Dear Community Members.
BAAWA will celebrate the ‘International Mother Language Day (IMLD) 2018’ to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism in one of the most culturally diverse states of Australia, Western Australia.
Date and Time: Saturday, 24 February 2018; 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
Venue: Cockburn Youth Centre, 25 Wentworth Parade, Success, WA.
Given the historic connection of Bangladeshis to the genesis of Language Movement in 1952, BAAWA EC 2017-18 identified a project to secure State (WA) recognition of 21st February as the International Mother Language Day (IMLD) and celebrating the day under the auspices of the Western Australian Government. This project encompasses reaching out to various communities to create a combined voice and sensitizing different tiers of Australian Governments about the necessities of taking appropriate measures to protect and preserve all languages as a means to strengthen the multicultural bond.
As a stepping stone to this initiative, we reached out to a broader audience and BAAWA IMLD 2018 program will showcase performances from Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Romanian, and Tamil Association of WA highlighting the importance of preserving mother tongue in a multilingual and multicultural context.
Our extensive interaction and networking with different organisations to garner support for this noble cause has yielded positive results.
Hon. Paul Papalia CSC, MLA, Minister for Tourism; Racing and Gaming; Small Business; Defence Issues; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests and Kim Ellwood, Executive Director, Office of Multicultural Interests (OMI) have confirmed their attendance at this event. Mr Yaz Mubarakai MLA, Member for Jandakot; Senators from Australian Greens and The Greens (WA) and office bearers of multiple community organisations are also likely to attend this program.
BAAWA Culture has sent a separate email informing the details of the cultural program. OMI has also published this event on OMI Event Calendar.
On behalf of BAAWA EC, I cordially invite you to attend this event to commemorate the Language Movement martyrs and support BAAWA's initiative to secure State (WA) recognition of 21 February as the International Mother Language Day (IMLD).
Warm regards
Syed Muzaffar Ahmed
GS
BAAWA Inc.
