<div dir="ltr"><h2>Referendum needed over Afrikaans</h2>
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July 12 2016, 05:00 </div>
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<ul class=""><li class=""><a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/letters/2016/07/12/letter-referendum-needed-over-afrikaans?service=print" title="Print this article" target="_new"> </a></li><li class=""><br></li></ul>
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<img src="http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/education/2016/07/07/university-of-pretoria-xxx/ALTERNATES/crop_400x250/University+of+Pretoria+XXX" alt="PROTEST: Students demonstrate in support of the retention of Afrikaans as the primary medium of instruction outside the University of Pretoria’s Hatfield campus in February. Picture: THE TIMES" height="250px" width="400px">
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PROTEST: Students demonstrate in support of the
retention of Afrikaans as the primary medium of instruction outside the
University of Pretoria’s Hatfield campus in February. Picture: THE TIMES</div>
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<span>Related articles</span>
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<a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2016/07/11/on-the-water-fear-drives-fight-for-afrikaans">
ON THE WATER: Fear drives fight for Afrikaans</a>
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<div class=""><p>I AM stunned that Neels Blom in "<a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2016/07/11/on-the-water-fear-drives-fight-for-afrikaans" target="_blank">Let us be clear about the work of a university</a>"
(July 8) should continue to argue against education in Afrikaans
including university education. The decision by the universities of the
Free State and Pretoria to impose an English-only policy represents a
nightmare come true, and reminds one of the early-19th century arrogance
of the British lords governing the Cape.</p><p>The imposition of
English was one of the causes of the Great Trek. As we can no longer
trek away from the ANC except by emigrating, we have to fight for our
language.</p><p>No country except France with its myth of a "universal
nation" would take the position in the 21st century that only one
language be allowed at university and in public administration. Britain,
where English presumably comes from, subsidises Welsh and not so long
ago, allowed the Scots to vote in their "Indyref".</p><p>However, the
ANC is less intelligent than France’s elite hauts fonctionnaires who
have to pass competitive examinations to get jobs, so their language
policy is illogical.</p><p>The Constitution, which no Afrikaner agreed
to and was never put to a referendum as promised, recognises 11
so-called official languages. The notion that English is "more equal" in
Orwellian terms than the other 10 seems to underlie Blom’s logic, but
it has never been tested in court.</p><p>The hysterical Left, which is
so strident when it comes to racial equality and racism, is silent on
the notion of linguistic equality.</p><p>All the universities need to be
sued by the Afrikaans organisations. We should open up everything to
scrutiny, even the legality of a Constitution that was imposed on us by
Parliament, corrupt National Party politicians and ANC terrorists.</p><p>Section
29(1) of the Constitution is a mess and in dire need of clarification,
especially in light of the longstanding equality between Afrikaans and
English, as well as international principles that eschew any form of
linguistic hierarchy. Even the UN has six (equal) official languages:
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.</p><p>Afrikaners
and other Afrikaans-speakers should be able to vote in a referendum on
whether their language should enjoy equality with English in all
spheres. Thereafter, we can also test the appetite for independence
among Afrikaners as in the Scottish referendum.</p><p>After all, the
most persuasive argument among Blom and other anglophiles is: this is
how they do it in Britain. So, let’s get really British and go the full
monty: Let’s have two referendums in close succession.</p><p><em><strong>Dr Dan Roodt, Pro-Afrikaans Action Group</strong></em></p><p><em><strong><a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/letters/2016/07/12/letter-referendum-needed-over-afrikaans">http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/letters/2016/07/12/letter-referendum-needed-over-afrikaans</a><br></strong></em></p></div></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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