Friday 31 December 2010

The Way Forward in 2011

These are the objectives for the coming year -2011


1) A Referendum on Independence for Scotland


2) A Referendum on a Parliament for Wales


3) A  Nationalist Majority in the Irish Dail Committed to Uniting Ireland    


leading to:
Scottish Independence
Welsh Independence
Unification of Ireland


not forgetting:
An Assembly for Cornwall
Autonomy for Brittany




Thursday 30 December 2010

The Way Ahead in 2011

‘Yes for Wales’ campaign launches

On Wednesday, January 5th a number of ‘Yes for Wales’ launch events will be held all over the nation. Events will be held in Aberystwyth, Casnewydd, Bangor, Wrecsam and Aberdâr. A launch event will be held in Abertawe on January 12th.  A number of other events in all parts of Wales will be held over the next few months so if you’d like to arrange a street stall or a launch party in your village or town, contact info@yesforwales.com to volunteer! 

In the meantime, we’d be really grateful if you could make every effort to attend one of the launch events detailed below to show Wales and the world that we want a resounding ‘yes’ vote on March 3rd 2011. And remember....these events are open to everyone – from Plaid Cymru, from other political parties and from society as a whole. Anyone who plans on voting ‘yes’ on March 3rd 2011 is invited to attend! And if you know of young people in your area that would be inspired by an event such as this, encourage them to attend!

Details

Aberdâr: Wednesday, January 5th at 7.00pm. Cwm Dar Country Park.
Abertawe: Wednesday, January 12th at 7.00pm. Canolfan Dylan Thomas Centre,  Somerset Place, Abertawe, SA1 1RR.
Aberystwyth: Wednesday, January 5th, 7.00pm. Canolfan y Morlan (Morfa Mawr, Aberystwyth, SY23 2HH)
Bangor: Wednesday, January 5th. 7.00ypm, Bangor Cricket Club,  Llandegai Industrial Park, Ffordd Llandegai, Bangor, LL57 4HR.
Casnewydd: Wednesday, January 5th. YMCA, Casnewydd.
Wrecsam: Wednesday, January 5th, 7.00yh. Canolfan Catrin Finch Centre, Prifysgol Glyndŵr University, Wrecsam.

What better way to kickstart the new year than by supporting one of these events?! And if you can’t be there, remember that you can volunteer to help the ‘yes’ campaign by sending an e-mail to info@yesforwales.com , or by visiting our website: www.yesforwales.com

There are only 10 weeks left to persuade everyone in Wales that....

  • laws which affect Wales only should be made in Wales.
  • a ‘yes’ vote will give Wales a stronger voice. 
  • a ‘yes’ vote will make it easier for us to run our own affairs.

We look forward to seeing a great number of Plaid members in one of these events.

Happy New Year!

Leanne Wood AC & Gwenllian Lansdown
Plaid Cymru Representatives, Ie dros Gymru / Yes for Wales


Dr. Gwenllian Lansdown
Prif Weithredwr / Chief Executive
Plaid Cymru

Wednesday 29 December 2010

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda Dros Cymru

News: 28 December 2010                         Newyddion: 28 Rhagfyr 2010
Dear Friend

Thank you for showing your support for the Yes for Wales campaign to win the referendum on 3rd March 2011. The date is getting ever closer and in a few days time we'll be only two months away from polling day. There's no time to lose.

We thought you'd want to know that the national Yes for Wales campaign will be formally launched on Tuesday 4th January.

Following this there will be a series of six regional launches across Wales. If you are free come and join us at one of the following places:
  • Aberdare: Dare Country Park on 5th January at 7pm
  • Aberystwyth: Morlan, Morfa Mawr on 5th January at 7pm
  • Bangor: Cricket Club on 5th January at 7pm
  • Swansea: Dylan Thomas Centre, Somerset Place on 12th January at 7pm
  • Newport: YMCA Conference Centre, Mendalgief Road on 5th January at 7pm
  • Wrexham: Catrin Finch Centre, Glyndwr University, Wrexham on 5th January at 7pm
There will also be a series of local group launches, street stalls and meetings throughout the month.

All this activity costs money. Although Yes for Wales will be applying for some public money to fund the campaign infrastructure through the Electoral Commission, we need to rely on donations to fund our campaigning work. This means all our leaflets including a national mailing in the run up to polling day. To do this properly we will need a lot of donations. Can you help us by donating? The easiest way to donate is through our website: www.yesforwales.com

We're not complacent when it comes to this referendum. To win we need your active support. As a people's campaign, we rely on supporters to get involved if we're going to be successful. If you can spare some time to attend a regional launch, or can make a donation to help with our campaign work, then we'd be really grateful.

Please feel free to share this email with other people you know will be supporting Yes for Wales.

Have a Happy New Year

Roger Lewis
Chair of the Yes for Wales campaign

Sunday 19 December 2010

There is Only One Road to Peace and Unity


Lucilita Bhreatnach, Uniting Ireland Co-ordinator
WE, as people who share the island of Ireland, affirm, in common with the Irish Diaspora and friends of Ireland everywhere, our commitment to live in peace and harmony with one another.
We welcome the progress made in the past decade and a half in building and developing the Peace Process into a Political Process which has seen power shared for the first time between unionists, nationalists, republicans and others.
The referendum on the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 in the 26 Counties inserted in the Irish Constitution the affirmation that it is “the firm will of the Irish nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland”.
We endorse the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrew’s Agreement and we urge the development of their full potential.
Uniting1reland
THE Uniting Ireland campaign – an initiative arisisng from this year’s Sinn Féin Ard Fheis – is gaining momentum.
As An Phoblacht goes to print, the campaign will have held its first major event, a rally in Monaghan Town on November 29th to mark 90 years of partition.
This will be followed by the launch of ‘Bridging the Border -Reconnecting Communities’ by Sinn Féin mayors and chairs across 11 border counties and a national conference in Dublin in 2011.
Debates will be held in Queen’s University on December 8th and other colleges in the New Year.
Sinn Féin has appointed Lucilita Bhreatnach, a former General Secretary of the party, to the position of Uniting Ireland Co-ordinator as part of a national task force driving the campaign forward.
At the Ard Fheis, a mission statement on Irish unity was unanimously adopted by delegates. This statement lays out the path forward to achieving Irish unity through a variety of ways such as promoting the benefits of unity among the Irish people, actively seeking the support of the unionist community, as well as maximising the support that exists abroad in places such as the United States, Canada and Britain.
The ‘Irish Unity Pledge’ is winning the backing of figures from across the political spectrum in both the provincial and national legislatures. Similar efforts are underway in the United States and Britain, led by Rita O’Hare and Seán Oliver respectively.
Lucilita says:
“We are attempting to raise consciousness about our vision of a new Ireland.
“It is clear that partition is a failed entity that created two failed economies and that now is the time for change.”
It is the long-term development of this initiative that will lay the groundwork for national unity, though.
For party activists and supporters, Lucilita sees the current economic and political situation as the perfect time for people to be reinforcing our belief that a united Ireland is the only lasting solution.
“We need to convince people of the economic benefits. This island cannot support two economies. It is madness that an island of this size has two agriculture departments, or two health departments with all their ancillary services.
“Our activists need to be communicating the message that there is an alternative and how it can be achieved.
“To those who say a united Ireland cannot be achieved, I say why not?
“When you consider what has already been achieved over the last 20 years, I think anything is possible.”
The campaign has made brochures available to party members that can be used as a lobbying document for use in every area. Leaflets are available which are aimed at young people and the colleges (a Red C poll this summer indicated that the biggest group in favour of a united Ireland are the under-25s). A crucial element of the campaign is achieving a broad range of support from outside republican circles.
Sinn Féin has already launched a discussion paper, ‘Green Paper for Irish Unity’, which is available on the Sinn Féin website (www.sinnfein.ie). Sinn Féin has been pressing for a Green Paper on Irish Unity to be published by successive Irish governments.
“Many organisations already work on an all-Ireland basis, “Lucilita says, “ but have to deal with separate government bodies for the likes of funding which again makes no sense.”
Persuading unionists of the benefits of a united Ireland presents a challenge but it is one that has to be embraced if our vision is to mean anything. According to Lucilita, there is a need for pragmatic argument here.
“In a unified country, unionism would make up approximately 20% of the population and this would give them far greater influence politically, economically and socially than they currently enjoy with Westminster.
“Business people in that community already see the economic benefits. If you want to grow your business the most obvious place is on the island you live on.
“Farmers are the same. There is already an all-Ireland aspect to the agricultural industry with Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew as minister and everybody sees the advantage to this. We have already seen situations such as Fermanagh and Monaghan councils passing cross-border motions on practical issues. In the end of the day, people make practical decisions.”
Lucilita urged MPs and TDs, MLAs and councillors to be on the look-out for opportunities to highlight the issue of uniting Ireland through motions before city or town councils or other bodies. (See box for the preamble to the mission statement which can be used as a basis for any council motion.)
“The build-up to the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising is a chance for all republicans to avail of the opportunity to open up the debate on where we want to be as a people.
“The Good Friday Agreement still has to be fully implemented. Voting rights for all citizens of the island and for emigrants have yet to be established.”
With the Presidential election due to be held next year – and constitutionally it cannot be postponed – now would be the time to push for voting rights for those in the Six Counties and abroad (see the article on this on Page 27).
“James Connolly, the Declaration of Independence and the Democratic Programme are as relevant today as they were then,” says Lucilita. “This is our opportunity to develop the momentum around uniting Ireland and our vision for the future.”
Subscribe by contacting dixie@anphoblacht.com

Saturday 18 December 2010

Farewell to Olde Ireland

Irish divided on bailout, say sovereignty lost -poll

Just over 50 percent of Irish people support a multi-billion euro EU/IMF rescue package but believe the country has lost its sovereignty by accepting the external assistance, according to a poll published on Saturday.Skip related content
Ireland was forced to resort to the IMF, the European Union and European Central Bank to negotiate an 85 billion euro (£72 billion) loan after a banking sector crisis drove the economy into the ground and sent ripples across the wider euro zone.
Irish taxpayers face years of spending cuts and tax hikes, as part of a four-year austerity drive designed to squeeze 15 billion euros from the worst deficit in Europe, beginning with 2011 budget's record package of 6 billion euros in adjustments.
When asked if they supported the bailout, 51 percent of Irish people said they welcomed it, 37 percent did not, and 12 percent did not know, an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll showed.
Fifty-six percent of the 1,000 voters sampled said Dublin had surrendered its sovereignty by accepting the deal, while 33 percent said it had not and 11 percent had no opinion.
Brian Cowen, the most unpopular Irish prime minister in recent history, is expected to lose a general election held early next year, over his handling of the crisis.
Opinion polls indicate Cowan's centre-right Fine Gael party will form a coalition government with the centre-left Labour after the next election, possibly in February or March.
Parliament approved the bailout on Wednesday in the face of opposition threats to renegotiate the deal, but given Ireland's dependence on the rescue package to shore up its banks and finance its deficit, and having signed up to its tough fiscal targets, their room for manoeuvre may be limited.
Saturday's poll showed voters who back Cowen's Fianna Fail party were the most supportive of the bailout and a majority of them did not believe that Dublin had given up its sovereignty.
Fine Gael and Labour voters also supported the bailout, but said sovereignty had been surrendered, the Irish Times said.
Expressing disgruntlement with the severe austerity measures they will face, 68 percent of voters said they thought the December 7 budget was unfair against 27 percent who thought it was fair.
A poll held earlier this week showed support for Fianna Fail and Cowen had reached record lows, with satisfaction with the way the government is doing its job at just 8 percent.
The Irish Times said the latest poll was held on Monday and Tuesday, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
(Reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Thursday 16 December 2010

Sinn Fein Powers Ahead in Ireland

Sinn Fein poll surge could put Labour in power in 

Republic of Ireland


Monday, 6 December 2010
The possibility of a Labour and Sinn Fein-led government, with the support of independent socialist TDs, is close to reality, according to the latest analysis of voting intentions.
The formation of such a left/hard-left government -- which is now predicted to win up to 87 seats -- is emerging from a deepening sense of anger, frustration and alienation among the electorate, particularly since the EU-IMF bailout deal.
Until now, the prevailing assumption was that Fine Gael and Labour would form a new government after the General Election.
Yesterday, government sources said the election would be called in late February or early March and held before St Patrick's weekend.
However, the publication of pre-budget submissions on Friday has starkly illustrated the wide policy divergence that exists between the two main opposition parties in terms of how to deal with the economic crisis.
Now, detailed analysis of an opinion poll published during the week, and seen by the Sunday Independent, has highlighted the distinct possibility that Labour and Sinn Fein could form a new government with the support of a majority -- but not necessarily all -- of up to 15 independent TDs.
According to the Red C poll in the Irish Sun, Labour (24 per cent), Sinn Fein (16 per cent), and independents (11 per cent), were on a combined total of 51 per cent.
An analysis by the Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI) translates those percentages into Dail seats as follows: Labour 48, Sinn Fein 24, independents 15.
Its analysis points out that the independent TDs are likely to include prominent left-wing candidates, such as Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party and Richard Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit, as well as several others on the hard left.
If all of the independents were to back a Labour-Sinn Fein coalition, then a clear majority of up to 87 seats would be in place, comfortably more than the 83 required to form a government.
According to the PSAI analysis, Fine Gael would be the principal opposition party with 67 seats; Fianna Fail would be reduced to just 12; and the Greens would lose all of their seats and be completely wiped out.
While the formation of such a government must be considered unlikely at this stage, the analysis opens up another option in the rapidly shifting political landscape.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has ruled out coalition with Sinn Fein, but the party's finance spokeswoman Joan Burton has been somewhat more equivocal.
However, the prospect of Mr Gilmore as Taoiseach may prove a huge incentive for Labour to enter government with Sinn Fein.
It is now clear that the arrival of the EU-IMF last month -- and the perceived dilution of national sovereignty resulting from that -- is fuelling a radical rethink among the electorate.
Labour and Sinn Fein have been most strident in their opposition to the terms of the €85bn 'bailout' arrangement negotiated by representatives of the Government.
In the Dail last week, Mr Gilmore declared that his party would not be bound by the EU-IMF deal and would seek to renegotiate it.
Labour opposes the entire premise of the agreement that there must be €6bn in cuts and savings next year.
Sinn Fein, meanwhile, has been even more critical and has said that it would default on part or all of the debt.
This stance is supported by the hard left.
The view of several policymakers and economic commentators that the EU-IMF deal has placed an unsustainable debt burden on Irish citizens seems to be persuading voters to look again at an alternative left-wing government, including Sinn Fein.
According to a Sunday Independent/Quantum Res-earch poll today, 61 per cent majority believe the EU-IMF deal is not a good one for the country; that 71 per cent believe the Dail should be given an opportunity to vote on it and that 54 per cent do not believe the next Government should be bound by it.
It has also found that a 58 per cent majority believe the Government should default on all or part of the debt.
Reports last week that the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, 55, was to receive a 'golden handshake' of €325,000 and an annual pension of more than €100,000 have added to an already huge sense of anger and frustration among the public.
Furthermore, reports that Allied Irish Bank paid out almost €60m on bonuses over the past two years, including €3.4m to key staff this year, are deepening a general sense of injustice.
In a populist move, Mr Gilmore has promised in Labour's pre-budget submission to cap the salary of the Taoiseach at €190,000 and to reduce ministerial salaries by 17 per cent.
However, there are major differences between the pre-budget submissions of Fine Gael and Labour.
Fine Gael has accepted the need for the €6bn adjustment, as agreed with the EU and the IMF, with €15bn to be found mostly in reduced spending over four years.
By contrast, Labour wants an adjustment of just €4.5bn, with the savings made up equally between cuts and taxes.
It has pledged to renegotiate the terms of the EU-IMF rescue package.
While there is much in common between Fine Gael and Labour, including the need for job-creation packages, they propose different ways of funding and structuring such packages.
Fine Gael, meanwhile, has highlighted its intention to cut the public sector workforce by 30,000 by 2014 and to make savings of at least €260m next year.
Labour does not specify public service job losses, but expects to make even greater savings of €400m in 2011.
In the Sunday Independent/Quantum Research poll, a 59 per cent majority says the Croke Park Agreement should be scrapped now, rather than waiting nine months to see if it achieves savings in the public sector.
Source Sunday Independent

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/sinn-fein-poll-surge-could-put-labour-in-power-in-republic-of-ireland-15022669.html#ixzz18I0eOE4g

Wednesday 15 December 2010

As a New Year Dawns.....

 SCHOOL DAYS-- 1970 vs. 2010



Scenario
:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.


1970 
- Crowd gathers. Johnny wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best mates for life.

2010 - Police called, arrests Johnny and Mark.. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Mark started it. Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months. School board hold meeting to implement bullying prevention programs


Scenario
:
Robbie won't Keep still in class, disrupts other students.


1970 -
 Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Headmaster. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2010 - Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and School gets extra funding from state because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car
 and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1970 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Government psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. 


Scenario
 :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.


1970 -
 Mark gets glass of water from Teacher to take aspirin with.

2010 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons. 



Scenario
 :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Guy Fawkes,
 puts them in a model airfix paint bottle, blows up an ants nest.

1970 - Ants die.

2010-  Police, Armed Forces,  & Anti-terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, MI5 investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario :
Johnny falls while running during break and scrapes his knee.
 He is found crying by his teacher, Mary . Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1970 -
 In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2010 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy
. 


This should be sent to every e-mail address as a warning to society

New generation aims to maintain French Breton language

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Saving the Breton Language


Bretons fight to save language from extinction

By Simon Hooper, CNN
December 13, 2010 -- Updated 1826 GMT (0226 HKT)

Click to play
Survival of the Breton language
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Brittany's Breton-speaking population has fallen to around 250,000
  • Most speakers over 70; language is losing 10,000 speakers a year
  • Activists say France doesn't recognize languages such as Breton, Basque, Corsican
  • Campaigners hope to keep language alive by teaching a new generation of speakers
An Oriant, France (CNN) -- At a busy creperie amid the cobbled medieval streets of Quimper in Brittany, northern France, a lunchtime crowd is enjoying hearty galettes packed with combinations of meats, cheeses and eggs.
The crepe has become a staple of French cuisine, but another aspect of Brittany's culture -- the region's unique language -- is in danger of dying with an aging generation of Breton speakers.
Almost two million people spoke Breton at the beginning of the 20th century, according to Ofis ar Brezhoneg, the Breton Language Office. That number has now declined to around 250,000 according to UNESCO, which lists the language as severely endangered.
But the latest figures may already be out of date. Most Breton speakers are now in their 70s or older and the language is estimated to be losing around 10,000 speakers a year.
"The Breton language is the main aspect of our culture, our identity," Fulup Jakez, head of Ofis ar Brezhoneg, told CNN. "If we lose our language we lose everything."
Brittany -- or Breizh in Breton -- has always had a seperate identity to the rest of France. The northwestern peninsula was settled by Celtic migrants who arrived from Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. The region remains proud of its heritage with a rich tradition of Celtic music and culture that shares more in common with Cornwall, Wales or Ireland than France.
Fast facts: Brittany
Speak Breton
Hello: Mont a ra?
Goodbye: Kenavo
Please: Mar plij
Thank you: Trugarez
How are you?: Mat an traou?
Excuse me: Digarez
Pleased to meet you: Plijet bras on
Cheers!: Yec'hed mad!
What's your name?: Petra eo da anv?
My name is... : ... eo ma anv
Although Brittany came under French rule in the 16th century, it was only after the French Revolution in 1789 that the country's regions were properly incorporated into a unified state.
Central to that process was the use of French as the country's official language, with revolutionary thinkers stating that regional languages represented the "barbarism" of the past and needed to be "obliterated." Brittany and other regions, such as Corsica, Alsace and Basque areas in the southwest, are still living with the consequences today.
"According to article two of the French constitution, there is only one language of the republic. Collective rights are not recognized; the Basque speakers in France are invisible," Paul Bilbao, a Basque language campaigner, told CNN.
Bilbao said the situation in France was worse than in many other European countries with linguistic minorities such as Spain and the UK. France is one of few states not to have ratified the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages; a treaty which is considered crucial by campaigners for the protection of the continent's linguistic diversity.
Some go further still, drawing a comparison between the lack of official recognition for Breton and other regional identities and French attitudes to minorities highlighted by the recent deportations of Roma migrants and the banning of Muslim headscarves.
"France is not at ease with diversity at all. It's part of the French political culture to be scared of the outside and to be scared of the inside as well," says Breton journalist Yann Rivallain, editor ofArMen magazine.
For Breton speakers, the lowpoint in the region's relationship with the French state came after World War II. Many activists were accused of collaborating with the German occupiers -- and killed. For years afterwards, the language was banned in schools, with playground notices reading: "No spitting on the ground or speaking Breton."
"At that time, Breton did not exist in society," says Jakez. "It was a private language you spoke at home or with your friends. There was no place for the language in public life. It was something hidden."
Many parents simply chose not to pass on a language which was seen as representative of a backward culture, fearing it would give their children a disadvantage in life. Rivallain sees parallels with the struggle of recent immigrant groups, such as those from Arab backgrounds, to integrate into French life.
"The idea was if you give up your language, your background, your traditions, you're going to have access to these amazing things that are part of being French. And the second and third generation are realizing that it's not happening at all," he told CNN. "The same thing happened here. They asked my parents to give up everything. They said you're going to get jobs, you're going to have a modern way of life, but for a long time it didn't happen."
More recently however, Breton activists have benefited in their efforts to promote the language from the support of local organizations and politicians more sympathetic to regional issues. Bilingual road signs have become commonplace, while Lorient's (An Oriant in Breton) Interceltique Festival has become an annual celebration of Breton music, culture and identity.
Significantly, in 2008 the French National Assembly voted for a constitutional amendment recognizing regional languages as "part of French heritage." Last week, lawmakers also launched a regional languages bill which, if passed, would commit the state to providing regional language lessons to all children.
Davyth Hicks of Eurolang, which lobbies the European Union on language issues, said the bill was encouraging but faced an uphill task to become law.
"It's exactly what's needed to help safeguard France's regional languages and help them in their efforts to avoid further endangerment," said Hicks. "France should join with the rest of Europe in nurturing its own linguistic diversity, not destroying it. France claims to be the creator of modern human rights, but you have no rights in France as a Breton or Corsican speaker."
The French state is playing the clock. We're going to move from 200,000 speakers to 70,000 in the next 10 years so the situation is very fragile.
--Yann Rivallain, Breton journalist
But Xavier North, Delegate General for the French language and the languages of France at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, told CNN that the French government was spending one million euros a year to promote regional languages, by hiring bilingual teachers and funding organizations such as Ofis ar Brezhoneg. North said there were already 400,000 school children taking lessons in regional languages throughout France.
The situation in France was very different to other European countries with 75 languages spoken in all French departments and territories, including 15 regional languages, he added. By officially recognizing these, North said, "the very essence of France would be put into question... France faces a difficulty in recognizing all of these languages. Historically speaking, France has been built on French."
But with Breton numbers dwindling so fast, campaigners such as Rivallain fear political recognition may have come too late to halt the language's demographic demise. "The French state is playing the clock," he says. "We're going to move from 200,000 speakers to 70,000 in the next 10 years so the situation is very fragile."
In the frontline of efforts to keep Breton alive are schools such as the Skol Diwan An Oriant. "Diwan" is the Breton word for "seed" and the name for an educational initiative intent on planting fluency in the language in future generations. Catering for childen from nursery age to Baccalaureat level, Diwan children are taught almost exclusively in Breton.
"(There are) less and less older people still alive still speaking Breton. So it's very important if we don't want to see the language die, we've got to teach a new generation how to speak, how to write, how to read, how to understand Breton," head teacher Valerie Le Gal told CNN.
As the older Breton-speaking population passes away, Rivallain is hopeful that a new wave of speakers can reinvent the language as a vibrant and self-confident assertion of Breton identity in the 21st century.
"You're seeing the first generation of people coming through who were brought up bilingually in the schools; in the last three or four years you hear Breton spoken all over the place," he says. "People go into bars and speak the language and that's very exciting. It normalizes the language."
Eliane Bramley, a parent at the Skol Diwan, is one of those who never had the chance to learn Breton as a child, even though it was her father's native tongue. Now she is learning the language with her four-year-old daughter, Aziliz.
"We want her to have some Breton roots, out of respect for her grandfather who was punished at school if he spoke Breton," says Bramley.
"She's started to sing a lot in Breton, and to count. We see a blackbird or a dog and we say it in Breton and she corrects me. And my father is absolutely delighted to hear some Breton songs at home. I can see he is a little bit emotional about it."

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Saving the Breton Language":

The Franch state has an essentially fascistic attitude to the indigenous languages within its borders: Breton, Basque, Catalan, Corsican.

Why and how can the French state and French people decide that some languages must die.

I'll never learn French because of this attitude.

I hope English becomes all dominant and French becomes a slightly obscure language for language enthusiasts to learn.

As a Welshman and Welsh-speaker I laugh every time I hear the French complain about the threat to their beloved language. Well, tough! They complain about English and the Americans but are doing exactly the same to the Bretons.