TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said here Tuesday that accurate recognition of cultural weaknesses in areas such as society, politics, family, lifestyle and other areas and promotion of correct cultural trends is one of the basic requirements of the country’s cultural engineering.
Ayatollah Khamenei met with members of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, reminding that the main role of the council is the cultural guidance of the country.
He touched on the necessity of revolutionary reconstruction of the country’s cultural structure, saying that the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution should provide scientific solutions for the spread of correct and progressive trends by observing and identifying the weaknesses and false cultural trends in different fields.
“Despite the wealth and high level of the people present in this council, the collective identity of the Supreme Council has not duly emerged in proportion to its members,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding that the influence of the council in the cultural issues of the country must be strengthened.
The most important role and duty of the council is the cultural guidance of the country and society, the Leader said, stressing that the cultural guidance of official institutions, however, is different from the cultural guidance of popular organizations.
“The Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution can, by correctly guiding thousands of people’s organizations that are active in diverse and extensive cultural works, lay the groundwork for the formation of public movements in important categories such as spreading the culture of contentment and non-extravagance.”
The creation of such public movements for culture building or correcting wrong cultures is a part of cultural engineering, the Leader added. He said by “structure”, he meant the cultural structure of the society and the mentality and culture that governs it - in a word, the software based on which the people of the society act in their individual and collective life.
“The reason that the structure should be revolutionized is because the Islamic Revolution was miraculous through the leadership of the late Imam (Khomeini) and the movement of the people, and with its aggressive spirit, it changed the political, cultural and social foundations and false trends ruling the minds of the people.”
The Leader touched on the culture of “we can’t” as one of the false trends that prevailed in the society before the Islamic Revolution.
“The revolution gradually changed this mentality with constructive and creative movements, which resulted in fulfilling great tasks such as building dams, power plants, highways, oil and gas industry equipment and many infrastructures at the hands of young experts of the country.”
The Leader cited the culture of “infatuation with the West” and even the use of foreign words as another false cultural trend in the society, saying the Islamic Revolution changed it and turned it into a culture of “objection to the West.”
Ayatollah Khamenei cited the change of the culture of “conceit and fame” to the culture of “self-sacrifice” as another example of the cultural influence of the Islamic Revolution on people’s personal lives.
He said despite the change of many false foundations, various factors could weaken the aggressive revolutionary spirit over time.
“This issue should be taken care of and monitored seriously so that those wrong foundations do not rear their heads again,” the Leader added.
With the help of the intellectual foundations of the revolution and active youth, that revolutionary culture and spirit can be renewed once again and a huge cultural movement can be created, Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Ayatollah Khamenei listed the constant monitoring of the usually hidden cultural changes and their timely treatment as essential for the revolutionary reconstruction of the country’s cultural structure.
“If we lapse into weakness and backwardness in the continuous understanding of these changes and preventing their negative effects, the society will surely suffer, the most important of damage of which is cultural turmoil or the control of the country’s cultural affairs falling into the hands of others,” he said.
The Leader called correct cultural engineering as a fundamental task for reforming the cultural structure.
He said constant vigilance, accurate recognition of cultural weaknesses in areas such as society, politics, family, lifestyle and other areas and efforts to achieve scientific solutions to remove weaknesses and promote correct cultural trends are one of the basic requirements of the country’s cultural engineering.
The Leader said cultural engineering can help clarify the tasks of various institutions such as education, broadcasting, higher education, centers related to youth and also popular organizations.
“If these institutions neglect their important tasks, the society will enormously suffer,” Ayatollah Khamenei warned.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the revival of the scientific progress is an urgent need.
He touched on the brilliant results of the popularization of crossing the borders of knowledge in the previous two decades, saying scientific and technological leaps were among the blessed effects of this great movement, which must continue.
Ayatollah Khamenei said universities, scientific and research centers and related institutions should put scientific progress and leap at the top of their work so that the country does not miss the runaway train of science.