The fight for language rights is a fight against our colonial past, or so everyone says. I disagree. The fight for language rights is a fight against our colonial present.
Every politician’s speech, every accusation and conviction in court, every government report have one thing in common. English. It suffuses our society to such an extent that Dublin, at least, could be imagined to have never known another tongue. 26 of Ireland’s counties may be free of direct imperial rule, but the legacy of colonialism burns hot as ever.
English has achieved, in every aspect of Irish life, supremacy over all other languages. If equality really is a value we hold, it will be necessary for the English language to be both denormalised and delegitimised. Here’s why.
English is a colonial language
It is common to see people say that there are two types of languages: “native” and “foreign”. They attempt to distinguish “native” languages from “foreign” languages. While this is particularly common in right-wing rhetoric, it is unfortunately seen even among some who claim to stand for language rights and progressive values. If we want to discuss languages and de-colonialism, however, we must reject this artificial division. It is a red herring.
The “native vs foreign” language distinction is both irrelevant and useless. Rather, we must speak of marginalised languages (which are oppressed and devalued) and colonial languages (which are oppressive and over-valued). The property of a colonial language is not that it originated in a distinct geographical region, but that its spread is fundamentally – and at times violently – opposed to the existence of both “native” and “foreign” languages. In fact, a colonial language will treat “native” and “foreign” languages with equal disdain – something we see very clearly in Ireland.
Ireland has many marginalised languages – Irish is but one of many. Ireland also has exactly one colonial language: English.
The mere presence of English is enough to deter anyone from speaking in Irish. We are expected to immediately refrain from using Irish as soon as an English monolingual walks through the door. The same, unfortunately, applies to speakers of all other languages too – “native” or not.
At the end of the day, the colonial language is the one that is based on the colonial idea of cultural supremacy, and this mindset permeates society to the point that it actively deters use of any other language regardless of its origin. In Ireland, English supremacy has taken hold to such an extent it is rarely, if ever, questioned in political discourse.
English-speakers (from Ireland) are the problem
The problem of English supremacy is one necessarily perpetrated by English speakers. But before I go further, I must qualify that I mean specifically English-speakers from Ireland. Those who immigrate to Ireland, seeking a better life for themselves, are not in any way a barrier to the Irish language. Quite the opposite – they are its allies.
This is not to condemn all use of English, but to admit that the pressure exerted by any colonial language on marginalised languages is necessarily a result of the actions (and inactions) of the speakers of the colonial language.
It’s interesting to note that it is always English speakers (from Ireland) who have shamed me for using Irish. Who have made me feel I am not welcome. Who have (even when doing so is seemingly directly against the law) told me I am not allowed to use Irish. On the other hand, it is always immigrants (and other Irish speakers) who have welcomed me, encouraged me to speak Irish, and shown love and support for the Irish language and its community.
Despite all this, it is also English-speakers who are poised to be among the greatest allies in de-colonisation. Irish-speakers (being a minority) know the nature of their oppression. But English speakers (being a huge majority) typically don’t understand it. Asking them to stand for Irish-language rights does not mean asking them to change their mind, but asking them simply to accept a truth they had not yet seen. This is both easy, and critical to any anti-colonial movement in Ireland.
English supremacy is based in intersectional racism
Many false progressives claim that Irish should be excluded on the basis of it being inaccessible to immigrants. The argument typically goes like this: “Only Irish people know Irish, and only Irish people can or will learn Irish. As such, using Irish necessarily excludes anyone who is not Irish.”
I am not surprised to see such entrenched racism in Ireland, but I am saddened by it. The argument is based on the idea that any non-Irish person necessarily lacks the capacity or will to learn language. I will not waste time debunking such a clearly racist argument.
However, the truth remains that this argument is used to deny accessibility and language rights to Irish-speakers (wherever they are from). It scapegoats immigrants to promote discrimination against another marginalised community. At the same time, it attempts to pit two natural allies in the struggle for rights and liberation against each other, rather than against the Government.
This creates a terrifying interaction of anti-immigrant and anti-Gaeilge discrimination that furthers the marginalisation of both groups. Groups that, by all rights, should be unapologetic allies. However, because this constant down-punching allows the Government to divide those who oppose it and therefore remain in power, it remains a constant in our society.
The nature of English supremacy is not only to oppress Irish, but to oppress Irish by exploiting and furthering other systems of inequality and discrimination.
The “polite” discrimination of the Republic versus the North of Ireland
The 26 Counties are often compared, in terms of language rights, to the North of Ireland. Such comparison often highlights the rights Irish-speakers have on paper in the 26 Counties, and highlights that they do not have these rights in the North. The conclusion tends to be that the Republic is more equal and de-colonial, while the North (still being a colony) is less equal.
This is entirely wrong.
The distinguishing characteristic of language rights in the Republic and the North is not about law – in neither place are Irish speakers treated with respect or equality, even if one is technically worse. In reality, it’s about the political framing of those rights.
In the occupied six counties, the likes of the DUP (and other unionist groups) openly oppose the Irish language. Discriminating against it is not just a policy – it’s a point of pride. In the Republic, such open prejudice would not be so readily accepted.
But the issue is this – in the Republic, the prejudice is still there, just hidden. Families in the Gaeltacht are evicted from their hometowns by AirBnB and holiday homes, and by Government policy refusing them the right to build on their own land. When they move to cities, they are told very clearly that their language is not welcome. Irish-speakers in the cities rarely even had the chance to use their language in any official setting – from Government offices and public bodies to private companies almost all follow a de-facto English-only rule. The choice is clear – forget your language, or forget your rights.
Simply put: the conditions of Irish-speakers in the Republic are functionally identical to the conditions of Irish-speakers in the colonised six Counties. But the discussion of rights differs, creating an illusion of a Republic that is far more equal than it is in reality. This illusion of equality further serves to stifle protest and activism for real language rights in the Republic.
It follows that the increasing tokenistic use of Irish – a couple words on election posters, or maybe one phrase on a political pamphlet – is actually an act of colonisation against the language. It seeks to extract benefit (i.e. the illusion of equality) from a marginalised community while giving nothing in return once said politicians are elected. Our own language is used against us by those legislating away our rights. We are all micro-colonies in our own nation.
We will never have language rights while we pretend that the republic is free.
Bi-lingualism is colonialism
The current Irish-language movement often highlights governmental and social bi-lingualism as an end goal. While there is no doubt that it is a necessary step forwards, defining bi-lingualism as an end goal is necessarily a surrender to colonialism. It accepts that the colonial language should be of equal legal value to the oppressed language. And this ignores the fact that most “bilingual” settings are actually English-only settings with tokenistic use of Irish.
In the fight for language rights and de-colonisation, we need bi-lingualism as a stepping stone. But it is not, and cannot be, the end goal. The end goal must be complete denormalisation and delegitimisation of the colonial language, because anything else is to accept it as superior to all marginalised languages.
This means a single, 32-County republic in which English has no official or preferential status. It also means accepting, normalising, and legitimising all languages – Irish and otherwise – that are not the colonial tongue.
Yes, I wrote this in English
I wrote this in English, and I stand over that. The fact of the matter is that Irish speakers already know all of the issues that face the language. It’s not new to us – it’s our every day. To write this in Irish, while technically a tokenistic victory for bi-lingualism, would be preaching to the choir.
What we need is solidarity – especially from those who do not speak Irish. De-colonialism is not a mantra to be spoken, but a mandate to be lived. All de-colonialism must be accompanied by full and unapologetic empowerment of marginalised languages, as well as the denormalisation and delegitimisation of the colonial English language that drives oppression. De-colonialism, after all, means dismantling colonial power.
