The world is undergoing fundamental changes today. This cannot be denied. Take a look at North Africa and other regions in Africa. Take a look at Asia and the powers which have emerged in this continent and which are challenging the traditional powers in the world. And take a look at the conditions in Europe. The world is undergoing a change.
Of course, global and historical changes do not naturally take place in a short time. It is not the case that we think a change takes place in six months or in one, two years. This is not the case. We should see the signs of this change. Although this change may take place gradually and over the course of 20 years, we should understand what is happening in the world. Therefore, the first point is that the world is undergoing certain fundamental changes. We should know this.
The second point is that the outward tranquility of the dominant camp in the world – that is to say, those powers which have traditionally been dominant in the world, whether America or European countries – has been disrupted. In the past, these powers had a kind of tranquility in areas related to economy, the media and social establishment inside their countries. In the past, a certain kind of tranquility was dominant in their lives. But today, this tranquility has been disrupted and one can see the signs of this. They were and still are equipped with money, weapons, propaganda tools and knowledge. Naturally, a power which is equipped with such things has a feeling of tranquility. This tranquility had dominated their lives for many years, but it has been disrupted today. This tranquility has been disrupted in several arenas.
First, it has been disrupted in the arena of economy. In the past, their most important privilege was economic progress and growth, but you can see in what conditions they are in the present time. Both Europe and America are faced with an economic crisis.
Today, their well-established economies are witnessing bankruptcy. Imagine that the government of a country is indebted more than its national gross income. In the present time, this is the situation which exists in America. The government of the United States of America is a heavily indebted government which has not found any solution to save itself from this indebtedness. This is why their major programs are not implemented successfully. This situation exists in America and in great and strong European countries although they do not clearly reflect it in their media.
The current President of America has been promising the people to provide public health insurance since the first term he was elected. But he has not managed to do this until today – that is to say, six years after his presidency. The president of a country with all those financial and other resources has given a certain promise to his people, but he has failed to fulfill it. Well, this is the way it is. As a result of this, the Americans have great problems in the arena of economy which is an important arena in arrogant countries and for traditional powers in the world.
As everyone has heard in the news, European and many other different countries too have great economic problems. They have been defeated in the arena of morality as well. Well, the current western civilization was created on the basis of respecting human principles. The entire western civilization was based on humanism and humanist principles. This means that human principles are the main element, goal and qiblah for this civilization. This is while, these principles have been trampled upon in today’s western civilization and they have really been defeated in this area. Until a short time ago, they used to reflect these human principles by wearing the clothes of knowledge and academic language, through which they used to cover up their weaknesses. But these weaknesses became clear gradually and the true nature of this materialistic civilization – which is against humanity and the divine nature – is showing itself. One example of this is murder, plunder and violence. These violent acts of murder and plunder have increased to such an extent that everyone knows about them today.
There was a time when the English used to commit certain crimes in India and in Burma, but they used to appear in a neat and polite way in other places. Those days are over now. Today, everyone knows about their violent acts. Those individuals who reflect people’s opinions are showing the camp of arrogance what violent acts it has committed. These arrogant powers engage in murder, plunder, violence and lustful acts which transform one’s nature. One of these lustful acts is marriage to the same sex. This is different from homosexuality and it is much worse than it. This means allowing those things which are against the divine nature to dominate ones’ life: “Do you practice wickedness even in your councils?” [The Holy Quran, 29: 29]. This has been mentioned in the Holy Quran as well.
Today, they acknowledge these wicked acts in an open and outspoken way. Two individuals of the same sex get married and churches record this marriage. And the President of America says, “I am in favor of, not against this act”. This means that such inward decadence and such lustful acts are not considered to be indecent anymore in these countries.
Another act they commit is supporting terrorism in a clear way. As you can see in regional events, there are some individuals who tear people’s liver out of their body and who begin to bite it in front of cameras. This is while European powers sit and watch. Of course, they try to be careful and they do not say that they will help such individuals. Rather, they say, “We will help this opposition force”. This is the way they behave. They openly support terrorism, one that is very violent, wild and savage. They insult everything that is sacred. They easily insult holy and enlightened personalities and stain their honor in the name of freedom. They insult prophets and great personalities, not only our Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), but also all prophets.
In another meeting, I said to officials in charge of cultural affairs that many of our officials in this area are not aware of cultural issues. For example, they do not read different books and most of them are not in the middle of the arena. I said to them that these arrogant powers insult Prophet Moses, Prophet Jesus and other great prophets (peace be upon them all). This exists today. So, this arrogant camp, which used to control global affairs, has been defeated and severely criticized in moral fronts as well.
In the arena of identity-based reason too, this civilization and its guardians have been defeated because the scholarly foundations of this materialistic civilization are collapsing one by one. Certain scholars – whether in areas related to humanities or in other areas – came and rejected their ideas. Therefore, the scholarly foundations of this civilization are collapsing one by one. They have been defeated in the arena of international reputation and dignity as well. Their reputation has really been ruined. All the crimes which have been committed by western governments and their dictatorial agents have become clear to people throughout the world.
Today, they are hated everywhere in the world. Of course, some of the leaders of these western governments and some of the leaders of dependent, weak, conservative and cowardly governments say some things out of certain considerations, but the truth is that they are hated by peoples today. In the present time, America is more hated than all other governments, both in the Middle East region and in other regions. Of course, this hatred is very deep in Islamic regions, but it exists in other regions as well. So, these powers have been defeated in the arena of dignity and reputation. This is another issue which has left nothing for this bullying camp – the government of America being the leader of these bullies and supposedly stronger and more prepared than all these bullies – to rely on. They have no dignity in the world. This was the second point that I wanted to discuss in this meeting.
(Ayatollah Khamenei’s ‘s Speech in Meeting with Members of Assembly of Experts -06/03/2014)