chmorris@watdragon.UUCP (Corinne Morris) (03/17/86)
The following is extracted from a letter to the editor in the Welsh-American paper "Y Drych": "The Celtic League would like to draw international attention to the case of several Bretons who have been sentenced or are to be tried for their part in the campaign of the cultural association Stourm ar Brezhoneg to win official status for the Breton language. "Similar non-violent campaigns were carried out successfully in the 1930s by the Flemings and in the '70s by the Welsh Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg. Stourm ar Brezhoneg has concentrated its action, started almost two years ago, on getting the French Department of Transport, which is resposible in this field, to put up bilingual road signs with the placenames in their correct Breton form as well as in the hitherto exclusively used and often grotesque Frenchified form. They systematically daubed the corrupt forms. "Until quite recently, the only official response to Stourm ar Brezhoneg was to prosecute its members. H. Barry and D. Guesdon were sentenced each to four months jail and a 10,000 franc fine. Herve Kerraine and Joelle Barzhig were fined 2,000 francs each... "We in the Celtic League appeal to your readers, as we believe that you are concerned about the future of the Breton language and that no language can survive nowadays unless it is given official status, to help in getting the sentences imposed on Herve Le Bihan and Yves Cadoret (using the forms of their names under which they were tried) quashed and the prosecutions against the other S. ar B. members stopped. "You can do so - by writing in their behalf to the French Ambassador in your country, asking him to convey your expression of support to the French president, also by writing to your elected representatives, and to the executive councils of any organization you may belong to, asking them to write also to the relevant French ambassador; and finally by writing to the editors of newspapers and periodicals likely to publish this appeal. "In our opinion, the main points to be stressed are: - the Bretons are entitled to their language; to survive, this must be given equal validity with French in Brittany; - in other countries, bilingual road signs exist, they are not deemed to be an unreasonable burden on the public purse, they cause no inconvenience to motorists; it is less expensive to put up correct signs than replacing the daubed ones; - the sentences imposed are based on an unjust state of affairs and should be quashed. "It would be useful to send copies of the letters to "Stourm ar Brezhoneg," ti K.S.G., 21 rue des Tribunaux, F-56000 Gwened, Brittany, so that they are kept informed of the representations made and they may give them publicity which will encourage the Bretons to stand for their rights." The French Ambassador to the U.S. is H.E. Emmanuel Jacquin de Margerie, Ambassador of France, Office of the French Embassy, 4101 Reservoir Road, Washington, D.C. 20007 The French Ambassador to Canada is H.E. Jean-Pierre Cabouat, Ambassador of France, Embassy of France, 42 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ont, K1M 2C9 I would welcome discussion if anyone thinks Stourm ar Brezhoneg is acting unreasonably. Corinne Morris (chmorris@watdragon), University of Waterloo
john@cisden.UUCP (John Woolley) (03/21/86)
In article <609@watdragon.UUCP> chmorris@watdragon.UUCP (Corinne Morris) passes on an article about two Breton fellows who apparently are in jail for some sort of protest against France's anti-Breton linguistic policies. But the article doesn't give enough information about the situation for us to be able to guess intelligently whether the men deserved jail or not. Miss Morris writes: >The following is extracted from a letter to the editor in the Welsh-American >paper "Y Drych": > "The Celtic League would like to draw international attention to the >case of several Bretons who have been sentenced or are to be tried for their >part in the campaign of the cultural association Stourm ar Brezhoneg to win >official status for the Breton language. > "Similar non-violent campaigns [...] > "We in the Celtic League appeal to your readers, as we believe that you >are concerned about the future of the Breton language and that no language can >survive nowadays unless it is given official status, to help in getting the >sentences imposed on Herve Le Bihan and Yves Cadoret (using the forms of their >names under which they were tried) quashed and the prosecutions against the >other S. ar B. members stopped. > "You can do so - by writing in their behalf [...] > - the sentences imposed are based on an unjust state of affairs and > should be quashed. > I would welcome discussion if anyone thinks Stourm ar Brezhoneg is >acting unreasonably. The article doesn't tell us what the "non-violent campaign" consisted of or what the men were charged with. Yet we're asked to write letters opposing the government's action? What did they do? Chop down traffic signs? Block traffic? Write letters? Scream Breton obscenities? Simply attend meetings? We don't know and we aren't told. So how can we know whether the French government was acting reasonably or not? I must say I'm inclined to think that the vagueness of the article on these points strikes me as a bad sign.
chmorris@watdragon.UUCP (Corinne Morris) (03/27/86)
In article <566@cisden.UUCP> john@cisden.UUCP (John Woolley) writes: >The article doesn't tell us what the "non-violent campaign" consisted of or >what the men were charged with. Yet we're asked to write letters opposing >the government's action? The article, as I quoted, states that the men had "systematically daubed" road signs with Frenchified place-names. The term "daubed" means to obscure with a tarry substance in this case (see the Winter edition of 'Carn'). This is what they were convicted of, and what the campaign consisted of. The signs involved were highway signs indicating how to find various places and thus the daubing does not constitute the serious danger to the public which daubing other road signs would.