My advice to all Muslims and oppressed peoples of the world is that you should not sit and wait till your own authorities or rulers, or some foreign powers make a gift of freedom and independence to you. During the last century, we have observed the infiltration of the world’s major powers into all Islamic countries and smaller lands. Reliable history has related this for us. None of the rulers of any of these countries have been concerned with freedom, independence and welfare of his nation. Rather the majority of such rulers have been cruel oppressors who tried to strangulate their own people. Whatever good they did was to benefit themselves or some special group. Such rulers promoted the welfare of the already well-to-do classes but never did a thing to benefit the deprived groups and slum-dwellers. These last groups were deprived even of their daily bread. The miserable and deprived groups were taken into the service of the profligate pleasure-seeking or they were made puppets of big powers, doing their best to make their countries more and more dependent on foreign powers. The rulers of such countries, who were only nominal, secured the interests of their Eastern or Western masters, turned their countries into markets for the consumption of the manufactured products of their overlords and kept their own homelands in an undeveloped condition. They are doing so even now.
O, you deprived people of the world! O, you Muslims and Muslim countries of the world! Rise up and fight for your rights! Do not be afraid of the propaganda operations of the superpowers and their mercenaries. Drive out from your lands your wicked rulers who hand over your earnings to your enemies and the enemies of Islam. You, yourselves and the dedicated public servants should take charge of the affairs of your country. Gather, all of you, under the proud banner of Islam and fight the enemies of Islam and of the deprived peoples of the world. Advance toward an Islamic sovereign government with so many free and independent republics. If you realize this, the arrogant powers would retreat to their own places. All deprived people would come to inherit the earth and attain guardianship over it. Looking forward to the day when Allah’s promise shall be fulfilled!
(Sahifeh-ye Imam, Vol. 21, P. 447)