Supreme Leader's Speech in Meeting with Members of Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution

Supreme Leader's Speech in Meeting with Members of Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution (2013/12/15 - 20:27)

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on December 10, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with the members of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Supreme Leader's Speech in Meeting with Members of Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution First of all, I would like to welcome our honorable and dear brothers and sisters and I express my gratitude to you for your efforts, measures and attention to issues related to this important meeting. I ask Allah the Exalted to help and bestow success on you. We need the divine assistance and guidance to develop proper ideas and to be capable of implementing our decisions and what is appropriate. We should rely on and pay attention to Allah the Exalted and we should ask Him for His assistance. It is our responsibility to bring our determination and efforts to the arena and if we do that, God will bestow His blessings and assistance on us. By Allah's favor, the important cultural responsibilities that fall on our shoulders will be carried out with your determination and efforts.

I have written down a number of points to discuss with the friends in this meeting. The first issue is the significance of culture in society. Well, thankfully, all of you are cultural personalities and it is not necessary to discuss this issue with you and to expand on it. Thankfully, all of our officials are interested in culture and, primarily, they are men of cultural arenas. Dr. Rouhani, who is our president, is a cultural personality before being a political personality. It is several years now that we have known him for his cultural role. Since the early years during the 1350s until today, we have known him as a cultural personality. Thankfully, the heads of the three branches of government and all the officials of the country are the same and you are men of culture.

In fact, before anything else, you are activists in cultural arenas. Therefore, it is not necessary to discuss with you the significance of the issue of culture and the cultural values of a country. However, we ask for your great efforts in giving prominence to this issue because - thankfully - wherever you are, you have the opportunity to speak to and influence people. You have the opportunity to speak to people and you should benefit from this in order to make culture achieve the position that it deserves in society and in the eyes of outstanding personalities. This is very important. Culture is the identity of a people. Cultural values are the heart and soul of a people and they are the true definition of a nation. Everything is reliant on culture. Culture is not dependent on and subordinate to economy and politics. On the contrary, economy and politics are dependent on and subordinate to culture. This should receive attention. We cannot separate culture from other areas.

As the friends in this meeting pointed out, when we said that there should be a connection between culture and economic and different other issues, this is the meaning. It means that we should pay attention to cultural apparatuses when we want to make a fundamental move in areas related to economy, politics, construction, technology, production and scientific progress. Sometimes, we enter an arena and we carry out an economic task, but we do not pay attention to the cultural means and the cultural consequences of that task. Even if it is a great economic task, the necessary means and the harmful consequences of this task for the country should be taken into consideration. Culture plays such a role. We should always pay attention to culture in all affairs and we should not let this be forgotten and ignored.

Culture requires planning as well. We should not expect the culture of the country - mass culture, intellectual culture, academic culture and other forms of culture - to improve on its own. This is not the case. This requires planning. I will address the issue of supervision and other related issues later on. The officials of the country should not feel that they have no responsibility in the area of the cultural guidance of society. As Mr. President pointed out, the administration and officials are responsible for paying attention to the general process of culture in society. They should see where we are going, what is happening and what is going to happen in the future. If there is any problem, they should solve it. They should remove obstacles and destructive and corrupt elements.

If we have a skilled and experienced gardener pull up the weeds in a garden, this does not mean that we want to prevent the flowers of this garden from growing. You should allow the fragrant flowers of this garden to benefit from water, air, and sunlight according to their own nature and natural talents so that they can grow. But besides this, you should not allow weeds to grow. If weeds grow, they do not let flowers grow. This is the reason why we sometimes put up serious opposition to a number of cultural phenomena and why we expect the officials of the country - whether officials in charge of cultural or other affairs - and members of this council to prevent such phenomena. Therefore, preventing cultural disorders is not incompatible with preparing the ground for cultural values to grow and blossom. This is a very important point.

I have discussed these issues with previous ministers of culture and with the honorable Minister of Culture in this administration. I have spoken to Mr. Rouhani about these issues and I would like to discuss them with you as well. One of the responsibilities of the government in the area of supervision is that they should pay attention to cultural deviations. For example, there is an important malady and disorder in mass culture, namely the issue of divorce. If there is a promotion in the country which undermines the foundation of families, then you have to prevent this. If you do not want the issue of divorce to become prevalent in society, you should pay attention to this. You should prevent the thing which drags people, youth, girls and boys towards lack of interest in and indifference to family and one's spouse. This is definitely a disorder and deviation. This is one issue.

Therefore, we have a moral and legal obligation towards the issue of the culture of the country - particularly, mass culture. Of course, we witness that in their newspapers, writings and speeches, some people want to limit and eliminate the supervision of the government by attaching labels such as "government-based religion" and "government-based culture" to the government. They want to attach these labels to the government. These people say that the government wants to make religion and culture pivot around the government. What does this mean? A religious government is not different from a government-based religion. Officials are part of the people. Government-based religion means popular religion. The government practices the same religion that the people do. The government is responsible for promoting religion in a stronger way. Anyone who has any capability should utilize it. A cleric should utilize his capability, an academic personality should utilize his capability and an individual who has minbar and who can influence the people should utilize his capability as well. And the government of a country is more capable than all of these people. So, it should naturally utilize its capability on the path of promoting virtues and preventing those things which do not let virtues achieve growth. Therefore, like economy, the culture of society needs guardians.

You believe that economy should be in the hands of the people. We also believe in this and we have specified it in interpretations of the Article 44 of the Constitution. Well, this article does not mean that the government allows an individual to engage in an economic activity and to obtain a concession which will be to the disadvantage of the people. As government officials, you try to stop him, you eliminate concessions, you do not let individuals break the law, you combat financial corruption and you prevent misuse of governmental and public resources. That is to say, you prevent such problems.

This is while we believe that economy should not be based on the government. I myself have believed in this since long ago - that is to say, since the time our governmental officials were after government-based economy. But I did not believe in government-based economy and I used to explain to them why I was opposed to it. However, everyone believes in the supervision of the government. Besides, the participation of the government in economic areas is sometimes necessary. Imagine that there is no interest in a certain economic area and activity. Imagine that investors do not like to invest in this area. As government officials, what would you do in such a situation? You begin to invest. A certain product is needed in the country. As businessmen with economic outlooks, investors do not pursue this issue because it is difficult for them and because it is not profitable for them. What would you do in such circumstances? You begin to import or manufacture this product. Therefore, the government eliminates shortcomings, solves problems and prevents deviations.

Of course, the responsibility of the government in the area of culture is much heavier than its responsibility in the area of economy. I only cited economy as an example. Therefore, the participation of the government in the area of culture does not mean curbing the cultural activities of the people. As Dr. Rouhani pointed out, culture is reliant on the people. How can administrations organize all these mourning ceremonies, literary and scientific congresses and meetings in which people deliver a formal speech? Where is this possible? If administrations want to organize all public prayers and all the cultural programs which are performed throughout the country, they will fail. These things can be done only by the people.

But this should not make you feel that you should not interfere whenever you see a certain popular movement may cause social damage. It is necessary to interfere and provide guidance in such cases. Unfortunately, sometimes one sees that some people who do not have any responsibility in different sectors and organizations speak in an irresponsible and inexpert way. These people look at slogans which exist in western countries about cultural freedom and other such issues. But this is not the case. Westerners do not persist in their cultural values any less vigorously than we do and they do not show less resistance against opposing values. Rather, they preserve their values more vigorously than we do. For example, it is customary in such and such a country that presidents should drink wine in a formal dinner. If a president says that he does not want to drink wine, they will cancel the dinner. They do not hold it at all and this has happened. We have witnessed this in our own lifetime. All or most of you probably know about this. For example, if someone does not wear a tie and if they want to enter a formal party, they say that this is against the protocol and it is not possible. You have to wear either a tie or a bow tie. Well, what are these? These are part of culture. They are very biased and committed to their cultural values.

They consider the issue of intimate relationship between men and women as one of their principles. They have called this equality, but unfortunately, this is not equality. This is a harmful and highly poisonous relationship between men and women, which has infected all societies. It has infected western societies more than other societies. Now, their own thinkers have realized that this is a path which has no end. That is to say, this movement continues forever and the insatiability of human instinct in this deviant movement will drag people towards destruction. If you do not accept this, they will reject, disown and criticize you. They are more biased and more committed than we are, even to issues which are unreasonable.

Of course, this issue requires a long and detailed discussion. What I want to say is that they are more biased and more obstinate about their cultural values, which are in fact anti-values. Therefore, why should we not persist in being committed to our own culture? So, one issue is the significance of culture and attention to culture. Primarily, this responsibility falls on the shoulders of the officials of the country and this council is the main center for carrying out this responsibility.

The second issue is about this council. The Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution was one of the blessed innovations of our magnanimous Imam. First, it was "The Committee of Cultural Revolution". When the issue of forming the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution was discussed with Imam, he accepted it without any hesitation and he issued a decisive edict. When I was the president, I asked Imam about the bills and proposals that this council prepares. He said that these proposals should be enacted. That is to say, Imam ordered that these proposals become law. This was one of the important measures of our magnanimous Imam.

Dr. Rouhani was right when he said that this council is the best and the main center for cultural affairs. There is no government that does not need such a group of people. Thankfully, this is a great blessing. The greatest blessing of this council is you honorable members. The group of people who have formed this council - whether natural or legal persons - are really the best people for this council. Well, the head of the council is the President - that is to say, the head of the executive branch and his deputies are the Speaker of the Majlis and the head of the judiciary branch.

This is very important. All of these people are cultural personalities. They are interested in culture and they are among the sympathetic officials who have always placed a high value on the issue of culture. Moreover, the members of this council are important personalities. One of the most important characteristics of this council is that it has prevented culture from being influenced by political events and political parties. It is very important for culture to be liberated from monotony and routine procedures. Such a well-established base helps the cultural movement of any country to enjoy stability. This base is a steady and well-established position in all administrations. Perhaps, only a few members change in such councils, which helps to preserve the important combination of natural and legal members of the council.

Important measures have been implemented in this council which I may refer to in the remaining part of my speech. What I would like to stress in this part of my speech is that the members of the council should believe in this council. You should believe that this is the main center for cultural affairs of the country. You should believe that this council is in charge of commanding the main cultural and political issues of the country. The members of this council should pay attention to this.

Constant presence of the members of the council and the activeness of the council itself is a very important issue. That is to say, the council should not be closed. Well, naturally, the heads of the country travel to different places. This should close the council. The council should work constantly. The rules and regulations for the management of this council require that this council should never be closed. This is one issue which is related to this council.

As for the proposals of this council, I firmly believe that basic and fundamental issues should receive attention when preparing these proposals, as was the case particularly during the recent years. In previous years, we were concerned about spending a considerable amount of time on unimportant issues in the council. When I myself was a member of this council during the 1360s, we used to have the same problem. At that time, a considerable amount of time used to be spent on unimportant issues such as issues related to a certain individual and there was no time to attend to major issues. Thankfully, in the present time, the situation is different.

The third issue is the issue of implementing proposals. The proposals of this council should be implemented. If you formulate certain rules for implementing proposals, then so much the better. If there are not specific rules for implementing the proposals of this council, the presence of the President and the head of the legislative branch for the purpose of enacting laws - wherever it is necessary - and the presence of honorable ministers and officials in charge should mean that these proposals must come into effect.

For example, when the comprehensive scientific plan - one of the great things that this council did was to prepare this plan which was a very good thing to do and for which good rules and laws were formulated so that it can be put into practice - is prepared, each executive organization should make efforts to put it into practice. Take the case of the cultural engineering plan. I have heard that this plan is about to finish or it may have finished by now. For this plan, certain rules should be formulated so that it can be put into practice. The same is true of the Islamic universities plan, the educational system reformation plan - the honorable Minister of Education should feel committed to implementing this plan - and the strategic plan of the outstanding personalities of the country. I myself took part in a meeting on this plan, which is very important. Well, it is the responsibility of the honorable Vice President to follow up this issue.

Anyway, members of cultural organizations should accept and believe that this position is a like a military base. Some people may not like the word "base" because it is a military term. They may say, "Base is a military term. You do not abandon your military thoughts even when it comes to cultural issues". However, the truth of the matter is that if cultural arenas are not more important and more sensitive than military arenas, at least they are not less important than military arenas. You should know this. Of course, you are aware of this and you know that cultural arenas are like military arenas. Military bases cannot directly command. That is to say, no unit is directly under the command of a military base, but these units can be available to a base. In military terms, these units can be under the operational command of a military base. When we establish a military base, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, for example, says that my units are under the operational command of such and such an organization. It says that a specific organization - whether the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps or any other organization - is in charge of providing back up for this unit - but this military base is in charge of commanding this unit. You should think of it like this in the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.

Anyway, you should adopt a serious outlook towards the plans that you have prepared. These plans, some of which I referred to are very good. Of course, there are more plans. Several other plans have been prepared by this council. However, it should not be the case that the council prepares and submits certain plans to the Ministry of Science, the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education - which are in charge of such plans - and then it stops supervising them. This is not to the benefit of the country. It should continue to supervise these plans in order to see how they are implemented and it should do it either until the end or until they are in process. Therefore in my opinion, the responsibility of the council towards the issue of implementation is very heavy.

The fourth issue that I would like to discuss is the issue of cultural invasion. A few years ago, we addressed the issue of cultural invasion, but some people denied any attack. They said, "What invasion?" After that, they gradually saw that not only do we speak about it, but many non-western countries also address this issue and they say that the westerners have launched a cultural attack on them. Then they saw that the Europeans too say America has launched a cultural invasion on them. Perhaps you have heard or read that the Europeans say, "What a great cultural invasion American movies and books have launched on us. They are overshadowing our culture". Finally, because other people had acknowledged this issue, what we said was also acknowledged by the people who had not accepted this issue at first. Cultural invasion is a fact. Hundreds - perhaps it is thousands, but because I want to be cautious about figures, I say hundreds - of audio and visual media networks, Internet websites and writings targeting Iran! They are not doing other things. Rather, they are targeting Iran. Normally, a national radio or TV station works on its own programs, but this is not the case with such media networks.

The goal of such networks is our country. They broadcast Farsi programs and they coordinate them with the local time in Iran. They follow up our issues and they prepare their programs according to these issues. So, it is quite clear that their goal is Iran. They themselves acknowledge this and they do not deny it. Therefore, cultural invasion is a fact which exists. They want to influence the minds and the behavior of our people - our youth, our teenagers and even our little children.

Internet games are an example. The toys which are imported into the country are another example. I became very angry with a number of officials over the issue of producing interesting and meaningful local toys and I asked them to follow up this issue. Of course, it seems that a decision has thankfully been made in this regard. By Allah's favor, you should follow it up so that it can be put into practice.

Once, our friends in a very active and responsible organization began to make some good dolls. They were good dolls and this provoked the opposing side - that is to say, the opponents and foreigners. They said in a mocking tone that the Iranians have made these dolls to replace Barbie and other such dolls. However, these Iranian dolls did not work. I said to the officials in charge, "Your problem is that you have put on the market a boy or girl doll with a specific name, but our children do not know your dolls at all". When I speak about cultural synergy, this is what I mean. The doll that they made was just a doll. This is while our children know Spiderman. Our children know Batman. They have made 10, 20 movies about it and our children have seen them. When they see in a shop, the doll of the character in the movie, they ask their parents to buy it for them because they know this doll. This is cultural synergy. I said to these officials that, besides making these dolls, they should have made 10, 20 children's movies so that this doll could have become familiar for the children. If they had done this, children would have bought them. But, when it is not introduced to children, it will have no market appeal and it will fail, as was the case with these dolls. So, we should pay attention to such issues. Anyway, cultural invasion is a fact.

Another issue is the issue of books for learning foreign languages. In the present time, teaching foreign languages - particularly English - has become very common. Teaching other languages is much less common. There are many language schools and educational centers for this purpose. All these teaching books, which have been prepared on the basis of modern and good methods, promote the western lifestyle. They promote the English lifestyle. When our children, teenagers and youth read these books, they do not learn the language only. It is possible that they even forget the things that they have learnt, but what influences them most is the western lifestyle that they become familiar with as a result of reading such books. This will not be forgotten. Westerners are doing such things.

Well, what should we do in the face of such things? Two things are necessary to counter what they do: One is hard work and the other is innovation. These two important factors should be taken into account. We should work and our work should be innovative. Of course, the responsibility of the IRIB and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is very heavy in this regard. I have spoken to Mr. Jannati about this.

One of the things that we should do is to produce and translate books. You should take a look to see what books are published throughout the world which are good for the Iranian youth to read and know about. Then, you should have them translated. You should spend money to translate these books, as other countries are doing this. I am interested in books, I read many books and I have detailed information about new books on the market. These things are being done. Investors give a lot of money to translators to translate certain books. I asked one of these investors, "Does the translator come to you or you go to them?" He said, "No, we go to translators". He is right. They find translators to translate certain books. Well, you should do this too.

You should translate and write books and you should make movies. Today, thankfully, we have enormous capacities for making movies. Not long ago, I said to Dr. Rouhani that I have seen a movie which, to be fair, was like Hollywood movies in terms of style and method. It is important that in the present time, we have this capacity in the country for delivering messages in the proper way. Movies are interesting. Cinema is a very interesting and attractive and an excellent media outlet. In the present time, no media outlet is like cinema in terms of influence. Therefore, you should work on such areas.

You should carry out innovative work. The same is true of toys, computer games and dolls. These are measures which are necessary. Guns have become a common toy for our children, but the Americans who are pioneers in this regard are regretful now. They are desperate and they do not know what to do. Our children used to play "alakdolak" which involved a lot of movement and which was good. They used to play "gorgam be hava" which was a good game, which involved physical exercise and which was fun. They used to play a game in which they drew lines and hop through the lines [hopscotch]. Our children used to play such games. But now, we have made them sit at the computer and play computer games. As a result, they engage in neither physical nor mental activities. In such games, the minds of the children are possessed by the other party. Well, you should invent and promote games. You should promote the games which I referred to and which have been popular among our children for a long time. This is one of the tasks. You should promote such games.

We should not always look at westerners in order to copy the games that they promote. I do not want to speak about our sports, but we have many games and sports which belong to us. As I said before, chowgan [polo] has been invented by us, but other countries claimed that it was they who invented it. You should promote such sports. Varzesh-e bastani is a very beautiful and artful sport. So, you should promote such sports so that children turn to such games. Our children - my grandchildren, for example - know the names of football players and stars throughout the world and they constantly mention their names. One says that he is the fan of such and such a team and the other says that he is the fan of another team. One wears the clothes that a certain foreign team wears and the other wears the clothes of another team. However, they do know the name of any contemporary Iranian scholar. If you ask them who such and such a scholar is, they do not know him. Well, these things are bad and we should really work on such issues.

I will tell you that in order to confront issues related to cultural invasion, we should know the phenomenon in the beginning of its arrival or even before it enters the country. Imagine that a certain phenomenon, idea and style is becoming popular throughout the world. It is clear that this will come to our country as well because today's world is the world of communications and interactions. We cannot build a wall to protect the country against such phenomena. Before it enters the country, you should think about a wise way to confront it.

This does not mean that we should always reject such cultural phenomena. Sometimes, there is a phenomenon which we can accept. Sometimes, there is a phenomenon which we can improve. Sometimes, there is a phenomenon which we can define certain guidelines for. These guidelines can solve the problem. Acting late and finding and thinking about cures when it is late have such consequences. In such circumstances, when you are faced with such problems, you cannot solve them. So, I am not saying that we should always adopt a defensive position. Of course, when an attack is launched, one should engage in defense. There is no doubt about this. However, my advice is not that we should always adopt a defensive position. We should adopt firm, offensive and proper positions.

Anyway, the worst thing one can do in the face of cultural invasion is to adopt a passive position. The most inappropriate and harmful thing is adopting a passive position. Those cultures which attack us should not make us adopt a passive position. If nothing can be done about it, we can say, "There is no specific measure that can be adopted in this regard". But we should not adopt a passive position. Being passive and giving in to the attack of the enemy is a mistake that should be avoided.

The fifth issue that I have written down to discuss is the issue of knowledge in universities and research centers. Fortunately, I noticed that Dr. Rouhani has paid attention to this issue. The issue of knowledge is very important. First of all, our scientific progress during the past 10, 12 years is a fact. Some people did not believe this and some people even denied it. When the nuclear issue and the issue of centrifuges and other such achievements had come to the fore in its early days, a dear person - the friends in this meeting know who I am speaking about, but I do not want to mention his name - wrote a letter to me and said, "These claims are a lie and you should not believe them". I think that he spoke about both nuclear achievements and the issue of stem cells. Now, I do not exactly remember what he said. His letter is among our papers. He said, "You should not believe the people who deliver such reports to you. These are not true. These are lies". This person himself is a knowledgeable person and I trust and like him. However, he did not believe in such achievements. Of course, we believed it and thankfully, our belief was substantiated on a daily basis.

After a few years, a meeting was held in this place and a number of friends in this meeting were also present in that meeting. That person looked at me and said that the achievements that our youth are making are not welcomed in universities. And he began to complain that our youth are making many achievements, but they are not appreciated. Then, I remembered what he had said a few years back about his distrust of such achievements. He said, "No, these achievements are real. It is true that the rate of our scientific progress is 13 times faster than the global average. Even other people and our opponents have acknowledged this". Thankfully, our youth have managed to accomplish great feats in different areas and they have managed to move forward. My advice to the honorable Minister of Science and the Honorable Minister of Health is that they should not let such cycles - particularly this scientific cycle - slow down.

One of the things which blocks the path of such movements is to politicize universities. Mr. Faraji Dana [the Minister of Science and Technology] and Mr. Hashemi [the Minister of Health] should pay attention to this point. You should not let universities turn into an arena for political movements. What I want to say is that we should believe in youth as an engine for initiating political developments. When I said this, the gentlemen who claim they play an important role in improving universities criticized me for tempting and enthusing youth. This is not the case. I believe in this idea. In any society, the young generation - particularly young students - is the engine of any social and political development. This is in their nature, but this is different from turning universities into an arena for promoting political orientations when some of these orientations are opposed to the essence of the Islamic Republic or careful when they are opposed to the orientations that the Islamic Republic adopts. You should definitely be careful about this and you should prevent it.

I would like to raise another point in this regard. Our people have chanted the slogan of "we can". You should not let this "we can" be turned on its head. The people said, "We can reach the high peaks of science. We can become a point of reference in the world. We can liberate ourselves from scientific humiliation". And they have done this. Our enemies and opponents admit that Iran has become scientific, not only in the nuclear area, but also in other areas. They are acknowledging this. You should not let this "we can", which is giving fresh impetus to the hearts and souls of our youth, be destroyed. You too should say that you can and you should pursue this "we can". We can establish the new Islamic civilization and we can create a world which is full of spirituality and which moves forward with the help and guidance of spirituality. We can do this and by Allah's favor, we will do it.

The sixth point that I have written down is the issue of the Farsi language. I am very concerned about the Farsi language. I am very concerned about it. Several years ago, we worked on this issue, we took action and we gathered a number of people to address this issue. I have noticed that no proper course of action is taken in this regard and there is a full-scale attack against our language. The people are constantly using foreign words. A number of people think it is humiliating and beneath their dignity to use a Farsi or Arabic word instead of a Latin word. They think it is beneath their dignity. This is a very bad thing. This is part of mass culture which should be fought against.

Friends, one day Farsi was the dominant scientific language from Constantinople of that time to the Indian Subcontinent. In the Indian Subcontinent, outstanding personalities used to speak Farsi. When the English came to the subcontinent, one of the measures that they adopted was to prevent Farsi from being the common language. They prevented Farsi from being popular with different tricks and plots which are particular to the English. Of course, Farsi is still common and popular there. There are a number of people in India who love Farsi. I have been to India. Also, a number of Indians who love Farsi have come to Iran and I have met them. But we, who live where Farsi is the most popular language, are forgetting it.

We are not adopting any measure in order to promote and develop it and in order to counter foreign interferences. Little by little, new foreign terminology is becoming common. Every day, a new word becomes common which we have not heard before. Sometimes, the people use a word and I say to them that I do not know what it means. When they define it, I begin to understand that this word has entered our language. This phenomenon has gradually become common among the masses of the people. This is dangerous.

They write Farsi words with Latin script. Well, why should we do this? Who wants to read it? Those who speak Farsi or those who speak foreign languages? They write the Farsi words with Latin script. Another example is that they give foreign names to domestic products, whose pictures have been sent to me. What reason do we have for doing this? Sometimes you want to export a domestic product. In such conditions, as well as Farsi, you can use the language of the country which you want to export your products to. Farsi should be used in addition to that foreign language and it should never be removed from our products. But when a product is manufactured inside Iran, why should we use foreign words? Why should we use foreign words on schoolbags that elementary students carry to school? The same is true of toys. I am really surprised. This is among the issues towards which you have a great responsibility. I have certain examples in mind about such use of Farsi which I do not want to mention. They give foreign names to companies, products and shops. They constantly use foreign - particularly English - words.

I feel that this is dangerous and it is necessary for officials and members of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution to follow up this issue in a serious way. The administration should confront this issue in a serious way. The meaning of confrontation is not that officials should immediately - tomorrow for example - behave in a harsh and aggressive way towards this issue. You should confront this issue, but you should do it in a wise way. You should see what you can do to prevent this. So, this is another issue that you should pay attention to.

The issue of humanities is another issue which is very important. Of course, Dr. Haddad Adel, who is absent today, delivered a detailed and good report to me about the measures that were adopted in this regard by the council that he is in charge of. Well, a number of friends complain about the unproductivity of such measures. These issues should be addressed in the meetings of this council. In my opinion, the best thing to do is to establish a research-based framework for the development of humanities. This is a fundamental piece of work which should be done before anything else. So, this is another issue.

The last issue is the issue of social problems and the cultural reasons behind it. I referred to the issue of divorce, addictive drugs, financial corruption and crime. Well, one of the effects of cultural invasion, which is launched by the enemies, is the increase of armed robberies from banks. We saw such robberies for the first time in movies. Mr. Zarghami should pay attention to this issue. The same robberies are being committed in our country. Well, people learn from such movies. We should know what we are doing. We should understand the harm that such things inflict.

Another issue in this regard is the issue of population. One of the dangerous things that make us shake with fear when we think deeply about it is the issue of population. I think that I spoke in brief to Dr. Hashemi about this issue. I also spoke at length to Dr. Rouhani about it. You should adopt a serious outlook towards the issue of population. The number of youth is decreasing. We may reach a point where there is no cure for that. We should not have this idea that the issue of population is one of those issues which we can think about in 10 years from now. After a few years, when the current young generation becomes old, there will be no cure for that. By Allah's favor, you will be successful in doing these things. I hope that God will protect and bestow a long life on you. By Allah's favor, you will pay attention to the issues that I discussed.

I like to say a few things in memory of the late Dr. Habibi. The previous time we gathered in this meeting, Dr. Habibi was also present although he was ill. And I thanked him for his presence.

I hope that God will protect you. You should really appreciate the value of the scholars, the outstanding personalities and the young people who are among you. They are really valuable and thankfully, they enjoy youthful enthusiasm, energy and innovation.

Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings