Speaking at the closing ceremony of "The Art of Resistance” festival, the Basij Commander Mohammadreza Naqdi said "Everyone knows America, this word is the one most hated in the world, whereas Europeans, who wear makeup to show people a friendly face, are the symbol of savagery, violence, and crime against humanity.”
"Arts and media are two tools for the European to pretend that they are in the right,” Naqdi exclaimed, adding "The awards they give are signs of bondage, sings of humiliation. Of course those who are miserable , depressed, and unsuccessful in the originality of arts are the ones who are given artistic awards by these foreigners.”
He added "As they realized they could do nothing with their weapons, they resorted to arts and media. that is where our and the freedom-loving artists’ duty grows much more difficult. Something has to be done.”
The Commander of the Basij said "I do not know how it is that those whose hands are red with the blood of tens of millions are able to talk of human rights.”
An American
cartoonist who also was a guest to the festival then made some speech,
stressing the need for resistance against war, oppression, media monopoly, and
consumerism as something artists would have to pay attention to.