L’Express: You inaugurate on July 1, 2022 in Pau a kind of cultural, architectural and linguistic UFO called La Ciutat (“The City”, in French). How would you sum up this unique project?
Francois Bayrou: This experience has indeed no equivalent. It consists in transforming a long neglected district located in the heart of the city, the Hédas, into a city for safeguarding, promoting and creating Béarnaise culture in all its dimensionswhether it’s history, language, music, dance, literature, cooking…
These different activities will occupy several buildings, all located around the same square. Symbolically, their facades will host in monumental letters the facsimile of the Fors of Bearnan 11th century text defining the rights and freedoms of the Béarnais, which can be considered the first written Constitution of the last millennium. And as the first democratic constitution of the modern world.
Why, as mayor of Pau and president of its agglomeration, have you opted for such a project?
Probably because Bearnese, like so many other languages, is a treasure in danger. It was the language of my mother and my father. When the latter died, I was 22 years old, I was preparing the aggregation of classical letters and, in the program, appeared Pétrone. I read this great Roman novelist while crying because, in his texts, I found, almost identically, the words that my father used on a daily basis in Béarnais, a Romance language that has remained closer to Latin than is French.
“Why should everything look like everything”?
La Ciutat naturally has a collective stake. The Bearnese language and culture are today threatened with short-term disappearance. However, not only do we not have the right to let a language and a culture die, but I am convinced that we can prevent this disappearance if we so decide. I know this language intimately; Today I have the power of decision: sincerely, if I don’t take care of it, no one will. So I do. And you will see it: what is being prepared today in Pau will soon serve as an example in other territories.
Concretely, what will we find in La Ciutat?
Multiple activities, and in particular a new kind of brasserie centered on “gastronomy”, an innovative concept by chef David Ducassou which combines the richness of Gascon gastronomy with organic and local products, with the advantages of fast food. It is also a place where you can sing because, among the favorite activities of the Béarnais, is theSpontaneous polyphonic singingwhich we call here them canters. This restaurant will therefore be a kind of bearish pubwhich will be part of Béarnaise pride, like the irish pub part of the Celtic pride. I am convinced that this place of conviviality, sharing the table, singing and emotions will be very popular, especially with students.
The Ciutat will also bring together specialized libraries; premises dedicated to research on the Béarn language and history; a place of musical creation; language courses; an intangible cultural heritage interpretation centre; musical rehearsal studios, tomorrow other studios dedicated to sound, image, Internet… All this for the benefit of Béarnaise, Gascon and Occitan culture – I use the three names voluntarily so that everyone recognize it.
How do you respond to those who accuse you of pouring into a kind of communitarianism contrary to the republican ideal?
I think I have sufficiently demonstrated in all the functions entrusted to me my relentless attachment to universalism, to quietly assume my desire to open up to the roots and the transmission of what makes us all different. Yes, I defend the culture of my region, but I also support twinning with China! Pau is a city that has always been open to the world and will remain so. Simply, in the world, there is also our culture, which deserves as much as other cultures to be maintained. To defend what one is is not to attack others, it is to love diversity. Why should everything look like everything?
“Only fools believe that mastering one language prevents you from learning another!”
Others don’t understand that you are spending money on a regional language that they consider outdated. They would find it more relevant to teach English…
Only fools believe that mastering one language prevents you from learning another! The great linguist Claude Hagège, who knows dozens of languages, explains this very well: if he had not started by learning a second language, he would never have learned a third. Knowing Béarnais does not prevent you from learning English because the intellect is a muscle! The more it works, the more effective it is! Even better: like any Romance language, Bearnese makes it easier to understand Italian, Spanish or Portuguese. When I was a child, the teacher advised us during dictations to go through Béarnais, where all the letters are pronounced. And thanks to this technique, we got excellent grades!
Bearnese, like Corsican, Breton, Basque, Alsatian and the other so-called regional languages represent a national treasure. It is time for the Republic to realize this.