with revolutionary restraint, vigilance, wisdom and patience.”  




/129