"China has approved a sweeping new law which claims to help promote "ethnic unity" - but critics say it will further erode the rights of minority groups."

Use of the word rubber-stamp:

"The law was approved on Thursday as the annual rubber-stamp parliamentary session drew to an end."

So-called expert using emotionally charged language:

"The law is consistent with a dramatic recent policy shift, to suppress the ethnic diversity formally recognised since 1949," Magnus Fiskesjö, an associate professor of anthropology at Cornell University said in a university report.

"The children of the next generation are now isolated and brutally forced to forget their own language and culture."

Again use of absolute language:

"The law was voted and passed on Thursday at the National People's Congress in Beijing, which has never rejected an item on its agenda."

Suspicious anonymous monk quotes:

When the BBC visited a monastery that had been at heart of Tibetan resistance in July last year, monks spoke of living under fear and intimidation.

"We Tibetans are denied basic human rights. The Chinese government continues to oppress and persecute us. It is not a government that serves the people," one of them told us.

Again some no-name "professor of government", lmao i mean truly bottom of the barrel:

"The Communist Party says it embraces different ethnicities. The country's constitution states that "each ethnicity has the right to use and develop their own language" and "have the right to self-rule".

But critics believe this new law will cement Xi's push toward assimilation.

"The law makes it clearer than ever that in Xi Jinping's PRC non-Han peoples must do more to integrate themselves with the Han majority, and above all else be loyal to Beijing," Allen Carlson, an associate professor of government at Cornell University said, referencing China by the initials of its official name.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] SootySootySoot@hexbear.net 34 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

the National People's Congress in Beijing, which has never rejected an item on its agenda

As well as being misleading (the NPC can change proposed laws to an unlimited degree as suits them, sometimes over the course of years, so why would you not eventually pass it). This line has been repeated at every media outlet. And 20 seconds of reading Wikipedia shows it's just.. objectively false.

in 2015, the NPC refused to pass a package of bills proposed by the State Council, insisting that each bill require a separate vote and revision process

The time for legislation can be as short as six months, or as long as 15 years for controversial legislation such as the Anti-Monopoly Law.

Weird how this democratically elected "rubber stamp" parliamentary body are constantly changing and rejecting laws as suits them under Xi's DICTATORSHIP. It's almost like China is actually just a parliamentary democracy with more sensible structures and incentives.

I'm also not sure how I feel about the languages thing. I can see the reasoning to do it, but I can also understand the fear of losing local languages (and the consequent value lost). BBC has zero right to talk about it though - the UK government ALSO requires that English be taught in all schools, and more prominent on all signs before Cornish, Welsh, Scottish or Irish Gaellic, etc, so labelling it as SCARY CHINA EVIL attitude is quite amazing hypocrisy.

[–] newacctidk@hexbear.net 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Remember that France stops every attempt to non-French languages teachable in state schools. So Breton cannot be taught to kids in Brittany unless it is a private school, when an attempt was made to work with Breton language schools the constitutional council said it violated the constitution. They do have bilingual state schools, but that is not teaching the language as far as I can tell.

A plan to integrate Diwan (and its immersion style) into the public school system was signed in May 2001 by the Minister of Education, Jack Lang, and several agreements were worked out with the French Education system during the spring and summer of 2001 concerning the nuts and bolts of putting all this into place.

Just as things were starting to jell for the budgeting of teachers and facilities to be fully in place for the opening of the Fall 2002 school year, the French government (Conseil d'Etat) suspended this agreement for public integration of Diwan. This was in part due to pressure from a federation of public school teacher and parent organizations who feel that the immersion system of Diwan "attacks the principle of equality and unity of the [French] Republic."

A sticking point for those who seem to confuse uniformity with unity of the French state is the French Constitution which states in Article 2 that "French is the language of the Republic." Diwan's immersion system of teaching through the Breton language appears to be against the French Constitution. This constitutional argument also blocks France's adoption of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This Charter was signed by France in May 1999 but is yet to be ratified so that the meager protections it affords to languages like Breton can be put into place.

In a December 27, 2002, decision on this matter, the Constitutional Council clearly stated that the immersion style of teaching Breton is contrary to the Article 2 of the French Constitution. Here's how the Council states things: "The usage of a language other than French cannot be imposed on students in establishments of public education in the operation [life] of the establishment or in teaching subjects other than the language in question." This not only eliminates the use of Breton as the language for playground or cafeteria communication, but also as a language used to teach math, science or history-a restriction which could also impact regular public school bilingual programs where such subjects are taught through the medium of Breton.

It is the immersion system of using Breton as the medium for all activity at a school that is troublesome. Yet, it is this use of Breton for the life of the school that so effectively allows the youngest children (preschool and primary school) who do not come from Breton-speaking families to master the language and use it naturally. The whole point of enrolling one's child in a Diwan school is to get such immersion (which is chosen and not "imposed"). Thus any proposal for public school integration that compromises this is not acceptable to Diwan.

Diwan has proven that its pedagogical system is a success. The challenge for continued growth is financial. Many teacher's salaries are covered in a "contract" with the French State which puts Diwan in a "private school" category despite the fact that it charges no tuition and operates as a public institution open to anyone who wants to enroll. Whenever a new school is opened (and Diwan continues to grow each year) it must wait for five years before it can come under the "contract." Thus, there are currently over a dozen teachers whose salaries must be raised by fundraising. Because of its "private school" status, there have also been limits placed on the contribution of building space and public monies to support Diwan schools - no matter how willing and able a particular town and population may be to support a Diwan school. Thus, the financial challenges remain very high for Diwan to open new schools to meet the demand of parents and students.

Comrades, if you ever think you hate the French too much or even adequately, you don't. You can and should always hate them more. It is a cultural or at least linguistic genocide, and now that I think about it, probably these laws are the same basis that France uses to discriminate against "separatist" ideologies IE "Islamo-Communism" or whatever Macron called it.

https://icdbl.org/diwan.php?chapter=future

[–] anaesidemus@hexbear.net 9 points 1 day ago

macron

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's "Islamogauchisme" ("Islamo-leftism"), right?

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 10 points 1 day ago

BBC has zero right to talk about it though

Furthermore the BBC itself was used as a tool to teach the Queens English to places where there weren't enough fluent speakers. They strictly enforce not just language but very specific accents.