The Soft War and the Essence and Character of Islamic Revolution of Iran

The Manifestation of the Role of Religious-Revolutionary Leaders as the Revolutionary Characters

 

Undoubtedly, the Islamic Revolution of Iran, both before and after the victory, cannot be understood without considering one of its basic foundations i.e., the issue of leadership. The fact is that the concept and power of leadership in the Islamic Revolution of Iran are much broader, deeper and more spiritual than other revolutions.

 

Therefore, leadership in this Revolution, unlike other movements, is one of the principles and foundations. Leaders play a role in other revolutions, but in the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the leader, who is a symbol of the concept of leadership as a doctrinal principle, is one of the pillars of the movement. In other revolutions, the leader is an honest and determined person who is a brilliant administrator, but in the Islamic Revolution, in addition to enjoying those characteristics, he is a religious and spiritual leader as well. The concept of leadership, in its religious, spiritual as well as social and political senses, originates from the heart of Islam. This concept is part of Islam and Shia is its central part. Accordingly, the reality of the leadership of a person who is the leader and the one who has the authority over religious and worldly affairs of people lies with the need for such a person. Also, this is the reason, at least in Iranian society, for the unique position and power of religious leaders. They have no position other than the one given to them by the people, which is the result of public acceptance, and their power in the strict sense of the word comes from the people.

 

The Islamic Republic is a system based on faith in:

1) One God, believing that sovereignty and legislation only belong to Him, and the necessity of submitting to His commands;

2) Divine revelation and its fundamental role in expressing the laws;

3) Judgement Day and its constructive role in the journey of man towards God;

4) God’s justice in creation and legislation;

5) Continuous Imamate and leadership and its essential role in preserving the Islamic Revolution;

6. Dignity and high value of man as well as his freedom which are intertwined with his responsibility before God.

 

What is the Character of the Islamic Revolution?

 

The lofty goals of the Revolution and its ideals have caused people to move, become united under the banner of leadership and strive to achieve the goals and ideals thereby leading to the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Furthermore, preserving these objectives and insisting on the principles which once were implemented, will lead to the expansion of the sphere of the influence of the Revolution. For example, the general goal of the Revolution was to implement the Islamic rules and establish the political system in society. This aim has some requirements including caring for the oppressed and poor people, fighting against despotism and aristocracy in the country, ending the discrimination, preserving the independence and emphasizing the motto of Neither East nor West, preserving the Islamic rituals, and finally supporting the oppressed Muslims as well as the Islamic movements across the world.

 

The Constituent Elements of Western Thought and its Advocators in Iran

 

The comprehensiveness of Islam and the fact that it was basically revealed to be implemented by people and hence becoming a worldly system, do not contradict its divine nature and message. Therefore, the core of this religion is God because of Whom all other matters gain meaning and importance. This is so especially because Islam, more than any other religion, emphasizes on the principle of tawhid (monotheism), the fact that everything is originated from God, depends on His Power and will return to Him, the concept that He is the origin of all causes and effects in the world, and finally that all values ​​have no significance except when considered in relation to Him. This is exactly the opposite of the essence and spirit of Western culture. Because, first, the emergence and growth of this culture and, consequently, the ideas and schools that emerge from it, such as liberalism, capitalism, socialism, Marxism, existentialism, etc., have taken place in history and without it, they have no reality.

 

On the contrary, divine religions, in addition to the history and culture they have created, have a transcendental and divine reality. Second, the Western culture has been developed based on the idea of the centrality of man and that everything should be for him and serve his interests, desires and aspirations, and without this view, such culture has no value. The basis of Western thought and worldview is a sense of “self-centeredness” and “absolutism.” Such culture, not only considers its history and civilization as the root cause of all past histories and cultures (the natural and logical consequence of which is ignoring their independence and intrinsic value along with measuring their importance with the extent to which modern culture uses and applies them). Furthermore, Western culture considers its civilization the best and highest type of civilization that has ever emerged. For this reason, such culture not only understands other histories and legacies through the eyes of the growth of its own science and civilization and their contribution to this growth, but also analyzes and evaluates them on the basis of the fact that the human and global values ​​of past civilizations are proportional to its standards, values, and ultimately interests. The emotional response of Westerners to other civilizations, as well as the internal developments and currents of these civilizations, which plays a decisive role in understanding them, is caused by such emotional prejudices.

 

The principles governing the culture of religion include:

1) The Authenticity of God;

2) The principle of God’s Sovereignty and His laws over the individual and social affairs of the people;

3) The principle of the originality of Revelation;

4) The principle of worship and servitude and the necessity of observing divine boundaries;

5) The principle of the rule of divine and religious morality, etc.

 

However, the polytheist culture of the West in which there is no sign of religion and religiosity has replaced the above-mentioned principles of divine culture with other concepts. For example, it has replaced the Authenticity of God with the originality of man, the rule of God and His laws with human sovereignty, the Revelation with reason, worship with absolute freedom from any bond including religion, and divine morality with natural and evolutionary morality. This is where culture in every sense of the word is seen as contradicting the divine culture, and all its principles and foundations are contrary to the accepted principles of the religions. Just as in religious culture in which the principle of Authenticity of God is the basis and all other principles revolve around it (i.e. the Centrality of God), in Western culture also the principle of humanism plays the central and pivotal role (i.e. centrality of man). 

 

The principles governing Western culture include:

1) Humanism;

2) Democracy;

3) Rationalism (originality of reason);

4) Liberalism (absolute freedom);

5) Secularism (separation of religion from politics);

6) Nationalism.

 

Roots and Backgrounds of the Presence of Intellectuals in Iran

 

Historically, the emergence of the intellectual movement in Iran dates back to about 150 years ago, during the reign of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. The first group of young people who went to Europe to learn new sciences by the order of Abbas Mirza, the viceroy, can be considered the first Iranian intellectuals in its modern sense. According to the historical documents, these people, who gradually gained the title of “enlightened,” became deeply fascinated by the Western way of life, civilization and culture, and soon entered Freemasonry circles and assemblies. As a result, they began serving the colonial policies in order to alienate people from religious values, and therefore from the very beginning, they put the gradual transformation of the religious-national values ​​of the society on their agenda.

 

The Components of Defective Intellectualism in the Action and Thinking of Iranian Intellectuals During the Second and Third Decades of the Revolution

 

According to the views of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, the components of defective intellectualism are:

• Enmity towards and targeting the religion and beliefs of the people,
• Ignoring the indigenous traditions and local culture,

• Believing in the scientific worldview,
• Unconditional attachment to and dependence on the West,
• Accepting everything that comes from the West,
• Glorifying everything that belongs to foreigners,
• Despising everything that pertains to the insiders.

 

Generally, these components can be divided into two categories: “confrontation with religion and religious beliefs” and “praising the West and Western thought.”

 

Confrontation with Religion and Religious Beliefs

 

One of the characteristics of defective intellectualism is showing hostility towards and confrontation with religion and religious beliefs, which has been a problem for the intellectual pioneers in Iran. These people have risen against religion and religious beliefs under various pretexts and in various forms. They have pursued this goal through various ways including claiming that religions are nothing but a set of superstitions and delusions and that Islam is the religion of the savage Arabs. In addition, they understand Islam as merely an Arab tradition while considering it to be at variance with ancient Iran, glorify ancient Iran and Zoroastrianism in contrast to post-Islamic Iran and Islam, carry out religious reform plans (Protestantism) and so on.

Even today, the defective Iranian intellectuals seek to confront religion and religious beliefs in the following ways:

 

Religious Reformation (Protestantism)

 

One of the most important methods of confronting religious beliefs is the issue of religious reform and Protestantism, which has always been considered by the intellectuals of the country. Today’s intellectuals, like their predecessors, believe that Islam belongs to 1400 years ago and hence it has to be revised and reformed so that it can be applied to the contemporary era.

 

Religious Pluralism

 

Holding pluralistic views reflects one’s confrontation with genuine religious beliefs. Many intellectuals today believe that all religions, in general, have legitimacy. Hence, a religion or a specific interpretation of a religion cannot be presented as a superior religion or interpretation. Some of these intellectuals have gone beyond that and sought to prove religious pluralism with the verses of the Holy Qur’an and hadiths in an attempt to show that this issue is rooted in religious teachings. “Religious pluralism is a religious teaching derived from the text of our hadiths,” writes one of the above-mentioned intellectuals.

 

Being Fascinated With and Losing Self-Esteem in the Face of the West

 

Another very important component of the defective intellectualism in Iran is the fascination with and attachment to the West and Western civilization. This fascination and losing of self-esteem have been reflected variously in the thinking and behaviour of enlightened Iranian intellectuals. Among the important manifestations of this fascination are the extreme and excessive praise of the West and the achievements of Western civilization, its absolutism and looking at the West as a superior perfection with which all problems will be solved and, on the contrary, disregarding the indigenous traditions, devaluating domestic and Eastern capabilities and holding an optimistic view of the West and foreign countries and in some cases, their colonial policies. These factors have led many early and contemporary Iranian intellectuals to become an agent and spies of colonial powers.

 

Praising the West and Devaluing the Indigenous Traditions

 

The manifestations of the intellectuals’ fascination with the West include praising the West and the achievements of Western civilization, imitating and following them, and disregarding the domestic capabilities and indigenous traditions. Today’s intellectuals, while holding a contemptuous view regarding themselves and a praiseworthy one with respect to the West, attribute all goodness, progress and greatness to the West and all backwardness, barbarism and savagery, to themselves.

 

Soft War (Cultural Invasion) in Iran

 

Through a soft war and during a long and continuous process, part of the loyalty of the people and the acceptability of the system is transferred to other centers of power, such as non-governmental organizations or ethnic institutions. In other words, the lack of proper and effective application of government functions such as social welfare, caring for special patients, urban affairs, inflation, social security, changing the structure of the population and the emergence of new groups with new demands, political constraints, etc. are considered as facilitators. Basically, a foreign actor can manage a soft overthrow when the necessary social grounds are provided for its formation and expansion in the target community. These settings include:

A) Political, social and economic problems which in the view of the people are less likely to be resolved;

B) Establishing non-governmental organizations and groups that consider themselves capable of controlling and organizing a part of society and use various media and psychological means to influence the public opinion;

C) Dependence of an important part of society on the objectives of the above-mentioned organizations which gives them the power of mobilization. Thus, the roots of soft war must be sought in public discontent which in turn is the result of the inefficiency of the political system. This situation will lead to the strengthening of non-governmental groups in terms of social mobilization thereby dividing the society into several groups. In such a society, the individual seeks to fulfill his financial, psychological and social needs through non-governmental organizations rather than governmental ones.

 

On the other hand, the level of loyalty of people and the elites to the ruling system will decrease. Therefore, as long as the government enjoys the power of mobilization, the soft methods of overthrowing the government will not work.

 

In this regard, the aggressor country would plot to overthrow another government by the means of a soft method. To that end, it may use various strategies and policies some of which include:

 

• Extensive and continuous organization of psychological and media warfare,
• Undermining social cohesion and the sense of belonging to the government among people,
• Spreading distrust to country’s officials
• Trying to prove the inefficiency of the system,
• Calling for and creating political change,
• Creating economic reforms and liberalization,
• Encouraging people to make educational reforms,
• Intensifying ethnic and sectarian divisions,
• Calling for the expansion of the role of women in the economy and politics.

 

The Beginning of Counter-Revolutionary Struggles in Another Form

 

Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which followed by the emergence of a new culture that derived from the true and sublime Islamic and human values ​​and based on ancient civilization, and from the moment that the eclectic, licentiousness and imported culture of the Pahlavi regime disappeared, the hegemonic powers, especially the United States of America, realized that it is impossible to conquer the minds and thoughts of Iranian people by the means of old methods. After the end of the Iran-Iraq war, the whole world realized the fact that people of this country would defend the achievements of their fledgling Revolution to the death, and hence the enemies understood that this generation will not submit to colonialism.

 

Because it has found the values ​​rooted in the Revolution in accordance with its true and human nature. Having lost their illegitimate interests in this rich land and gaining nothing from pursuing the policy of direct or indirect military intervention, the colonialists, sought the help of their best theorists to find a way to preserve their great interests. Therefore, they came to the conclusion that this generation should be kept at a distance from those values. In other words, they should target the religious and cultural beliefs of this generation. With the adoption of Resolution 598 and the end of the war along with the failure of the Western world to defeat the Islamic Revolution through military intervention, the enemy turned to another arena and hence a new invasion against the Islamic Republic of Iran was initiated within the framework of a codified and expert plan.

 

The Means of Soft War

 

Soft war, as a method of transforming political systems, is based on the use of tools and means that lead dissident institutions to the desired and ideal result. It seems that any factor that would reduce the power of the government in mobilizing people in favour of groups seeking to change the political system, can be considered as the means of the soft overthrow. In fact, each of these factors, by reducing the mobilization power of the government in its favour, challenges the sovereignty of the government and provides the necessary grounds for undermining the national values and norms. Each of the tools is, in fact, a social institution that seeks to gain political power but pretends to work on social issues. These organizations either spontaneously originate from within the community or are directed, organized and managed from outside the target community. In any case, they should be established and managed based on the laws of the target community. More importantly, the soft war, as a significant factor, is the role and position of each of those variables in the soft war project. These tools include:

Non-governmental organizations (NGO), media and press, political, social and scientific elites, divergent potentials of the society such as multiple ethnicities and minorities, social movements of women or students, and non-governmental opposition groups which act as instrumental and temporary factors.

 

Among these tools, NGOs are more important, because, on the one hand, they would operate and expand the scope of their activities without confronting the ruling political system, and on the other hand, they can act as a facilitator for other tools thereby causing the strengthening of ethnic identities, publishing of newspapers, reproduction of political, social, and cultural elites with the reformist view, and so on.

 

It can be said that the endpoint of the process of overthrow or soft war is the use of restrained and limited violence. Of course, soft war uses much less violence than the overthrow process. For example, the October 5, 2001 revolution in Yugoslavia, the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, and other ongoing developments in the former Soviet republics are clear examples of war and soft overthrow.

 

The United States Media Warfare Against the Islamic Republic of Iran

 

Apparently, there is an ongoing media warfare between radio and television, press commentators, journalists, news agencies and networks, and Internet websites. However, the reality is that behind this journalistic controversy, there is something called the media site of countries that directly receives the country’s official budgets or the secret budgets of intelligence and security agencies.

 

One of the strategies used in carrying out media warfare against Iran is the multipurpose use of new communication technologies. On the one hand, they set up satellite TV channels working on computers and the Internet, and on the other hand, they explain how to use antennas and satellite receivers as well as how to circumvent satellite jamming. A number of websites present technical information about satellite channels including the frequencies of the signals, the various antennas and the NLP, that anyone even with a low level of information can recognize that these websites or blogs have been designed by a professional designer and a pre-determined program seeking to spread the culture of using satellite channels in Iran and solve technical problems of their users. Although the American press paid very little attention to Iran issues and they rarely covered the events of Iran, but a macro and pivotal policy govern these media, according to which only negative news of this country should be published and broadcasted. The reports published by the Western press about Iran, are either related to political crises, communities, unrest, and the conflicts between the government and people, or the stereotypical and recurring issues such as human rights violation, pursuing nuclear weapons, and the violation of political and civil liberties. Furthermore, being influenced by the international policies and intelligent agencies of their respective countries, these media outlets seek to launch propaganda campaigns against Iran by exposing confidential information or reporting the news in a biased way.

 

Cultural NATO is Another Symbol of the Soft War Against Iran

 

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the Cold War (1991-1945), the world moved towards unipolarity, hence the United States, for which the Soviet Union was no longer seen as a real rival, felt that no country can defeat it. Accordingly, the United States tried to impose its dominance in the military, economic, cultural and political spheres on the world. As a result, it began using the global culture-building based on the culture of liberal democracy for which a powerful cultural structure was necessary. Perhaps from this point on, cultural NATO practically was created.

 

The United States and the international Zionist movement have designed the following strategies and methods to carry out a soft war in the form of cultural NATO against the Islamic Republic of Iran:

 

• Focusing on Iran’s nuclear program and instilling the non-peaceful nature of this technology while propagating that Iranians are trying to acquire nuclear weapons that not only endanger the security and stability of the region and the world but also strengthen the terrorist front and extremist fundamentalism throughout the world. 
• Investing in audio-visual media, advertising organizations, news media and film companies with the aim of presenting a dark and dangerous image of the Islamic Republic of Iran to world public opinion, the latest example of which was the production and release of an anti-Iran film “300.” Likewise, another film called “Escape from Tehran” was made by Warner Bros.
• Launching a propaganda campaign in the media to accuse Iran of both interfering in Iraq, Lebanon, and other countries, and playing the role of the biggest defender of terrorism. Also, they claim that Iran provides weapons and military training for those who spread insecurity in these countries.
• Strengthening the idea of ​​ the American-style democracy movement and highlighting the issues of human rights, women’s rights and inciting trade union and social demands, as well as organizing the social and popular tensions and so-called civil disobedience by the yellow journalism, parties, etc.
• Launching websites and providing spyware for the agents inside the country so that various aspects of media warfare will be designed and implemented more effectively.
• Trying to present a biased analysis of the domestic situation of the country and create a terrifying atmosphere in which war, the economic crisis and its subsequent problems are seen as an impending possibility.
• Manoeuvring on some laws of the country such as the one related to social security and claiming that they put restrictions on women’s freedom as well civil and social freedoms.
• Creating political confrontations among the senior officials of the country and inducing that there is a power struggle among several spectrums within the Islamic Republic of Iran and that in the end a certain group will win or lose.

 

Soft War Objectives:

 

• When considering war as a kind of confrontation and conflict between the two sides, one may argue that in the soft war, each side is pursuing certain goals. Whenever a soft war is launched against a group, the offender seeks to achieve four major goals in the target community:
• Changing the beliefs and ideologies: the most important and main goal of the soft war is changing and transforming the beliefs and ideologies of the target society.
• Bringing about changes to the thoughts and ideas: If the enemies of a nation, through launching a soft war, can influence the beliefs of a nation and distort them by creating doubts, the necessary grounds and contexts for the realization of the next goal, that is, to make changes in the manner of thinking and reasoning, will be provided. Therefore, another major goal of the soft war is changing public opinion.
• Making a behaviour change: The behaviours of a society are based on the beliefs, doctrines and the way people think. Fundamental changes in these principles will cause changes in the behavioural models. In fact, behavioural models in any society are formed based on the type of beliefs, doctrines and the way of thinking in that society. Obviously, changing the belief and thoughts of people cause the new behavioural models to replace the previous ones on the basis of the new beliefs and thoughts.
• Changing the political structure: the ultimate goal of a soft war launched against a nation is to change the political structures of that society and replace them with new political ones. De-legitimization and undermining the acceptability of a system in an attempt to create crisis, unrest and destabilization in the target community are the main features of the soft war. Whenever a political system loses its legitimacy and acceptability among its people, the necessary grounds for changing that political structure and system and replacing it with a new one will be prepared.

 

The Soft Power of the Islamic Revolution of Iran Against the Soft War of the United States

 

The soft power in the process of the Islamic Revolution of Iran was of great importance at the level of domestic analysis, such that Imam Khomeini, through his unique charismatic character, managed to encourage people to accept the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Accepting the Islamic Revolution can be seen as a manifestation of the realization of soft power, which in this case means the ability to influence the behaviour of others without threatening them or paying tangible costs. One of the objectives of the Islamic Revolution is to protect human freedom and security in various cultural, political, social, judicial and economic fields. The ideals and norms of the Islamic Revolution and its attractive message strengthened the Islamic as well as the Third World and oppressed nations and while reviving the identity of the Islamic world, sought to reconstruct the Islamic civilization based on the cultural dependence, and pioneer the global cultural revolution. 

 

A) At the level of internal analysis: Based on the infrastructure and intellectual and cultural requirements of the twenty-year national vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran, deepening religious knowledge and insight of people, strengthening Islamic and moral values ​​in individual and social fields, highlighting all religious and political views of Imam Khomeini in decision-making, planning and administration of the organizations in the Islamic Republic, especially the cultural and educational institutions, making reforms in the educational system of the country, and promoting the ideology of the Basij and culture are considered among the soft war priorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In addition, the aspects of the soft power of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, include Imam Khomeini’s leadership, national unity and trust, knowledge-based development, Software Movement, and cultural policy.

 

B) At the level of regional analysis: The aspects of the soft power of the Islamic Revolution of Iran at the regional level include the reconstruction of Islamic civilization, promotion of Islamic awakening, reviving the identity of the Islamic world, emphasizing the regional stability and globalization of the fight against Zionism.

 

C) At the level of international analysis: by influencing international norms and currents, emphasizing justice, denouncing discrimination, creating a more human, fair and just setting atmosphere across the world, exposing the hegemonic, inhuman and immoral nature of the discourse that dominates international relations, the Islamic Revolution of Iran has emphasized on the need to present great cultural productions and messages in Islamic civilization. The Islamic Revolution of Iran, while emphasizing the need to be aware of the tools and techniques of effective and up-to-date propagation, focused on audience analysis in order to reach success in the field of propagation, obtain new knowledge regarding other doctrines and cultures, and become prepared to play a role in the multicultural world.

 

Religion and Religious Teachings Produce Soft Power in the Islamic Revolution

 

The most important center for producing soft power in the Islamic Revolution – which can be seen in the integrated political mobilization of different masses and social classes – was religion and religious teachings which acted as the driving force of the Revolution with special initiatives and outstanding creativity of Imam Khomeini.

 

Of course, a collective spirit governs the Islamic teachings and it guarantees and includes the unity and integrity of Muslims. The victory of the Islamic Revolution was the beginning of the end of the rule of the spirit of stagnation, and division in Iran and the Islamic world. Here Islam and its teachings acted as the most important unifying factor in Iran and then among the Muslim masses living in the region. In his book “Religion, Power and International Relations” and after referring to the fall of the Shah and comparing Iran’s Revolution with the revolutions of countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Syria and China, Jeffrey Haynes emphasizes that Iran’s Revolution was the first codified Revolution which its ideological supremacy, organizational structure, guiding individuals, and objectives were all rooted in religious teachings and that its guiding principles have been derived from the Qur’an and the sunnah.

 

Imam Khomeini’s practical life before and after the Islamic Revolution as well as during the fall of the imperial system and the establishment and continuation of the Islamic Republic of Iran indicates that religion, divine rulings, and Islam were playing a fundamental role in his views and decisions.

 

Reference: Journal of Culture-Communication Studies, Volume 11, Number 12, pages 125-157

Archive of The Enemies of the Islamic Revolution