September 2006

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ASTURIAN CIVIL SOCIETY MOBILIZES TO CLAIM OFFICIAL STATUS FOR ASTURIAN LANGUAGE

September 2006 - The association Conceyu Abiertu pola Oficialidá (CAO), made up of more than 150 political, cultural and social organizations from the Principality of Asturias, organized a demonstration in Xixón last August with the aim of putting pressure on the political parties to include the official status of the Asturian language in the draft of the forthcoming proposed revision of the Statute of Autonomy of Asturias.

The mobilization was held under the motto "In the revision of the Statute, Asturian official language". Article 4 of the Statute currently in force establishes that Bable or Asturian "will enjoy protection. Its use, presence in the mass media and in the education system, will be encouraged, respecting in every case the local varieties and the voluntary nature of learning the language", but does not consider it as official. Consequently, in accordance with the Spanish instrument of ratification of the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages, the provisions applicable to Asturian set forth in the Charter are less demanding than those laid down to be applicable to languages with official recognition such as Basque in the Basque Country and Navarre, Catalan in Valencian Country, Balearic Islands and Catalonia and Galician in Galicia.

According to the organisers, the public had a favourable response to the call and many signatures were gathered in favour of securing official status for Asturian in the new Statute. The demonstration has come in a particularly sensitive moment since, as Mercator reported, six militants of the Board for the Defence of the Asturian Language were processed for demanding officiality for the language.