The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution met with more than a thousand members of student organizations and various student activists this afternoon (Tuesday) for two and a half hours. He called students and their activities and demanded an opportunity and value for the country. Referring to the enemy's strategy of making the Iranian nation pessimistic about themselves and their abilities, he said: Contrary to the enemy's desire, the student community should create a transformation in the minds and reality of Iranian society and then create a transformation in the minds and reality of the world in their long-term vision and efforts.

Ayatollah Khamenei considered the blessed month of Ramadan as the spring of spirituality and worship and said: Youth is also the spring of life; therefore, for young people, Ramadan is spring within spring, and this beautiful duality also existed during the Holy Defence. That is, the opportunity for ascension and excellence was available to all combatants, but young combatants, due to their youth, took the most advantage of the opportunity for excellence and ascension and reached such heights that Imam Khomeini (r.a.), with a lifetime of spiritual journey and mysticism, envied them.

He again emphasized the necessity of strengthening the epistemological foundations of students and student groups and added: This way, young people's hearts will be firm, their steps will be steady, and their movements will be continuous and tireless. Therefore, young students should work on epistemological issues by studying, contemplating, and pondering using the Quran, Nahj al-Balagha and books by intellectuals such as Motahhari, Beheshti and Misbah.

The Leader of the Revolution considered justice as one of the epistemological foundations and said: The actual example of justice is the elimination of inequality, but the vast scope of justice begins with the mind, heart, beliefs, and personal judgments and extends to fighting arrogance for international justice, but unfortunately, some people, with the slogan of seeking justice, do not consider fighting global oppressors as an example of justice-seeking.

In regards to freedom as another epistemological foundation, he said: In the Islamic view, "freedom from materialistic frameworks and desires" is the essential part of the issue of freedom that paves the way for progress, excellence and freedom from the shackles of stagnation, parochialism, nervousness, recoil, superpowers, dictators and other constraints.

Ayatollah Khamenei talked about another necessary intellectual and religious foundation, meaning "Expecting the advent" (Intiẓār al-Faraj[1]); He said: Expecting the Advent of Al-qa'im (a.t.f.s.) means believing that all defects and difficulties can be overcome with work, effort, and reliance on God.

In this regard, he added: Allah considers the triumph of truth and the victory of the oppressed as his definite law in the Quran, and we saw this truthful promise in the triumph of the Islamic Revolution and the victorious confrontation with all the arrogant powers of the world and enemies of Iran in the imposed war.

Ayatollah Khamenei continued his remarks in the meeting with student activists by expressing his opposition to those who consider student activities as a threat; He emphasized: my definite and certain opinion is that students, their activities and demands, their sense of responsibility for national issues, their motivation and enthusiasm to solve problems, and their inspiring presence in social events, occasions, and political ceremonies are an opportunity and a value.

Another part of Ayatollah Khamenei's remarks in this meeting was about expressing the harms of student activities.

He mentioned that polarization in the student community and the country, unrealistic views, and demands without presenting scientific and practical solutions are among the problems of student activities and referring to the speech of one of the students, he said: Contrary to what was said, that "we should have held referendums on various issues from day one so that sensitivity does not arise", various issues in the country are not subject to referendums; because every referendum gets the whole country involved for six months. Besides, where in the world do they hold referendums on all issues?

The Leader of the Revolution considered haste, seeing and focusing on negative points and ignoring positive facts, Irascibility, turning local problems into national problems, activity to be seen, and drowning in virtual space as other harms of student activities and added: Cyberspace is a reality anyway, but some accept a flood of news, articles and analysis from Cyberspace while they should try to publish correct news and analysis in this space and social networks.

Another recommendation of the Leader of the Revolution to students was to organize their movement with an outlook on distant horizons.

Referring to some students' question about the duty of a desirable and future-oriented student, He said: First, they should create a transformation in the minds and reality of their own society, and then create a shift in the minds and reality of the world.

Ayatollah Khamenei did not consider achieving this ability strange and unattainable and added: Today's student is tomorrow's political, economic and diplomatic manager, philosopher and researcher, political and media activist, and tomorrow's influential leader and thinker. And that today everyone says the world is changing; this change will be achieved by thoughtful minds and active people among whom are you, young believers."

He encouraged young people to move on the right path and strengthen their religious, scientific, intellectual and volitional foundations by referring to the possibility of negative change at the hands of deviant humans, saying: "Anyone who does more self-improvement in these matters will have more influence tomorrow."

Leader of the Revolution" called the title of "student" a companion of titles such as knowledge-seeking, youth, highly active, ambitious and novice, and humanistic feelings such as hostility to corruption and injustice, but said: For students, more importantly than any of this, is to have an intellectual foundation that you must strengthen. This strengthening does not mean stopping other activities and engaging only in merely thinking and studying, but you must simultaneously connect with religious resources, intimacy, and trustworthy and deep thinkers while studying.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, emphasizing that "everyone should be up-to-date in recognizing the enemy's plan and strategy", reminded that: whenever we utter the word enemy, some people insinuate with anger that we are looking to deny weaknesses and shortcomings, while weaknesses exist, but whether we understand it or not, the enemy is constantly working against the front of truth at the cost of spending money and facilities. To quote Amir al-Mu'minin, if we fall asleep in the fortress, the enemy has not also fallen asleep.

He called the enemy's up-to-date strategy towards the Iranian nation to be "self-pessimism" and, denying this claim that despair has a mostly internal origin, he said: A motivated student is made hopeless and pessimistic by a teacher or an uncommitted person who tells him, "With all these problems, why are you still staying here and studying? Leave the country and go."

The Leader of the Revolution added: Of course, the smooth and eloquent answer of a young, fighter, aware and intelligent believer is yes, there are problems, but I and my children and compatriots want to live in this country for many years, so I study and fight to solve the issues."

Another example of bad faith propaganda is "the insistence of hostile foreign media and their followers in some domestic media to alienate the Iranian people from their religious beliefs and revolutionary sentiments," said the Leader of the Revolution, adding: These instigations are taking place while this year's Qadr nights were more enthusiastic than last year, and there were more young people with tears in their eyes, Quds Day had a denser crowd than last year, and the crowd on the 22nd of Bahman was also twice as much, but they are doing things that go against their own conscience.

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to "The departure of some capitalists or entrepreneurs from the country" as another method to make people pessimistic and disappointed despite the presence of many entrepreneurs and the growing activities of thousands of knowledge-based companies, and added: The enemy's plan is to make the enemy pessimistic about ourselves, our government, and our academic environment.

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution said: We have shortcomings in the country, and my expectation and demand from officials to eliminate shortcomings is more than yours, but at the same time, we see that the country is progressing, and there are hundreds of thousands of young, faithful, motivated and thoughtful people who did not exist before.

He went on to point out an important fact and said: The Iranian youth is subject to severe hatred by the enemies, and all our young people should know this truth.

Ayatollah Khamenei, in explaining the reason for the hatred of the arrogant powers and Zionist cartels that dominate America and Europe with the Iranian youth, said: They are terrible towards Iranian officials, but they are worse towards Iranian youth because without the presence, work, and motivation of young people, officials can do nothing, and from the beginning of the revolution until today, it was these young people who carried out great works in various fronts and fields.

He recommended that the country's officials pay attention to and use young people and added: Of course, they have used many young people, but they should use more.

The leader of the Revolution, by naming the young Iranians who excelled in fields such as management, the military, and science and later died as martyrs, reminds us that their legacy lives on. Today, brave and dedicated Iranian youths like Hojaji, Sadrzadeh, Alivardi, and Ajamian continue to serve as engines of progress and driving forces of the country.

Addressing the youth, Ayatollah Khamenei said: Follow the bright path of the Revolution and Islam with seriousness, idealism, hope, and wisdom.

He likened idealism and attention to distant horizons to a motor that drives movement, hope as fuel for this motor, and wisdom as the command of the motor's direction, and in the final part of his speech, he said: A truly comprehensive scientific plan is lacking in the issue of universities.

He emphasized to the Minister of Science the importance of organizing scientific disciplines precisely and enrolling students based on the country's requirements. In Iran, specific scientific fields may not be in high demand or lack sufficient job opportunities, so we must prioritize fields that align with the country's needs.

Ayatollah Khamenei also expressed satisfaction with the deep, precise and good literary knowledge of the students who expressed their views and demands, saying: Of course, I don't entirely agree with some of the issues raised, but the quality of expression and order of the problems was deeply satisfying, and the Planning and Budget Organization must examine and address all the issues raised.

In reference to some of the points raised by students, he said: The principle of privatization and the executive policies of Article 44 is thought out, logical, and correct; because the government cannot manage all affairs. Of course, our expectations have not been met, but good things have also been done regarding privatization."

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also spoke about one of the student's criticisms about the economic meeting of the heads of the branches, saying: This meeting is not permanent, but has been planned for several purposes, including budget structure reform, and has not yet achieved the expected progress. In addition, the summit is a logical way to approach the convergence of views and problem-solving.

At the beginning of this meeting, eight representatives of student organizations expressed their views on the country's and university's issues. The representatives were:
 

Amir Mohammad Koolani, representative of the "Islamic Society of Students";

Mohammad Saleh Turkamaan, representative of the "Student Justice Movement";

Zahra Vafadaran, representative of the "Student Basij";

Morteza Khajavi, representative of “Jihadi Student Groups”;

Moein Rezeei, representative of "Independent Student's Islamic Associations";

Maryam Mohammadi, representative of "Student Publications";

Amirreza Bakhshipour, representative of "The Office for Consolidation of Unity";
 

Mohammad Mehdi Novinifard, representative of "The Islamic Student Assembly of Islamic Azad University."

"Effective strengthening of student organizations' relationship with the intellectual front", "Disadvantages of privatization", "Revival of social capital of the system", "Innovation in governance with new ideas and methods", "Compensating for weaknesses in the governance system to improve relations between people and government, including in elections", "Preserving the legislative dignity of the parlimant against consultative councils, including the Council of Heads of Power", "Problems with reproductization of capital", "Reviewing policies and structures criticized by public opinion", "Full implementation of constitutional principles to strengthen people's role and increase political participation", "Need for formulating religious democratic policies", "Uncertainty about legal and popular protest mechanisms", "Promotion of social mega-projects such as national housing construction movement through popularization and people's participation", "Creating appropriate conditions to increase women's social participation", "Participation of jihadi groups in directing resources of deprived areas", "Support for specialized jihadi groups, including in entrepreneurship and completing value chains", "Preventing stagnation of student publications", "Support for student thinkers and writers", "Necessity to eliminate monopoly in faculty recruitment process at universities", "Criticism of price increases", "Criticism of blocking platforms and internet platforms" and finally, "The need for transformation based on 'principles and structural reforms and innovative responses'" were among the topics that were discussed during the meeting between students from across the country and the Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

[1] - The expectation for the Reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi (a.t.f.s.)