MINELRES: Mercator Newsletter 5 - December 2003

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Mercator <webmaster@ciemen.org>


Mercator Newsletter No.5 - December 2003

II Mercator International Symposium: A new framework for ALL languages?
Tarragona (Catalonia - Spain)
February 27-28, 2004

Provisional programme

FRIDAY, 27 February

9.00 - 9.30 am � Registration
9.30 - 10.00 am � Opening session and welcome.
10.00 - 10.45 am � Opening plenary- Tove Skutnabb-Kangas
The right to mother tongue medium education - the hot potato in human
rights instruments

Session 1 - European Constitution and Linguistic Diversity (part I)

11.00 - 11.25 am � Bojan Brezigar (President of the European Bureau for
Lesser Used Languages) (to be confirmed)
11.30 - 11.45 am � Coffee break
11.45 am - 12.10 pm � Dr. Niamh Nic Shuibhne (School of Law, University
of Edinburgh)
Does the Draft EU Constitution contain a language policy?
12.15 - 12.40 pm � Dr. Miriam Aziz (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced
Studies, European University Institute, Florence)
Language rights in the EU and the modesty of the constitutional moment:
mainstreaming the duty of clarity and transparency
(...)
1.30 - 3.00 pm � Lunch 

Session 2- The role of European Institutions

3.00 - 3.25 pm � Regina Jensdottir (Secretariat of the Council of
Europe�s Charter for Regional or Minority Languages) (to be confirmed)
3.30 - 4.10 pm � Snezana Trifunovska (Department of International and
European Law of the Law Faculty, University of Nijmegen, Netherlands) 
Mechanisms guaranteeing linguistic rights: European Institutions at work
4.15 - 4.40 pm � Kristin Henrard (Department of Constitutional and
International Law, University of Groningen, Netherlands) (to be
confirmed)
The role of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages as
development of art 22 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and
art 3.3. of the new Constitutional Treaty
4.45 - 5.10 pm � Annette McNamara (Committe of the Regions, Education
and Culture Commission) (to be confirmed)
5.30 - 6.30 pm � Discussion
7.00 - 8.00 pm � Ceremony of the Linguapax Awards 2003
Introduced by Felix Marti (Linguapax Institute) and Aureli Argemi
(CIEMEN/Mercator-Legislation)
Linguists awarded: Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Aina Moll
SATURDAY, 28 February 
Session 3- European Constitution and Linguistic Diversity (part II)

9.00 - 9.25 am � Prof. Robert Phillipson (Dept.of English, Copenhagen
Business School)
If language policy issues are explosive, how should they best be
handled?
9.30 - 9.55 am � Pr. Inigo Urrutia Libarona (Constitutional and
Administrative Law Dept., University of the Basque Country-UPV/EHU)
Perspectivas de materializacion del reconocimiento de la diversidad
linguistica europea: un analisis juridico desde el punto de vista de la
lengua vasca
10.00 - 10.25 am � Gabriel Von Toggenburg (European Academy Bolzano IT)
'United in Diversity' - How much unity in what sort of diversity does
the new constitutional `motto`of the EU have in mind?
10.30 - 11.00 am � Coffee break
11.00 am � 1.15 pm � Round Table- Minority Languages in new EU member
states
-Tsjerk Bottema (Mercator-Education, Netherlands)
Minority languages in the new EU-member states
-Ina Druviete (MP, Head of Human Rights Commission at the Parliament of
Latvia) (to be confirmed)
The impact of EU accession for language and minority legislation in
Latvia
1.30 - 3.00 pm � Lunch

Session 4- Study cases: Monitoring and follow-up experiences regarding
the implementation of legal measures

3.00 - 3.25 pm � Alex Riemersma (Berie foar it Frysk)
How can NGOs contribute to the use of minority languages within local
and regional authorities?
3.30 - 3.55 pm � Noelle Higgins (National University of Ireland, Galway)
Irish as a first official / minority language
4.00 - 4.25 pm � Juan Inazio Hartsuaga (Director of Behatokia
Observatory of Linguistic Rights for Basque-speakers) 
Behatokia: an experience on social control of linguistic rights
(�)
5.00 pm � End of symposium


News (links to the Mercator-websites)  
December
 
Basque language daily launches supplement 
Association of periodical publications in Catalan celebrates its 20th
anniversary 
Catalan children�s magazine launches website 
Workers at Catalan radio station protest against its closure 
Breton language DVD for children published 
Slovakia and Armenia: Last two state reports on the implementation of
the Charter 
Recognition of minority collective rights in European Constitution has
been turned down (Eurolang / Vilaweb / Avui) 
OSCE adopts action plan for Roma and Sinti including certain language
rights 
Spain's Ministry of Education challenges the unity of the Catalan
language (Vilaweb / Avui) 
 
November 
Conference on the future of local media in the Basque Country 
New Breton publisher established 
Unesco adopts a convention and a recommendation affecting language
issues 
Maltese language bill presented in Parliament (Malta Media) 
EU-Accession regular reports on Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey released 
Draft Gaelic language bill on a Scotland-wide basis published 
The Basque language in the new draft statute for the Basque country 
Support to the use of minority languages in the media (Patronat Catala
Pro Europa / MRG International) 
Bilingual labelling of pharmaceutical products in South Tyrol region
(Vilaweb/Alto Adige) 
 

Basque language daily launches supplement
The Basque language daily newspaper Berria, which was recetly
established in order to fill the gap left when the Spanish judiciary
closed Egunkaria, has recently launched a new supplement called Tartea.
This has 12 pages, carrying feature articles, reports, interviews and
thematic sections such as health, fashion, decorating, leisure, food
etc. It includes colour on the first, last and middle pages.

Association of periodical publications in Catalan celebrates its 20th
anniversary
The Association of Periodical Publications in Catalan (Associacio de
Publicacions Periodiques en Catala � APPEC), which represents
Catalan-language publications with a cover price celebrated its
twentieth year of existence at the beginning of this month. A number of
events were held at the end of November and the beginning of December,
during a �week of communication� (setmana de la comunicacio), including
the presentation of APPEC�s Yearbook of Communication (Anuari de la
Comunicacio) and an academic event at the Universitat Autonoma de
Barcelona, with a paper given by Prof. Maria Corominas on the Catalan
communicative space. Earlier this year, at the end of October, APPEC
published a Guidebook of Media in Catalan (Guia de mitjans de
comunicacio en catala). This guide, the first of its kind, contains 200
pages and presents data on some 1000 media institutions from the Catalan
language area, including internet, radio, printed press and television.

Catalan children�s magazine launches website
The Catalan children�s magazine Mil Dimonis, published by the Associacio
per l�Ensenyament del Catala (Association for the Teaching of Catalan)
in Perpinya (Perpignan), has launched a web page Mil-dimonis.com, on
which can be found games, news, features and subscription details. Mil
Dimonis is a recently established magazine and part of a cooperative
network of children�s publications in the minority langauges of the
French state, including Plumalhon in Occitan, Louarnig in Breton and
Pika in Basque.

Workers at Catalan radio station protest against its closure
Som Radio, a Catalan radio station broadcasting in the Balearic Islands,
is to cease broadcasting on the 31st December 2003, the autonomous
government of the Balearics not having allocated any funding for the
station in 2004. The station was established in 2000 by the culture
ministry of the previous autonomous government and has the aim of
promoting the Catalan language. The closure of the station has been
criticised by groups concerned with the defence of the language and the
station�s workers have complained about the fact that they have received
no explanation for this decision. So far, they say that all they know is
what the minister for culture stated to parliament, namely that Som
Radio is an illegal and �illegalisable� radio station. The staff of the
radio have also announced their intention to launch a campaign around
the issue. Until the end of the year the station can be heard on the
internet at www.somradio.com. 

Breton language DVD for children published
The Breton children�s cartoon Pablo al louarnig ruz (Pablo the little
red fox), which is broadcast on TV Breizh (http://www.tv-breizh.com/),
appears on DVD this month. Subtitles are available in either Breton or
French. The DVD was produced and the dubbing of the cartoon carried out
by Dizale. It is being distributed and sold by Keit Vimp Bev,
keit-vimp-bev@wanadoo.fr. Three hundred copies have been made and they
are priced at 30 euros each.

Conference on the future of local media in the Basque Country
On the 28th and 29th of November in Zamudio, near Bilbo (Bilbao) in the
Basque Country, a two day conference was held on the future of local
media by the organisation Topagunea, a federation of associations
concerned with the promotion of the Basque language. As the organisers
point out, it is fifteen years since the local Basque press first
appeared, carrying the information closest to the citizen. The year 1988
was a historical milestone, bringing as it did the founding of the
pioneering Arrasate Press. Following this model, other similar magazines
were set up throughout the Basque Country with the aim of promoting
knowledge and use of the language. Fifteen years on, it was felt that it
was time to take stock of what has happened to date but also to consider
what the future might hold. Among the contributions at the conference
were presentations by Mercator Media on the position of local minority
language media in Europe as a whole and the local press in the Welsh
language in particular.

New Breton publisher established
A new publisher of Breton language books has been established in An
Oriant (Lorient). Editions Oranges Nouvelles was set up by authors of
short stories and is to specialise in the publication of this genre. The
books published are pocket-sized, orange in colour and generally cost 2
or 3 euros. Three stories were published in September this year (400
copies of each), two of which were in French with the other being
bilingual. Another four books are planned for December, one of which is
to be in Breton.
 

Publications 
Bulletin 56 - Mercator Legislation
 
IV Quarter 2003 | English and Catalan versions 
Finland: Language Act Nr 423/2003 
Finland: Act on the knowledge of languages required of personnel in
public bodies No. 424/2003 
Norway: Recommendation RecChL (2003)2 of the Committee of Ministers on
the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages by Norway 
 
Miscellany 
Dossier Breton UPDATE!!! - Mercator Education 
We are happy to announce that the regional dossier of Breton in France
has been updated. The dossier is online readable and downloadable on
www.mercator-education.org 

New Titles - Mercator Education 
European Charter for regional or minority languages 1999-2001 : second
report on the measures taken by the Netherlands with regard to the
Frisian language and culture / [ed. By Auke van der Goot; rapporteurs:
Piet Hemminga and Sytske de Jong]. � The Hague : Ministry of the
Interior and Kingdom Relations, 2003. � 200 p. �signatuur 100Fri289 
Europees Handvest voor regionale talen of talen van minderheden
1999-2001: Tweede rapportage inzake de maatregelen welke Nederland heeft
getroffen ten aanzien van de Friese taal en cultuur / [ed. by] Auke van
der Goot; [rapporteurs] Piet Hemminga en Sytske de Jong. � Den
Haag/Leeuwarden : Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en
Koninkrijksrelaties; Fryske Akademy, 2003. � 227 p. � signatuur
100Fri289 
Europees handvest voor regionale talen of talen van minderheden
1999-2001 : Tweede rapportage over het beleid inzake het Nedersaksisch,
het Limburgs, het jiddisj en de talen van roma en sinti in Nederland /
[ed. by] Auke Sj. Van der Goot. � Den Haag : Ministerie van Binnenlandse
Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties, 2003. � 43 p. � signatuur 100Dut62 
The consequences of demographic trends for language learning and
diversity = Les consequences des tendances demographiques sur
l�apprentissage des langues et la diversite linguistique / Padraig O
Riagain. � Strasbourg : Council of Europe, DGIV, Directorate of School,
Out-of-School and Higher Education,Language Policy Division, 2002. � 27
p. signatuur 100Ge208 
Minderheiten- und Volksgruppenpolitik in Schleswig-Holstein 2000-2005 :
Zwischenbilanx undPerspektiven in der 15.Legislaturperiode /
[hrsg.]Referat fur Europaangelegenheiten, Ostseekooperation . � Kiel :
Der Prasident des Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landtages, 2002. � 160 p. �
signatuur 100GERM21 
Twataligens en regionale ekonomyske untjouwing = Tweetaligheid en
regionale economische ontwikkeling = Bilingualism and regional economic
development / [ed. by] A.P. van Langevelde and A.M.J. Riemersma. �
Ljouwert / Leeuwarden : Berie foar it Frysk, 2002. � 94 p. � signatuur
100Fri287 
Key aspects of the use of English in Europe = L�Anglais en Europe:
Reperes / Claude Truchot . � Strasbourg : Council of Europe; Directorate
of School,DGIV; Out-of-School and Higher Education, 2002. � 24 p. �
signatuur 100 MLG242 
Europe, frontiers and languages = L�Europe, les frontieres et les
langues / Albert Raasch. - Strasbourg : Council of Europe; Directorate
of School,DGIV; Out-of-School and Higher Education, 2002. � 19 p. �
signatuur 100MLG243 
Collection of opinions of the advisory committee on the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities 2000-2003 (ACFC)
Vol. 1 and 2 / Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities. � Strasbourg : Council of Europe,
2003. � signatuur 100MLG245 
Collection of resolutions of the Committee of Ministers concerning
individual countries under the Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities / / Secretariat of the Framework Convention for
the Protection of National Minorities. � Strasbourg : Council of Europe,
2003. � signatuur 100MLG245 
Lletres Asturianes : Academia de la llingua Asturiana.- No. 84 (2003). �
Uvieu : Academia de la Llingua Asturiana. � issn0212-0534 
Latvijas Zinatnu Akademijas Vestis. � No. 1-6 (2003). � Riga : latvian
Academy of Sciences. � issn 1407-0081 
Keleier : Ofis ar Brezhoneg : Actualites de la langue Bretonne. � No. 54
(2003). � Roazhon [Rennes] : Ofis ar Brezhoneg / Office de la langue
bretonne. 
Butlleti del centre Mercator: dret i legislacio linguistics. � No. 55
(2003). � Barcelona : CIEMEN (Centre Internacional Escarre per les
Minories Etniques i les Nacions, 2003.