/facepalm.
Here’s a speech by this worthy. Its worth reproducing in full. I was reading this and wondering if I lived on the same planet as he does. Here is another one where he is talking utter bollocks.
The following is the full text of the speech delivered on August 12, 2012 by
Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in
a meeting with professors.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Dear brothers and sisters, welcome.
This is a very valuable and pleasant meeting and the atmosphere is spiritual.
Last night was the last Night of Qadr. Hands were extended to God in prayer,
tears were shed, hearts became tender, and by Allah's favor massive provisions of
spirituality were provided for this country, for our pious people and for
you dear people who have attended this meeting.
I deem it necessary to express my respect for you honorable professors because
of your scholarly position, because of the role that our esteemed professors play
in the progress of the country. The primary purpose of this symbolic meeting
is to sho w respect for knowledge, knowledgeable people and professors.
Of course, we will definitely make use of the comments which were made by
the friends and we hope that what was said in this meeting will be used in
large-scale decisions in the country. The points which were made in the meeting
were enlightening and very good, and I express my gratitude for those points.
However, the primary purpose behind arranging this meeting was to show
respect for knowledge, knowledgeable people and scholars.
Today's meeting has been attended by the esteemed families of
the martyred nuclear scientists - Shahid Ali-Mohammadi, Shahid Shahriari,
Shahid Rezaeinejad and Shahid Ahmadi-Roshan - and I would like to welcome
them in particular. The memory of these martyrs will never be wiped off
from the minds of our people or the history of our country.
There were very good points in the statements which were made
by the brothers and sisters, and I wrote down some of the points.
The majority of the things which were mentioned and stressed by the friends
are the same concerns that I have. And I am happy to see that the intellectual
current in our universities has been directed towards these main concerns.
The issue of preparing plans and investing in
research and fundamentals, both in humanities and in experimental sciences -
which was highlighted by some of the friends - is among my concerns and
it is necessary to take care of it. The issue of forming a relationship between
industry and university has been among my recommendations. Good points
were made in this regard and it became clear that good things have been
done as well. Some of the friends made essential points about the need to
establish a department for major industries and to specify the value of labor.
The issue of scholarly articles and ISI citation indexing was among the points
which were made in this meeting. This issue is among my concerns, among the
things that I speak about. It is necessary for the high-level managers and
decision-makers who are in charge of scholarly issues of the country
to sit down together and think about this issue and find the appropriate
solutions, some of which were discussed in the meeting. The need to
prepare plans for implementing excellent ideas is among the things that I
always highlight. The ideas which were put forth in this meeting were
very good ideas, but it is often necessary to prepare plans for operationalising them.
This is one of the things that should be done in universities.
For example, "ethics-based economy" which was mentioned by one of the friends
is a very good idea. It is absolutely correct, but what are the ways in which
it can be implemented. As for the need to form a relationship between
university and industry - which has been discussed extensively over the past
years and fortunately good measures have been adopted in this regard -
there are certain shortcomings.
What are the executive solutions for these shortcomings? This issue is among
our needs and I ask our esteemed scholarly professors to work it.
In any case, I am grateful for the comments which were made by the friends.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Rahbar for his competent
management and efforts. I ask the friends who work for my office, the President's
office or our ministries - the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and
the Ministry of Health - to work on the points which were raised by the professors
in this meeting. They should sit down together and think about these points.
It is necessary to make the best of this meeting in order to move forward.
What I want to say is that today nobody can deny the fact that the world is
entering a new stage. You can witness this. If there is enough time to
discuss all the points that I have in mind, I will present a general outline and
then I will pose a question.
Finally, I will of fer a few recommendations regarding universities.
The world is currently in a state of change. Global structures are changing.
If we wanted to find a parallel for current conditions of the world in the recent past -
in the past couple of centuries - the conditions of the world after the first world war
would be a good parallel. Of course, change is happening in the opposite direction
. After the first world war, the political and economic structure of the world
changed dramatically. Or before that, during the time Europeans started colonialism,
new conditions were created in the world and the general structure of the world changed.
The transformations that can be witnessed today are of this nature, a change
in the general structure of the world. Of course, the change that is taking place
is happening in the opposite direction, in the direction of a balance between
the powers and general capabilities of the east and those of the west or between
one group of n ations and the rest of the nations. It is clear that we are moving
towards a transformation. What are the signs of this transformation?
I would like to provide a few examples.
One sign is Islamic Awakening. Throughout our history, we have never
witnessed such conditions in Islamic countries. There is a general sense
of identity and awakening, not only among the people of one country,
but also among the people of different Islamic countries. We have never
had this before. This is a new development. This is a sign, a sign of change.
There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world.
There are tens of countries which are mainly populated by Muslims and
these Muslim countries are located in sensitive parts of the world.
For this reason, this awakening is not an ordinary event:
it is indicative of a change in the new structure, map and system of the world.
Another sign is the failed campaign of the west - led by America -
to further spread its hegemony over our region.
They started a campaign, but their campaign was unsuccessful.
The events that happened in Iraq and Afghanistan did not happen abruptly.
Those events did not take place as a result of a prompt and abrupt decision.
No, everything had been fully planned and the goal was to spread
full western hegemony over every part of this region under the leadership of America.
Of course, I insist on calling this region "West Asia", not "Middle East".
The terms "Far East", "Near East" and "Middle East" are not correct.
Far from where? From Europe. Near to where? To Europe.
This implies that Europe is the center of the world. Anywhere that is far from Europe
should be called "Far East", anywhere that is close to Europe should
be called "Near East" and anywhere that is in between should be called
"Middle East": this is a definition that was presented by Europeans themselves,
but this is not acceptable to us. Asia is a continent. It has an eastern part,
a western part and a middle part. We are in the western part.
Therefore, our region should be called "West Asia", not "Middle East".
Another sign is the efforts to have complete domination over this sensitive region.
Why is this region sensitive? The reason is that first of all, there are massive
resources in this region, resources that the west needs. And energy resources
are a priority for the west. Second, an Islamic wave has always been expected
in this region. They always vaguely expected this Islamic wave, especially after
the Islamic Revolution and the emergence of the Islamic Republic. And this
was because they wanted to take control of this wave. Therefore,
simultaneous domination over the valuable resources of the region and
the Islamic wave forced them to start a campaign to occupy this region,
but they failed in the middle of the way, just like somebody who gathers all
his strength to jump across a canal but does not make it and falls into t he canal.
This is a sign of change.
Another sign is the events that are currently happening in Europe.
The uncertain future that has cast a shadow over the wealthy countries
in Western Europe is a very important event. The economic problems are not
because of tactical errors, so we cannot say that they made the wrong tactical
move at a certain stage which led to these consequences. No, this is not the cause.
The cause is more fundamental. They made fundamental errors. What is
happening today is due to fundamental errors in the west's philosophical and
intellectual perspective of the world and mankind, errors in world view.
Of course, unlike tactical errors, the consequences of such errors
do not reveal themselves quickly. Unlike tactical errors, the consequences of
such errors do not reveal themselves in the middle term. The consequences of
such errors reveal themselves in the long term. These errors are revealing
themselves after the passage of two, thr ee centuries. And know
that these errors will bring them down.
Another sign of this fundamental change in the map of the world is that
America's credibility is declining. As the top country in the world in terms of wealth,
science, technology and military power, America enjoyed credibility for several
decades and this credibility increased America's influence. During the early
decades of the second half of the 20th century, America's credibility had reached its peak.
This was the case in our country as well. An elected government like the government
of Dr. Mosaddeq would run away from England and
seek protection from America.
Such things would increase America's credibility.
This was the case in the entire world. Today this credibility has completely disappeared.
That is to say, America is condemned in the world. The American government does
not enjoy widespread credibility among the people of any country.
"Death to America" is not just a slogan that is particular to the Iranian nation.
This slogan is chanted in many other countries as well.
A government that supports oppression, war, accumulation of weapons,
domination of nations, bullying and interference in the affairs of all countries
has acquired such a bad reputation and this is another sign. Therefore, change
in the world is inescapable. There are other signs as well,
but I will not discuss them in this meeting. This is one point.
The second point is that it cannot be denied that our country enjoys
a special position in this change, in this event, in this long story.
We are not just a bystander in this matter. Our country enjoys a special
position. What are the factors that give us this special position?
First of all, Islamic Awakening started in our country. Everybody is
saying this. Everybody understands this. Everybody knows this.
What we call "Islamic Awakening" started in our country over thirty years ago.
Lives w ere sacrificed, selfless efforts were made, and Islamic
Awakening reached its lofty goal - namely the establishment of the Islamic system.
Second, the Islamic Republic has been founded on a firm system whose
foundations are faith, rationality and affection. At the foundation of this
firm system, the faith of the people and government officials, rationality
and affections play a role. God willing, I will mention some examples of this
rationality if there is enough time. Such a firm system has been built and I
do not know of any other system in the world which is similar to this system:
a system that simultaneously relies on the faith of the people, on
ideological principles, on rationality and on strong emotions.
Third, a major portion of the wealth that the west is trying to plunder is
in our country. For a hundred years, the western world has been
feeding on this wealth - namely, energy resources, oil and gas. A few years ago
in a meeting in this Hussayniyyah, I presented details and statistics and
said that we make up around one percent of the world population,
but that we enjoy more than one percent of the essential resources
that sustain human life on earth. Apart from oil, we enjoy two, three,
five, seven percent of the global sources of essential metals. Moreover,
our sources of manpower and our
capacities are far more than this.
Our country enjoys capacities that exceed the global average.
Therefore, we are living in a country that enjoys such enormous natural
and human resources, resources which are needed by the west.
Today you see that they are after our talented youth, our outstanding people.
They identify each and every one of our outstanding professors, students
and elites and they try to take them away. We are suffering from certain
weaknesses and they successfully use these weaknesses to their advantage.
In any case, this shows the existence of this wealth in our country. This is another
factor which shows that our country enjoys a special and sensitive position in this global change.
Fourth, the Islamic Republic is intellectually productive, as opposed to
the inability of the west to produce novel ideas. After the introduction of
humanism and the schools of thought which rely on humanism, after the
introduction of the philosophies that originate from western humanism,
the west was no longer intellectually productive and it no longer produces
novel ideas for humanity and human life. We have new things to say about
issues related to human spirituality, social issues related to humanity and
issues related to government. When we say we have novel things to say,
it does not mean that the world will accept our novel ideas once we
present them. It only means that our novel ideas will create a new intellectual
current, a new wave in the world. Today we have presented "religious democracy"
in the area of political matters. We have presented "spirituality-based civilization"
in the area of general social issues. We have proposed "human dignity"
in different areas. We have put forth the idea that religion and life are intertwined.
These are novel ideas which have never been put forth in the world previously.
Even before the era of materialism and western humanism, even before secular
ideas had gained ground, religion was not intertwined with life. Not at all. It is true
that in certain parts of the world, the clergy were in power - the rule of the church.
In the context of the long and complicated history of Europe, there was a
war between the church and governments. But in any case, the church was
also in power. This does not mean that the life of the people was intertwined with
religion or that the laws and regulations for the life of the
people were extracted from religion.
There was no such thing in the west. There was no such thing in Islamic countries
either, except during the early years after the introduction of Islam. This is a
novel idea that we are presenting to the world. We are saying that religion is
intertwined with life. What is life? Life is politics, different activities,
trade, economy and everything else. This is a novel idea that we are presenting to the world.
