Defence of Linguistic Human Rights

Amnesty has moved away from civil and political towards social and economic rights. Believe that it
is state that are the duty holders

Or reducing inequality to inter-language diversity and inequality

May 1999 argues that in liberal pluralism the individual universal citizenship
rights has been seen as opposed to collective and particularistic ‘ethnic rights’
:pluralist dilemma

In Europe a liberal pluralist conception of individual universal citizenship rights is

more readily favoured over collective and particularistic ‘ethnic rights’. Mother-
tongue education can be justified when bound by ethnicity with a politics of
multiculturalism. However, if the issue of L1 MOI is part of a circle of structural
socio-economic marginality supported by an elite class, a liberal pluralist stance
of assimilation may dissolve socio-economic and political marginality without
resolving the wider issue.

What may be missing from discourse on LHR and in projects to implement L1

MOI in postcolonial states is the element of participation outside of the
legitimate boundaries. This could be seen as the transformative aspect of
linguistic citizenship.

Language and education Rights for indigenous People

Fishman calls ‘cultural democracy’ the recognition of an individual’s right to

retain their cultural and ethnic language affiliations should these differ from the
mainstream Fishman 2000 Rights to language, equity, power and education

There is a need to achieve both equal recognition and redistribution

Mother tongue ed can justify itself in opposition to

- Learning L2 and other skills

- As part of ethnicity as in multiculturalism to the exclusions of socio-
economic, assimilation and pacification
- As a human right, a better instrument for learning and in relation to socio-
economic and political exclusion (empowerment)

Declaring languages equal would make their speakers equal in real societies

Asmara Declaration on 17th January 2000 African languages must take on the
duty, the responsibility and the challenge of speaking for the continent