In a meeting with thousands of Basij volunteer forces from across the country, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described Basij as a rare and problem-solving phenomenon and one of the honors of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini and stressed the promotion of Basiji spirit, namely motivation, enthusiasm and efforts to realize the goals of the Revolution and Iran’s pride and progress. He said, “The enemy has intensified its enmity from every side to destroy the resistance emanating from revolutionary and Islamic ideology, but resistant and faithful youth and men brought the enemies to their knees by eliminating the cancerous Takfiri Daesh group and demonstrated to everyone the concept of ‘We can’.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said Basij means mobilization and utilization of the potential of every single one of the people and active, diligent and innovate manpower and stressed that the Islamic Revolution would have faced a major defect and vacuum, had it not had Basij. He added, “As an efficient body, the Basij Resistance Organization is a symbol of the general public Basij, which carries important and crucial responsibilities.”
Pointing to the “new thesis” of the Islamic Revolution for humanity, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The new thesis of the Islamic Revolution was that human societies can achieve material and scientific progress and at the same time attain the approval of the Lord and safeguard divine values.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution reiterated, “The realization of such a society and achievement of material gains and lofty spiritual goals require dos and don’ts, where ‘injustice, tyranny, social gaps, ideological and practical corruption and immersion in lust’ are among the don’ts and ‘sincerity, conscientiousness, effort and endeavor, work and attraction of God’s approval’ are among the dos.”
Ayatollah Khamenei added, “The structure and mould that managed to bring together the collection of dos and don’ts was the Islamic Republic’s establishment.”
He said, “The Islamic Republic, with the help and guidance of God Almighty and through the vigilance and awareness of the late Imam and efforts of the nation, managed to put into force the Islam craved by Muslims within the framework of a political establishment and build a foundation.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution reiterated, “Indeed, this political establishment has a long way to go to achieve its lofty goals; however, attaining these objectives is possible through presence on the scene and reliance upon resolved and resolute human resources.”
He reiterated, “If members of human resources set the movement, goal and approach of Basij as a model for its efforts and activities in various fields, in actuality all of the country will be Basijis.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, “The main duty of the Basij Resistance Force is to create synergy through the coordination of the potentialities, determination and innovation of the people, particularly the youth, for the achievement of the lofty goals of the Islamic Republic, so that we may witness a forward movement in construction, production and progress by millions of people from all walks of life in various sectors.”
In another part of his speech, the Leader pointed to the relentless plots of enemies and criticized those who are disturbed by the repetition and reiteration of the title “enemy,” adding, “These negligent people do not understand that if the enemy finds any chance, it will not hesitate to deal blows; therefore, based upon a rational and eternal principle, we should not show any action, remark or gesture that would create for the enemy the impression that weakness exists within the ranks of Iranians and encourage it to deal blows and conduct hostile acts.”
Adducing verses of the Holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Khamenei said steadfastness in the path of God will result in reward in the hereafter and worldly reward, namely dignity, might and progress, and added, “The Islamic Republic has for 38 years been countering the enmities of the hegemony and Zionism and reactionarism, but today it is hundreds, if not thousands of times more advanced and powerful than the early days of the Revolution and this is the meaning of the worldly reward for perseverance and steadfastness.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described as vital the correct analysis of the realities of the country and reiterated, “The Revolution and the Islamic establishment must not be regarded as weakened by looking at some cases of distrust and disregard, because these issues have existed since the beginning of the Revolution; furthermore, the beautiful, eloquent and auspicious move by faithful youths is a reality that is more resplendent than ever.”
He described as one of the miracles of the Islamic Revolution the effectiveness of the young and faithful generation of the country in the region, despite not having seen and comprehended the era of the Revolution and the late Imam and the Sacred Defence in the 1980s against Iraqi aggression, reiterating, “You youths have succeeded in defeating and bringing the arrogant US to its knees.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution cited the Basiji spirit and sentiment as the true reason behind the destruction and expulsion of the cancerous Daesh tumor and added, “The enemies sought to create a problem for the resistance movement through this inhuman Takfiri group, but the faithful, enthusiastic and motivated youths entered the fray and brought the enemy to its knees.”
Criticizing those who urge others to be considerate against and stand on ceremony with world powers by spreading despair, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, “Several plots by the US, Zionism and reactionarism was thwarted in the region through the might of the Islamic Republic, including the destruction of Daesh. Isn’t that proof of ‘We can’?”
Ayatollah Khamenei described as a major feat the destruction of this inhuman Takfiri group through the efforts of the youth and faithful men and endeavors of those who approve of resistance, adding, “In some of the neighboring countries, the belief that Daesh could be destroyed did not exist; however, when they set foot on the field, they saw victory with their eyes and believed in the message of the Islamic Revolution, namely ‘We can’. Furthermore, the Revolution showed that it delivers its problem-solving and original messages to the minds of the nations in such a way and in action.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said the Basiji spirit, namely motivation, enthusiasm and endeavor, is the need of all scientific, economic, industrial and cultural sectors, adding, “Millions of people across the country are not members of the Basij organization, but are latent Basij members and this exceptional potential must be tapped into to do extensive work in various sectors.”
He said the safeguarding of Basij hinges upon the maintenance of the credible features of Basij, namely “discernment” and “identifying one’s enemies,” adding, “Through understanding various enemy ruses in the individual, family and social fields, the youth must foil these approaches.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described disheartening the youth and inculcating the idea of “We cannot” as among the important approaches of aliens and added, “Unfortunately, some have turned into a mouthpiece for the enemy and ignore the many cases of objective evidence of the capabilities of the nation and establishment.”
Ayatollah Khamenei cited “the toppling of the dependent and tyrannical monarchical establishment,” “the creation of the elements and grounds for power and progress in the Islamic establishment” and “the power of permeating the minds and thoughts of nations” as among the plentiful instances of the capabilities of the Iranian nation and added, “Henceforth, by divine grace, the Islamic Revolution will also continue moving on the path of the materialization of all its objectives through reliance upon its young and faithful generation.”
He pointed to the repeated and palpable experiences of the Iranian nation in the domain of “we can” and added, “‘We can’ isn’t merely an ideological concept and the Iranian nation has repeatedly witnessed and sensed it with its eyes and with all its being.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described endeavor and perseverance as among the most imperative and important requirements and means of progress and added, “You must keep your inner self, your surroundings and related elements steadfast, so that God’s promise of victory will materialize.”
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the objectives of the Revolution in various economic, social, scientific, political and cultural sectors, stressing, “By the grace of God, beloved Iran will achieve all of these objectives in the not-so-distant future and the young generation will resolve the economic woes, double the scientific progress and realize the Quranic and cultural concepts and contents in the society.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution once more urged vigilance against the enemies and added, “Innovative and faithful forces must be ready for the new ploys and approaches of the enemy and fulfil their responsibility through prevention and appropriate responses.”
In conclusion of his speech, he said, “I appeal to God Almighty to include in the company of those closest to Him the pure souls of the beloved martyrs who faithfully entered the fray in Iraq and Syria.”
Prior to the remarks by the Leader, Major General Mohammad Ali Ja’fari, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), pointed to the decline of Takfiri terrorists and marginalization of the US in regional developments and failure of the dependent and reactionary regimes, saying, “Today, friend and foe both know well that the Zionist regime no longer measures up to [issuing] a credible threat and any new war will lead to the elimination of the regime from political geography.”
The IRGC commander said the current priority of Basij is helping the people to overcome their livelihood problems and added, “Effective presence in rescue and relief operations to reach out to crisis-hit people and the promotion of the security of districts are among the priorities of Basij.”
Also, Commander of Iran's Basij Force Brigadier General Gholam-Hossein Gheibparvar presented a report on the agendas and approaches of this organization, andsaid, “The growth of the new faithful and revolutionary generation such as Hojajis heralds the transformation of Basij into a role model for Muslim nations and the oppressed of the world.”
At the beginning of this meeting, a number of Basij activists and representatives elaborated on their activities and expressed their viewpoints.
Misters “Hassan Esmaili – Ph.D. in medicine,” “Abolghassem Talebi – movie director,” “Jalil Arabkheradmand - neurosurgeon,” “Massoud Hassanzadeh – Judo champion,” “Ali Ghaffari – Ph.D. in chemistry,” “Saeed Sofizadeh – Ph.D. in agriculture” and Ms. “Marzieh Ezzati Vazife-Khaah – activist in women and family affairs” highlighted the following issues:
- The proposal for the formation of the Supreme Construction Council and obligating government institutions to utilize the potential of Construction Basij
- The need to pay particular attention to the deprived and border regions and support the activities of Jihadi groups
- The need to promote the Basiji culture in the sector of art and need for particular attention by Basij artists to the woes of the people
- Increasing the capacity of medical services to underprivileged regions
- Boosting Jihadi groups in industrial cities to activate inoperative units
- Making plans to step up the performance in the field of strategic agricultural produce with the Jihadi contribution of Basiji engineers and through the training of farmers.