France’s indelible shame: Faking being democracy under imperial ambitions
As humanity is nearing the third decade of the XXI century, France continues to live with its past shame and seems determined to hide the embarrassment under various pretexts.
Actually, developments in France or pertaining to French policies beyond its borders have long fallen short of being news and Azerbaijan keeps feeling open-ended provocations of Paris with biased pro-Armenian moves designed to retain tension in the South Caucasus and prevent Armenia from signing a peace deal to restore lasting peace and order in the war-ravaged zone.
Reports are rife that protests in Corsica have erupted as the court banned the use of the local language in French Island. The court of Corsica has outlawed the use of the Corsican language in public institutions on the island and the ban provoked protests.
The court of Bastia referred to the French constitution in its ruling that French was the only language permitted in the performance of public duties.
The Corsican language, close to standard Italian and numbering about 150,000 speakers, according to UNESCO, is in danger of extinction.
The verdict ruled that the custom of the Corsican Assembly to allow the Corsican language for debate was unconstitutional and therefore prohibited. In addition to the language issue, the court stated that local rules establishing the “existence of the Corsican people” were also a violation of the French constitution.
The decision follows a lawsuit filed by the prefect of Corsica - the highest representative of the central government on the island - and comes as Emmanuel Macron's administration is negotiating with local politicians to give Corsica more autonomy.
Leading pro-Corsican autonomy politicians have immediately lashed out at the verdict, while supporters of the island's independence tweeted in Corsican that they considered the verdict "shameful".
Leading pro-autonomy politicians criticized the decision right away.
Presidents of the island’s executive council Gilles Simeoni and Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, and the Corsican assembly criticized the decision as depriving parliamentarians on the island of their right to talk in their native tongue during discussions, Azernews quotes firstpost.com.
They announced an appeal against the judgement in a joint statement, saying, “accepting this state of affairs is unthinkable for us. They claimed that in order for Corsican to live and advance, it needed to be recognized as an official language alongside French.
The pro-independence group Core in Fronte called the verdict “shameful” in a tweet that it posted in Corsican.
The boss of the Party of the Corsican Nation, Jean-Christophe Angelini, wrote that the decision “sounds to us like an insult”, also calling it “an injustice and a disgrace”.
Corsica and France’s national government have a tense relationship because nationalist groups have long called for greater autonomy or even outright independence.
Last month, Macron declared that he had “no taboos” about changing the status of Corsica, a bright Mediterranean island that is a favorite among tourists. He insisted, nonetheless, that Corsica must stay a part of France.
The conditional release of two men convicted of taking part in the 1998 assassination of the island’s prefect Claude Érignac—the highest-ranking French official ever assassinated—seems to have opened the door for new talks between Paris and Corsican leaders.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz