RASC News Agency: The 10th Persian Language Festival was hosted at the University of Westminster in London in honor of International Mother Language Day. The event featured insightful messages from the Persian cultural sphere, poetry recitations, musical performances, and traditional songs, drawing prominent Persian-speaking cultural figures from Afghanistan, Iran, and Tajikistan residing in the UK. As part of the festival, a book exhibition, a display of traditional attire, and an exhibition of artistic and handcrafted works were held in the university hall. Additionally, the prestigious “Qand-e Parsi” (Persian Sugar) Award was presented to two esteemed Persian language scholars Alireza Qiyamati from Iran and Akhlaq Ahan from India as well as two distinguished Afghanistani artists, Taher Shabab and Sediq Shabab.
For the past ten years, this festival has been an annual cultural tradition in London, dedicated to preserving and promoting the Persian language. It is organized on the Sunday closest to February 21, the date designated by the United Nations as International Mother Language Day, through the initiative of the Tajik and Persian-Speaking Community Association, in collaboration with other Persian-language organizations. This year’s festival took place amid heightened linguistic and cultural suppression in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power. Over the past two and a half years, hundreds of Persian-speaking poets, writers, and artists have been forced to flee the country due to the Taliban’s systematic discrimination against the Persian language a policy so severe that it has drawn condemnation from the United Nations.
Despite claiming to rule under the banner of “religion and Sharia,” the Taliban’s actions have prioritized ethnic and linguistic agendas. This bias runs so deep that even the Taliban’s Minister of Justice publicly cited corruption and ethnic favoritism as his reasons for resigning.
