Intolerance row on Gaelic hits Scottish Labour Party
A LEADING scholar has attacked Scottish Labour for having an “anti-gaelic agenda” after a councillor posted a message online criticising branding in the language on a new government logo.
At a time when the party is mired in claims of anti-semitism, Wilson Mcleod, Professor of Gaelic at Edinburgh University, said Labour is on a “negative trajectory” when it comes to minority languages.
The professor’s tweets ignited a firestorm of debate, with social media users suggesting it “might just be another manifestation of the wider problem” of intolerance in the party.
He said: “The anti-gaelic agenda of some Labour party politicians and activists in Scotland appears to be becoming steadily more prominent. This is a very unfortunate and unwelcome development.”
His remark was in response to a tweet from Labour councillor for Annandale North, Adam Wilson, who put an image on his feed of the new Social Security Scotland logo, which in its original form has its Gaelic translation underneath – Tearainteachd Shoisealta Alba. But in Mr Wilson’s post, he removed the Gaelic and said: “This looks much better.”
Replies included mention of Labour introducing the Gaelic Language Act in 2005, with Roddy Macdonald saying: “The whole point is that increased visibility of the language will encourage more learners.
“Even the Scottish Labour Party could understand that in 2005. Talk about a brain drain!”
But Mr Wilson added: “Maybe it’s just that some of us came into politics to tackle poverty, fight for education and challenge injustice. I fail to see how Gaelic language initiatives implemented by any party achieve any of this.
“Only 0.7 per cent of people in Dumfries and Galloway know any Gaelic, that figure includes those who know only a basic level.
“My tweet was not naivety or immaturity.”
Mr Mcleod said last night: “It’s a long-running thing that’s getting more prominent about an idea that Gaelic is not a real priority. It’s not part of a Labour agenda about promoting social justice and it’s depressing to see that.”
Referring to Mr Wilson’s Tweet, he said: “The idea of the 2005 Act was that we were going to see Gaelic given a higher profile but now, Labour seem critical of a bilingual logo. This is a new thing – to see a symbolic rejection of Gaelic.
“I don’t see this as trolling on Twitter which is different altogether – I see this as a structured disregard for Gaelic and I find that worrisome.”
Labour supporter Mary Galbraith, who has previously stood for election for the party, said: “Gaelic has friends and foes in all parties.”
She added: “I see more people – from many sides – prepared to use Gaelic as a weapon, which is tragic. None of us who really cares for the health and vitality of Gàidhlig should tolerate that state of affairs.”
As debate raged on the social media platform, Criostoir Piondargas waded in.
He said: “There’s a very worrying trend of late of Labour supporters showing signs of intolerance to certain minority groups. This might be just another manifestation of the wider problem … sadly I think there are many in the Labour party that forget this, and some are going down a very dark path. Anti-gaelic sentiment doesn’t attract as many headlines as anti-semitism but neither are befitting of the Labour Party.”
Last August, labour councillor for Edinburgh’s Colinton/fairmilehead area, Scott Arthur, questioned whether expanding Gaelic medium education was a priority when tackling the attainment gap in the capital’s schools.
Pavel Iosad, lecturer at the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at Edinburgh University, said yesterday: “Labour did put through the Gaelic Language Act, but it’s not a strong act. At the moment, I haven’t seen Labour being pro-active about Gaelic.”
A spokesman for Scottish Labour said last night: “Labour has a proud track record of promoting Gaelic in government, including the 2005 Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act.
“We robustly reject any suggestions otherwise.”