Breizh: SNCF Protest Over Language

Last week (13th June 2009) activists from a Breton language campaign group, converged on a Breton train station to protest about the French SNCF train company's refusal to use the Breton language.

The group, Ai'ta, plastered 200 A3 posters over the Gwengamp station and on the trains that had stopped in the town, much to the astonishment and bemusement of travellers. The messages on the posters contained slogans such as «Pelec'h 'mañ ar brezhoneg?» (Where is the Breton?) and «Trawalc'h a dismegañs!» (Enough contempt!).

However the SNCF, which is a French public enterprise, has all but ignored the four year campaign run by Ai'ta to promote the use of the Breton language in SNCF services. As the group states in a recent press release on the Agence Bretagne Presse (ABP) news agency:

« Quatre ans pendant lesquels notre collectif a multiplié les lettres, les demandes de rendez-vous, les actions de sensibilisation...Simplement pour que la langue bretonne puisse être visible et soit valorisée dans ces lieux publics. » (For four years our collective has written letters, requested meetings, made publicity campaigns...Simply so that the Breton language can be made more visible and is developed in these public places.)

Despite the group's efforts, Ai'ta, say that their campaign has not changed the «uniform» attitude of the SNCF, adding that there is still « Pas d'annonces en breton, pas de possibilité de choisir le breton aux automates, pas un mot de breton visible ou audible. »(No advertisements in Breton, no possibility of using the Breton language with automats, not a word of Breton visible or audible.)

Other languages are nevertheless made available by SNCF as part of their service in Brittany, including English and German, but the company is yet to give any recognition to the Breton language. The patience and determination shown by Breton language activists in Brittany in their campaign against the exclusive `French-only' Jacobin mentality of centralist institutions and services, is indeed admirable. However, how long do the Breton people have to wait for France to catch up with the rest of Europe, by giving the Breton people the linguistic rights that they so deserve.

Ai'ta was created in 2005 by young people from Trégor. Its objective is to make the Breton language more visible in daily life. The group is non party political, non-violent and aims to bring its message to the public in a positive and dynamic way.

Ai'ta: (voir le site)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

17/06/09