Statements in a Meeting with University Professors, Elites, and Researchers

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited Savior on earth.

Welcome. This meeting was very sweet and useful for me; various topics were discussed regarding different aspects of science and technology. I benefited from the statements of the brothers and sisters. Of course, many of these discussions require further examination; that is, they should be reviewed in forums, both the suggestions made and the criticisms raised. However, the very essence of this intellectual and scientific movement and the spirit of criticism—and in a sense, the spirit of aggression—among the university professors of the country is very desirable and sweet for me. I have actually requested this spirit from the professors in the discussions I have prepared today; I have demanded this very attitude. The matter that this lady mentioned at the end—the issue of grievance that occurred—should definitely be followed up by our friends in the office; [because] it is a grievance, and we must address it; they should follow up to see what the problem is. Of course, I have heard similar things in other cases and have reminded the esteemed minister that they must seriously pursue these matters.

Brothers and sisters! We are in the final days of the month of Ramadan. Make the utmost use of this one-month of spiritual exercise and the purity and tenderness that you naturally gain from fasting, prayer, and worship. Strengthening your relationship with the Lord is helpful, it opens doors. The matters mentioned here are small parts of our problems and the problems of our country, our revolution, and our system. There are many problems in various sectors that must be resolved with the efforts of you and me; our connection with God gives us strength, hope, and comfort. In addition, all these worldly discussions are a prelude; a prelude to spiritual elevation, to ascension; appreciate the month of Ramadan. This prayer, "O God, if You were not pleased with me in what has passed of the month of Ramadan, then from now on, be pleased with me," is an important prayer; if we have not been able to attain divine satisfaction and pleasure until now, we should ask God to make us deserving of His satisfaction or forgiveness from this moment on.

Ultimately, you who are the educators of the youth can also have an impact in the realm of your scientific and intellectual guardianship; you who are attentive, humble, and have a heartfelt connection with God, the youth will naturally move in that direction under your teaching and scientific guardianship. One of our problems in the university system is this; if our professors make progress in the areas needed by the country, it will have clear effects on the student body.

Another point I want to mention at the beginning of my speech; we are on the eve of Quds Day; Quds Day is very important. It is not merely that we are defending an oppressed nation that has been driven from its homeland and home; in fact, we are fighting against an oppressive and arrogant political system with this action. Today, defending Palestine is defending the truth; a truth that is much broader than the Palestinian issue. Today, fighting against the Zionist regime is fighting against global arrogance, fighting against the system of domination. As you can see, those who speak against the Zionist regime, that American official and politician feels animosity and hostility towards you; he feels that you have struck him; the reality is indeed this. Therefore, Quds Day should be regarded as significant, and the Quds Day march is also very important.

My main point today—which of course there is not much time; I will speak as much as I can and as long as I have the patience—is attention to the responsibility of teaching and the responsibility of being a professor; this is our main point. Ultimately, a professor plays a unique role in the university environment. It should not be assumed that these young people each have their own opinions and thoughts; no, you have an impact on the spirit of the youth, on the hearts of the youth, on the thoughts of the youth; you compel them to think, you compel them to act; you can have a significant impact. The role of a university professor and the teacher of young students is a rare and unparalleled role. If a professor feels a sense of responsibility, is committed, is positive-minded, hopeful, and has a firm resolve to act in the country, this will affect the student. If a professor believes in the national values of his homeland, the religious foundations of his beliefs, and the revolutionary principles of his ideology, it will affect the student. The opposite is also true; a professor who looks beyond the borders, has no belief in the national concepts and the common values of his country, and is indifferent, will naturally raise a similar student. We observed this during a certain period; I do not want to delve into the discussion; during a very bitter period—in the early Pahlavi era—we saw what kind of professors and what kind of students were raised, what generation emerged that if the revolution had not occurred, God knows what that generation, completely devoid of all authenticity—religious, national, and everything else—and those who had authenticity would have done to this country. The revolution truly saved the country from this aspect, as those who were educated, that generation that was raised in that environment and in that university, God knows what they would have done if they had come to power. Therefore, our point is this; we want to talk about the professor.

You see, dear brothers and sisters! The university, in the Western sense of the term, is what we have today—of course, we do not know much about our past; we do not know how the universities or schools that raised figures like Khwaja Nasir, Ibn Sina, Khwarizmi, Khayyam, Mirdamad, and Sheikh Baha'i were structured; unfortunately, we do not have accurate information about those educational systems and, in a sense, the university systems of our past centuries; this is one of our shortcomings—was invented by the West and exported to all countries of the world, including our country.

There are three important aspects to this type of university: one aspect is that it is a center of science; another aspect is that it is a center of innovation and a new perspective on issues, as it is a collection of youth, there is a new perspective on issues, a quest for novelty, innovation [exists]; the university is the center of this; a third aspect is its impact on the country and society. The university is among the most influential centers in the countries [of the world]; this is true in all societies and is not specific to our country; now this influence can be through cultural work, writing, and cultural production, or through political work, or through activist work; it has various forms of influence. These are the three aspects of the university.

Since the university was established in our country, the dominating powers—who were firmly in control of the country's policies, had complete control over all aspects and corners of the country; they had information, influence, and could do whatever they wanted—regarding the first aspect of the university, their work was to prevent us from reaching a natural movement commensurate with Iranian talent in the scientific aspect; they did not allow us to achieve it. There is evidence for this; these are statements that have documentation, and I will briefly present them later. Regarding the second aspect, which is innovation, they completely seized it; that is, they took full control of that aspect. In the third aspect, they tried to manage the university's influence on the outside environment; now in various forms of management; either through cultural institutions affiliated with them, or even through security agencies, they tried to manage it; that is, in reality, there has been a permanent, invisible— and in some cases, visible—domination over our university from all three aspects that are of concern.

However, in that first aspect, which we said is the scientific aspect and they tried to weaken it, it means that the scientific goods provided to our universities were second-hand goods, outdated and obsolete knowledge; that is, the Westerners never transferred significant scientific advancements; now we are aware of our own country; presumably, countries similar to ours—that were under influence and domination—are all of this type. For example, new sciences, new knowledge, and new disciplines that they reached through scientific advancements were never transferred to universities in countries like ours; instead, they transferred things that had lost their freshness and novelty. This, of course, had reasons; the reason why they brought these outdated sciences or these old technologies into this country and similar countries had its reasons. When a rival emerged for Western colonialism, the effect of the emergence of a rival appeared in countries that had connections with those rivals. For example, the communist regime, which was a rival to the established system of domination at that time—namely, the British and American powers—when it came to power, in order to expand its sphere of influence, equipped a country like India and its university with some sciences that the Westerners would never have been willing to provide until the end; or more clearly, a country like China was equipped with knowledge and technologies that it was impossible to obtain from the Westerners; because it was a political competition, it was about expanding influence. The Chinese learned about nuclear issues from the Russians; the Indians learned about nuclear issues from the Russians—from the former Soviet Union. These were not things that the Western academic and scientific system could transfer to countries like China or India, and certainly not to us. Therefore, scientifically, it was never the case that they allowed or helped or facilitated the scientific advancement of universities in countries like ours that were under influence and domination; rather, they even dealt blows; that is, if they found a prominent talent in these universities, they attracted them and brought them into their service. This situation existed for many years during the Pahlavi era.

The second aspect, which we said is innovation, they completely seized; that is, the university became a place for transferring Western values to society; that is, in various fields, it became a manifestation of Western values and became committed to Western values; they worked on this, and they truly seized this aspect in universities.

In that third aspect, we mentioned that they managed; they tried to manage; in some places with language, in some places with money and bribery, by giving various positions, and in some places with force. The SAVAK of Iran was equipped by American and Israeli forces to divert protesting students from their protests; and they did this work. Well, this was the situation of the university; that is, this is how the university progressed in our country.

However, despite all this, the university was among the most important centers that responded to the Islamic movement and the movement of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified). No established university system required this; it did not necessitate it, yet you saw the university entered the scene. Now, most of you did not experience that period, the significance of this response of the university to the movement of Imam Khomeini is not clear to most of you young brothers and sisters present here, but for us who witnessed that time closely, its significance is evident. This response occurred while leftist thought—Marxist ideas—were being promoted in the university. I want to tell you that Marxist ideas were promoted in the university; it was not that they were simply prevalent; no, they were supported; they were supported to counter Islamic thoughts in the university. At the same time that a few pages of Islamic pamphlets were pursued and scrutinized, Marxist writings were easily produced and sold in the university; they were in the hands of students and had no significance; leftist professors would come and express their views. That is, Islamic thought faced a major rival, which was the leftist Marxist thought, in the university that exerted pressure. From this side, there was leftist thought, and from that side, there were corrupting moral advertisements, that is, youth-corrupting tendencies, which were also deliberately promoted in the universities to divert the youth from the path of struggle, resistance, and Islam, and from what Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) called for; however, despite these two fundamental opposing factors, the university responded to the Islamic movement and joined it and worked for it, both during the struggles and after the struggles. If our student youth had not been present after the struggles, the construction jihad would not have taken shape, nor would the IRGC have formed. The main members of the IRGC were student youth; the main members of the construction jihad were university students; they came and entered the field. This indicates the favorable conditions that our university has. Of course, this has sociological aspects and similar matters that are worth discussing; those who are involved in these areas discuss them; we also have an understanding that we do not want to delve into those issues. But the reality is that there was a strong inclination towards Islam and the revolution among university students and youth.

Well, this is a very important opportunity. Of course, the revolution also helped the university a lot; the revolution truly saved the university; it saved the university from various deviant tendencies, it brought the university into motion, made it aware of the importance of science, and the importance of scientific innovation. Today, you see how much the situation of our students, our professors, and our research centers has changed compared to the past—compared to the pre-revolution period; that is, today the university is a center of scientific innovation, a place for scientific innovation. Of course, now the brothers here have discussed matters that we mentioned; these discussions are worthy of study and examination, but the truth is: today the orientation of the university is towards scientific innovation, and its advancements are noticeable. The fact that you say we are ranked fifteenth or seventeenth in the world scientific ranking—according to a certain citation index—means just that; this scientific movement in the country has given confidence. Ultimately, during that period, students played a role. Some professors also played a role, there is no doubt about it; we cannot say all professors, but some professors truly played a role in guiding the students; today, those active and fighting students—you and others like you who are in the universities—have become university professors and can play a role; they can work for the future of the university. I want to say that our professors must define and recognize their role in fostering growth in the university on one hand, and in safeguarding the values of the revolution and Islam in the university on the other hand; that is, they must play a role. You esteemed professors in the university must play a role. There are opposing motivations; a role must be played.

There are two types of role-playing: one is nurturing students and scholars, that is, role-playing on the student; the other is role-playing outside the university environment; we expect our university professors to have both types of role-playing.

However, regarding nurturing students, the importance of this work is very high. You want to prepare human resources for a very problematic future; our future decades are going to be very problematic; they have various issues; you see the rapid and decisive transformations in the world. Either these future transformations will lead to the breaking of this bubble of dependency, this historical barrier of dependency that has been placed on the Iranian nation, and we will emerge from this bubble and find our place, our dignity, and raise our voice in the world—we have something to say, the Islamic system has many new ideas to present—or this will happen, or God forbid, we will enter another long period of humiliation if our human resources do not possess these qualities; if our human resources think dependently, act dependently, are pleased with dependency, do not appreciate independence, do not recognize Islam and Islamic values, and lack self-confidence—if it is like this—then we will enter another long dark tunnel, like the one we experienced under Western domination from shortly before the Constitutional Revolution until before the revolution, from which we managed to save ourselves with great effort and struggle; we will again enter the same bitter and difficult process of the past. This depends on how you nurture this student today. Therefore, nurturing students is very important in my opinion.

You must prepare the youth for that first scenario; so that this youth you are nurturing today can be resilient, determined, faithful, self-confident, skilled, knowledgeable, deep, revolutionary, and religious in the face of future events and significant transformations that the world has in store—not just for our country or the West Asian region, although global transformations also affect here, or one of the important centers is here, but the transformations I am talking about are global transformations; there will be strange scientific, practical, political, and power-sharing transformations; this youth must be a resilient element to lead the country to the path it deserves.

One of the characteristics that this youth you are nurturing and influencing must possess is to be proud and confident in their national identity. The other day, in a meeting with the officials present here, I spoke about national identity; I said that national interests are realized and translated in relation to national identity. What appears to be an interest, but is fundamentally incompatible or opposed to national identity, is not actually a national interest; it is a national loss. You must familiarize this youth with their national identity so that they are proud of it and appreciate independence, which, of course, most of our youth today do not appreciate; well, the student youth have lived their entire lives in a country that has had no political dependency on foreign powers; from the beginning, they have always seen that the Islamic Republic stands firm against foreign powers that others do not dare to say, "You have an eyebrow above your eye"; this is political independence; they have seen this from the beginning, [therefore] they do not appreciate it; they have not experienced the period when whatever the U.S. said and before it whatever the U.K. said had to be realized in the country; they have not understood this period, so they do not appreciate independence; this must be conveyed to them. This is one aspect of the professors' role over the students.

The second role is in the issues of the country; as several of these brothers mentioned here, and I completely agree. One of the brothers said we have not pumped concepts of power, threat, security, and similar matters into society; of course, the importance of these is not that they should be pumped into society; the importance is that they should be pumped into decision-making centers; that is, these are decision-making processes. Yes, I also agree with this; this work has not been done, and it must be done. Or another brother spoke about approved plans and similar matters, or that brother who mentioned the flawed industrial work system over the past fifty years; these are fundamental issues; I said these are debatable; these must be discussed and refined. However, these are thoughts and opinions that must be conveyed to decision-making centers; decision-making centers must be informed about these issues and utilize them. One of the reasons I insist that this meeting be held every Ramadan and that [university professors] come and speak is precisely this; so that these discussions are heard, officials listen, decision-making centers are informed; you must make an impact.

For example, regarding the economic issues of the country, we talk so much about economic issues, and everyone agrees; we have raised the issue of resistance economy, and everyone from top to bottom confirms it, acknowledges it, and even holds meetings and committees for it, [but] the work does not progress as it should. Well, where is the problem? There is a scientific knot; who should untie this scientific knot? You who are in the university must untie it.

Or the issue of employment. This year we raised the issue of employment, discussed it; national production and employment. "Employment" or "national production" is a concept; everyone wants to do this work, and efforts are being made. At the beginning of the year, I mentioned in a speech; that is, I reported to the public about the work the government had done; they spent 17 trillion tomans for small or medium workshops or whatnot to help them get started, but it did not yield the desired effect. Where is the problem? A similar effort was made in the previous government, and a similar effort was made in the eighth government; it does not work. Why does it not work? Well, there is a scientific problem; there must be a problem in the work, there is a knot; this knot is a scientific one; where should it be untied? In the university. If this enormous liquidity that is reported to exist in the hands of the people is utilized for employment, you will see what happens in the country. Why is it not utilized? Now, the problems of banks were mentioned here; yes, well, these banking system issues must be addressed in decision-making centers.

Or the issue of Article 44—which is about strengthening the private sector and bringing private investments into the country's economy—we raised it several years ago, everyone praised it, and some actions were taken; however, I do not see its realization; I do not feel the progress of the work. It is not that they do not want to; they want to, and they are making efforts, but it does not progress; there is a scientific problem, I want to say this. The role that the university can play is to identify and untie the scientific knots in these areas and provide them to the country's institutions.

Or the discussion of social harms, the discussion of social justice, which we talk so much about social justice, we say so much about social justice, it is among the obvious and certain matters. Well, where is it? Has social justice been realized? The Gini coefficient has been rising day by day, it has worsened. Why? What is the reason? This correct thought, this correct demand, this correct goal, why does it not materialize in the country?

Regarding the macro management of the country, one of the gentlemen spoke here; I have actually noted it; one of the things you can do is to assist in the macro management of the country. That is, see, one of the problems with our macro management is that our management software becomes infected; that is, the enemy can introduce a virus into our management thinking that can ruin all our initiatives, actions, and decisions and lead them in a contrary direction. We can prevent this; we must prevent it; this is among the essential tasks. Or utilizing the overlooked capacities of the country.

The issue of elucidation; one of the tasks of professors is elucidation, and now I thank Mr. Parsania for discussing the 2030 document here; well, this must be elucidated; we have said something about this 2030 document in education, well, various discussions have been raised around it. This issue is very important; just as he pointed out, this is part of a higher-level document of the United Nations—the sustainable development document—of which this 2030 document is a part related to education. In fact, what they are designing and working on in this sustainable development document—of which this 2030 document is a part—is that they are creating a thought, cultural, and practical system for all the world. Who is doing this? There are hands behind the United Nations; UNESCO is a tool here, a showcase; there are hands sitting behind it, creating a system for all countries and all nations; a system that includes thought, culture, and action, and they are presenting it, and nations must all act according to this. One part of it is the education document, which is this 2030 document. Well, this is wrong; this is wrong; this movement is a flawed movement. Why? Who are these people who are preparing the sustainable development document? What right do they have to comment on countries, nations, their traditions, and their beliefs, saying you must do this, you must do that; all of these are "musts." The claim that it is not obligatory is superficial thinking; no, in fact, all of these are obligatory, and any of these that do not materialize will be counted as a negative point, and you will be placed at the bottom of the table; you will lose a certain score! All of these are like this; in fact, all of these are "musts," even if they do not appear to be "musts" on the surface. Why should foreign hands provide a model for our progress in the form of this sustainable development document or 2030 document and similar ones? Who are these people? This is your work, the work of universities, the work of professors.

Well, ultimately, there is much to say and little time; I think the call to prayer has also been made. May God, God willing, grant you and us the success to carry out our tasks. Just as you say, and I also confirm—this is how I say it—we stand firm, and by God's grace, with divine assistance, we have advanced this Islamic and revolutionary movement, and God willing, we will continue to advance it, and those who will be victorious will undoubtedly and certainly be us, by God's grace.