LL-L: "Language politics" 16.JUL.2000 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 16.JUL.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Language politics"

>>From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
>>Subject: Language politics

>Sandy wrote:

>This is criminal activity on the part of the government, which in
the
United Kingdom is legal since no British citizen is granted any human
rights
at all under English or Scots law. <

>>Ignoring the fact that an act cannot be simultaneously legal and
criminal
within the same legal jurisdiction, to the best of my knowledge I
have the
right to vote in various elections and the right to trial by my peers
in
the case of any but the most trivial offences.<<

I was aware of the terminological contradiction when I wrote that -
perhaps
to clarify the poor attempt at irony, I should say that the UK
government
has absolute sovereignty over the laws and no matter how criminal
something
might seem, if the government want to make it legal, they can. What
keeps
them in rein, of course, is the weight of public opinion and the
threat of
not getting enough votes - but if they can contrive to do a thing
quietly
enough, then there's no overriding pronciple to make their actions
illegal,
such as might happen in a country with a written constitution. This
is the
significance of, for example, an individual's hunger strike to
prevent the
government reneging on a promise - it makes the public aware of what
the
government is trying to do under the table.

>>I also have the right not to be
tried for the same offence twice and the right not to be
discriminated
against on sexual or racial grounds. Before anyone else says it, I
know
that
the present government is contemplating abolishing two of these
rights, but
I do still have them now.<<

That's exactly my point, John, the UK government has the power to
abolish
your rights - any of them. Surely rights should be "inalienable", as
in the
US constitution (I believe?) - otherwise they're just laws, not
rights. The
UK government also can, and generally does, ignore the European
Community
Human Rights charter, which is why so many UK human rights cases
ultimately
have to be referred to the European Court. Moreover, as far as the
British
government's concerned, English law applies all over the world and
the
Cabinet at Westminster have the right to amend, for example, the US
constitution! If you think that's nonsense, you're absolutely right,
I've
never in my life seen such arrant, loony, bigoted nonsense - but it's
the
law here!

I should point out that politics (as I've said before) is by no means
my
forte, so as John rightly suggests, I may be wrong, but this is the
basics
of the British so-called constitution as I understand it, and I
believe it
helps to explain the frustration that some Scots language activists
are
experiencing in trying to deal "above the board" with government
departments.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
  Things in this subloonary warld bein far frae
perfeck, 'No that bad' is the maist that mortal
man can venture tae say while here ablo.
             - Catherine P. Slater, 'Marget Pow'

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