(a transcription of a speech given by Dp. Miestrâ Schivâ, Defencist Spokeswoman on Culture, in the Chamber of Deputies today)
Estimat Deputats:
A few weeks ago, s:reu Txáglh, the new Minister of Culture, sent out a press release that seems to embody the Peculiarist government's cultural policy. Seeing as the Minister is the only member of the Peculiarist government who is doing anything at all, it seems a little unfair to pick on him. But then, the longer the Peculiarist leaders sleep, the easier it will be to vote them out come September. So I will refrain from waking them up just yet.
Anyway, as to s:reu Txáglh's "press release". To start with, it is refreshing that the Peculiarist government - at least one member of it, anyway - is taking the Talossan language seriously. We hope that this attitude has been thoroughly accepted by the MRP as a fundamental value of their politics, and not as a tactical manouver.
The centrepiece of Defencist cultural policy is the "one nation, one culture, two states" policy. The Minister of Culture says "Talossan culture" over and over again. He does not say "Talossan-Republic culture". He says "the Talossan heritage is shared" between the two states. This is excellent. But we note with disappointment that the statement of the minister contains no concrete proposals on how to further linguistic cooperation between the two Talossas, aside from the pious hope that it will be so. Is this an immediate effect of the government’s so-called Wu Wei policy of remaining passive and reactive in Pan-Talossan Affairs?
If there is not joint language work with citizens of the Kingdom, the Talossan language will inevitably split into dialects, and the single greatest cultural tradition of our Nation will be lost. But not only does the Peculiarist government seem to want to create a language policy while ignoring the Kingdom, some of its members show a distressing indifference to what even non-Peculiarist Republicans have done. S:reu Jay Shorten, our Secretary of State, wrote three very good chapters of an introductory Teach Yourself Talossan textbook. Do the Peculiarist cultural mavens have any interest in carrying on with this vital project?
On the subject of the national language, the Defencists offer the following concrete proposals:
- We demand that the government respect the academic freedom and legal authority of l’Icastolâ and continue to work within the cultural framework already in place. What is this new “Istitüt del Glheþ Talossán" that the Minister speaks of? Is it something the Peculiarists have made up on the spot, to bypass the existing structures established by the cultural law which the previous Defencist majority passed? Or did s:reu Txáglh simply not understand the current law? If so, his ministeral colleagues should explain it to him.
-We expect, in the interests of the language, that government cultural officials will continue the ZRT’s initiative and will participate in the Kingdom’s language forums, as an interim solution to the long-term problem of cross-border language cooperation;
-We call on the government to implement the ZRT plan to expand the literary culture of the Talossan language with a regular column in el ghleth on Talossa.info, once they have decided who will be responsible for publishing it;
-We take the Minister at his word and will expect further helpful brochures on common words and phrases in el ghleth, on the successful model of “Prüms Pacens”. Education is a responsibility that must be assumed by the government, and we will accept no excuses from the Ministry if it ails in this regard.”
On the other issues min:eu Txáglh raises, we are impressed with and supportive of his initiatives. We think that the idea of a central register of all cultural projects is exactly the kind of thing the Ministry should be doing. We also consider the "Virtual Haxh" an excellent idea, and are frankly amazed that it comes out of a party whose leadership are famous for being indifferent at best to the Milwaukee roots of Talossan culture.
We note however that when the ZRT government launched an initiative to create a comprehensive map of the national territory, an essential element in understanding where we come from as a nation, the only public comment from a member of the MRP was a complaint that it was one initiative too many. We are pleased therefore that the MRP have decided that it is worth the effort after all.
But if culture is to be, as min:eu Txáglh rightly says, our "shop window", then simply throwing up our hands and saying "the initiative must come from citizens" is not a good enough attitude from a Goverment. The Wu Wei government seems to think that if the Government does nothing, then culture will "just happen". Certainly it will, but what kind of culture? It is certainly true that the existing population base will create its own culture, naturally. Popular culture can take care of itself. But official, national culture - the kind which we proudly display on our websites and our promotional material, the kind that our citizens can cheer about on Liberation Day or National Day - needs special protection and leadership. We shouldn’t confuse the two.”
In the absence of a strong initiative to create attractive cultural artifacts that will attract new citizens, the culture of the Talossan Republic will be nothing but the injokes and jargon of a stagnating clique. Promoting Talossa in the macronational media, and emphasising its cultural artifacts like flags and newspapers is a strategy that has worked in the past. We need ID cards; we need flags; we need patriotic T-shirts; we need incentives to create patriotic art in English and Talossan.
Even one small concrete cultural project designed to advertise our Republic to newcomers would be a welcome bonus from the Peculiarist government. I look forward to interest as to whether the "Virtual Haxh" actually ever exists, or whether the Peculiarists will just expect some Defencist to do the work for them - as seems to be their habit.
