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

[Dave Sayers]

I attach (with permission) a response to my query from Prof. Joan Pujolar at 
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, a researcher on Catalan issues. He provides some 
more details of the concerns in the declaration, and he gives details of some 
forthcoming reports.

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 18:20, Dave Sayers wrote:
> 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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