Media and Their Function
According to the Supreme Leader, “today, the media throughout the world promote thoughts, culture, behavior patterns and, in fact, the cultural identity of people and play a determining role. They can be influential in improving the living conditions of human beings. They can be influential in promoting peace and global security as well as morality and spirituality among individuals and they can make them happier. They can also be an instrument for waging destructive wars. They can promote bad habits and improper behavioral patterns among people. They can deprive nations of their human and national identity and they can revive the feeling of discrimination in them. Today, media play a very great role.”
The importance of contemporary political and social developments in the light of media developments is an effective matter that can promote new values and introduce them to the various human generations. This is the case with cyberspace and social media both of which are playing a prominent role in today’s world. This is why this part of the media has been addressed by the Supreme Leader. For example, he states: “Today, cyberspace in people's lives is not like five or ten years ago. It has gone through a vast and great expansion. Cyberspace has benefits, facilities, and big risks. If this arena is unsafe, the people would have to face the harms and consequences.”
Indicators of New Revolutionary Identity
Being Revolutionary and Committed
Commitment to the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, including independence, freedom, and acceptance of the fundamental values of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are among the characteristics of a committed and revolutionary person. This is the case with the issue of new identities of the Islamic Revolution which is of concern to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. Therefore, as far as this approach is concerned, it is important to utilize the capacities of the third and fourth generations of the Revolution, who contribute to the development of the new view on the identity of the Islamic Revolution. At this stage, the youth should be aware of the fact that the elements involve in developing a new attitude include using contemporary scientific and technological facilities, along with spiritual and divine beliefs, which should be given special attention. As the Supreme Leader states in this regard: “Power is not only about having weapons, but science, faith, national character, steadfastness and revolutionary identity” are the elements which create power. In his view, Muslims should return to their own " elements of power", and the most important factor in gaining authority is “unity”. For recognizing the enemy and rejecting it, the Leader of the Revolution puts forward a solution based on which one should fight against the anti-Islam propaganda of the enemies and their endeavors to destroy Islamic unity. The Leader points to the issue of propaganda which aims to alter the image of the Islamic world and make it look inhumane by highlighting the actions of takfiri movements and groups. In addition, they seek to create division within Muslims and generalize the criminal actions of takfiri groups to all Muslims.
In his view, “the promotional, cultural and ethical invasion on all nations especially our country, has reached a peak. Therefore, in this arena, the media play a key role.”
From this point of view, the responsibility of developing the new attitude to the identity of the Islamic Revolution lies with the youth and the third and fourth generations of the Islamic Revolution, who guarantee the future of the Islamic Revolution. For this reason, relying on religious and revolutionary teachings and keeping to the powerful path of the Islamic Revolution can create a new identity. According to the Leader of the Revolution: “We need such a generation. This generation should have faith, it should be educated, it should have zeal, courage, and self-belief, it should have enough motivation and physical and intellectual power in order to move forward, it should keep its goal within sight, it should pay attention to long-term goals and as the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said – “Lend to Allah your head”- it should dedicate its life and existence to this goal and act seriously. To put it briefly, this generation should be revolutionary. This is the meaning of being revolutionary.”
Being Responsible and Seeking Justice
In the Supreme Leader’s thoughts, it is so important that we have a responsible new generation of the Revolution. As he puts it, “the greatness of the role that young committed forces play: not every youth, rather those who have a sense of commitment and responsibility. The greatness of the role that this group of people play means what part committed youth play on the path that we have ahead of us and in reaching that specific outlook.”
The adverse effects of irresponsibility cause the next generations to disregard the achievements of the Islamic Revolution. Accordingly, one effective step in this field is to control oneself and others in cyberspace and media, which prevents the enemy from infiltrating the new generations of the Revolution. He warns that “you should be careful: do not let the enemy's temptations influence the public environment of your life. You should take caution against the enemy's infiltration to disturb the united lines of pious youth. The enemy is extremely active in all areas including the cyberspace. The enemy is doing its best.”
Recognizing the Enemy and Standing up against the Foreigners
Given that anti-arrogance is one of the components of the new identity of the Islamic Revolution, such a threat uses the mass media of the enemies of the Revolution to change the role of "arrogance and enemy" and reach its goals. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has warned the youth and even the people of Iran about such a threat. According to him, “if today the Iraqi people put up strong resistance to the US invasion, the success of US possible attack on Iraq will be unlikely. But if the invaders manage to convince the Iraqi people that we do mean no harm and we want to save you, the situation will change: people will automatically act or remain silent in favor of the invaders without receiving weapons, money, or bribes.”.
The first step is to "recognize the enemy" and try to identify the tactics that are used to nullify the identity of the Revolution. According to the Leader of the Revolution, destroying the roots of the enemy's plan which aims to neutralize the revolutionary identity, is an important step for the next move, i.e., reforming the current situation and reaching the ideal point. In his opinion, “one of the enemy's methods is to wipe out ideas and identities: this is one of his goals. Everyone should be careful about this point of attack coming from the side of the enemy.”
In the absence of dynamic activism, the opportunity for the introduction and identification of revolutionary identity will not be provided for the third and fourth generations of the Revolution, and identity isolation will prevail in the field of media, including cyberspace. In addition, one of the threats formed in the media is that the global powers have sought to create role models in accordance with the will and desires of the nations. Therefore, developing contradictory approaches among the generations of society and inculcating the inefficacy of non-western and independent values lead to the confusion of a generation thereby questioning its values and norms. This issue is one of the harms that could challenge the creation of a new view of the identity of the Islamic Revolution, and hence it requires the dynamic activism of the media affiliated with the Islamic Revolution.
Reference: The Islamic Revolution Approach. Vol, No. 50, Spring 2020, Pp 45-62.
Archive of Ayatollah Khamenei
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