Speech [The enemies' plot; creating internal discord]

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

The post-revolution issues are of two sorts: one issue is related to the continuity of the revolution. A revolution resembles a child who needs to be educated, raised and nurtured. The second issue is secondary in nature, but should be attended to very carefully. Every revolution is followed by a series of disturbances and turmoils. Great revolutions, such as the French Revolution and the USSR October Revolution had a lot of turbulent aftermath. The number of casualties in some revolutions has been one, one-and-a half and sometimes two million. The reason for these bloodsheds lies in the fact that those revolutions have not been moral or Islamic in nature. Another reason is that not all revolutions have arisen from among the people. Therefore, we could easily contend that our revolution has been the safest of all revolutions. After the Islamic revolutions only those individuals who turned out to be traitors, through courts, were either punished or executed. However, following the ouster of the previous regime, freedom was granted to people immediately after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. We had freedom of writing and freedom of speech. All the political parties were free to declare their existence and nobody bothered them.

We had absolute freedom for five months. But later it was found out that some of those newspapers were affiliated to both Israel and the United States. They were planning some conspiracies against the country. Then some courts started doing an investigation on the nature of these mass media. It has never happened in other revolutions of the world that freedom could be easily granted to the mass media. In those revolutions, freedoms of all sorts had been taken from people. No newspaper was permitted to get published after those revolutions. Killings were very common after some revolutions. Liquidations of all sorts would start following the revolution, including the expulsion of the dissidents. However, none of these harsh actions took place in the post-revolution years in Iran.

Our adversaries, who were veterans and experienced politicians, noticed that this revolution had not occurred as a result of coup d'etat; rather it had happened because of the people. Therefore, they thought, the best way to get rid of this revolution was to cause its decay from within.

The direction of the adversaries' plots, is to create internal conflicts and to bury the revolution by bringing forth some sort of a coup d'etat and appointing some dictator to rule over people like in previous times. Our nation should consider this obvious issue seriously and should note that a superpower which had suffered a blow and lost all sorts of interests in this land including strategic and oil resorts cannot easily get pacified and leave us alone. Iran is a sensitive, strategic area for the superpowers. These superpowers will not be allowed to establish their strongholds and hatch their plots here by men and women, young and old, who rose up against the tyrants in this country. Being disappointed, our enemies decided to bring forth the internal decay of this land.

The enemy's agents infiltrated all walks of life: especially at the oil fields. They could easily be identified in the army, in the gendarmerie, in the revolutionary guard corps, in the committees and in the offices. These agents have lost some of the interests which they enjoyed during the past regime. Now, to compensate for the loss, these agents are working hard to disturb the present Islamic regime. They are sowing discord among people and disturbing their unity. These agents are aware that people gained this revolution through their hard work and unity. They know that the people's reliance in God and their unity are two factors of their success. To attain their goals, our adversaries make use of our youth who are unable to grasp the depth of our predicaments. Our clean-hearted youth are easily tempted and deceived by these agents. In the name of sympathy for Islam the country and for the nation, these agents take advantage of the sincerity and dignity of our youth, so that the country cannot attain stability. They plan to disturb order and peace in this country. They plan to create turmoils in our offices, courts, committees and among our oil workers. They do this to bring forth the notion that this country could not easily be managed and that it needs a foreign administrator. There is presently some dissatisfaction among different layers of our society. But people should exercise caution to the objectives of these agents who are engendering discontent among them. These agents disturb our farmers on their farm lands under different pretexts and prevent them from doing their tasks. They perturb our industry workers, as well. They discourage our workers from working diligently. They carry out their pernicious plots in the armies, gendarmerie, and other police centers. One objective is easily discerned in these trouble-making plots: to undermine the unity among people. They want to prevent solidarity from forming among the people. They want to stop this unity which made the people triumph their cause. They do not want this consolidation to live on because if it does, then their interests will be served and the nation will ultimately triumph. They know that they would not succeed against people's determination to succeed. In their concept, the best approach would be to divide. So they disseminate among workers inculcating in their heads words like;" I don't have a house,"" my salary is not good,"" my social rank or military rank is not high," and" there is no need for discipline in the army."

Some beguiled youth among our army men have been spreading false notions that in the army all should be equal and that ranks are not necessary. Words and statements such as these which do not exist in Islam get circulated in the army. This notion was created among them to damage Islam; you will remember that at the outset of the revolution everybody was united in their effort to get rid of the old regime. There was no such discord. If such disunity had existed, the revolution would never have triumphed. Such discord was absolutely non-existent. Nobody thought about their own farms, their industries or their homes. Everybody thought about establishing the Islamic republic. It was this unity of expression and solidarity which existed among the nation and which did and does, attract the world's attention. Those who are aware of this know very well where to initiate the disruption of this solidarity how to upset this unity. They follow the advice of their supervisors to upset our unity. They are inspired by their foreign bosses to sow discord among all walks of life by all means possible. Everywhere you go they level accusations against us. Everywhere you go they bring about discontent; they bring about disturbances everywhere. Everywhere you go; there is commotion as if the country is heading towards anarchy. They will not let the country be managed properly at all. They would not give a chance. They would not let peace prevail for our reconstruction mobilization to get under way. They are installing the peace process to prevent the oil industry from being managed the way it should be everywhere the same predicament prevails. All this is because that our youth are negligent of the great conspiracies being hatched against our country now. The enemies are laying their finger on the sensitive aspect of our revolution, that very same aspect which rendered them losers is again being targeted; they are trying to shake your point of strength.

Your unity was your point of strength. There were two significant features in our nation which was the key to its victory. One feature was the disregard for one's desires. Everybody was chanting" God is Great,"" we want the Islamic Republic." Even if somebody complained to his friend about his difficult life, his friend would chuckle and say," Now, it is not time for this kind of complaint." The second secret behind your victory lay in the fact that everybody congregated for God. The evidence of this statement is the continual cries by everybody to get martyred. Martyrdom is for God. A small child and elderly man were asking for one single objective: the Islamic republic. Now our enemies are trying to assault these two targets. A group of people attacked the Islamic feature of our movement, saying they do not care for an Islamic republic; what they preferred was a republic. The reason was that those experts had realized the fact that the success of this Islamic republic lay in its Islamic feature and that people would not like to get martyred for a state republic only. Rather, people would like to get martyred for Islam, not for the republic; neither do they care for a democratic state. This enemy realizes this. Therefore, they started a unified combat against our movement. They started with their pens. They wrote Islam was an old and archaic concept; it is good for fourteen hundred years ago; hence, Islam is no longer applicable[ to our time ]. What it meant was they wanted only a republic and" Islamic"" republic" is not necessary.

From the tine you overcame this obstacle and returned to set up an Islamic republic, this clique from among the people was after this ploy to crack the secret of your victory. They understood that Islam was the key to your success and they attacked the Islamic nature of our movement. They hindered people from voting for the Islamic state. They forestalled the casting f votes in several areas. In some places they broke and burned the ballot boxes. They stopped people from voting at gunpoint. However, they faced defeat because people cast their votes in spite of the adverse conditions. Subsequent to this, they made each step you took forward at Islamicizing the movement a target of attack.

If I try to tell you all the details, neither you nor I would have the time to listen to them. However, if you delve deeper into the issue, their point of opposition has always been directed against the issue of the Islamic nature of the movement; this was done either knowingly by a subservient clique, or by unaware youth. After this phase and the subsequent stages they faced defeat. Ultimately, they were mercenaries or deceived youth who tried to put hurdles in our way. More than 98 percent of our population voted affirmatively for this Islamic movement. Then they opposed [the formation of] the Assembly of Experts, again and again. Nevertheless, the people designated and elected the council of the experts. Later the constitution was put to people's votes. Once again, it faced opposition repeatedly. However, in spite of all this, the nation emerged victorious people faced a lot of obstacles. But at the end, they came out victorious. However, our enemies did not remain silent. The opposition continues up to this stage. Later, the president is going to be elected, and then the members of the national consultative assembly and they certainly will face a lot of opposition.

In our movement, the unity among people was amazing. There was one view heard everywhere, whether in Bandar `Abbas (in the South) or in the North. You would hear it both in the east and the west. The children and the elderly people were after one thing. The farmers and the scholars alike were after one thing. Meanwhile, those who were against this movement were silent at the time. People thought they were completely victorious, disregarding the fact that they had only taken one step forward. They did not realize that we had a long way ahead of us. Then our enemy started sowing discord among us. Now, there are those who are fighting others. A group of people are killing others. Another group accuses a third group of having done wrong. They disturb the officials at the offices. They bring about explosions. They disturb our oil factories. There is just one hand behind these turmoils a hand which does not want the Islamic Republic, which is based on God's commands, to get established.

Today, we have the great task of raising this" small child" [revolution]. It is about one-year old and still fledging. We have to take its hands in ours to help it walk. All layers of our society should realize the fact that our enemies are reluctant to see this young revolution to become mature. They have suffered a lot from this" child" and will suffer more if it grows up. Therefore, they are against this revolution. They incite and excite people against one another wherever they can. We could easily see this enmity reflected in our mass media, magazines, radio and what not. The men of the pen and letters, too, attack one another. Our enemies inveigh any aspects [of the revolution] in which they can advance their sinister goals, and take steps to accomplish them at every office and every place you go. They escalate their attacks in sensitive areas and the more critical the area, the worse their assaults are until they can gather a crowd from everywhere to cry out in unison Voice. Of protests rang out in Azarbayjan and amplified the commotion. At one time, they attack in the north. Then, they bring about turmoils in the north. Then they attack the south exacerbate the situation. Later they gather at the oil fields, disturbing our oil workers. At one time, we were told that the workers were given money to stop working and go on strikes! Where did this money come from? They pay the workers not to work because they cannot bear to see the country be in good shape our country to work properly? They want to constrict the vital artery of our country.

Our enemy will employ any means to destroy us. They have plenty of money and use it; they employ intimidation to achieve their objective. They receive money from both east and west to disrupt us. They are after demolishing those two sources of our dignity which Islam from us. They want to disarm our nation. The arms our nation had been carrying have been Islam and our unity. You did not have any weapons, but your enemies were equipped with all sorts of weaponry. Your weapon was your belief in God, in Islam and in your staying together. Now, your enemies are determined to disarm you. They plan to take away from you your Islam and unity. Of course, it will take longer before they can divest you of Islam in taking Islam from you, they do not stand a since people are Muslims, anyhow. They cannot order the people not to be Muslim, so instead they obstruct the Islamization of this republic. There are a lot of activities going on this end, as it has always been. And they also set loose a clique to spread subversive statements among people to create the differences which you are witnessing and aggrandize the people's frustrations adding fuel to the fire. A nation which lived in persecution and imprisoned for fifty odd years will naturally develop frustrations. They exacerbate these complexes to take the people against the path of the revolution and deceive the frustrated nation into believing the enemies wish them well. The plotters understand quite well that they are leading the people against the nation's goal. But in the area of making differences in people's ideology they are successful. They incite and excite people and tempt them to do wrong.

What is our task today? We should firmly keep the secret behind our victories. Anywhere you see some disorders, go ahead and correct the situation. Do not complain. Today, it is not the time for altercations. Forget about the minor things today. The main issue for us today is the essence of our Islamic order which is being endangered today.

We have to take care of our revolution, which resembles a child. We should train it, nurture it, and nourish it each passing day. We should give it a chance to grow up. They plan to take it away from us. If, God willing, the enemy succeeded in seizing it from us, the infrastructure of the revolution would be lost and all the walls then would crumble. If we do not advance with the same zeal we had before this revolution of ours away from any sort of corruption and decay. It would be like a musk melon which looked, flashy outside, but rotten inside.

The enemies of ours would like to make us rot and then introduce us as a decaying" musk melon" and, therefore, useless elements. They want to show to the world that we lack political maturity. They want to show that Iran is a chaotic land; it is a land where the lower social classes do not care for the upper ones. It is a country the army of which soldiers do not care for the higher ranks. It is a land where coherence does not exist, where offices do not function well, where everybody tears everybody else up. Such a country, in their conception, may not continue to exist. Then they are supposed to sympathize with us and to appoint some guardians for us. Our wise enemies are working to achieve these goals, but our friends are negligent of these.

Let our people awaken. Tell others about the hazards. Let our sisters tell their friends and our brothers what kinds of hazards are threatening us. Our enemies would introduce us as incompetent rules. I have already told you. When I was in Paris I heard Mr. Carter saying that the Iranians were given too much freedom. This slyly implies that we do not deserve to be free. We have to be always under domination. He thought the Shah was right in having curtailed our liberties. He was of the opinion that if Iranians were given freedom they would go crazy. This is what he was saying at that time.

Now, he is following it up. They want to spread the wrong information that this country lacks sound foundations. It is not ruled by law. Everybody is free to harass others and there is no court to curb their devilish acts. Then they conclude that such a country should have a guardian.

Those friends of ours who tell us about minute, insignificant problems are negligent of the facts that we are faced with bigger issues. If a sick person is suffering from cancer but his physician is worried about the roughness of his hand's skin, he is driving the sick person towards death. He has to treat his cancer; the toughness of his hand's skin would not kill him. Now our country is infected by some cancerous tumors. These should be treated first. If we cared about our salaries or our ranks in the army, we are going to get destroyed. The cancer which now afflicts us is devastating, indeed. If we forgot about the hazards of this cancer and paid attention to minor topics, such as the lack of good salaries or luxurious homes, then we would be left with no country to care about; the cancer would kill us all and the roughness of our hand's skin would never matter anymore.

Today is the time for us to do away with our superficial problems. Strikes and taking sanctuary will not do. Why should a person excite other to take sanctuary upon meeting with a small problem? Who is going to take advantage of it? Why should a group of people put aside their farming or manufacturing practices and resort to taking sanctuary? Is the nation going to benefit or is it others who excite them to carry out such devastating actions? Don't our enemies want us to go back to our previous status? Let our writers elaborate on these. Are our writers not Iranians? Have they not been educated in this country? Is it not their homeland? Are they not indebted to their country? Are the intellectuals not indebted to their country? Are the clerics not indebted to their country? You university people are indebted to this land. This is your land. This is the country of all. You are indebted to Islam. Now if our country and our Islam are in danger we have to endeavor to salvage it. Let us forget about our trivial issues which stem from our selfishness. They bring about strikes for no good reasons at all. They take to the streets for no reason. All these taking refuge and strikes are in contrast to our national interests. When Carter shouts and threatens we should stand firm and united. It is our task to do so. Let our youth not be carried away by these pseudo-politicians who prefer to see us miserable. I hope God would awaken us all and would make you succeed. I thank you who have come here to meet me. I pray for you and am always at your service.