'English First' policies and
the uncomfortable waning of empire

* “The English Language Bill demonstrated that New Zealand First was "trying to appeal to a racist fringe". Professor O'Sullivan >
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-05/new-zealand-first-pushes-to-make-english-an-official-language/106410158

* "The English-only movement...is a political movement that advocates for the exclusive use of the English language in official United States government communication through the establishment of English as the only official language in the United States." >
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-only_movement

* “Australia is home to over 250 distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, comprising around 800 dialects, which are deeply connected to specific land, culture, and identity.” >
https://www.alt.nsw.gov.au/learn/nsw-aboriginal-languages-information

* 'Scarily diverse' people from First Nations or from a culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
https://theconversation.com/a-shadow-on-your-art-how-do-first-nations-and-culturally-diverse-authors-feel-about-representation-275446

* "Monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language." >
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolingualism

#EnglishLanguage #EnglishFirst #language #LanguagePolicies #monolingualism #MonolingualMindset #diverse #polyglots #MultilingualPeople #NormativeMonolingualism #ForcedAssimilation #settlersociety #Anglophones #FirstNationsPeoples #Gumbaynggirr

Response to the alien: Corporeal experience between selfhood and otherness

"The topographical enquiries that Waldenfels presents assume that the Other not only has its own times, but its own locations as well."

A Topography of the Other, Studies for a Phenomenology of the Other 1, Bernhard Waldenfels >>
https://www.suhrkamp.de/rights/book/bernhard-waldenfels-a-topography-of-the-other-fr-9783518289204

Phenomenology of the Alien, Basic Concepts, by Bernhard Waldenfels >>
https://nupress.northwestern.edu/9780810127579/phenomenology-of-the-alien/
#interculturality #otherness #modernity #violence #experience #IntersubjectiveNormatively #alien #monolingualism #nationalism #foreigners #EthnoNationalism #phenomenology #EpistemicInjustice #dehumanisation #book

NT parliament passes CLP government's territory coordinator bill
The Northern Territory government has passed the territory coordinator bill through parliament, giving it the power to override dozens of regulatory laws relevant to projects of "economic significance".
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-19/nt-territory-coordinator-bill-clp-government-pass-parliament/105067814

The English-only NT parliament is undermining healthy democracy by excluding Aboriginal languages

"42% of NT residents speak a non-English language at home. Only half of eligible Aboriginal residents in the NT are enrolled to vote, and voter participation is even lower. Recognition – Rejecting someone’s language means rejecting their identity. Reconciliation is not just something parliamentarians should direct others to do, it’s something that needs to happen within parliament itself."

"The NT is a rich, multilingual society. How can the Legislative Assembly claim to fully represent the breadth of NT society when it chooses to be monolingual?"
>>
https://theconversation.com/the-english-only-nt-parliament-is-undermining-healthy-democracy-by-excluding-aboriginal-languages-105048
#governance #EconomicSignificance #laws #regulation #conservation #language #IndigenousPeoples #participation #NT #monolingualism #language #mining #extractivism #zeitgeist

"About 300 hundred Indigenous languages were spoken across Australia at the time of colonisation. But the nation has since seen one of the highest rates of language loss in the world, with less than 30 Indigenous languages spoken as a first language today."

"Every one of these 85 languages in Western Australia are libraries of knowledge."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-29/indigenous-languages-call-for-legislative-protection/103033234
#Linguistic #Rights #FirstNationsPeoples #IndigenousKnowledge #naming #languages #colonialism #RestrictedLanguageCode #monolingualism

Noticing v. anecdotally - in #academia - how quickly 'n often monoligual speakers of English in my #UK context go on the defensive (in their tone of voice - a mix of sarcasm/affront) when presented with non-English sources and references: eg. 'would be nice to have an English plug-in for that!' or 'not all of us are multilingual' and 'I don't feel this is a very inclusive space'.

#MonoLingualism #MultiLingualism
#TransLingualism
#LinguisticImperialism #PunchingUp
#PunchingDown
#HigherEducation

Almost half the world’s linguistic diversity is threatened
"Some regions of the world such as South America and Australia are expected to lose all of their Indigenous linguistic #diversity, because all of the indigenous languages there are threatened."
https://theconversation.com/research-on-2-400-languages-shows-nearly-half-the-worlds-language-diversity-is-at-risk-204014

Australian Autochthonous #Languages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_languages

The United Nations declared 2022–2032 the Decade of #IndigenousLanguages
https://www.unesco.org/en/decades/indigenous-languages
#Culture #Impoverishment #Monolingualism #Monoculture #Glottophobia #English #Australian #Language