Blogs

With the number of Manx language speakers increasing in many parts of the Isle of Man, extra opportunities to use the Island’s native tongue are always welcome as interest continues to grow.

This year’s Cooish Festival, to be held early in November, is a great chance for speakers of all ages and fluency to participate in a variety of events across the Island, with an emphasis on fun and enjoyment.

The Scottish government have announced an investment of a half million pounds over a two year period to develop infrastructure supporting Scots Gaelic medium education in the Western Isles of the Outer Hebrides. Alasdair Allan, who is Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages, is quoted in an article on the STV News website in making the announcement: "The demand for Gaelic education in the Western Isles continues to grow, as it does in Scotland.

The Celtic League at its 2013 Annual General Meeting just concluded in Wales has called on the government of the United Kingdom to recognise the Celtic nation of Cornwall under the "Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities".  The quote from the Celtic League's web site is as follows:

This Annual General meeting reiterates it's call on the British Government for the  European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities to be applied to the Cornish people.

Quimper, capital of Finistère in Brittany witnessed a sea of Breton flags on Saturday 2nd November 2013 as an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 protestors took to the streets. What started as a movement against the French government‘s ’eco-tax’, which would have put an unfair burden on Breton producers and traders, has become a campaign for the protection of jobs, economy and the Breton way of life. As the campaign gained ground a fearful French government announced a suspension of the ‘eco-tax’.

News reports circulated this week on further damage done to the Irish tongue by Dublin policy makers. Put together, the recent actions by Dublin paint an ever darkening portait of the Irish Government's increasing indifference to the long term viability of the native language of Ireland.

Celtic League Kernow Branch member, Mike Chappell, writes below about an appeal to raise funds to set up the first OfSTED registered Cornish language nursery in Cornwall. OfSTED is a government organisation that inspects schools. All nurseries in Cornwall need to be registered with this organisation to care and educate children.

The struggle to protect the Welsh tongue from the adverse effects of continued migration into Wales is reaching a boiling point and follows up on news reports earlier this month on moves by the Welsh government to force consideration by local Councils of the negative impact on the language caused by property development schemes.  

"Bevañ, divizout, labourat e Breizh" is a collective made up of community representatives from throughout Brittany. They have called on people to assemble in Quimper in Brittany on 2nd November to protest against the French state’s intention of imposing the “Ecotax”. They seek to bring together all sectors of Breton society to demand a fair deal for Brittany and to get the French government to stop the introduction of the so called eco-tax.

In a disgraceful show of heavy handedness by the French state a number of Breton protestors were badly injured on Saturday in demonstrations against the French imposed “Ecotax” in Pont-de-Buis.  Due to come into effect in January 2014 the tax is supposed to encourage the use of environmentally friendly transport by adding a levy on vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. However this completely ignores the specific situation in Brittany where the agricultural sector is a vital part of the Breton nation’s economy.

The National Savings & Investment  (NS&I) bank is the subject of an application for  Judicial Review filed by the Welsh Langauge Commissioner Meri Huws.  The suit is response to the NS&I decision to discontinue offering bank services in the Welsh language.