Breton Language - Celtic Language under political pressure

Joss   Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:18 pm GMT
Hi All,

I would like to let you know the precarious situation of the Breton language in France.
It is more and more difficult to open new Breton schools even if the number of children is increasing rapidly.
I've attached a recent article on the situation of a new school that can not be opened this year, leaving 20 children with no access to Breton teaching.

I would be very grateful if you could pass on this information and ask people to sign the online petition:(http://merville.maternelle.free.fr/article.php3?id_article=1 3)

Thanks in advance,


Josselin



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Douarnenez, Friday, 23 September 2005 by Yann Rivallain
Earlier this week, parents, pupils and teachers occupied a newly redecorated bilingual classroom in a Lorient bilingual school to protest against the refusal to appoint a teacher by the education authorities. According to parents, the requested conditions were all met last February when they wrote to the Academic Inspection notifying it that eleven children were ready to register.

However, Mme Lecomte, Deputy Academic Inspector argues that "there were only six potential children at the time. We looked at the different options and considered that the other bilingual school in the nearby area of Nouvelle ville, could easily cater for those children. Given our limited budgets and teachers posts, it is our strategy to consolidate existing sites".

All attempts to convince the authorities to review the situation, including a letter by the President of the Regional Council, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who asked them to "grant the resources needed for this school to operate properly", have hitherto failed. For him "responding to this legitimate claim does not mean that you should review the support for other schools in Lorient."


On the first day of class, twenty pupils and their parents entered a brand new classroom with no teacher but a delegate from the authorities who counted the pupils and who then explained that no teachers were available.


In a subsequent meeting, where no less than 60 school delegates from the area were taking part, parents were this time told that the class could not open for budgetary reasons, a departure from the previous explanations given. "When we realised that even high level support, from Le Drian and the town council was leading nowhere we decided to occupy the classroom until our claims were met" explains Jean-Paul Chevrel, father of a 4-year-old girl called Maiwenn. Along with the rest of the pupils she wore a badge which said "Me a gomz brezhoneg" (I speak Breton) on the first day of class. Singers, storytellers and Breton-speaking volunteers were called on Monday to entertain the children.


"A day later parents, delegates and the director of the school received a phone call from the Academic Inspection, who vociferously told them that there would be no discussions unless four requests were met immediately, explains Chevrel. First that we vacated the buildings immediately, second that children took off their "I speak Breton" badges, third that the Breton flag which we put at the classroom's door was taken down, because it was an overt sign…of what ?". Finally, and most shocking in a country that portrays itself as a champion of human rights and freedom of speech, "to make sure that the press did not enter the school anymore and stopped reporting about the matter". In a meeting where parents and school employees expressed their shock following these requests, it was decided that the class would be vacated and that children would take off their badges. "However, we decided not to remove the Breton flag and to continue to inform the press as we consider it is our right".

In a conversation with Eurolang, Mme Lecomte said that "there was political use of the affair which explained a lot of the unjustified agitation on the ground".


Pacific but determined, parents have launched a web site and a petition for support and are preparing for larger demonstration if they receive no answer. The parents are now waiting for the Academic inspection to satisfy their demand for a meeting. No sign has come from the authorities since the school has been "pacified" as they had requested.

Asked whether she could see a way to unlock the situation, Mme Lecomte said that "the Inspector will review the situation for next year. If there are enough pupils, we might have open up a class there instead of following our strategy." As for the coming days, she added that "the effort made for the Breton language in the department was already considerable with 6.5 new posts. We cannot do anymore, without a budget line we can not pay a teacher, and we can't employ one without paying him or her."

Asked if the current political pressure could change the situation she felt that "it would have a limited impact. Unless the ministry is prepared to do something on this, there is absolutely no solution to be expected from the local education authorities, we simply have no possibilities. Anyway if we made an extra effort for a Breton class many overcrowded monolingual classes would raise new complaints".


While all pupils in Brittany get settled into their new environment, Maiwenn and many others are temporarily attending French language classes until further notice. According to Jean-Paul Chevrel, "Yuna, a 4 year-old girl cried this morning when going to school asking her parents to take her to the Breton class". In the last few weeks, in Pont l'Abbé and other schools where everything had been organized for their children, parents gave up and took their children to monolingual or other bilingual schools further from home after days of struggle.


The situation might be different in Lorient given the wide political support received by the school. In turn, the Breton Party and UDB autonomists, the communist party and the centrists (UDF) all expressed their anger at the decision and called for a review. Meanwhile, neither the French socialists nor the conservatives have made any comments.


Jacques-Yves Le Touze, a parent with his bilingual children at a Lorient school, said that "this was one of many signs of a growing opposition by the authorities to the development of bilingual education in Lorient and in Brittany." As an example he added that "the optional Breton hours in the lycée Dupuy de Lome had been suppressed while Chinese language classes had been opened. Children in Lorient now have Chinese on their doorstep but have to be driven several miles to another school in Lanester, outside Lorient, to get a couple of hours of Breton". (Eurolang © 2005)


On line Petition:
http://merville.maternelle.free.fr
Joss   Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:13 pm GMT
Jean-Marie Avril   Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:29 pm GMT
The situation of the Breton language in Brittany is scandalous. It's OK for the French to scream 'VIVE LE QUEBEC LIBRE!' But if we scream 'VIVE LA BRETAGNE LIBRE', we are ridiculed and dismissed as reactionaries, never mind if the rest of the EU (apart from Greece) is composed of countries more or less federal. At some stage, the Breton language was spoken from Dol-de-Bretagne down to Pornic, located south of the river Loire. Indeed there are Breton-originated place names in the Pays de Retz (Paimboeuf coming from Penbo, Mindin from Men den, Coitargant in St Pere en Retz, Gourmalon in Pornic, etc.). It is normal to consider Brittany as nation, but the French won't accept any of it, brainwashed as they are in their 'unnatural' nation, born out of the abstract fantasy of the high-jacked revolution of 1789. We I think of my cousins the Welsh, and their situation which is improving (S4C, Welsh Assembly), it reinforces my anger against the French State. The French, they idolise their language, make statements in favour of the 'holiness' of their idiom as opposed to the 'unholiness' of Anglo-Saxon language. Of course the Breton language is 'unholy' associated with the Chouans, etc. Well, speaking English allows me to converse with my fellow Celts (Welsh, Scots, Cornish, Irish, etc.)
Apparently, around 1900, Breton was the Celtic language the most spoken on the planet (2 millions and more?). Now we've got 300000 speakers. True the situation of Irish Gaelic is here to remind us that there's no guarantee of saving Breton from extinction if it was made compulsory to learn. But the Welsh seems to know a revival. This anti-Breton attitudes goes alongside an attempt to turn the Breton department of Loire-Atlantique (formerly the Pays Nantais) into a non-Breton area attached to an artificial region designed by bureaucrats, the Pays de la Loire, with the audacity to turn this entity in a cultural area, denying the Breton sentiment to the Nantais. It's do damaging that you can hear people in Saint Nazaire saying 'We're not in Brittany here' even though the area abounds with Breton place names (Penhoet, Prezegat, Mean, Kerlede, etc.). It is as if South-East Wales, West Gloucestershire and Avon were part of an artificial province called the 'Severn County'. I am and feel Breton and Celt, unfortunately I don't speak the Breton language yet (difficult to speak a language when you don't have speakers around you) but I DO feel it, it's as if it was part of my 'racial memory' (sorry for the terms but I'm not sure which one to use). I've the stuff to learn the language, it's a question of time and organisation, which I'm not too good at. To understand the French problem and the Breton question, I recommend the reading of Morvan lebesque's COMMENT PEUT ON ETRE BRETON and Olier Mordrel's L'IDEE BRETONNE.

Kenavo

JM
Guest   Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:57 pm GMT
"The situation of the Breton language in Brittany is scandalous. It's OK for the French to scream 'VIVE LE QUEBEC LIBRE!' But if we scream 'VIVE LA BRETAGNE LIBRE', we are ridiculed and dismissed as reactionaries, "

The situation between Brittany and Quebec doesn't have nothing in common.
in Quebec 80% of the population are French-speakers, and about 50% are for independance.
In Britanny the proportion of breton speakers is less than 10% and the percentage of independantists is around 5% .... Brittany is a french speaking region where 95% of the people feel french (myself included; I'm Breton)... we canno't say the same thing about the relations beetween Quebec and the rest of Canada. the big majority of Quebecers don't feel Canadians at all.
Brain Washed ?   Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:02 am GMT
Only a brain-washed Bretoin can claim to "feel French" after the terrible toll on Breton mere survival by the oppressive government that has franicised all those 90% French speaking inhabitants of Brittany.

Just 120 years ago, Breton was spoken far beyond Brittany's borders, in adjacent regions.
Viri Amaoro   Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:14 am GMT
Revival and protection of a language is one thing; political independence is another. Must every dialect have its own state?... If so the world would become a jigsaw puzzle.
Jim C, York   Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:05 am GMT
I think that what has happened in Wales is a testement to how you can bring a language back from the brink. The European Union should help Brittany, in the way it helped Wales. Good luck in keeping you language alive.
greg   Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:26 pm GMT
Brain Washed ? : « Just 120 years ago, Breton was spoken far beyond Brittany's borders, in adjacent regions. »

Cette affirmation est incomplète dans la mesure où la Bretagne historique est trilingue depuis très longtemps : on y parle et parlait gallo (langue d'Oïl), français et breton (langue celtique) à des degrés divers.
Joss   Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:02 pm GMT
I didn't think I had to come back here on the same subject.

After the petition of last year, and thanks to all for the support, the parents finally got the teacher (halftime) they were requesting for the 19 children.

This year, they have ... 35 childrens ... and you know what, back to square one. The gouvernment did agree to open another position (halftime) earlier on the year. But on the first day of school, the promise wasn't fullfilled, no teacher.

Here is a link for the petition, I'm sorry it's not being translated in english: http://ouiaubreton.com/?article8#sp8

I would be greatful if you can pass on the information.

Thanks

Josselin
LAA   Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:45 pm GMT
Breton should do everything in her power to retain her native language, the language of her people.

The situation in Wales needs some work as well. Wales needs to go beyond merely an 'assembly', and form her own parliament. They need to set goals, the goals necessary to revive the Welsh language. There is no reason why, within two generations' time, 100% of Welshmen couldn't speak Welsh. Wales fiercely retains her own national identity, despite centuries of Anglo suppression. She has her own football team, rugby team, etc. Why shouldn't she have her own parliament, like Scotland?

I think Wales is too often overlook. The "United Kingdom", with the Act of Union, was basically a union of England and Scotland under the English crown. Wales wasn't even mentioned, as it was just treated as part of England. When the Union Jack was created, it was designed as a mix of the English flag (red cross, white background) and the Scottish flag (white x, blue background). Where is Wales' flag in this picture?

A lot of people outside of England frequently refer to Wales as "a part of England". "Oh," they say, "Wales is in England." You never hear people say that about Scotland.

People in English speaking countries are often called "Anglos", or "Anglo-Saxons". But this overlooks the fact that the actual majority of British colonial settlers in places like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada were from the Celtic fringe, usually Scotch-Irish, or Welsh, or Scottish, or simply Irish. They introduced a lot of their cultural influence to the places they settled in. It is actually more accurate to say that places like the American south, are a civilization and culture with Anglo-Celtic roots. The majority of foot soliders which conquered the globe in the name of England and the crown, in places like India, were actually Celts, from Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. Seriously, research it. The bulk of the British army serving in India was Irish.

I just think that Celtic people are too often overlooked, as are their languages, tradition, and heritage as a people. I've heard a few people on this board who mockingly ask what it means to be Celtic, as if it is nothing more than "a few people playing bagpipes with a Gaelic accent". There's much more to it than that. It is a culture and a heritage just as any other is. And even some Latins, be careful about brushing aside your Celtic heritage. French and Portuguese have been influenced by Celtic phonology.
LAA   Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:28 pm GMT
It's no wonder there is a relative mutual intelligiblity. After all, the Bretons are nothing more than Welsh refugees, trying to escape the Anglo-Saxon slaughter.
Adam   Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:35 pm GMT
think that what has happened in Wales is a testement to how you can bring a language back from the brink. The European Union should help Brittany, in the way it helped Wales. Good luck in keeping you language alive.
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The EU will help out the Bretons and the French, but do you think it will actually help the British? Carry on dreaming. The EU do nothing - ever - to help the British. All it does is rips us off and makes us less democratic.

It was the British Government, not the EUSSR, that helped the Welsh languages.
Adam   Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:39 pm GMT
But this overlooks the fact that the actual majority of British colonial settlers in places like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada were from the Celtic fringe, usually Scotch-Irish, or Welsh, or Scottish, or simply Irish.
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I think you'll find that that's not true. The overwhelming majority of British settlers to North America were English.
Adam   Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:41 pm GMT
The bulk of the British army serving in India was Irish.
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How can that be when the English consist of around 80% of the British population?
LAA   Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:53 pm GMT
<<How can that be when the English consist of around 80% of the British population? >>

It's very simple. The poorer segments of society usually, in relative terms, enlist at a higher rate than the wealthier segments. The Irish were very poor, and they lacked much economic opportunity at home, so they therefore joined the ranks in great numbers. Many also comprised a large percentage of settlers, searching for a better life in the colonies. The same situation exists in America today. Whites make up 70% of the population, while blacks and "Hispanics" each make up only around 12% of the population. Yet about half of the army is comprised of these people, who together, only make up about 25% of the total civilian population. The representation is not equal among all groups of society. A larger percentage of minorites live in poverty, so they choose to enlist in the armed services as an alternative to low-paying service jobs in the ghetto.