[lg policy] Catalan language policy: Marxist, Stalinist, Francoist or fascist?

Fri Jan 29 12:47:33 UTC 2010

Sorry to be unclear, I meant "making amends" or redressing injustices,
Joe 

-----Original Message-----
From: Stan-sandy Anonby [mailto:stan-sandy_anonby at sil.org] 
Sent: Friday, 29 January 2010 11:40 PM
To: Language Policy List; Joseph Lo Bianco
Subject: Re: [lg policy] Catalan language policy: Marxist, Stalinist,
Francoist or fascist?

Hi Jo,

"unpicking the past"?

On Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:20:56 +1100
 Joseph Lo Bianco <j.lobianco at unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
>This article is pretty bad.  So much heavy duty labelling, so little
>analysis or understanding.  Essentially let's let those who dominate
>continue to do so because unpicking the past is difficult.    Of course
>we should condemn coercion and authoritarianism in language policies,
>but that is just used as a ruse in the article to essentially tell
>minorities to "cop their lot".  In a speech at the opening of the great
>Library of Alexandria Umberto Eco made the point that perhaps the
>greatest gift of literary and educated culture is the capacity to make
>distinctions. Consider the absurd section of the article where the
>author fails to notice the difference between Fascist language
>repression and Italy's 1946 constitution which expressly recognises
>minority regions.   The invitation to Inspector Clouseau is telling in
>more ways than one.
>
>Joe
>
> 
>
> 
>
> 
>
>NEW PUBLICATIONS
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>
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>Australian Council for Educational Research
>
>********************************************
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>Joseph Lo Bianco, AM, FAHA, FACE
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>-----Original Message-----
>From: lgpolicy-list-bounces at groups.sas.upenn.edu
>[mailto:lgpolicy-list-bounces at groups.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of Harold
>Schiffman
>Sent: Friday, 29 January 2010 2:30 AM
>To: lp
>Subject: [lg policy] Catalan language policy: Marxist,
>Stalinist,Francoist or fascist?
>
> 
>
>Catalan language policy: Marxist, Stalinist, Francoist or fascist?
>
> 
>
>The precedents for, and some possible implications of, the
>
>Catalanisation of Barcelona's cinemas. Plus some crowd-pleasing video
>
>of the Quebec language police in action. (Allez! Allez! Allez! And the
>
>hell with the economy!) All in somewhat fevered response to an article
>
>by Martin Dahms in the Tages-Anzeiger.
>
> 
>
>Trevor @ Wednesday January 27th 2010 16:40
>
> 
>
>Last night I had a quick beer with someone who wonks policy for the
>
>Catalan governing coalition. He was very upset about a piece published
>
>a couple of days ago in the Tages-Anzeiger, a left-leaning,
>
>Zurich-based, mass-circulation daily, by a respected German foreign
>
>correspondent called Martin Dahms. Entitled "In Barcelona Hollywood
>
>has to speak Catalan," the article is a well-researched and objective
>
>look at Catalan government plans to force cinemas to show half of
>
>films in Catalan. These plans have caused the cinema industry
>
>association, which controls some 80% of seats in the region, to call a
>
>strike next Monday. They fear that frustrating the overwhelming market
>
>preference for Spanish showings (to which, given that everyone speaks
>
>Spanish, you can take all your friends) will inevitably accentuate the
>
>already rapid drift, particularly among the young, away from public
>
>cinema (and video clubs) to internet downloads. And even the Chinese
>
>haven't completely figured out how to regulate or impose quotas on
>
>those.
>
> 
>
>Mr Wonk's main beef was about Mr Dahms' comparison of the Catalan
>
>government's gradualist strategy to banish Spanish from public life
>
>with the Franco government's summarily implemented, anti-Catalan
>
>version of this policy in 1939. "How dare he! There is a world of
>
>difference between us and them!" he cried, echoing Christian
>
>objections to analysis linking human beings with other primates. Apart
>
>from all the usual "didn't never have no niggers/faggots/Spanish here
>
>before" paleocrap essential to any progressive discourse in Barcelona,
>
>Mr Wonk also made the interesting claim that Catalan linguistic
>
>aggression is essentially Marxist, designed to create a common
>
>language and thus achieve equality of opportunity for all.
>
> 
>
>Neglecting the fact that we already have a common
>
>language-Spanish-you've got to be pretty stupid or ignorant to believe
>
>that The Beard's works sanction cultural interventionism, whether
>
>we're talking about ironing out dialectal variation and linguistic
>
>diversity or any other field. As any Eastern European child over the
>
>age of 50 can tell you, Marx actually says that culture is
>
>superstructural to the economy. So the only strategy open to a
>
>conventional Marxist who wants to make Catalan the common language in
>
>Catalonia is to leap into a time machine, rip back to the 14th
>
>century, close the borders, thwack down the populace, and try to make
>
>anti-revolutionary autarky work ... for ever. Which, for all I know,
may
>
>indeed what President Montilla has in store for us.
>
> 
>
>However, at this point the barman suggested that a far better
>
>left-wing model for the restriction of individual language rights is
>
>provided by Stalin. Stalin knew Marx rather better than my friend and
>
>realised that if Marx had got it right then the language of the Tsars
>
>should have disappeared automatically as a superstructural consequence
>
>of the economic changes wrought by the October Revolution; there was
>
>no theoretical basis to justify the (violent) Russification of the
>
>Soviet Union. He got round this by saying-obviously not in so many
>
>words-that Marx was wrong and the Nazis were right: that language is
>
>not superstructure but is by some ingenious and unspecified means
>
>generated by the entire course of a society's history, reflecting not
>
>needs based in time or class but the Volksgeist.
>
> 
>
>Like Stalin's massive programme of cultural expansionism, the Catalan
>
>government's willingness to pay for Catalan education, exhibitions,
>
>street signs etc in areas of France and Italy to which it has cultural
>
>and thence territorial claims, as well as hegemonist pressures on
>
>Valencia and the Balearics, show that its ambitions are imperialist.
>
>In that sense it may be closer to Stalinism than to the Francoist
>
>programme of Hispanicisation in the 1940s, which reasserted (by
>
>totalitarian means) public dominance of the national language in
>
>territories which had been formally Spanish for some 500 years and
>
>where Spanish had been the language of the educated class and the
>
>administration for respectively some 400 and 200 years.
>
> 
>
>In another sense, however, Catalan nationalists would say
>
>Catalanisation is merely reasserting (by totalitarian means, of
>
>course) the public use of Catalan in territories which in the late
>
>Middle Ages were Aragonese and where Catalan and other southern French
>
>dialects were at the time the language of the educated class and,
>
>subordinated to Latin, of the administration. Which is rather
>
>complicated, but at least indicates that they accept the
>
>Catalanism/Francoism parallel.
>
> 
>
>[
>
>And that's all so Ulster isn't it! For novices, here's a helpful
>
>summary of provincial life by Manuel Estimulo:
>
> 
>
>As I am understand it, the place is divided up into two part, one
>
>ruled over by a militaristic authoritarian misogynistic reactionary
>
>Protestant fascism, which want to take everyone back to the 17th
>
>century, and the other part is rule over by a militaristic
>
>authoritarian misogynistic progressive Catholic fascism, which want to
>
>take everyone back to the 1920s. And even though they seem to have
>
>everything in common with one another, the main sticking plaster is
>
>they cannot agree over which football team to support. It all very
>
>much seem like a stork in a teacup!
>
> 
>
>]
>
> 
>
>I find neither Francoism nor Stalinism to be an entirely satisfactory
>
>parallel, because neither is afflicted by the all-devouring
>
>inferiority complex which drives mandatory Catalanisation: the notion
>
>that if people are not forced to use the language, it will die, and
>
>that this is for some reason of transcendent importance.
>
> 
>
>A few years ago following a rather wild bet I denounced myself to the
>
>language police for using English preferentially in (public) business
>
>communications, and when they failed to respond an Italian friend
>
>commented that the narrow focus of their paranoia-a rival Romance
>
>dialect-was reminiscent of the persecution of French in Italy in the
>
>late 19th and early 20th centuries, reaching its peak under Mussolini.
>
> 
>
>French was a more vigorous language, with far greater intellectual,
>
>artistic and industrial reach, and so strenuous efforts were made to
>
>deny French-speaking families education in French and other public
>
>opportunities to use it, and to cleanse Italian of all trace of French
>
>loanwords. (There's a fascinating piece here on the Aosta Valley, the
>
>persecution of French by Italian nationalists, and the French-language
>
>anti-fascist resistance.)
>
> 
>
>Mussolini was inverted in 1945 but his world was not, and full
>
>Italianisation of French-speaking areas was achieved in the post-war
>
>period by the pervasive influence of Italian mass media. Yet while
>
>Catalonia has succeeded in denying access to Spanish-language
>
>education, and while heavy fines are used to ensure that businesses
>
>promote themselves according to the ethnic fantasies of civil servants
>
>rather than according to their perception of customer need and their
>
>desire to maximise profits, it's difficult to see in the internet age
>
>how putting cinemas out of business will contribute either to getting
>
>people to speak Catalan or to rescuing the region's struggling
>
>economy.
>
> 
>
>Whether or not you agree with me that this is closer to
>
>(Mediterranean) littoral than to continental totalitarianism, it's
>
>clear that the direct inspiration for Catalan ethnic bulldozering
>
>comes mainly from Quebec. Stuff that should concern serious people:
>
>despite considerable natural potential, Quebec has succeeded in
>
>driving away much of its original business class, it has struggled to
>
>maintain foreign investment, it has a poor record on wealth creation
>
>compared with other provinces, and, although it effectively runs its
>
>own immigration policy, immigrants there are spectacularly less
>
>successful than in neighbouring Ontario, which has no such powers or
>
>ethnic paranoias. And so on.
>
> 
>
>Stuff that may amuse less serious people: an old favourite, Inspector
>
>Clouseau of the Quebec language police at work:
>
> 
>
>http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2010/01/27/catalan-language-policy-marxist-
s
>talinist-francoist-or-fascist/
>
> 
>
>-- 
>
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