Brittany of "dusty myths" and the clean slate of LFI

Reading a post by Pascal Henry, a devoted advocate of the Breton language, provides an opportunity to reflect on the concept of the clean slate cherished by LFI. How can we reconcile the future of our languages with a clean slate? It is impossible!

The reading of a post by Pascal Henry dated April 13 leads me to reflect on Lfiist thought. Some Breton activists are tempted by the clean slate approach of Mélenchon, arguing that it is better to "focus on the well-being of the population rather than on 'dusty myths,'" referring to our heritage or our Breton history.

Criticism is directed at activists who strive to defend our heritage, our culture, and to spread knowledge of our history as best as they can, for indulging in "a traditional romantic and sometimes retrograde vision of a territory."

I find it hard to understand how one can think that someone who seeks to disseminate our culture and our history - in short, the fundamentals of what makes us a people - is necessarily hostile to the pursuit of the well-being of their fellow citizens.

I cannot comprehend how one can believe that someone who seeks to defend their culture and history is inevitably a nasty right-wing type, bourgeois at heart. For my part, I come from the Léonard peasantry, rather Christian-social, very attached to my Brittany as well as to social justice.

The work that a few associations still do is an important mission that in no way hinders the pursuit of social and environmental well-being for our fellow citizens. But even more so, this work contributes to well-being and protects against the most serious missteps.

Let those who are tempted by the Lfiist clean slate rejoice, for it turns out that our culture made up of "dusty myths" is banned from the school of the republic. It may therefore still be a bit frightening, and those who defend it are in a position of resistance, somewhere. That too is human.

It seems that Mélenchonist thought is gaining ground since, like the LFI deputies, even the president of the Brittany region, Loig Chesnais-Girard, is showing hostility towards the revival of Alsace.

I see mainly the threat posed to us by this "new France" promised by LFI, which consists of throwing Alsace, Brittany, and all our old homelands into the dustbin of history, and for what? To create a group of people that nothing will connect except the fiery speeches of the leader, the propensity to march in step and follow the clarion call, in the name of a universal happiness promised to all, but which no one will ever know. On the other hand, woe to those who do not follow the leader and are not happy. For the leader is always right since the republic is him!

If this promised happiness is a political myth that has already wreaked havoc, Brittany is not a myth. It is an old land filled with stories and values that has welcomed people from everywhere without betraying itself. It is not a military power, but simply a power of well-being. And if you destroy that as LFI intends, it is the open door to all forms of drift and the polarization of extremes that promises us civil war tomorrow. Brittany is a bastion of resistance to all forms of domination.

The Mélenchonist clean slate, in the pure Robespierre tradition, is fundamentally dehumanizing. In my family, we still remember the head-cutters! Humanity is nothing but a chain weighed down by the sufferings, joys, and hopes of the millions who preceded us on this earth, and of which we are but a link tasked with supporting those who will come after. Breaking this chain is an affront to humanity, and man never benefits from it.

For my part, I have always been delighted to see someone come from elsewhere and integrate, making our culture and our history their own. This is the Brittany I love, the one that lives, shares, but also the one that defends itself.

He who no longer knows who he is will never integrate anyone. It seems that this form of nihilism is spreading a lot these days.

The Brittany "of dusty myths," I have been trying to defend for years, with bits of string, like many of us, and without the slightest public subsidy. It is our hope in this crumbling world, and it is the foundation upon which we can build and think of community solidarity.

If tomorrow the Breton people no longer existed, I really do not see what would connect us and on what grounds we could claim to save our languages.

Finally, I believe I can say that the Basques and Catalans, whether they are left or right, have never forgotten that they are Basque and Catalan. That is the secret of their strength of resistance. As for us, why should we forget that we are Bretons? To become what? Parisians? Ouestens? Lfiists?

Yvon OLLIVIER

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