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From: john@cisden.UUCP (John Woolley)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.celts
Subject: Re: the Breton language
Message-ID: <566@cisden.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Mar-86 11:23:54 EST
Article-I.D.: cisden.566
Posted: Fri Mar 21 11:23:54 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Mar-86 05:12:17 EST
References: <609@watdragon.UUCP>
Reply-To: john@cisden.UUCP (John Woolley)
Organization: ConTel Information Systems, Denver
Lines: 40

In article <609@watdragon.UUCP> chmorris@watdragon.UUCP (Corinne Morris)
passes on an article about two Breton fellows who apparently are in jail for
some sort of protest against France's anti-Breton linguistic policies.  But
the article doesn't give enough information about the situation for us to be
able to guess intelligently whether the men deserved jail or not.

Miss Morris writes:
>The following is extracted from a letter to the editor in the Welsh-American
>paper "Y Drych":
>	"The Celtic League would like to draw international attention to the
>case of several Bretons who have been sentenced or are to be tried for their
>part in the campaign of the cultural association Stourm ar Brezhoneg to win
>official status for the Breton language.
>	"Similar non-violent campaigns [...]

>	"We in the Celtic League appeal to your readers, as we believe that you
>are concerned about the future of the Breton language and that no language can
>survive nowadays unless it is given official status, to help in getting the
>sentences imposed on Herve Le Bihan and Yves Cadoret (using the forms of their
>names under which they were tried) quashed and the prosecutions against the
>other S. ar B. members stopped.
>	"You can do so - by writing in their behalf [...]

>	- the sentences imposed are based on an unjust state of affairs and 
>	  should be quashed.

>	I would welcome discussion if anyone thinks Stourm ar Brezhoneg is
>acting unreasonably.

The article doesn't tell us what the "non-violent campaign" consisted of or
what the men were charged with.  Yet we're asked to write letters opposing
the government's action?

What did they do?  Chop down traffic signs?  Block traffic?  Write letters?
Scream Breton obscenities?  Simply attend meetings?  We don't know and we
aren't told.  So how can we know whether the French government was acting
reasonably or not?  

I must say I'm inclined to think that the vagueness of the article on these
points strikes me as a bad sign.