February 21, 2025
Today, February 21 is International Mother Language Day. A day on which hundreds of millions of people appreciate and respect the value that allows humans to connect with their existence and environment through their own language. This day is doubly important for those hundreds of millions of people who are still deprived of education in their mother tongue. For this part of the world, February 21 is a day to raise their voice against oppression that still continues. February 21 was originally born and named for the bloody 1952 Bengal uprising. In 1999, UNESCO gave this day global recognition, and by declaring 2008 as the International Mother Language Year, the process that had begun in the field of preserving the right and dignity of the mother tongue was further stabilized.
This day is important because humans are important; it is through language that humans enter into extensive social relations. For this thoughtful being, language is not only a means of expressing thought but also a builder of thought. If it is a horrendous and painful oppression when nature or events prevent humans from speaking, such oppression takes on a terrifying aspect when the linguistic exploitation of humans by humans is recognized and becomes a political and social institution. Linguistic discrimination is a grievous cruelty and injustice of human against human that is carried out through governments. This oppression is a violation of human rights and the suppression of other human rights.
Languages, apart from their level of sophistication, which naturally varies in the case of languages, are equal in their rights, because humans are equal in rights. So, there is no justification for children to naturally celebrate the first day of education outside the home in the same native language, while other children who are forced to experience the school environment in alienation from the home environment, cannot enjoy the same natural status and right. This inequality of conditions can lead to inequality of growth and prosperity. Statistics on the level of literacy in the country show that this deprivation of education in the native language is among the factors of imbalance in this field. According to what logic, other than national narrow-mindedness, does it stand that a child who is capable of learning several languages in a short time cannot begin the first learning of reading and writing in a language other than the mother tongue? Language discrimination is not simply cultural injustice, but systematic political oppression.
This discrimination and violent oppression has been going on in Iran for more than a century. In this land, Baluch, Azeri, Turkmen, Arab, Kurdish, etc. children do not have the right to flourish and be proud of their language, like their Persian peers, in their mother language. Due to this discrimination, people who have the right to smile at the sounds of their mother language are forced to start learning in writing with restraint and prohibition. This is a clear violation of their human rights and a kind of cultural discrimination because it cuts off the natural sapling of learning.
This is not only an oppression of humans, but also an oppression of language. Because the flourishing of the language depends on the creativity of its children. This is depriving the language of its creators. Although the breadth, depth, and richness of the Persian language is owed to the artistic and intellectual creativity of all the inhabitants of Iran and even this continental shelf, and we can be proud of this historical achievement, we cannot help but feel sad and angry that, based on the one nation-one language system, other languages of this land should not have been allowed to flourish. Enriching one language at the expense of keeping other languages poor is not culture-building, but against culture. If people are diverse and their possessions are diverse, then no one has the right to take this right away from them.
On this International Mother Language Day, the Left Party of Iran, once again, as it always insists on the principle of equal rights of languages, declares its opposition to any kind of linguistic discrimination anywhere in the world and especially in our homeland Iran, persistently protests the ban on education in the mother tongue for millions of Iranian children, and has not spared any struggle to realize this human right in the country and will not give up. We emphasize the value and ever-increasing richness of the Persian language as a communication and common language in the country, while at the same time emphasizing the necessity of eliminating linguistic oppression of every language in the country.
In our party's belief, linguistic diversity in Iran is an unrivalled national wealth for all of Iran, whenever its value is recognized and respected. But the Islamic Republic has not only deprived the country of the benefit of multiculturalism and multilingualism within its borders and the use of such a valuable asset for establishing neighborly relations and economic and cultural exchanges with neighboring countries, but also, with anti-democratic policies in this field, as in other areas, it is fueling a sense of linguistic and cultural alienation in the country. This goes beyond burning wealth and creates hypocrisy and division on the national issue. An issue that is considered one of the country’s most sensitive and important challenges, in which linguistic discrimination is a major one. The consequences of linguistic oppression do not only affect a large part of the country’s population, but in fact act against all Iranian people. Because this practice threatens the unity of the country, which is a condition for sustainable development.
The alternative to this danger and its similar ones, which all target the national interests and every Iranian citizen, is the establishment of a democratic Iran free from all kinds of discrimination and inequality. An ideal and goal that requires fighting all forms of oppression and discrimination and striving for a transition from an Islamic Republic to a secular democracy based on decentralization. Our party considers such a goal to be within the structure of a secular democratic republic and recognizes federalism as the most appropriate method of realizing national equality in it.
Political-Executive Board of the Left Party of Iran
February 21, 2025
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