Introduction
As evidenced by the history of the Islamic Revolution, spontaneous cultural work has been one of the main factors in discourse-making. When small grassroots cores entered the field with a sincere perspective, away from bureaucratic paperwork, original Iranian art took on the color of commitment and flowed like a pure spring for years. If we look at the source and origin of many of today’s cultural effects in society, they trace back to grassroots cultural work. The Supreme Leader’s repeated emphasis on supporting these groups has been a correct concern that he consistently pays attention to, because supporting these capillary arteries to create a single cultural body in the country is essential.
Characteristics
These movements have several distinct characteristics compared to state-run examples, which are mentioned below:
The first unique characteristic of spontaneous cultural work is its low cost. They do not wait for a stylish, furnished building to be coordinated with full services and first-class facilities. With whatever facilities they have on hand, they gather in a mosque or one of the members’ homes and strive within their capability to convey the discourse of the revolution to their neighborhood peers. The lack of hardware does not diminish their cultural work, nor does their striving for professionalism decrease in the slightest under the pretext of a lack of facilities. The second characteristic is the mindset of these groups.
Being revolutionary is the most important feature that separates the faithful cultural wing from other spontaneous works or so-called NGOs. A mindset rooted in the existence of these groups and not imposed by circulars. The faithful who engage in spontaneous work speak or create from their hearts, and this is an important point because whatever comes from the heart inevitably sits in the heart.
The third characteristic is that these groups, alongside their commitment, are artists in the true sense of the word. In their fields, learning commitment and expertise are two inseparable wings, and it is impossible to present a good message to the audience in a broken and unpolished vessel. But what do these groups, who are actors themselves or, so to speak, operate in the soft war, need? How can the fire of cultural artillery be concentrated in one direction? In which rendezvous point should the officers of the soft war get to know each other, hear each other’s words, and prepare for joint operations? The lack of such a common gathering place was one of the main shortcomings of spontaneous cultural groups in the country, which caused these groups to become smaller and smaller over the past few decades, and after a while, their members preferred individual work over front-line work. This was a concern that could not be resolved except with the support of revolutionary organizations.
One of the organizations that tried to turn this concern into a policy was the Seraj Cyberspace Organization, which in the first step opened the path of communication and intellectual exchange among revolutionary activists by identifying these groups and introducing them to each other, and tried to empower these groups with non-interfering support, and finally, by creating coordination among these groups, guided many joint actions in the form of a single cultural ummah.
In a word, the main mission of the Seraj Cyberspace Organization is to help realize the goals and visions of the Islamic Revolution in cyberspace by utilizing the capacity of active grassroots spontaneous groups in this arena.