[WSIS CS-Plenary] How to stop the beating or shaming of children for speaking their mother tongue?

[linda misek-falkoff]

Thank you for sharing these posts and the comments.

It is good to see the reference to high value of individuals as well as
groups, and their core characteristics which sustain identity..

If our networks do not reach individuals they very much fall short.

'The Each and the All', ever in focus.

(Emerson: "Nor knowest thou what argument
Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent:
All are needed by each one,
Nothing is fair or good alone").


Best wishes, LDMF.
Dr. Linda D. Misek-Falkoff
*Respectful Interfaces*
For I.D. here: The Communications Coordination Committee for the U.N.;
International Disabity Caucus...


On 1/21/08, Ann-Kristin Håkansson <akigua at telia.com> wrote:
>
> [Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list.
> Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for specific people]
>
> Click http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/ to access automatic translation of
> this message!
> _______________________________________
>
> Thanks Rui for posting this. it is a huge problem for us in the
> Indigenous community.
> Best,
> Ann-Kristin
>
> ----Ursprungligt meddelande----
> Från: correia.rui at gmail.com
> Datum: 21-01-2008 12:35
> Till: "Virtual WSIS CS Plenary Group Space"< plenary at wsis-cs.org>
> Ärende: [WSIS CS-Plenary] How to stop the beating or shaming of
> children        for speaking their mother tongue?
>
> [Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire
> list. Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for
> specific people]
>
> Click http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/ to access automatic
> translation of this message!
> _______________________________________
>
> Dear All
>
> I seem to recall that way back then there were a Languages Caucus and
> Minorities Caucus, but a lot of our records are disappearing or being
> written over!
>
> This was sent to me to an online forum that I don't visit with
> frequency, so
> it might be slightly dated, but nonetheless valid.
>
> Specific to this forum, I'd like to recall Point 6 of our Charter of
> Civil
> Rights for a Sustainable  Knowledge Society, which states that
> "CULTURAL
> DIVERSITY IS A PREREQUISITE FOR INDIVIDUAL AND
> SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT."
>
> If the relevant caucuses can this this up, please advise where people
> couple
> post on this.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rui
>
> _____________________________________________________
> Text received:
> Greetings! Not long ago I received an email from someone who mentioned
> in
> passing how children in one school in Tanzania were under threat of a
> beating if they uttered a word in their mother tongue. I also happened
> to
> see some recent articles about the larger issues of linguistic rights
> and
> education in various parts of the world, in which various ways of
> discouraging use of the mother tongue were discussed. It occurred that
> in
> this International Year of Languages (and during a decade on non-
> violence
> for children) it might be time to call attention to this and at least
> try to
> build opinion against punishment for speaking one's mother tongue.
> Which is
> easy to say but quite another matter to implement.
>
> How to stop the beating or shaming of children for speaking their
> mother
> tongue?
>
> The practice of punishing children for speaking their mother tongue in
> school - or even at home - is apparently still not that uncommon. It
> is
> rationalized in terms of keeping order in the classroom or forcing the
> children to learn another more widely spoken or dominant language. The
> victims are anyone who does not have the targeted language as their
> mother
> tongue, and historically the most outrageous applications of this
> mindset
> has been against indigenous peoples.
>
> The issue now is how to draw attention to such punishment - not just
> the use
> of corporal punishment but the whole concept of punishing someone for
> speaking their first language - and to educate teachers, parents and
> school
> administrators. Since this year is the International Year of Languages
> and
> the 8th year of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and
> Non-violence for the Children of the World, it would seem an ideal
> moment to
> do something in this regard. Any suggestions regarding strategies and
> organizations are invited.
>
> --
> ________________________________________________
>
>
> Rui Correia
> Advocacy, Human Rights, Media and Language Consultant
> 2 Cutten St
> Horison
> Roodepoort-Johannesburg,
> South Africa
> Tel/ Fax (+27-11) 766-4336
> Cell (+27) (0) 84-498-6838
> _______________________________________________
> Plenary mailing list
> Plenary at wsis-cs.org
> http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/plenary
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Plenary mailing list
> Plenary at wsis-cs.org
> http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/plenary
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/plenary/attachments/20080121/d6a846fb/attachment.html