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Spanish Constitutional Court recognizes the right of citizens to address the autonomous government in Asturian

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:00:00 +0100

Asturian people have the right to address the public administration of the Principality of Asturias in Asturian, the country's own language. That is what the Spanish Constitutional Court (SCC) has granted after rejecting a judicial review against the Act of Use and Promotion of Asturian, the main regulation protecting this Romance language. Prior to that a court from Oviedo had questioned the constitutionality of the law before the SCC after an Asturian lawyer, Xurde Blanco, lodged an appeal against a decision which invalidated his application for a work permit because it was filled up in Asturian language.

The judicial review established that the Act of Use and Promotion of Asturian was in contradiction with several articles of the Spanish Constitution. But the Constitutional Court did not decide in favour of the court in Oviedo; on the contrary, it ruled that public bodies are required to deal with citizens' queries in Asturian. The decision makes official deadlines legal even if they are in Asturian.

According to Asturnews.com, Xurde Blanco said to COPE radio station that "it is not strange that the SCC scolds the administration, since Asturian is the only language that does not deserve respect whatsoever by the Spanish State". Blanco considered the Asturian government led by Vicente Álvarez Areces (PSA-PSOE) as the "greatest enemy of the Asturian language".

Minimum protection for the language

Asturian -also known as Astur-Leonese or Leonese- is a Latin-based language with 300,000 to 450,000 speakers. It is spoken in Asturias, Leon and two Portuguese towns, Miranda do Douro and Vimioso. It is granted legal recognition by both Spain and Portugal, but it is only official in the latter.

The Act of Use and Promotion of Asturian was passed in 1998 and it is to date the only legal instrument for the protection of the language. However, there is a strong social movement in favour of granting Asturian official status in its own territory. Xunta Pola Defensa de la Llingua Asturiana, Conceyu Abiertu Pola Oficialidá and Yo Doi la Cara pola Oficialidá are among several associations and civic platforms backing official status for the language.

Further information:

Peoples and nations today: Kashmir

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:00:00 +0100

Historic Kashmir, or the former princely state under the British Empire from 1846 to1947, is currently divided in three different states: India (teh state of Jammu & Kashmir); Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan or Northern Territories), and China (Aksai Chin). In some cases the whole territory is refereed as to Jammu & Kashmir.

The conflict dates back to 1947, the year in which India and Pakistan split up. India recognised the right of the princely state, which at the time was ruled by a Hindu Maharaja and had a majority of Muslim population, to choose between any of the two new countries. The Maharaja Hari Singh, who wanted to safeguard the country's independence and keep Jammu & Kashmir free from accession, finally had to ask India to intervene to face Muslim uprisings and drive out Pakistani guerrillas. As a result Hari Singh has no option but to sign an agreement with India known as Instrument of Accession. The accord grants Delhi control over most of Kashmir - Jammu & Kashmir- and lays the foundation for the holding of a rererendum for self-determination which would never take place.

The Instrument of Accession establishes de facto the division of Kashmir into three states. However, India and Pakistan did not accept the status quo, and so the first Indo-Pak war broke out in 1947 and ended in 1948. India got to stop the advance of Pakistani troops right in Srinagar, the capital of the princely state, and finally drove them out. Ambitions of both India and Pakistan had grown larger, though: India sought for control of all territories formerly governed by the Maharaja, whilst Pakistan wanted to gain control over the Muslim areas of Kashmir, which covered the whole princely state except for the region of Jammu.

That was the first out of four armed conflicts between both countries. There the Kashmiri question still stirs a great deal of tension. However, there is more than a simple dispute over a territory by two nuclear superpowers.

In 1989 the conflict acquired a domestic dimension as Kashmir pro-independence supporters raised against the Indian government. Till date, nationalist insurgency has carried out countless attacks on Indian police and military. In Kashmir there are people in favour of accession into Pakistan and a majority sector favouring full independence.

Political movement

In Jammu & Kashmir, the Muslim pro-independence movement is headed by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of more than 20 civil and political parties backing self-determination and a peaceful resolution of the conflict. They believe a negotiated settlement can only be achieved through a self-determination plebiscite and an agreement between Pakistan, India and Kashmir under the auspices of the United Nations.

Armed organisations

The most active armed organization in Kashmir is Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), which has been held responsible for several attacks against Indian civil population. Lashkar-e-Taiba has also been involved in armed attacks. It has its headquarters in Pakistan.

The role of religion

Religion is an important factor in Kashmir, as it serves the interests of Muslims backing the integration into Pakistan. The state of Jammu & Kashmir is the only state under Indian administration with a Muslim majority.

Prospects for peace

Ever since 2001 violence has declined in Jammu & Kashmir because of the peace process that started in 2004 between India and Pakistan. In spite of that the Kashmiri question is still a sensitive issue for both countries. New Delhi, for instance, is reluctant to include the matter for open discussions despite some recent progress. In the meantime, low intensity attacks by rebel groups are registered, and several human rights organizations have accused the Indian military of committing abuses against pro-independence militants.

You can gather further information on Kashmir at the BBC special reports, which include an analysis on possible conflict way outs, and at Alerta 2009 and Anuari 2009 de processos de pau dossiers issued by the Escola de Cultura de Pau in Catalonia. KashmirWatch.com offers updated information on the conflict, whereas Hurriyat Conference News publishes information on the main Kashmiri pro-independence political platform.

Pictures have been taken from Wikipedia.

Kashmir

General information
Population: 13.000.000 inhabitants (Escola de Cultura de Pau, 2009)
Area: 222.200 km²
Institutions: Government and Parliament of the State of Jammu and Kashmir (India). Government and Parliament of the provinces of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (Pakistan).
State administration: India, Pakistan and China
Major cities: Srinagar, Jammu, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit
Territorial languages: Kashmiri, Urdu, Dogri, Pahari, Mirpuri, Gojri and Hindko, among several others
Official languages: Kashmiri, Urdu, Dogri
Major religions: Sunni Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism

European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages to close down

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:30:00 +0100

EBLUL announced this week in a press release it is to end its activities. The pan-European non-governmental organisation has been encouraging respect towards lesser protected languages within the European Union for the last quarter century.

The decision to shut down the organization was made by its Board of Directors on January 27. According to the press release, "the organisations which have been registered as independent organisations in their own jurisdictions are free to choose their own course of action for the future". Twenty EU state members were associated to EBLUL. Spain was represented by 3 organisations: A Mesa pola Normalización Lingüística for Galician, CIEMEN for Catalan and Aurten Bai Fundazioa for Basque.

According to the Galician online journal Vieiros, one of the main reasons for EBLUL's dissolution could be lack of funding. European institutions, jointly with some EU member states, had been financing EBLUL up to now.

Further information:

EBLUL: EBLUL Closing Statement
Vieiros: Pecha a Axencia Europea de Linguas Minorizadas logo de 25 anos de traballo