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In brief

Demonstration held in Paris to demand more favourable policies for minoritised languages

Pour Que Vivent Nos Langues group denounces loss of resources in public education for non-official own languages

 
The demonstration, 30 November, in Paris.
The demonstration, 30 November, in Paris. Author: Pour Que Vivent Nos Langues
Several hundred people —a thousand according to some sources— demonstrated 30 November in Paris, called by the Pour Que Vivent Nos Langues group, which brings together several associations of teachers of minoritised languages in France. The group deplores the current decline of already scarce resources that those languages had within French public education, and demand a change in language policies.

Organizers have called for a general mobilization against French Education Jean-Michel Blanquer over a reform of collège (middle school) and lycée (high school) which, according to them, disregards minority languages to the point that it has significantly reduced the number of pupils learning them at those educational stages.

Criticism goes further as protesters underline that, despite a favourable official rhetoric, the French State has never had any real will to establish effective linguistic policies to support those languages, which include Occitan, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, Dutch, German, Arpitan, Oïl languages, Creole and languages of non-European territories belonging to France.

In addition to the teachers’ groups, the demonstration has also been promoted by two autonomist elected representatives: Breton MP Paul Molac and Corsican MEP François Alfonsi.

Pour Que Vivent Nos Langues has launched a petition on Change.org addressed to the Education minister to protest against the reform. Signatories regret the weakness in which those languages remain, and warn that their very survival is under threat.

(This news is adapted from Occitan newspaper Jornalet, with which Nationalia maintains a cooperation agreement. Translation from Occitan by Nationalia.)