President Hassan Rouhani urged artists and intellectuals to help the state and society by promoting ethics, creating social balance and eliminating extremism and violence, at an Iftar ceremony attended by cultural and art personalities, at the Tehran Islamic Conference Summit Hall on Saturday.
Iftar (fast-breaking) is the time of sunset in the fasting month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the Islamic calendar), when Muslims world-wide, who abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours, break their fast and partake in food and drinks.
The president stressed the need to prepare the necessary grounds for artists’ creativity “as they play an important role in communicating with the world,” IRNA reported.
“Art is doing the finest and most effective work through an eloquent way of expression” and in the past 22 months, the government has communicated with the world in the same manner, he said. Rouhani was referring to the negotiations with the P5+1 over Iran’s nuclear program.
“Iran’s talks with the world powers can be interpreted as artistic discussions showing the strength of the nation in resolving the toughest of its problems on a historical-political scale. Logic has succeeded in preserving the people’s inalienable right,” the president added.
The artful and logical presentation of its foreign policy, even if the negotiations bear no fruit, will show the world Iran’s rational approach in never leaving the negotiation table, and answering all questions with a smile.
Commitment
Expressing regret over the prevalence of some aberrations in a society with thousand years of culture, he said, “Where there is real artistic expression, there is culture as well. Who else other than artists can expose lies, betrayal, corruption, insults and hypocrisy in the society,” he asked.
Committed art will not be achieved by force but whenever artists willingly go along with the public to reflect people’s pains and demands in their works, committed art is created. “If we want to immortalize the message of Islam and the (1979) Islamic Revolution, we need to make use of art.”
Art can be expressed in an atmosphere of freedom and no artistic creativity can prosper under pressure. “The government can make policies but it has no right to interfere in the personal and professional lives of artists,” Rouhani said.
Restarting national and symphony orchestras, reopening the House of Cinema, giving more space to artists in different fields to work more creatively and allocating a part of management of specific events like book fairs and film festivals to experts in the field, are among the steps the government has taken in the past two years to assist artists. “My government has not forgotten our pledges and we will continue to do our best till all the promises are fulfilled.”
Governments come and go, but the work of art remains forever, he added.
