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Owning Our Futures - Scottish International Conference
The Scottish Independence Convention announced a major international conference that was held in Scotland on 5 October. The conference, organised jointly with the International Commission on European Communities (ICEC), brought together 15 or more of the continent's leading independence and autonomy movements. Held in Edinburgh, it provided a chance for movements from across the continent to meet, discuss their progress, make contacts, network, and plan for the future.
Among the nations represented were Greenland, the Faros, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Flanders, the Veneto, Sardinia, Sicily, South Tyrol, Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Corsica. There was also a representation from the North of England to update attendees on a number of different parties and initiatives taking place there.
In addition to the conference, a declaration was signed. Previously, discussions about Europe's autonomy and independence movements treated each as an individual case separate from the others. The declaration aimed to send out the message that Europe was too centralised and that many nations and regions wanted either more autonomous power or full independence. The objective was not only to place the continent's autonomy movements into the context of widespread dissatisfaction with the centralisation of Europe but also to highlight that independence and autonomy movements led in proposing that Europe should be reformed through more democracy, not less. Both advocates for a European super-state and the anti-EU populist movements believed that the future of Europe should involve less democracy.
Co-convener of the SIC, Isobel Lindsay, said:
“We hosted this conference on behalf of the International Commission of European Citizens (ISEC), an EU-registered NGO promoting the rights of self-determination. The focus was on the democratic rights of nations and regions in Europe and the importance of respecting and promoting our socio-cultural distinctiveness. We needed to strengthen our self-determination networks and learn from our varied experiences, and there was a warm Scottish reception for our friends from so many different parts of Europe.”
Full conference live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrqGwDNO8_Y
Judicial offensive against the Basque language
Judicial offensive against the Basque language. Huge demonstration in Bilbao: over 70,000 people demanded an end to court rulings against the Basque language
ICEC - Reception at the Flemish President's Office, Jan Jambon
ICEC - Reception at the Flemish President's Office
Jan Jambon congratulated ICEC intl work:
'Keep the good work for Independence!'
ICEC - European Parliament: Seven short films to explain seven captive nations
Successful ICEC conference 2023 in the European Parliament
'Peaceful Agreements or Bloody Papers?'
Seven short films to explain seven captive nations.
Conference: 'Peaceful Agreements or Bloody Papers?'
ICEC - European Parliament conference 2023
The advocacy for independence for european nations from old imperial occupations.
Ireland
The language declined, in particular, following the triumph of British capitalism in erasing 2 million people from Ireland during the years of the Great Famine of 1845-52.
'Silesia without Silesians'
Not all language struggles are of those fighting for their own state
Silesians aim for the recognisition of Silesian as a regional language
'Philologist'
Sardinian is the language used by parents to teach their children to express themselves.
Sardinian has become the language of primary socialization
20 YEARS SINCE THE CLOSURE (BY FORCE) OF THE BASQUE NEWSPAPER "EUSKALDUNON EGUNKARIA"
20 years have elapsed since the Spanish Civil Guard wielding their guns shut down the daily Euskaldunon Egunkaria, that way crushing the only daily written in Basque. Besides closing the newspaper, 10 staff members were subject to detention, torture and charged with ‘terrorism’.
The Basque Country was home to different kinds of violence during the period. ETA staged one such violence in response to the Spanish occupation. The Spanish state carried out violence in a dimension that could only be expected in colonial situations, i.e. persecution of Basque language activism, outlawing of political parties, the closure of media outlets, demonstrations banned, arrest and imprisonment of political leaders, etc. The whole scope of Basque culture came under suspicion, with the Spanish state committing a variety of abuses under the fanciful banner of “Everything is ETA” that paved the grounds to the violent attack on Euskaldunon Egunkaria.
Several years on after the closure of the media outlet, in 2010, the very Spanish Justice and Administration decided that the detentions of 10 paper staff were actually groundless, determining this time that they held no ties with ETA. In 2012, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Spain for failing to launch a probe on the newspaper’s director Martxelo Otamendi’s torture allegations.
The daughter of one of the 10 arrested workers of the Basque newspaper wrote an emotional article 5 years ago (on the 15th anniversary of those sad events) for the Basque nationalist group "Naziogintza". With the express authorization of Naziogintza (www.naziogintza.eus) we reproduce that article.
'Brittany / Breizh / Bretagne / Bertègn'
In Brittany as elsewhere, visibility in public space has been an essential factor in language revitalisation.
Under french rule, Breton and Gallo speakers have suffered intense government discrimination.