The president’s rhetoric harps constantly on the theme of Iran’s enemies and endeavors to encourage Iranians to strive more, not just for the benefits to be enjoyed from developing the country, but out of the necessity of beating back their enemies.
While Ahmadi-nejad constantly accuses the rest of the world of being confrontational in its treatment of Iran, Ahmadi-nejad is routinely confrontational in the way he characterizes the world in his speeches to the Iranian public.
His most recent speech was Saturday to a gathering at the opening of the new Tehran-to-Pardis highway stretching 23 kilometers northeast of the capital.
“We must build Iran with Iranian thought and effort,” Ahmadi-nejad said, emphasizing, as he often does, the need for Iran to act on its own.
“Experience shows that those who give one toman [around a cent] and do not demand two tomans will have more demands. A material demand is one thing, while a political demand is intolerable. They want to sell consumer goods, but set political conditions. We see it. They flog consumer goods to the world using advertisements and bribes. How long do they advertise a product in order to flog it to a nation?”
The emphasis on consumer goods was curious given that Iran is now being flooded with Chinese-made goods and many Iranian producers have complained that the Ahmadi-nejad Administration won’t raise tariffs to keep them out.
Ahmadi-nejad said. “We must build Iran with our own effort and thought. Historical experience also says that Iranian thought is more effective, more improved and more appropriate than imported ones.
“Look at Iran’s engineering past. Buildings, bridges, cities, arts and beauties were all great.… We should build Iran with own effort, thought, initiative, talent and resources. Of course, we will bring resources from all over the world if we can, but we will never accept any imposed thought, guidance and program. We should build Iran according to our own program. We should build the way we want it and according to our culture and our cultural ideals.
“Thank God, this feeling and belief are alive in Iran today. The collective spirit of the Iranian nation, which created a civilization, is alive and awake today. The spirit that created people like Avicenna, Abu Reyhan, Hafez, thousands of philosophers, scholars, artists, great persons and fighters is awake today.
“Of course, this worries them [the West]. They were ready to supply us with everything we needed, make discounts and accept payment in installments if we accepted their conditions. However, the great Iranian nation refused to bow down.”
Ahmadi-nejad continued: “We should join efforts and increase the pace of the country’s development by several times. This is possible. The Iranian nation deserves this. We can reach the heights of the world within 10 or 15 years.
“Who said that only they can be up there? A few countries are sitting on a tower and grinding its edges, and if someone wants to climb it, they hit and kick them to push them down. We can build a tower ourselves and sit on it ourselves. We really can.
“They must accept the existence of the Iranian nation and, God willing, they will accept it. They have no other choice. They’d better accept it. If they do not accept it, the culture of this nation will bring them down so that they are no longer be able to continue to live.”