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• Date: 21/10/2008

  Bolivia's new constitution secures political and cultural rights for indigenous peoples

  Indigenous communities are granted autonomy and official status to their 36 indigenous languages · Government and opposition parties agree to hold a referendum on the draft constitution in January 2009 · Bolivians will have the chance to vote on a constitution for the first time · Tens of thousands of President Morales’ supporters take to the streets of La Paz to show support for the new constitution.

• Date: 17/10/2008

  Corsican victory in the Liet-Lavlut, Europe’s minority languages song contest

  

  Traditional singer Jacques Culioli wins both the audience and jury awards at the fifth Liet-Lavlut, held in Lapland and featuring artists from Asturias, Galicia, Brittany, Wales, Friuli, Frisia, Corsica and elsewhere · Organizers do not want the contest to be a folk festival and encourage original compositions and contemporary styles including rock and hip hop · This year’s event coincides with the tenth anniversary of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

• Date: 17/10/2008

  Peoples and nations today: the Roma

  

  DOSSIER. Not only are the Roma a stateless nation, but they also lack their own territory. There are members of the Romani community – often called gypsies – living in almost every European country, as well as in America, Asia and North Africa. The Roma have been stigmatized for centuries, and even today their rights as a people often go unrecognized and they are the victims of racial discrimination.

• Date: 17/10/2008

  The four languages of the Pyrenees could soon have a permanent working forum

  NEWS IN BRIEF. Creation of a permanent working forum is one of the proposals to come out of the Sixteenth Congress of Pyrenean Languages.

• Date: 16/10/2008

  Social Forum of the Americas gives indigenous peoples a voice

  

  Alongside representatives of social movements and farming, women’s and trade union organizations, members of indigenous communities help shape proposals in Guatemala for the World Social Forum · Main topics of discussion include criticism of capitalism and free trade, support for the Bolivian, Venezuelan and Cuban governments, and the attempt to create a plurinational state.

• Date: 15/10/2008

  Sovereigntist party maintains lead in Quebec

  Canadian federal elections held on Tuesday result in victory for the current Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but his party fails to secure an absolute majority because of the landslide victory for the Bloc Québécois in Quebec.

• Date: 15/10/2008

  France, Turkey, Belgium and Greece yet to ratify convention aimed at protecting minorities

  NEWS IN BRIEF. Eighty-four NGOs call on countries that have not yet ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities to do so.

• Date: 14/10/2008

  Haider’s legacy of xenophobia and disrespect for Austria’s marginalized peoples

  As leader of the far right in Austria and Governor of Carinthia, Jörg Haider’s policies were markedly anti-Slovene · Last week representatives of the Slovene community, who have expressed their condolences over the politician’s death, delivered a stark warning about the “risk of democratic, social and institutional fragmentation” after an extraordinary increase of support for the far right in parliamentary elections.

• Date: 10/10/2008

  Day of Indigenous Peoples celebrated throughout the Americas

  

  As some countries celebrate Columbus Day and the ‘Día de la Hispanidad’ (Hispanic Day), other countries and a number of civil organizations commemorate the impact of European colonization on indigenous populations · In Venezuela, October 12 is celebrated as the ‘Día de la Resistencia Indígena’ (Day of Indigenous Resistance).

• Date: 10/10/2008

  Peoples and nations today: Scotland

  

  DOSSIER. A stateless nation that has made meteoric progress towards self-government, Alba (the Gaelic name for Scotland) did not even have its own parliament ten years ago, but today an independence party, the Scottish National Party, is in government and intends to hold a referendum on independence in 2010. With the SNP’s main political rival, Labour, struggling and the current First Minister doing well in the polls, Scotland seems better placed than any other nation to put the idea of internal enlargement of the European Union into practice.