Tuesday 5 February 2008

Super Tuesday

Last night, I heard the BBC's Gavin Hewitt refer to "a horse, Hillary Clinton", which had been "vetted".

Rather more gravely, I heard Matt Frei not only pronounce "Nevada" with the Spanish hard v, short a and soft d, but also interview numerous East Los Angeles shoppers entirely in Spanish because, although eligible to vote and so presumably American citizens, they could not speak English. Most were for the Vetted Horse.

First Jorge Bush, promoter of illegal immigration in order to shore up his Hispanic base (with McCain promising an amnesty), itself the key source of cheap labour to undercut the black and white English-speaking working class. And now the VH, apparently as beloved of the Latinos as her husband was (inexplicably) of the blacks.

Those black leaders still paying court to the Clintons should consider what it is about the VH that makes her so attractive to those who have come to take away their own flocks' jobs (such as have managed to escape being sent south by NAFTA or CAFTA), to drive down their wages and working conditions, to oppress them yet further by means of government bilingualism, and to do exactly the same to their white neighbours.

Meanwhile, the whole Republican side needs to ask, not just what sort of Republican would consider Rudy Giuliani (never mind Joe Lieberman) as a running mate, but also what sort of Republican might entice Rudy Giuliani (never mind Joe Lieberman) to say yes. Ron Paul has the funds to run as an Independent. Expect this one to go all the way to the House of Representatives.

5 comments:

  1. The Latinos of course could point out that:-

    a) Nevada, California etc had long been Spanish-speaking till the Gringos turned up and forced their language on them. Pace city names like San Diego, Sacramento and of course San Francisco and the "City of Angels" itself.

    b) the US does not actually have an official language as such.

    When I was in Boston - yep Boston - in 2002, the army recruiting office had signs in Spanish to encourage Latino recruits. It has to be remembered the that the next candidate (if it ever gets around to it) for statehood is Puerto Rico which is of course Spanish-speaking. The language issue is one of the reasons why Puerto Rico has chosen to remain out of the USA.

    Interestingly there is of course the case of the Cajuns in Louisiana. For many years the Cajuns had their French language beaten by the likes of the KKK and others. Till the two world wars, particuarly WWII when the American army were needing French speakers for military (particuarly covert) operations.

    Suddenly being French-speaking was cool and the state and federal government started throwing money at French-speaking schools, bi-lingual zones etc.

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  2. But we don't expect the BBC to say "Paree", do we? Nor do they pronounce either San Francisco or Los Angeles the Spanish way. At least, not yet.

    All the Cajuns can speak English, the way all speakers of Welsh or Gaelic can. If all the Hispanics could speak English, and were prepared to do so for public purposes, then that would be fine.

    As in, say, Wales or the Western Isles, this would not be discrimination in favour of native speakers of English, since people who have learned a second language sytematically very often speak that language better than do native speakers.

    It is enforced bilingualism that discrimination against the majority community, and especially its working class, whether in South Wales or in Southern California.

    Puerto Rican statehood? No chance! Members of Congress who voted for that would be flayed alive at Election time. Whereas a Presidential candidate would romp home who, as part of a package favouring poor-to-middle-income blacks and whites alike, promised to make English the only official language. And would deserve to.

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  3. What about Mauritius? In Mauritus the official language of the state is English when the first language of the bulk of the population from all ethnic groups is French or French-based creole/patois.

    I was reading that less than 1% use English as their first language. Do you think it is an anglo-centric elite that insists that the first language of education should be English, the sole language of administration should be English and English should have equal status with French with the state broadcaster?

    For the record the island has 14 newspapers. All of them in French.

    Are the Anglo-centric, anglophile elite of Mauritus trying to oppress the working class out of their native tongue? Discuss.

    For the record, whilst English might bind the disperate groups of lets say India and South Africa together, this is not the situation in Mauritus. Indo, Sino, Afro and Franco Mauritians by and large speak French (in one form or another) despite around 200 years of links to Britain and the majority Indo population hailing from British India.

    Concerning Puerto Rico, the territory of course has voted to remain outside the union but in the commonwealth several times. However the pro-statehood party has increased in popularity in recent times in solidarity with 9/11.

    To intents and purposes Puerto Ricans are quasi-American citizens already. They can travel and work in the USA freely. The difference as a territory is that they only send a delegate to Congress rather than elect members to it, cannot elect the President and are not sanctioned to most federal laws and taxes (US customs dues are still payable in Puerto Rico).

    Concerning anyone trying to stand in the way of Puerto Rico, would that not damage someone's future presidential ambitions, particuarly if it was seen as anti-Latino. Remember it just takes a few votes to tip the slates in the electoral college votes of California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and the barrios of New York

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  4. "Are the Anglo-centric, anglophile elite of Mauritus trying to oppress the working class out of their native tongue?"

    Probably not. Who would do the menial work if everyone could speak the elite language? Nor can I see any evidence that they are Anglocentric or anglophile.

    "Concerning Puerto Rico, the territory of course has voted to remain outside the union but in the commonwealth several times. However the pro-statehood party has increased in popularity in recent times in solidarity with 9/11."

    It's not up to them. It's up to two chambers one of which is still predominantly elected from the rural and (ex-)industrial heart of the old 48. If they vote for this in DC, then they might as well sell their houses back home.

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  5. "Who would do the menial work if everyone could speak the elite language?"

    Mauritius could be Wales.

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