"Before the Revolution I spent almost all my youth with other youth. When the Revolution achieved victory, I was about 39 years old. From 17 to 39 I spent the major part of my time with the youth – both the youth of academic environments and the youth outside these environments. I felt that Mohammad Reza Shah's regime had done something to attract the youth towards corruption – not just moral corruption, but also identity corruption.
Of course I cannot claim that the Pahlavi regime was purposefully attracting the youth towards corruption. The reality might or might not have been so. But I can confidently say that they had plans to manage the country in a way that required the youth to stay clear of political matters and daily life issues. At that time all groups of people, including the youth, were totally ignorant of political matters. The youth were mostly busy with their daily life problems. Some youth were working very hard just to feed themselves, and of course only a small portion of their earnings were spent on feeding themselves: They spent the rest on trivial matters.
If you read the books that were written during my youth about Latin America and Africa – like the ones written by Frantz Fanon and other authors of the time, which are still considered as reliable in the modern world – you would realize that the situation was the same at that time in Iran. No one was courageous enough to write about Iran during the Pahlavi era. But authors could freely write about, for example, Africa, Chile, and Mexico. When I read those books, I realized that the situation was exactly the same in Iran. That is to say, even young laborers who earned very little money for their hard work used to spend half of their money on alcoholic drinks, sex, and other such things. When I read those books, I realized that the same things were happening in Iran as well. The situation was truly bad at that time. The environment was not good for the youth. Of course the youth thought they were living in a different environment. That was because the youth are by their nature interested in vitality, hope, excitement, and similar things."
Statements made during an address to the youth; April 27, 1998
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