[lg policy] Re: Declaration on Spain's offensive against the Catalan Language

[Dave Sayers]

This is remarkably light on detail and evidence. Is this the entire declaration? Is 
it part of a wider campaign? Would these sorts of exhortations resonate 
self-evidently for people living in Catalonia? Even if so, it seems as though some 
explanation wouldn't go amiss for the intended international audience. Any insights 
anyone?

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University, UK
Visiting Lecturer (2013-14), Dept English, University of Turku, Finland
dave.sayers at cantab.net
http://swansea.academia.edu/DaveSayers


On 16/07/2013 17:19, lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu wrote:
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 10:08:20 -0400
> From: Harold Schiffman<haroldfs at gmail.com>
> Subject: [lg policy] Declaration on Spain's offensive against the
> 	Catalan	Language
> To: lp<lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
> Message-ID:
> 	<CACqQ=kJrOh6gQRv8TTPpQGtg3LLNqj-+a2dusRnC=7apZuy+pA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> *From: *Duchene Alexandre
> *Subject: **[liste RFS] TR: Declaration on Spain's offensive against the
> Catalan Language*
> *Date: *16 July 2013 13:37:10 BST
>
> Chères et chers collègues,
>
> Voici un message que m’a demandé de vous transmettre le Président de la
> Société catalane de sociolinguistique, Joan Pujolar.
>
> Bien à vous,
>
> Alexandre Duchêne
>
>   *De la part de*  Joan Pujolar
> *Envoyé :* mardi 16 juillet 2013 13:33
> *À :* Duchene Alexandre
>
> *Objet :* Declaration on Spain's offensive against the Catalan Language
>
> Alexandre Duchêne
> Reseau Francophone de Sociolinguistique
>
>
> Dear Dr.Duchêne,
>
> I am the president of the Catalan Society of Sociolinguistics (
> http://blogs.iec.cat/socs/). Our executive board has felt it necessary to
> inform linguists and social scientists around the globe about developments
> in Spain in relation to language policies. We denounce the renewed
> persecution of the Catalan language by Spanish authorities, and we attach a
> declaration providing the details of the matter.
>
> You are probably aware that Spain outlawed the use of Catalan for many
> centuries up until 1980 in a bid to create cultural uniformity within the
> country. The memory of General Franco’s dictatorship is still fresh amongst
> most Catalan adults. And there are good reasons to believe that the current
> authorities may seek to achieve the same goals through less violent means
> by taking advantage of the fact that Catalan speakers are demographically
> in the minority. During the last few years, Spanish authorities have
> conducted a sustained strategy to decrease education in Catalan, prevent
> media circulation and broadcasting and even create adhoc regional standards
> to divide the community. Such behaviour is not deemed acceptable by the
> international community and is in contravention of UNESCO’s fundamental
> principles as well as the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
> Cultural Heritage, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,
> and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, all
> of which Spain has signed.
>
> We would be thankful if you could do everything in your power to
> disseminate our declaration and/or its contents. There are a number of ways
> in which we would appreciate your help:
>
>     - Publish the declaration in your journal or e-mail list.
>     - Send a letter to UNESCO or the Council of Europe expressing your
>     concern (a letter template is attached)
>     - Forward the declaration to colleagues you believe may be especially
>     interested in this issue.
>
> We hope this letter provides an early warning before the situation in Spain
> deteriorates and develops in loss of cultural and human rights in a way
> that may send a poor signal to all the countries and organizations that are
> working for a future of peace, prosperity and equality.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
>
>
> Joan Pujolar
>
> President
>
> Societat Catalana de Sociolingüística
>
> Institut d’Estudis Catalans
>
> C./ Carme 47
> 08001 Barcelona
>
> (Forwarded from Variationist Listserv. )
>
> =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
>
>   Harold F. Schiffman
>
> Professor Emeritus of
>   Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
> Dept. of South Asia Studies
> University of Pennsylvania
> Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305
>
> Phone:  (215) 898-7475
> Fax:  (215) 573-2138
>
> Email:haroldfs at gmail.com
> http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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