Iranian TV Host ‘Sorry’ For Perceived Racism Toward Afghans
When an Afghan TV host highlighted censorship on neighboring Iran’s state-controlled broadcaster, it didn’t go down well with everyone.
Former soccer player-turned-sportscaster Ali Ansarian responded by suggesting that Iranians are better off than Afghans. He said his Afghan counterpart, Amanullah Qaisari, should stick to reporting and refrain from commenting on the state of affairs in Iran.
“Dear friend, we’ve seen things that you’ve never seen,” Ansarian urged Qaisari via Iranian TV. “Also, remember that you’re talking about a country to which you owe a lot. So, do your report and don’t interfere in these things.”
But it was the way he said it that angered some.
Persian is spoken in both Iran and Afghanistan, but the accents and some vocabulary are slightly different.
Ansarian, whose 15-year soccer career included call-ups to the Iranian national team, appeared to be mocking the Afghan dialect of Persian, known as Dari.
Beyond the linguistic and cultural affinities between Iranians and Afghans lie some politically and religiously fueled rivalries that have been complicated by the presence in Iran of millions of Afghan refugees over the past four decades.
‘Tasteless’ Mockery
Some social-media users were quick to condemn Ansarian’s comments as “racist” and “insulting” while describing his mockery of Dari accent as tasteless.
Many apologized to Afghans for Ansarian’s “ugly” comments.
They included political analyst Morteza Kazemian, who tweeted that instead of censoring women, Iranian state TV should remove “racist comments.”
“They owe us humiliating behavior with their refugees?” another social-media user, Mahdi Zandi, said via Twitter in an effort to highlight the discrimination that many Afghans living in Iran face. “Growing up without identification cards? Not having the right to study? I wish we could understand the root of this ridiculous feeling of superiority.”