Celebrating the Iranian revolution

commitment. The achievements being witnessed in the Islamic Republic of Iran today are a result of the relentless efforts by the leadership of the revolution together with the support of the Iranian people. One of the outstanding achievements after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran has been the establishment of cultural and re-creative centres which cater for the needs of the growing children, youngsters as well as adults from all social classes.

These include libraries, galleries, literary societies, sports centres among others. In order to consolidate the stability of these institutions and organisations, conferences, exhibitions and seminars are organised within the country as well as in countries outside the Islamic Republic of Iran. Cultural exchange programmes in form of organised festivals have grown immensely since the independence of the Islamic Republic of Iran. These include the arts, music, cinema, theatre, films and many others.

In the process, the Iranian people have received local and international prizes in different disciplines. Apart from the cultural developments realised by the Islamic Republic of Iran notable achievements were also noted in different fields such as literature, education, elections and democracy and participation of women in national programmes.
The policy of Islamic Republic of Iran is to strength morality and religion in society. In pursuant to this policy, the country has invested heavily in written culture, which takes the form of book printing, newspapers, art and magazines. Every year

numerous exhibitions of books, workshops for learning and reciting the Holy Koran and teaching of Islamic values.

Every year, Iran holds exhibition of specialised bookfairs in various categories namely technology, culture, religion, arts, among others. The book fairs are held at the International and Provincial level respectively. In order to promote the culture of reading, Iranians observe the Book Reading Week. The Book of the Year Award in various categories is another first achieved by Iran in the past 33 years of independence.
This award is an incentive for book writers and is the reason why there has been a surge in book published Iranian authors in recent years. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been supportive to publishing companies through the subsidisation of paper and ink. Consequently, the number of Newspapers rose from nine in 1973 to 427 in 2003.

The number of publishers equally jumped from 427 in 1973 to 3100 in 2003. This is a tremendous achievement, which has seen Iran emerging as one of the top countries in Literature and Research. Each of the innumerable mosques dotted across the country is furnished with a state of the art public library.
These libraries offer free services to the public are mainly designed to empower the youth with religious cultural identity. The Islamic Republic of Iran was established under the guidance of the late Imam Khomeini (RA) and all the people.
Soon after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, which was achieved as a result of the awakeness of the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (RA) ordered that a referendum be conducted to give the people the opportunity to choose

the type of government they wanted. Over 98 percent of the people overwhelmingly voted for the Islamic Republic.

Since the beginning of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Western enemies have tried in vain to destroy it in various ways. Assassinating key leaders of Iran is one method employed by the West in a bid to negate the gains of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Western enemies have clandestinely martyred key leaders such as Shaheed Muttahari, Beheshti Rajai and others.
According to Imam Khomeini’s view, democracy is the opposite of dictatorship and oppression. Imam Khomeini said the main pillar of government should be the vote of the people. The people’s vote is the main criteria for decision making in government.

A journalist from Poland once asked Imam Khomeini about the kind of democracy he was to establish in Iran, of which the Imam responded saying “our democracy, while having some similar features to the Western democracy, is far more complete and advanced. In our democracy the will of the people plus the will of God obtains.” Imam Khomeini said Islam is not a dictator but is an advanced religion, which in Islamic democracy satisfaction of God is well considered.

That’s why the first election was held on April 1, 1974 and in the same year five elections were conducted. Until now, Iran has successfully held 30 elections, 10 of which were presidential, while eight were parliamentary. In the last presidential election, 46 million people registered as voters and of these, 40 million participated. This is a tremendous development for the whole world. The Islamic Revolution and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran have provided appropriate grounds for women to achieve their valuable identity and real status. Restoration of women’s legitimate rights has been materialised in the light of the Islamic Revolution, which holds great respect for women. The Islamic Republic of Iran has made numerous

strides designed to increase the platform for women to participate in all sectors of the economy. Education has been identified as the major empowerment weapon for women.