Ali Heidari – Al Arabiya – February 22, 2023
International Mother Language Day (IMLD), celebrated on February 21st, underscores the importance of mother languages and multilingual education, as highlighted by institutions like the UN and UNESCO. Promoting multilingual education fosters inclusive development, and peaceful coexistence, and prevents ethnic conflicts. However, in many multinational countries, assimilationist, denialist, and eliminative policies—such as banning native language education—fuel internal strife and exacerbate tensions.
In Iran, cultural homogenization policies, through the declaration of an official language and legal and extralegal restrictions on education in mother languages, have alienated the country's diverse nationalities and deliberately exposed their regions to poverty and underdevelopment.
The continuation of denialist policies, affecting over half of Iran’s current population, cannot remain cost-free for a totalitarian and centralized government in today’s interconnected world. Education approaches based on a single language and culture will, sooner or later, lead to severe reactions in Iran’s diverse society.
The popularity of campaigns like “End Monolingualism” and the hashtag #MeAndPersian has tested the social and political appetite in Iran for transforming education systems centered on the official language.
The ongoing nationwide protests, dubbed the “Zhina Revolution,” also began in regions inhabited by nationalities and spread across the country with progressive and innovative slogans and actions. Even now, these protests continue in nationality regions, with these groups keeping the flame of this revolution alive.
Undoubtedly, the sense of discrimination and compounded oppression in all areas, coupled with the resulting disparities, has been one of the main drivers of the current uprising against the governance of the past century in Iran. Unfortunately, political regime changes over the past century have failed to alter approaches to the rights of nationalities in Iran.
Looking at the statements and actions of some Iranian opposition groups, which call themselves “national and overarching,” it becomes evident that they too perceive nationalities as “tribes and clans,” refer to people as “subjects,” envision their alternative governance based on a “single language, culture, and history,” and ultimately deem the “existing political and economic structures” essential for the post-Islamic Republic era.
In other words, the centralist opposition to the current regime is politically, culturally, and economically similar to the Islamic Republic. At best, they propose some social freedoms without altering structures, maintaining the overarching governance model, including monolingual education, in the cultural domain.
It must be emphasized that assimilation through monolingual education policies in Iran poses the most immediate threat to the individual and collective identities of nationalities.
On the other hand, because linguistic homogenization policies do not impose “material costs” on ordinary people in the short term, some political groups and activists among nationalities do not see multilingual education as a priority.
The ruling political system has effectively severed the connection between nationalities' languages and the economy by tying all economic activity and personal advancement to education in the official language. In other words, a non-Persian citizen in today’s Iran does not need mother tongue education even in their native region for employment or income generation.
This situation is particularly pronounced in Khuzestan, where the region’s natural wealth and industrialization exacerbate these challenges compared to other areas. Beyond nepotism, administrative corruption, and blatant ethnic favoritism in hiring and promotions, the central government in this region leverages “credentialism” and “lack of an accent” as tools against Arab citizens during recruitment processes.
In monolingual education systems, credentialism translates to advanced studies in the official language, while avoiding an accent requires individuals to sever ties with their environment and surroundings, gradually abandoning speaking, reading, and writing in their mother tongue to secure jobs or career advancement.
From this perspective, cultural demands to preserve the individual and collective identity of the Arab people, especially education in the mother tongue, should be a top priority for any political group or movement representing Ahvaz Arabs. For this purpose, Ahvazi activists and political parties must set the demand for multilingual education, rather than monolingual education, as a prerequisite for any coalition with other political groups.
Nonetheless, some activists regard the demand for mother tongue education as a cultural issue and consider its political articulation inappropriate. It must be noted that “education” is inherently political and closely linked to the concept of “power.” Governments make decisions on education at the highest political levels.
The notion of “official language” and compulsory education in it, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, first and foremost reveals the political nature of language and education. Therefore, it is only by placing the demand for mother tongue education at the forefront of political agendas that its sensitivity and importance can be highlighted, forcing political systems to engage in dialogue and find solutions.
The link to the original article in Farsi on Al Arabiya:
روز جهانی زبان مادری و اهمیت آموزش چندزبانه برای ملیتها در ایران