By: Association for the Slovene Word
The content of Slovenian history is unstoppable efforts and endeavours for the public use of our mother tongue and the culture based on it in all areas of public life. The key evidence for this are the Freising manuscripts, Slovene folk and spiritual song, literature of Slovene Protestants, the demand of the Slovene national-political programme from 1848, as well as the reaction of Slovene intellectuals to the initiative of the poet Janez Menart in an attempt to introduce common cores, which triggered the final effort for Slovene independence in 1991.
In the thirtieth year of an independent and internationally recognised Slovene state, we find an insufficient concern for the position of the mother tongue, which is especially reflected in the concern for its condition among Slovenes who are part of a unified national community and live in Italy, Austria, and Hungary. We miss the long-term national strategy and action to preserve the public use and culture of the Slovenian language. Its forming could be one of the key achievements of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Slovenian state.
The credit for preserving our mother tongue goes to everyone who for centuries has not been willing to give it up in private and public life. We feel special gratitude to those who took care of its cultivation and adaptation to time and space. Our national and cultural duty is not only a systematic continuation of previous efforts and endeavours, but above all a clear and determined resistance against those who abuse the Slovenian language for a culture of nihilism, intolerance, and death, which has been spreading dangerously in recent times. The Slovene language is predominantly the language of culture and its cultural and responsible use is the only way to preserve and progress the Slovene national community and the Slovene state in particular.
Ljubljana, on the International Mother Language Day.
President:
Prod. Dr. Stane Granda