Resistance to assimilation - our language must live not die

[Anthea]

Resistance to assimilation
our language should live, not die!

Leila Zana once told us:

"My mother couldn't speak Turkish, and I learned the language behind the prison's bars."

A friend of ours said something that stuck deep in the heart:

"Neither my father nor mother could speak Persian or Arabic. I was forced in school to learn both languages. I learned Turkish during the 1.5 years I had to live in Turkey because of the UN.

But I will never pass on these languages and cultures to my children, grandchildren or future generations.

These languages shall die inside me. I am the cemetery of assimilation.

It's the only way to de-assimilate myself and my generations to come.

I refuse to speak these languages."

To refuse to give in to assimilation is to fight for the future.

To speak Kurdish is to exist.

To further Kurdish culture is to defeat centuries of denial.

Let's be the generation that breaks the chain.

Our languages must not die - they'll flourish