Despite cultural commonalities between the once-unitary nations of Iran and Afghanistan, imposed wars, massive migration and unstable policies regarding Afghan immigrants’ stay in Iran have cause deep chasms of misunderstanding between them so much so that the majority of Iranian people hardly imagine an Afghan to be other than a worker or source of social crime, let alone a cultural figure. And again, the single narratives and racism are to blame. Recently cultural endeavors are taken by both Iranian and Afghan cultural figures as a compensation.
The Mashhad-based Afghan poet Mohammad-Kazem Kazemi was paid tribute during a ceremony held by the Oj Artistic and Media Organization in Tehran on Tuesday, reports Tehran Times.
Afghan ambassador to Tehran Nassir Ahmad-Noor, Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs Seyyed Abbas Salehi, Afghan poet Ghanbar-Ali Tabesh, Iranian poet and satirist Esmaeil Amini and several other cultural figures attended the ceremony.
Kazemi, who attended with his wife and little daughter at the ceremony, said that he came to the event with his family to show a positive image of Afghans in Iranian media.
“There is rarely a positive view about the Afghan nation in Iran and I hope that Iranians show respect to not only the Afghan cultural figures and elites but also other people from the neighboring country,” Kazemii mentioned during the event.
“I was introduced to Kazemi during 1990s and we have so many common friends. He is an innovative poet, who reflects hope in his poetry,” Salehi said during the event.
Mohammad-Kazem Kazemi, 36, is a notable contemporary Afghan poet, author, literary critic and a book editor by profession. He has authored many books on Persian literature and Afghan poetry. His poetry collection “Window” has been published for the fourth time in Iran and is considered to be the most famous poetry anthology.
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