In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
First of all, I would like to welcome the dear brothers and sisters who have attended this sincere, warm, and significant meeting in this hussainiyya today. I express my greetings to the immaculate soul of Zeinab al-Kubra (a.s.) whose birth anniversary - that is, Nurse Day - is one reason we have gathered here today. I also pray to God Almighty to bestow a high position on our honorable martyr, Ayatollah Motahhari, whose demise anniversary is another occasion we have gathered to commemorate today.
Having considered the issue from various aspects, we can conclude that the three groups that have gathered here form the most important portion of our society. Teachers form the schooling system of our country. They have been entrusted with the task of protecting the children of our nation for many consecutive years. Teachers are the people who can etch the first conceptions of good and bad on the minds of our children. Maybe it is impossible to find another group of people in our society who play a more important role than our teachers - those who teach at primary schools, secondary schools, and high schools. Of course the professors who teach at higher education institutes - be it seminaries or universities - enjoy a very high position. However, school teachers play a unique role. Our personalities are shaped by our families as well as the teachers who educate our children for twelve years. Teachers enjoy a very high position no matter how you look at the issue. This of course makes it necessary that our society, nation, government, and government officials appreciate the value of teachers and know that teaching is a precious job. Teachers themselves must also appreciate their role and think of it as a divine blessing. They must be aware of the importance of the work Allah has allowed them to do.
From another perspective, nurses also form a very important and influential part of our society. Nurses and midwives play a very important role in the health system of our country. In the absence of kind and caring nurses, the chances that a treatment would be ineffective would be very high. Nurses are angel-like people who accompany patients through the long and difficult course of illnesses. Any of us who have suffered a severe illness or undergone a serious operation would testify to this reality. Nurses give life to their patients. That shows the importance of the role of nurses. The same is true of midwives. They play a vital role in the wellbeing of newborn babies and their mothers. I would like to advise our male and female nurses and our esteemed midwives to appreciate the value of their services. In fact, being a nurse is a great divine blessing. People should also treat nurses respectfully. Midwives and nurses themselves should have respect for their jobs. Self-respect and appreciating one's value is of paramount importance and it helps all people to better perform their responsibilities.
Laborers' role in society has almost been recognized throughout the world today. Although their rights are being downtrodden in most parts of the world, laborers play a pivotal role in the organized system of activities in all societies. Laborers use their brains, skills, and competence to produce the required products in a society. The more you think about these three groups, the more clearly you will realize their importance. Of course there are two sides to the labor coin: Laborers and managers or capitalists, who are both involved in the process and can both influence the final results.
I believe it is important for these three groups to appreciate their own value and keep their self-esteem. If you realize the importance of the work you are doing, there will not be any laxity or disappointment. When you realize the importance of your work for the existence of your society and country, a power will be created inside you that will overcome all external obstacles.
Therefore, my first advice is that all those who are entrusted with a responsibility should appreciate the importance and value of their work and do it enthusiastically, regardless of the personal or social reasons behind their decision to take on the responsibility. There is a tradition by the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) which I have quoted on several occasions: "God bless those who take on a responsibility and do it appropriately." That is true of me, you, all laborers, teachers, nurses, and other people who are involved in other professions. When we take on a responsibility, we must do it in a determined and appropriate manner.
There is a point regarding the issue of labor which I have stressed so far and which I would like to stress today as well: We must engineer our culture towards domestic production. That is a very important point. In the past, our nation was indoctrinated to buy foreign products. The fact that a certain product was manufactured abroad was taken as conclusive evidence that the product was high quality and preferable to domestic products. This culture must change. Of course the quality of domestic products, avoidance of over-advertising foreign products, encouraging national entrepreneurs, and conscientiousness of those who produce a certain product - skilled or unskilled workers or engineers - are important factors in this regard. The government, government officials, laborers, entrepreneurs, and the businessmen who import foreign products all have an important role to play. We must all work shoulder to shoulder to make domestic products preferable to foreign products. We must turn consumption of domestic products into a cultural value. When we buy a foreign product, we create a job for foreign workers and leave our own workers unemployed. All government officials, policy makers, all officials in charge of advertising, entrepreneurs, laborers, the government, and all related organizations must pay attention to this point.
Fortunately, today many of our domestic products are superior, and in some cases vastly superior, to foreign products. Why should we be indifferent to our own products? There was a day when those who were dependant on the government instilled the people with the poisonous idea that Iran was unable to manufacture the products it required. These ideas are now past their sell-by date. Those people made us fall behind. They destroyed the spirit of innovation and enthusiasm in our country. The Revolution changed this state of affairs. Today our youth have achieved the most complicated technologies. We have the required infrastructure today to make great achievements. All the current technological complexities are being handled by the minds of innovative Iranian youth. Our government officials are all after the same goal. Today everybody must turn back to domestically manufactured products. That must turn into a cultural value. Of course an important part of this endeavor depends on job security of laborers, a point which has to be taken into consideration. Laborers must feel that they have job security. Laborers, employers, investors, and managers must work collaboratively and advance their goals. That is all I wanted to say about the issue of labor.
Regarding the issue of education, I would like to put the main emphasis on the plan to reform the education system. The esteemed minister also stressed this point and I have constantly emphasized the need for reforms. Our education system is imitative and old-fashioned. There are two negative characteristics. First, from the very first day when the education system was founded in our country during the dark Pahlavi era, the needs and cultural norms of our country were not taken into consideration. Our cultural norms must form the basis of our education system, but we should also make the best of other people's experience. It is not a good idea to emulate the education system that is used in a certain western country - a system that may have been designed for a specific context and may be suffering from various shortcomings. Unfortunately, that was exactly what they did. That was pure imitation. Second, even the education system they emulated was old-fashioned. The people on whom the government officials of the time modeled themselves have moved on to newer education systems today. But we still use the same old-fashioned system. Reforms are necessary.
Fortunately, there is an opportunity for this overhaul today. There is stability in our country. Our government is stable. Many efforts have been made. The Iranian nation has managed to maintain its dignity and peace in these turbulent times. We have the opportunity today to deal with important issues. The esteemed minister said that they have been considering this issue. That is really good and praiseworthy, but their thoughts have to be translated into action. They must proceed to action. That needs courage and determined measures. That requires innovation. Therefore, one of the issues that has to be taken into consideration is fundamental reforms in our education system.
The next important issue that I want to discuss is moral education in our schools. Some people did not pay enough attention to moral education - which had been introduced into our education system at the beginning of the Revolution - and gradually sidelined it. Little by little, they reduced its importance and they almost swept it away. But you believe that moral education is important. Act on the basis of this belief and put it into practice. Moral education may be more important than schooling, but certainly it is not less important. The minds of our children and students are like a blank slate and they cannot be educated properly by writing figures on these blank slates. These blank slates (the children's minds) need to go through moral education. Moral education must receive due attention in textbooks, selection of teachers, teacher education, and programming. This can be done in various ways and I do not want to comment on how it should be done. It is better for the education system to avoid quantitative expansion, in terms of structure and manpower. This is because the quantitative expansion of the educational system is not a top priority now. Qualitative improvement is more important. Basic requirements must be fulfilled. We must train as many teachers and build as many schools as we need, but qualitative improvement is our top priority. Increasing the preparedness, experience, knowledge, and cultural awareness of our teachers are the important issues in our education system.
I hope Allah will bestow success on you. Thankfully, you are making efforts. We must appreciate your efforts. The achievements in our health, labor, and education systems, which were pointed out by the esteemed ministers, are considered among the honors of our government. These achievements have been accomplished by our government. I do not know why some people dismiss these realities out of hand. They do not want to accept these achievements. The more the number of these achievements becomes, the more proud the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic will feel.
I would like to mention a point now that is not related to different professions. Rather, it is related to the entire Iranian nation and the era we are living in. What I want to talk about is the issue of elections. My dear ones, for several years our nation was a passive element in the management of the country. Why? Because of the nature of the despotic governments that ruled in our country. Because of the nature of autocratic rule. In autocratic systems of government, the people have no role to play. The conditions of the people depend on the fairness of the ruler. If the people are lucky enough to have a slightly fair dictator - for instance, in the history of our country Karim Khan is often cited as a fair king - they will have a better life. But if people like Reza Khan, Nasser al-Din Shah, and other such kings rise to power, they will think of the country as their personal property and consider the nation as their passive subjects.
Take a look at the history of our country - not a period spanning several centuries, just the era after the constitutional movement. Constitutionalism was established in our country, officially at least. However, after the Pahlavi regime came to power, elections were considered a purely political gesture. Except for a short time during the time of Mosaddeq - for a period of two years when the conditions were comparatively better, although there were many problems - the Majlis was shut down and all its authority was returned to the government. Except for this short period, democracy was reduced to rubber stamp elections. Throughout the post-constitutional era, everybody knew that elections did not at all mean popular vote. The court and the kings selected a number of people and there was an internal competition among them. The government only wanted to send submissive people into the Majlis, people who could protect their illegitimate interests. The people were completely ignored. Throughout the entire period, rarely did the people go to the ballot boxes to make a change in the management of the country. There was no such thing. We used to read the word "elections" in newspapers: "It is election time now." We did not know when the elections were going to be held. The people were not given this information. When it was time for elections, they used to put up some ballot boxes in a place and then they used to create some commotion. Finally, they did what they wanted to. That was all. The people had no role to play.
The Islamic Revolution turned a new page in history. The people were assigned a role not only in electing MPs, but also in electing presidents, members of the Assembly of Experts who are responsible for electing the leader, and members of city councils who are charged with electing mayors. The people's opinions took on a determining role at all important decision-making points. The Constitution was founded on the same basis. Thirty years have passed now and I would like to tell you that this new trend has been strongly maintained until today.
Before the Revolution, Iran was a ranch on which foreigners could graze freely. The oil, markets, products, manpower, and other assets of this nation were exploited by hegemonic powers, sometimes represented by the English and some other times by Americans and Zionists. After the Revolution, the people were restored to power and they put an end to foreigners' interests. Naturally, the foreigners started to oppose the new government and they have maintained their hostility for the past thirty years.
One of the manifestations of their enmity is that they broadcast negative propaganda and try to reject and deny the valuable role of public presence in managing the country. On many occasions, they explicitly stated or implied that our elections had been rigged. That is not true. Compared to the elections that are held in many of the so-called democratic countries, our elections are both free and enthusiastic and our people take part in our elections with more enthusiasm. We have staged good and healthy elections with a high voter turnout. The enemies try to call the accuracy of our elections into question. As far the enemies are concerned, we do not expect anything but enmity. What else could we expect from the enemies?
But we expect more from our friends and those who are part of this nation. These people know the truth. They can see that our elections are being held accurately, but they still repeat the same things that our enemies say. This is what I expect: Those who are part of the Iranian nation and expect the nation to pay attention to them must not talk against the Iranian nation. They must not call the elections of the Iranian nation into question. They must not constantly shout that the elections are rigged. They must not say that our elections are not elections at all. I wonder why they are lying, why they are so unfair, why they deny the truth, and why they ignore all the efforts that our nation and government officials have made throughout these years. Why? Why are they so ungrateful?
The elections we have staged so far have been healthy. In a few cases, some doubts were raised and I had the issues investigated. In one of our parliamentary elections, there were some rumors and some people presented some evidence, claiming that the elections had been rigged. They expected to re-run the elections in a number of major cities such as Tehran. I had some experienced and informed people investigate the issue. They reported that the elections had been accurate. There are thousands of ballot boxes in an election and a few of them may have been manipulated. But this would not change the result of the entire election. Of course such events have occurred on a few occasions. Sometimes the results of our elections were in not in favor of the parties that were in power - the parties which are active in our country and which you are familiar with. This has happened many times. How is it possible to question the result of such an election? Much to the disappointment of the enemies, the entire Iranian nation will enthusiastically take part in the forthcoming elections. Our nation will go to the ballot boxes and will enrage the enemies with a high voter turnout.
Dear God, bestow Your blessings on this nation. O God, increase the success of this nation on a daily basis. O God, make our nation take steadier strides towards perfection. Raise the immaculate souls of our magnanimous Imam and our martyrs to high positions.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings