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L O W L A N D S - L - 28 December 2010 - Volume 03<br>
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From:
<span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Marcus Buck</span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:list@marcusbuck.org">list@marcusbuck.org</a>></span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">Subject: <span class="gi">LL-L
"Ethnicity" 2010.12.28 (02) [NDS]</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal">From: "Stellingwerfs
Eigen" <<a href="mailto:info@stellingwerfs-eigen.nl" target="_blank">info@stellingwerfs-eigen.nl</a>></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102);">Vandaege in de Liwwadder Kraante:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102);"><a href="http://www.lc.nl/friesland/regio/article12884381.ece/Duitsland-erkent-Ost-Friesen-wel" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102);">http://www.lc.nl/friesland/regio/article12884381.ece/Duitsland-erkent-Ost-Friesen-wel</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102);">Mit een vrundelike groet uut Stellingwarf,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102);">Piet Bult</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I
want to give some context for all people who do not follow German minority
politics closely:<br>
In May 2010 the German Ministry of the Interior issued a brochure about the
national minorities in Germany.
But the Ministry got confused and mixed up national minorities and language
minorities. They completely left out the Eastern Frisians who are members of
the national minority of the Frisians but of the language minority of the Low
Saxons (the Low Saxons on the other hand are considered Germans from an ethnic
point of view). This upset the political party "The Frisians"
(website with press release about the topic: <a href="http://87.106.89.234/" target="_blank"><http://87.106.89.234/></a>) who try to represent the
interests of the national minority. They filed a complaint with the ministry.
In their press release the party suggests that the ministry made this on
purpose because the state has adopted obligations to support the national
minorities financially. The allegation is that the ministry wants to keep the number
low so they have to pay less (the language minority has 60,000 members while
the national minority has 560,000 members).<br>
<br>
My personal opinion is that the allegation is not correct. The ministry just
messed up because they don't care much and are sloppy. There's no evil plan to
"minimize" the minority. Although the reality is not much better. The
official answer of the ministry was that the Eastern Frisians are "of
course" part of the Frisian national minority and they offered to fix
their mistake. But that doesn't change much about their lack of support for the
Eastern Frisians. And about their lack of support for the North and Sater
Frisians, who are financially supported but not in a way that even remotely
secures the survival of the Frisian culture and language.<br>
<br>
I think it's a good thing that "The Frisians" exist and that they do
some activism, but the stage they choose is not the best choice. Taking a badly
designed brochure and based on that accusing people that they want to erase a
minority makes them an easy target for ridicule that can easily be ignored in
the future. Would be better if they looked at the bigger picture. State
institutions do not spend enough to ensure the continued existance of the
national minority although they signed treaties to protect the minorities. And
what's "protection" worth if it does not mean to secure the continued
existance of the "protected" group?<br>
<br>
Marcus Buck</p>
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