Minority rights

Here is a good video about minority rights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZmXYJdOpuU

How to give better presentations

Here are some great videos on tips on how to be a better presenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5WT2vweFRY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8_BIamLESg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w82a1FT5o88

Minorities

“Minorities in all regions of the world continue to face serious threats, discrimination and racism, and are frequently excluded from taking part fully in the economic, political, social and cultural life available to the majorities in the countries or societies where they live.”

Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Statement on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2009)

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Minorities/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Human Security as a basic human rights issue

check out this project that promotes human security in a heated conflict zone, Libya. In war, human security becomes a  priority. ensuring the safety of people, and securing their basic needs such as food, and shelter is a necessity.
Learn more about the project here https://www.hscollective.org/our-work/projects/women-and-youth-as-bridge-builders-strengthening-resilience-in-libya/

Article, Hope in the Making, by Nour Darwish.

Here is an article by a colleague of mine, Nour Darwish of Makers of Hope, an NGO that is based in Tripoli.

https://www.hscollective.org/news/timeline/article-hope-in-the-making/?acceptCookies=5d8b41cee1b2b

Pidgin and Creole languages

Here is a short intro to pidgin and creole languages. Later, I will explain more about Ghat accent and why do I think it is a pidgin.

The rights of Libyan women who are married to non-Libyans and their children

This video was produced by "I am a Libyan Woman, but my Child is a Foreigner" Association in their advocacy campaign for the rights of Libyan women who are married to non-Libyan nationals and their children. According to the Libyan nationality law (24/2010), Libyan women cannot grant their children Libyan citizenship. therefore, those children are considered foreigners. Only Libyan men have the right to pass their nationality to their children. This video tells us that although mothers give almost everything to their children, they cannot give them the Libyan nationality they deserve. Worse than that, those women lose many of their civil rights as citizens once they marry a non-Libyan; they cannot vote or receive social assistance from the government.  

Article (1) in the Libyan constitution project, says that Libyan citizens have equal rights and cannot be discriminated against based on their gender, color,  language or ethnic origins. Article (2) immediately contradicts article (1) when it says that "a person is considered Libyan if they are born to a Libyan father." 

We notice here that Libyan women do not enjoy the same rights as Libyan men when it comes to granting their children Libyan citizenship. Libyan nationality is granted to Libyna men's children, even if those children are born to a non-Libyan mother, immediately, and it is a right that is granted by the constitution, whereas children of a Libyan woman from a non-Libyan national must apply for Libyan nationality and might be granted to them by law, which means if the minister of justice or the minister of interior wanted approves that application. 

Libyan women should have the same rights as citizens like Libyan men. 

Languages in Ghat

Ghat is a small town in the south-western edge of Libya. Different ethnic groups reside in Ghat. Therefore, there are three main languages spoken in Ghat: Arabic, Tamahaq, and Hausa. Of course, there are other international languages spoken by other people who live in Ghat such as English and French.
Because Ghat residents are multilingual, they code switch and code mix between two or more of those languages in their daily interactions.  Arabic is the language of formal and administrative use. It is also the lingua franca, which all components of the society use to communicate with each other.
please find more info about Ghat here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghat,_Libya

academia Readership yay

More on Macro-Sociolinguistics

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327979209_Macro_Sociolinguistics_Insight_Language

Micro vs Macro Sociolinguistics

Two main branches of Sociolinguistics: Micro and Macro-Sociolinguistics. The main differences of them are micro-sociolinguistics or sociolinguistics –in the narrow sense- is the study of language in relation to society, while macro-sociolinguistics or the sociology of language is the study of society in relation to language.

• I am more interested in the macro aspects of Sociolinguistics, which enable us to understand how language shapes our social lives, and how we portray ourselves as members of numerous social groups in various social contexts. 

Libyan Linguistic Landscape

Libya has four major ethnolinguistic groups: the Arabs who speak Libyan Arabic; the Amazigh, who speak Tamazight. There are a few varieties, which are spoken by the Amazigh in different regions in the country; the Tuareg, who speak Tamahaq, there are also various dialects spoken in Libya; and the Tebou who speak Tebu. Arabic is the lingua Franca in Libya. Everybody speaks Arabic in their daily lives and for communication with other members of the society who do not speak their own language or dialect.

More details are coming soon.

Thank you

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging ... 2

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities

Article 3

1. Persons belonging to minorities may exercise their rights, including those set forth in the present Declaration, individually as well as in community with other members of their group, without any discrimination.

2. No disadvantage shall result for any person belonging to a minority as the consequence of the exercise or non-exercise of the rights set forth in the present Declaration.

Article 4

1. States shall take measures where required to ensure that persons belonging to minorities may exercise fully and effectively all their human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination and in full equality before the law.

2. States shall take measures to create favourable conditions to enable persons belonging to minorities to express their characteristics and to develop their culture, language, religion, traditions and customs, except where specific practices are in violation of national law and contrary to international standards.

3. States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue.

4. States should, where appropriate, take measures in the field of education, in order to encourage knowledge of the history, traditions, language and culture of the minorities existing within their territory. Persons belonging to minorities should have adequate opportunities to gain knowledge of the society as a whole.

5. States should consider appropriate measures so that persons belonging to minorities may participate fully in the economic progress and development in their country.

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities

Adopted by General Assembly resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992

(1)

Article 1

1. States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.

2. States shall adopt appropriate legislative and other measures to achieve those ends.

                                                                   Article 2

1. Persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities (hereinafter referred to as persons belonging to minorities) have the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination.

2. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate effectively in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life.

3. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate effectively in decisions on the national and, where appropriate, regional level concerning the minority to which they belong or the regions in which they live, in a manner not incompatible with national legislation.

4. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to establish and maintain their own associations.

5. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to establish and maintain, without any discrimination, free and peaceful contacts with other members of their group and with persons belonging to other minorities, as well as contacts across frontiers with citizens of other States to whom they are related by national or ethnic, religious or linguistic ties.

To Be continued...

About me

Hello there,

My name is Ashour Abdulaziz, from Libya. I am a linguist. I have a special interest in Sociolinguistics, and the role language plays in our lives. My interest areas of Sociolinguistics are Linguistic Identity, Linguistic Landscape, Language Policy, and Planning, and language in the media (Hate Speech in particular). I also teach linguistics classes such as Linguistics, Morphology, and Syntax and other language skills classes like Listening, Speaking, and Writing.

I am also civil society and a human rights activist. I defend the cultural and linguistic rights of the Libyan Tuareg. Additionally, I defend the rights of Libyan women who are married to non-Libyans to grant their children the Libyan citizenship.

I train people on Gender-Sensitive Active Non-Violence issues, and Advocacy and networking matters.

In this blog, I will be writing about various Linguistic/Sociolinguistics issues, as well as Human rights issues.