Widespread Support for Gaelic Education in Scotland Exposes Anglophone Bigots

Alastair Kneale's picture
Submitted by Alastair Kneale on December 17, 2013 - 10:11am
Analysis of a survey show widespread support in Scotland for Gaelic language education. In a report from the Scotsman newspaper on a Scottish Social Attitudes Survey-“When asked whether learning Gaelic was pointless in the 21st Century, 44 percent disagreed and only 22 per cent agreed”. The survey also reveals that a majority of those asked thought that some Gaelic should be taught to all five to sixteen year olds. When asked about the use of Gaelic in Gaelic speaking areas “87 per cent believed that it should be encouraged in Gaelic-speaking areas.”
 
The Scotsman  further reports that John Angus Mackay, chief executive Gaelic development agency Bòrd na Gàidhlig, said: “The results clearly indicate that a large majority of the Scottish population recognise that the Gaelic language and culture are an integral part of Scotland’s identity.”
 
 
I find the results of the survey very interesting. The indigenous Celtic languages of northwest Europe have long been subject to attacks by Anglophone bigots in Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Isle of Man and in the case of Brittany, Francophone bigots. Because we need to be clear that is what these people are. At times these attacks are so vitriolic they expose these bigots as people who actually hold a hatred for those that speak a Celtic tongue. Well we have some news for them. We fight for our languages because Celtic culture is anchored in the languages of the Six Celtic Nations. We will continue to defend these languages and work to fight back against years of systematic persecution and suppression.
 
 
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