Facebook Recognises The Celtic Language of Brittany - Breton Becomes 121st Language Endorsed by the Media Giant

Paris may refuse to take the Celtic language of Brittany seriously but it now seems that Facebook do.  The web page “The Local – France’s News in English” is reporting in an article by Ben McPartland under the title “Facebook Recognizes Breton Language - It Only Took Three Years of Fighting", that Facebook has made the Breton language the 121st language medium endorsed by the media giant.

The speakers of the Celtic language of Brittany are measured in the hundreds of thousands with estimates of as high as a quarter million Breton speakers.  The Celtic tongue has been spoken in Brittany for thousands of years, and to the present day the Breton nation has maintained a distinctly Celtic identity. Brittany, along with Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales and Cornwall is seen as one of the Six Celtic Nations and as such is a member of The Celtic League and Celtic Congress. The language continues to be spoken into the modern era and is one of the two Insular Celtic Languages (Brythonic as spoken in Brittany, Wales and Cornwall and Goidelic as spoken in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man). Despite years of pressure from a much centralised France the Breton language has survived and similar to other Celtic languages is experiencing a significant revival at this time. Part of this success is due to the Diwan which is a federation of Breton language medium schools.

Fulup Jakez, Director of the National Office of the Breton Language is being quoted in multiple news reports commenting on the Facebook announcement: “…the move (by Facebook) would allow learners of Breton a new way of practicing the language.”  If the Facebook users also attend Mass in the Diocese of Vannes, they may very well become proficient at speaking the Celtic tongue. In its announcement, Facebook has associated itself with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vannes as an ally and supporter of the Breton language. The Diocese endorsed the use of the Breton Language in what could loosely be called a more historical type of social media, namely the Roman Catholic liturgy.  In October 2013, Transceltic reported that the Diocese of Vannes, located in southern Brittany, announced its intention to incorporate the Celtic tongue of Brittany into its liturgical texts, hymns, catechism lessons and information services.  Bishop Raymond Centene of Vannes was quoted at that time stating: "This is a sign that the Diocese of Vannes recognises in Breton culture both a source of inspiration and a field of missionary work that the Church cannot ignore". 

The French government has repeatedly refused to recognize the language rights of the Bretons and continues its campaign of discrimination against the Celtic Breton language by refusing to ratify the "The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages".  When elected President, François Hollande announced he would ratify the charter, but reneged on this in the first half of 2013. Minority languages in France are often spoken in areas with a separatist history. France has long standing repressive policies towards the Breton language. The French Government continues this campaign of discrimination against the Celtic Breton language by refusing to ratify the "The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages".  In doing so they want to deprive Breton speakers of the rights and privileges protected by the Charter.

The move by Facebook comes amid signs of growing Celtic nationalism in Brittany.  In 2013, in what many considered to a Breton Nationalism fueled protest over a planned ecotax, disturbances led to a pledge by Paris of 2 Billion Euro in economic aid to Brittany.  The initiative by Paris was undertaken amid signs that growing Celtic nationalism in Brittany had amalgamated into the violent demonstrations that occurred in October 2013 against the planned tax.  In response to the unrest, which many observers saw as a sign of resurgence in Breton's Celtic identity, the French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault suspended implementation of the new tax. Significantly, as reported by the algarvedailynews.com, the unrest had taken on disturbing signs of a mild type of guerilla warfare with reports of sabotage against traffic cameras which are reported to have been "vandalised and burned".  The same report described plans that were underway at that time to form a congress of Breton organizations to "formally take up Breton grievances."  

http://www.thelocal.fr/20141008/facebook-breton-language-france

http://www.thelocal.fr/20140123/in-france-there-is-only-one-language

http://www.transceltic.com/blog/breton-red-caps-inaugural-congress-issue...