An official British Government agency chose to mark UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day and its theme of ‘harmonious environment for all languages’ by questioning whether non-English speaking immigrants should be admitted to the country.
The recently established Commission on Integration and Cohesion “wants ministers to consider changing immigration rules to ensure new arrivals have some command of the language before being allowed to come as a worker or through marriage”. The BBC also report that “The government also proposes to cut benefits to those who cannot prove they are learning English”.
Where such statements to be made regarding skin colour or religion there would be howls of protest, however the London government takes for granted language supremacy of the and the need force it upon all those unfortunates who have not yet been civilised with the Queen’s English.
Despite much tolerance towards immigrant communities regarding dress and religion why is it that the British seem to feel such great discomfort with those who do not adopt English as their mother tongue? This is stark contrast to hundreds of thousands of British people when they themselves re-locate and refuse to learn the languages of the countries they have moved to such as the Mediterranean costas or rural Wales.
In the past indigenous languages such as Gaelic and Welsh were prohibited form the British education system in an attempt to eradicate them. Even this Saturday (24 Feb, 2007) campaigners will hold a demonstration outside Belfast City Hall calling for basic rights and recognition for Irish, a language illegal in British ruled Northern Ireland until the early 1990s.
Where such statements to be made regarding skin colour or religion there would be howls of protest, however the London government takes for granted language supremacy of the and the need force it upon all those unfortunates who have not yet been civilised with the Queen’s English.
Despite much tolerance towards immigrant communities regarding dress and religion why is it that the British seem to feel such great discomfort with those who do not adopt English as their mother tongue? This is stark contrast to hundreds of thousands of British people when they themselves re-locate and refuse to learn the languages of the countries they have moved to such as the Mediterranean costas or rural Wales.
In the past indigenous languages such as Gaelic and Welsh were prohibited form the British education system in an attempt to eradicate them. Even this Saturday (24 Feb, 2007) campaigners will hold a demonstration outside Belfast City Hall calling for basic rights and recognition for Irish, a language illegal in British ruled Northern Ireland until the early 1990s.
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