The State operates in every terrain it can reach. Everywhere possible, it invades, it divides, it disciplines, it surveils. All to produce and reproduce statist forms of power, which are hierarchical and exploitative. Language is one such arena. The modern state in particular intervenes in language in a colonizing way. Both progressive and reactionary movements use similar techniques of policing and valoration to resist the dominant trends of power but not the fundamental structures of power, whereas anti-state and anticolonial communities or movements tend to fight for an entirely different paradigm of language.
Jan 16, 2023·edited Jan 16, 2023Liked by Peter Gelderloos
Absolutely loved this piece! Moltes gràcies! I wonder what your opinon is on recovered languages like Cornish, almost dead Occitan dialects, Astur-Leonese, etc. as tools to fight standarization and/or 'easier-thinking', assuming less languages correlate to less complexity in people's thought, and subsequently less capacity to imagine and grasp new ideas. Also, Catalunya is this weird half-state that needs multilinguism to remain relevant and I (personaly) believe does not quite achieve it's goal, probably due to the role state-capitalism has had in it. It's also interesting to see that the Catalan government is probably the only government that helps mantain Occitan, which kind of makes sense since it is Catalan's twin tongue and one dialec is official in the state, but is also probably because broader knowledge of Occitan would mean broader influence of Catalan speakers and the state itself; but does it in a way that seems almost shy. Nontheless, and I know you Peter must already know, catalan anarchists have long been traveling to and sympathising with occitans.
Absolutely loved this piece! Moltes gràcies! I wonder what your opinon is on recovered languages like Cornish, almost dead Occitan dialects, Astur-Leonese, etc. as tools to fight standarization and/or 'easier-thinking', assuming less languages correlate to less complexity in people's thought, and subsequently less capacity to imagine and grasp new ideas. Also, Catalunya is this weird half-state that needs multilinguism to remain relevant and I (personaly) believe does not quite achieve it's goal, probably due to the role state-capitalism has had in it. It's also interesting to see that the Catalan government is probably the only government that helps mantain Occitan, which kind of makes sense since it is Catalan's twin tongue and one dialec is official in the state, but is also probably because broader knowledge of Occitan would mean broader influence of Catalan speakers and the state itself; but does it in a way that seems almost shy. Nontheless, and I know you Peter must already know, catalan anarchists have long been traveling to and sympathising with occitans.