please support Siraya reclamation

[Rolland Nadjiwon]

My sincere apologies but I do need to know/read what I am signing. As 
you might recall from history, our people(Native Americans) trusted 
Columbus et al and have paid severely for that unconditional trust for 
the last 517 years. I will certainly join my signature to the post 
should you post the petition in English. I can have empathy for what 
these people are doing and what they are experiencing through our own 
history.

-------
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon



Chun Jimmy Huang wrote:
> Tabe, friends and colleagues from ILAT,
>
> Siraya is one of the indigenous peoples (Austronesian) in Taiwan that 
> have not yet been recognized by Taiwan's government. The Siraya 
> language was last spoken a century ago, and hence it is labeled as 
> "extinct" by the mainstream society and academia. The relation between 
> such labeling and the denial of our identity is hence obvious.
>
> However, the fact is that the Siraya people are still living strong. 
> And we have been working on revitalizing our sleeping mother tongue 
> and native culture since 1997.
>
> On May 2nd, 2009, the Siraya Culture Association and friends are going 
> on the street to demand the government recognize the "indigenous" 
> status of Siraya and also other Taiwanese low-land indigenous peoples. 
> Such political recognition is of great significance to our language 
> revitalization effort, for it concerns availability of funding and 
> resources. Also, to our people, it will mean that we are no longer 
> mistaken as "extinct."
>
> The Siraya Culture Association has made an online petition form. I 
> would much appreciate if you can sign it and show your support.
>
> Unfortunately our computer technician has trouble creating an English 
> interface and hyperlinks now. So I just translated the statement and 
> the explanation of the signing process from the original Chinese text 
> to English.
>
> Basically, you can:
> go to this website first
> http://campaign.tw-npo.org/campaign/sign.php?id=2009031902170000
>
> Scroll down and read the English statement.
>
> Then, go to the bottom of the page and click on the link to the right 
> (or open it on a new tag/page) that has 6 Chinese characters. That's 
> for individual signing. Then, from top to bottom you will see several 
> grids.
>
> (1) Name. Please sign your name here in your native language.
> (2) English name. If your native name is in English, ignore this grid. 
> You do need to sign (1) to be accepted by the system, though.
> (3) Affiliation
> (4) Ignore this... it's geographical locations in Taiwan.
> (5) Email
> (6) cell phone number
> (7) (other) phone number
>
> Except for (1), everything else is optional.
>
> (8) And then, if possible, please leave some message in the big box. 
> Any word from you would mean a lot to us.
> (9) Verify by entering the number in the last grid. Then click on the 
> button below it and you are done.
>
> Madak ki alilid (thank you very much!)
>
>
> Chun Jimmy Huang
> PhD candidate,
> Linguistics, University of Florida
> Linguistic consultant,
> Tainan Ping-pu Siraya Culture Association
>
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