Mexico: City Employees Learn Language of the Aztecs

[Harold Schiffman]

City Employees Learn Language of the Aztecs

Mexico City's leftwing mayor wants all city employees to learn Aztecs'
language as part of efforts to combat discrimination
"The smoking stars gather against it and the one who cares for flowers
is about to be destroyed." This was the way one Aztec poem foretold
the crushing of empire and culture that would come at the hands of the
Spanish. Nearly 500 years later, Mexico City's leftwing mayor wants
everyone to learn the language of the Aztecs. Marcelo Ebrard has asked
all city officials and employees to learn Nahautl in an effort to
tackle discrimination against the indigenous minority and engender
greater appreciation of past glories

"All of us public servants are going to have to start studying," said
Ebrard. "A people that forgets its origins and throws out its
traditions will be at the mercy of those who dominate global culture."
The introductory course for city employees will begin with the
alphabet, but fluent speakers are already beginning to translate
official documents; "This is not symbolism," the mayor insisted. "It
is public policy."

There are about 1.4 million Nahautl speakers in Mexico today, a little
more than 10% of the country's indigenous population. About 30,000
live in Mexico City, mostly in the poverty-stricken semi-rural
outskirts, or working in wealthier areas as street vendors or
servants. They tend to be treated as second class citizens by the
mixed-race majority. The first course for city employees will be
voluntary.

By Guardian Unlimited (c) Copyright Guardian Newspapers 2008
Published: 2/27/2008

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/180554.html


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