Ayatollah Khamenei: Concerned about 'Clerics and Himself', Not about 'People'

Ayatollah Khamenei has held the lifelong leadership of Iran for over 25 years. Before the revolution, he was connected with the intellectual circles of that time, read a lot of novels, and was fond of poetry, literature, and cinema. These variables should have led to cultural tolerance in him. Why? Just consider one of these variables - novels. Jurgen Habermas in his thesis - The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere - recounts the key role of the novel in constructing the 'public sphere' in Europe. Richard Rorty also discusses the important role of the novel in social reforms and building democracy in a lengthy article, wishing that political leaders would read novels instead of ideological books. However, it seems that reading novels has played a reverse role in Ayatollah Khamenei. At the very beginning of taking leadership, he raised the issue of 'Western cultural invasion.' He then transformed this term into 'Western cultural blitz.' Next, he spoke of 'Western cultural NATO,' meaning that Western governments have created an organization similar to the military organization NATO that operates in the cultural realm and seeks cultural domination over the entire world. He did not favor the presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani for this reason, but he was very upset with the presidency of Mohammad Khatami. When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency began, he was pleased that 'the train of the revolution returned to its tracks' and that the faithful and revolutionary forces had taken over. However, towards the end of Ahmadinejad's presidency, the issue of the 'deviant group' arose. The crackdowns following the 'Green Election Movement,' replacing loyalist forces in all cultural institutions during Ahmadinejad's presidency - including adding more than 24,000 new forces to university faculties (refer to the article 'Militarizing the University and Attempting to Achieve Complete Domination by Loyalists') - and the huge state budgets for cultural and religious institutions should have reassured him. But this did not happen. Hassan Rouhani was elected in the presidential elections of June 14, 2013. Rouhani's electoral slogans and promises - especially in the cultural realm - were not acceptable to Khamenei. For this reason, the cultural conflict between the two became public (refer to the article 'Iran: The Cultural Confrontation between Khamenei and Rouhani'). Khamenei's unspoken cultural concerns were revealed by Mojtaba Zolnour, the former deputy representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC and his current advisor, in an interview with Fars News Agency on December 24, 2014, stating that only a part of Khamenei's concerns about Rouhani's cultural policies has been made public, and a significant part of them has been pursued non-publicly. He said: 'The cultural approach of the government of hope and prudence has repeatedly caused concern for the Supreme Leader, some of the concerns have been reflected publicly, and some have not yet been reported, and we have witnessed the Supreme Leader's concerns regarding the cultural issues of the current government.' Ayatollah Khamenei is worried about the status of 'religious culture,' but 'the associates of the government either do not understand the Supreme Leader's intentions in culture, or if they do understand, they act contrary to it intentionally.' According to Zolnour, Khamenei and the faithful revolutionary forces see 'the foundation of this government's cultural movement as crooked.' This is due to three reasons. First - a culture of tolerance and leniency. Second - the hypocrisy of Rouhani's government: the government has a humanistic and secular essence and a religious appearance. Third - being two-faced: appearing revolutionary and value-oriented while trying to expand its social base among dissenters. He states that there is a foreign cultural invasion, but 'sometimes we witness that an attack is made from within the government against the system, targeting values, and using the people's and system's resources against the religious beliefs of the people.' The religious community is worried about the government's wrong and hypocritical policies regarding enjoining good, guidance patrols, books, cinema, theater, films, etc. The issuance of a permit for the screening of the 'anti-religious and anti-national' film 'Khaneh Pedari' is one of these cases. Why is Ayatollah Khamenei so upset that his appointed forces openly call the government hypocritical, two-faced, anti-values, anti-religion, secular, and humanistic, which must be confronted? What has Rouhani's government done? In a situation where oil prices have halved, and Iran is under the most severe sanctions in history, and when it is unable to meet the essential needs of the people and pay cash subsidies, a huge budget has been allocated to Khamenei's so-called cultural and religious demands. In the proposed budget for the year 2015, hundreds of billions of tomans have been allocated for these areas. Are Khamenei's affiliated institutions, with at least two thousand billion tomans in state budget, unable to promote religious and revolutionary culture? If with these huge budgets and all those forces they cannot confront the 'cultural blitz,' the 'Western cultural NATO,' what are they complaining about? The religious seminaries have always proudly claimed that they are financially 'independent' of governments and that the people meet their financial needs. However, Sunni clerics are dependent on governments. For this reason, revolutionary Shia clerics have been against governments, while Sunni clerics justify oppressive regimes. Ayatollah Khamenei has made the seminaries completely governmental to justify the absolute power of the Supreme Leader through 'court clerics' and to ensure they praise 'the Supreme Leader and the wise leader of the revolution' day and night and speak of his unparalleled wisdom and global management (refer to the article 'Government Clerics and the Dollar Value of Leadership'). Look at the proposed state budget for the seminaries for the coming year and answer this question: Does receiving these large amounts leave any room for the independence of the seminaries? a- The Supreme Council of Seminaries (283 billion tomans) b- The Council for Planning and Management of the Seminaries of Khorasan (42 billion tomans) c- The Center for Services of the Seminaries (500 billion tomans) d- The Policy Council of the Seminaries for Women (152 billion tomans) e- The Office for Islamic Propagation of Qom Seminary (90 billion tomans) f- The Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute belonging to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi (14 billion tomans) g- The Research Institute of Seminars and Universities (9 billion tomans) h- The Library of Ayatollah Marashi Najafi (6 billion tomans) Thus, a total of 1,096 billion tomans of the next year's budget has been directly allocated to religious seminaries. The Islamic Republic has established new institutions that, although not considered seminaries, are seminary-like and are directly managed under Ayatollah Khamenei. Look at the state budget for these institutions: a- The Coordination Council for Islamic Cultural and Artistic Activities (28 billion tomans) b- Support for the International Cultural-Artistic Foundation of Imam Reza (5 billion tomans) c- The World Assembly of Ahl al-Bayt (33 billion tomans) d- The World Assembly for Proximity of Islamic Schools (24 billion tomans) e- Ahl al-Bayt University (2 billion tomans) f- The University of Islamic Schools (8.6 billion tomans) g- The Islamic Propagation Organization (260 billion tomans) Thus, 336.6 billion tomans have also been allocated to seminary-like institutions under the supervision of Ayatollah Khamenei. The total budget for religious and seminary-like institutions is 1,432.6 billion tomans. All these institutions are directly managed by Ayatollah Khamenei. The officials of all of them are clerics appointed or approved by the Supreme Leader. Therefore, Ayatollah Khamenei should not be worried in these matters if the clergy alone has spent 1,433 billion tomans of the state budget belonging to the poor people and is not 'cultural producers,' it has nothing to do with Rouhani's hypocritical government. If Hassan Rouhani should be criticized, the correct criticism is why these huge amounts have been allocated to non-developmental matters in these critical conditions? Every rial in these crushing conditions should be spent on the development of the country, not on the clergy who, if not obstructive, are not facilitators either. These budgets are accompanied by major corruption. One example of such corruption-tainted activities is the 52 billion tomans budget of the 'Institute for the Regulation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works,' whose corruption is evident (refer to the article 'Ayatollah Khomeini, the Myth without Followers'). In the Islamic Republic, institutions have been established that are related to universities and operate under the supervision of Ayatollah Khamenei. The budget for these institutions should also be considered. Some of them are as follows: The Representative Office of the Supreme Leader in Universities (100 billion tomans) The Supreme Cultural Revolution Council (42 billion tomans) The Organization for the Study and Compilation of Humanities and Islamic Books (22 billion tomans) The Citation Database of Islamic World Sciences (4 billion tomans) These four institutions have collectively allocated 168 billion tomans. The budget of the Student Basij, which is funded through the Basij Organization, is unclear and should be added to these. All mosques operate under the authority of the appointed leader. Military organizations have the same situation. In this regard, Ayatollah Khamenei should not be worried either. Look at the following two examples: Support for the High Headquarters of Cultural and Artistic Centers of Mosques (51 billion tomans) The Foundation for Preserving the Values and Achievements of the Sacred Defense (33 billion tomans) 84 billion tomans will also be spent on cultural activities acceptable to the leader. Hajj and Pilgrimage and Endowments These institutions are also managed under the supervision of the Supreme Leader. Their state budget has been set at 97 billion tomans: The Organization of Endowments and Charity Affairs 94 billion tomans The Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization 3 billion tomans The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is also directly managed by Ayatollah Khamenei. This large organization has spent and continues to spend a huge budget every year. Why has this organization been unable to achieve Ayatollah Khamenei's goals in expanding 'religious culture'? In the next year's budget, only for 'addressing complaints of the powers against the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting' (related to 'the Supervisory Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting'), 16 cases have been considered, and for addressing each case, 75 million tomans have been allocated, ultimately amounting to 1.2 billion tomans. One billion tomans has also been allocated for '375,000 hours of monitoring and analyzing the content of IRIB programs.' These extravagances have nothing to do with the budget of IRIB, which is independent of the Supervisory Council. What is Khamenei worried about? Millions of people in Iran live below the poverty line and in absolute poverty. The annual budget of the Islamic Republic is not a professional budgeting for the development of the country and helping vulnerable groups to emerge from the 'black hole of poverty and misery.' It is extortion by hundreds of institutions and individuals. Many institutions claim to engage in religious and cultural activities. What culture has Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi produced that he receives at least 10 billion tomans annually from the official state budget, which has increased to 14 billion tomans in the next year's budget? Why has more than two billion tomans been allocated in the next year's budget to the 'Islamic Wisdom Foundation of Sadra,' Ayatollah Mohammad Khamenei, the brother of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? Can metaphysics of Sadra offer anything in the world of philosophy? Do seminaries and clerics do anything other than the 'cancerous growth of jurisprudence' - that is, the constructs of pre-Islamic Arabs? Does imposing the lifestyle of pre-Islamic Arabs require this much expense? How has the claimed independence of Shia clerics evaporated into thin air? How has the populism of the clergy and their financial reliance on the people melted away? With jurisprudence and other products of seminaries, one cannot compete with modern thought and its social system. Jurists are archaeologists whose main expertise is identifying the lifestyle of pre-Islamic Arabs. The difference is that archaeologists do not seek to impose the past on the present, but our clerical archaeologists do so (refer to the article 'The Superiority of Knowledge and Morality of Being Non-Jurist'). The war is over scarce resources of power/wealth/knowledge/social status. The religious aspirations of Ayatollah Khamenei and his followers are a garment that covers these interests. Islam has also brought power and wealth to the clergy (refer to the article 'Islam as a Source of Income and Power: The Miracle of Jurists'). Some members of the clergy have clearly shown how this profession embezzles money collected from people in the name of Imam Mahdi for their own and their descendants' benefit (refer to the article 'Legal Tricks and Clerical Embezzlement'). In the Islamic Republic, scarce resources of power/wealth/knowledge/social status are allocated to the clergy and loyal forces while the people must endure very harsh economic conditions. The parliament will not only not reform the budget extortion by the government to the clergy and loyalists but will also increase it.