From: ez000281@hamlet.ucdavis.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: Re: Puerto Rico:Language Struggle Conti
Date: 23 Jan 93 09:42:04 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, UC Davis

As usual, communists are throwing a smokescreen on the true language debate in 
Puerto Rico:

>Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

>From el diario/La Prensa

[..]
>Struggle Over Language Continues in Puerto Rico

Nobody can "struggle" over language, but these imbeciles have certainly 
attempted in their struggle with reason:

>During the last day of public meetings the president of the
>Popular Democratic Party (PPD), Victoria Munoz Mendoza, and the
>mayor of San Juan, Hector Luis Acevedo, opposed the annulment of
>the law which makes Spanish the official language of the island
>of Puerto Rico. 

But the President of the PPD lost the last election in a landslide (over 
100,000 votes) and the contender promised that he would restitute English to 
where it should be: along Spanish.  In fact the victor stated that if 900,000 
+1 people protest the law, he wouldn't change the current xenophobic Spanish 
Only one (the equivalent of the California English Only amendment).

>Munoz Mendoza said that the law of 1902, which
>established the use of the Spanish and English languages in the
>country, was an effort "to promote the transculturation of Puerto
>Ricans, using English as the language for teaching [in] public
>[schools]." 

This is bullshit.  The law of 1902 is not the law of 1993.  The law of 1993 
maintains both languages as protected languages of the State.  The law of 1903 
privileged English Only, and since 1942 Spanish has taken its place as language 
of primary instruction, but since defeated politicos, and known alchoholics, 
like the daughter of Mun~oz have no respect for historical evidence, 
demagoguery is better than reality.

>The daughter of the founder of the PPD said "The
>Puerto Rican people did not succumb. They did not tie themselves
>to the language of North America because they knew that that
>route would imply their dissolution as a people."

More bull...  First, Puerto Ricans don't "succumb" because they speak English. 
 If this were the case, then 2 million niuyoricans who only speak English have 
"succumbed" and should call themselves Puerto Ricans, when in fact they are 
more Puerto Rican that the wino who sits atop a defeated party.  Secondly, the 
majority of the people of Puerto Rico do no speak English because language is 
never LEGISLATED.  Language drift or maintenance can never be "planned" as some 
think.  Al the rest of this cheap rhetoric is nothing but that: rhetoric.

>Acevedo said that wanting to put English alongside Spanish
>goes against the identity and nature of the Puerto Rican people.

Why?  Canada has an oficial law recognizing two languages and only 14% of the 
population is bilingual.  The law has done nothing to promote bilingualism or 
the extinction of French.  It simply doesn't wan't to discriminated against 
language minorities and English IS a minority language in Puerto Rico.

>The first executive of the capitol 
                            ^^^^^^^

The "translator" must have meant "capital" since this fellow is only the mayor 
of San Juan, who escaped defeat by a few thousand votes and has no mandate from 
his contituency...

>differentiated between this
>law [the law proposed by the new administration which would make
>English the second official language of Puerto Rico] and that
>approved in 1991 by the government of Rafael Hernandez Colon, in
>which Spanish was made the [only] official language of the
>island, since he said [the latter] guaranteed the permanence of
>the common language of the island without devaluing the
>importance of English.

WRONG!!  People didn't allow that Mr.Cuchin Colon (now a Spanish exile with 
U.S. citizenship) go ahead with his Spanish Only law, so they defeated him in 
December 1991 and again in November 1992.  The law (if implemented as planned) 
would forbid English speakers the right of court appointed interpreters, forbid 
local environmental studies to be written in English (and then appealed to 
EPA), forbid English from singns in zoning laws, forbid publicationof edicts in 
English, and sent a general tone of discrimation against English speaking 
Puerto Ricans.  So, since is was xenofobic and discriminatory law, it was 
rejected en masse by 900,000 Puerto Ricans.

>Acevedo also said that the 1991 law was misinterpreted. "It
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>was believed that it was trying to eliminate English and we have
>seen how it has been used (the law) pejoratively. It wass said
>that we wanted "Spanish Only" and that were disloyal to the
>American citizenship.

The fact that the law was "misinterpreted" just shows how dangerous it 
actually was.  It left the door open to the xenophobes in order to repress the 
English minority in Puerto Rico and send a message to mainland Puerto Ricans 
and fellow Americans that in Puerto Rico you speak Spanish or butt out.  Such 
racism could not be tolerated and the ambiguity of the law will now be 
disspated in the new one.

>The people believed that this current law
>was going to remove Spanish [sic] [Ed. note: I believe this was
>/supposd to be "English" - the people believed the 1991 law would
>remove English form the Puerto Rican schools] from the schools,
>that it wasn't going to be used. And everything is just the
>opposite. English is a worldwide language and is indespensible to
>our modern world," said Acevedo.

English is a worldwide language but only yuppie Puerto Ricans like Mr. Acevedo 
have access to the best private education in Puerto Rico which actually teaches 
it,  while the rest of the population is told to speak Spanish only.  The 
hippocrites who adore Spanish only are the first to send their kids to the 
states to that they can get an education in English only.  Bah!! Humbug!!

>The opponent [of the bill to annul the current law and make
>both Spanish and English the official languages of Puerto Rico]
>said that what is proposed in the law "is a mistake" since it
>establishes that both languages would be used "interchangably,
>since that is an attack against the main use of Spanish on the
>island."

What "attack"??  If you want to use Spanish, use it.  If you want to use 
English, use it too.  I don't see any attack, and furthermore, there is no 
linguistic evidence which shows that after 50 years of oficial bilingualism, 
the Spanish of Puerto Rico has receeded.  It still is the language spoken by 
over 90% of the poulation.  Hence, oficial bilingualism does nothing to impose 
English monlingualism.  These jerks should go back to the drawing board, and 
present their case again.

>On the other hand, the spokesman for the Independence Party
>in the House of Representatives, David Noriega, praised the

This is one of the folks who belong to a party which only gets 3% of the vote, 
while the remaining 97% are loyal U.S. citizens.

>attempt by two legislators of the PNP who are making efforts to
>achieve a consensus in the legislation of the language presented
>by the Rossello administration. Noriega recognized representatives
>Gilberto Moreno and Jorge Navarro Alicea "who have shown
>themselves to be more sensible than many of their companions."

Dump these two if they are weak on character and don't hold up to their 
promises with the people.  After all, perhaps they simply their like 45% of the 
mayors in the island, who don't know a word of English but have to submitt 
their grant requests to the Federal Government in English.  Come on "Georgie"!! 
Come on "Gilbert"!! Stand up to your commitment with the people.

>The legislators have discussed the possiblity that the current
>law could be amended so that English be included as an official
>language. However, Noriega acknowledged that it is "unacceptable"
>that there be two official languages in Puerto Rico.

So, evidently there is nothing Noriega should praises and Georgie and Gilbert 
are on our side, since the law will be amended to protect English as a minority 
language.

>"In Puerto Rico there must be only one official language,
>which is the one which everyone in the country speaks, and that
>is Spanish, although the law says the incidental use of English
>must be recognized in government agencies and in private business
>transactions, for practical reasons," said the Independence Party
>representative. (edlp 01/18/93 byline Claudio Alvarez Dunn)

As we see, these folks can't make up their minds.  The demand ONE official 
language, and then say that the law doesn't exclude English. They say Spanish 
is the language "which everyone speaks" and then say English is necessary "for 
practical reasons".  So, evidently we are before a pair of two legislative 
buffoons who are trying to get reelected, especially when the run as quasi 
independents belonging to a party that barely gets 3% of the vote, and has been 
historically rejected by the masses.  Fortunaley, Puerto Ricans will not take 
the Bosnian route and will adamantly praise the bilingual policies of the past, 
in spite of the fact that only 100,000 citizens residing in the island speak 
English only.  Long live linguistic pluralism!!!  Down with xenophobic Spanish 
Only laws!!  

Edelmiro

Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america