Scania
A Region in Europe
About this binder
The material, facts and opinions collected in this binder has been put together by:
Göran Hansson
Founder and Chairman of Stiftelsen Skånsk
Framtid (The Foundation for the Furture of Scania) and
Vice Chairman of the UNPO (Unrepresented
Nations and Peoples Organisation), The Hague .
The material is prepared for:
-
The Council of Europe’s ”On the Spot”-visit to Sweden 22-26 April 2002.
-
Committee of Experts for the Charter on Regional or Minority Languages.
The historical Scanian language has developed in Scania through cultural evolution during Scanian and Danish periods of history and has been maintained by certain groups of the population to modern time during the Swedish period. Several groups and individuals have, during the major part of the 20th century, debated various ways of salvaging the Scanian culture through dialogue with the Swedish Government, but without success.
It is only because of the Council of Europe’s emphasis on human cultural rights in latter years, as well as the establishment of a multicultural agenda by the European Union, it has now been made possible to hope for a constructive dialogue with the state government on these issues.
Recently demands have been brought forward to the Swedish Government for recognition of the historic Scanian language by the following organisations:
- Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid, SSF
- Scanian Academy (SA)
- Scanian Regional Institute, (SRI)
It should be noted that neither the Swedish Government nor the Government Investigation Committee on Minority Languages have replied to any of the proposals forwarded to these authorities by any of the three organisations.
Some of the proposals presented to the Government over the years have been translated to English and assembled in this binder.
Marieholm 20 April 2002
Göran Hansson
©
SSF