Imam Khamenei

The enemy seeks to end anti-arrogance struggle via cultural domination over Muslims

We have to deal with the huge pressure of global propaganda. Politics is at the service of culture. Economy is at the service of culture. Art is at the service of culture. All these things are being used in order to mount pressure on the culture of our nation. They are well aware that if they manage to change our culture, the battle will be over. If there is a battle against the arrogant powers, if there is a desire to resist and confront foreign interference, it is all because of culture. Every society has a culture and if they change that culture, everything will become theirs. For this reason, they have focused all their efforts on our culture. In the face of this cultural movement and in the face of this great cultural invasion which has targeted the spirit of our Revolution, the spirit of our independence and the spirit of our religious faith, repairing the caravanserais of the Shah Abbas era is our priority? This is a mistake in identifying the kinds of cultural work that are necessary. This is a flaw. Therefore, as far as cultural work is concerned, what should we go after? After cultural products. Fortunately I am in contact with our students and I arrange quite a few meetings with them and last week in one such meeting our revolutionary youth - who are the hope of our future - from different associations and from among our elites stressed the issue of producing cultural products. They explained how many cultural products we are currently producing and how many products we should produce. And you did something in this meeting and I might give the necessary recommendations later on in a private meeting.

There is a second point in this regard. After we identify the kinds of cultural work that our cultural budget should be spent on, we should go after the content. In the end we might decide to produce films. For example, we might decide to produce ten revolutionary films, ten films that would promote our revolutionary values. Similarly we might want to publish a number of books. What should the content be? How strong should it be? What scholarly and artistic content should it contain? These things are very difficult and subtle.

Aug 30, 2010

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