Parviz Karami

The oil beneath our feet is undoubtedly a blessing; but, our ignorance and mismanagement have turned it into a misery and a limitation imposed on us in our way towards progress and prosperity.  We have heard many times from the elders and the concerned people in the country that we tuned our blame of being lazy and sloth to the oil industry and simulated the oil-based income to an effortless wealth and a bonanza which prevented us from working seriously. Regarding this, the other countries with the oil-based economy are similar to us and for whom this blessing is also turned into a luxury and import disease.

Oil producing countries are neither manufacturers, nor science producers; they do not take any responsibility in the world. They just sell oil and buy everything they need with the oil income; they are solely consumers. Surely, they invest their consumption and luxury surpluses in big companies to benefit the interest and make the wheels of the global economy rotate.

Oil producers are like affluent kids inherited huge wealth from their ancestors, and of course they do not have any motivation to work. People work to obtain wealth, property, and power; of course those who inherited these do not need to work. Wherever money is obtained easily, there is no motivation for working, unless we create other incentives to work.

The United States have also oil wells and a great income to become an oil baron; but, they have obtained their wealth and power from other resources. America is the Great Satan and Islamic Republic of Iran from its foundation has never seen such a great and implacable enemy. But the fact is that this enemy is not lazy and does not rely on oil revenues. The US economy is the largest in the world and his companies have the highest income and it is also the wealthiest. But its universities, educational system, its factories and people do not just sit and wait for the kind government to pour money in their pockets.

You must have seen in documentary movies how a mother bird feeding open mouthed chicks. In oil producing countries, the same is the relationship between organizations, people, and companies and the government. Education, Higher Education, Research Centers, factories, artists, scientists, and even ordinary people open their mouths and wait for the kind and generous government, to put their share of oil income in. If you see our factories with such huge investments are always in loss and cannot make the ends meet, this is because they always hang on governments lips and do not have any fear of bankruptcy.

Too much money makes people lazy and bored and prevents them from competition and effort. Poor kids know that if they do not work for two days they will suffer from hunger and poverty. They have to work hard days and nights to strengthen their economic power.But the rich kids rely on their inherited wealth which they think as permanent and interminable. But suddenly they see that there is no more money and soon they will be left with their empty pockets and they have no choice but to accede to the misery and misfortune.

At young ages one can learn a craft and work, but is it possible when we get older? What should we do? Really what should have been done? At the beginning of the previous issue of "Saramad" magazine we quoted an anecdote from Saadi in which an answer to this question is suggested. "a wise man admonished his sons to learn a craft since this world and its wealth is not reliable, the wealth, coin and gold can be theft in a night or usurped by a tyrant ruler…" this is not irrelevant if we modernize this anecdote this way and say that the oil resources is not reliable since it can be sanctioned or its price could be broken, either we eat it up or ….. A glance at the current situation shows that if we had applied Saadis advice we wouldn’t be afraid of sanctions and the breaking of prices.

Friedman, one of the most famous Columnists gave an interesting answer for the question of "Science or Oil, which one is better?"This is notable, especially for those countries trying to limit their oil dependencies:" occasionally I was asked which country I like better except my own country. And I always have one answer for that; Taiwan. Why Taiwan? It is simple. Since, it is a barren rocky land in a violent stormy sea. This rock does not have any natural resources for its people to sell and live with the money. They even have to import and buy sand and gravel from China to build their houses.

 However, Taiwan has the worlds fourth largest financial reserves. Instead of digging and exploring the ground and extracting oil and gas and valuable resources, they dig the brains and minds of twenty three million Taiwanese in order to release their intelligences and energies. I always said to my Taiwanese friends that they were the luckiest people in the world for they did not have oil, iron ore, forest, diamond or gold to sell and then the money prevents their potentialities to prosper. It has been proved that the most important and significant resource for development is the potentialities and talents of those people who are trying to work, build and construct. These are the only true renewable resources in the world…."

We do not want to fill a prescription in the editorial, that is to say what we should do with these huge oil resources and which policy should be taken. Our main task is to invite contemplation. Fortunately the main policy of the government is to limit the oil dependencies. The Supreme Leader has repeatedly stressed this independency and recently in a meeting with the elites of the country referred to an expressive and precise word "the Oil Baron" which is really helpful. The realities in the world made us make a big and major decision, and save ourselves from becoming a crude oil seller.

Political and economic situations also forced us to accelerate this process of limiting our oil dependencies. If we look differently at sanctions and oil falling prices, we see that not only they are not threats, but they created an excellent and historically unique opportunity for us to limit our dependencies on oil if we are conscious.  

Saadis anecdote has an ending which can help us in making a big and decisive decision. "But the art is the ever generating origin and eternal state…. And if the artist is not wealthy it is not important for the art is itself a wealth. Wherever the artist goes he is respected but the artless is always gleaning and in misery". In this anecdote the art means painting, theatre, and cinema. Art consists of virtues that lead toproduction, knowledge and development. Art is exactly the opposite point of oil brings for the people, credibility, property, and wealth.

Editor of the magazine "Saramad" and chief consultant of the National Elites Foundation