Tongue-tied: National minorities banned from using their language in Lithuania

Poles in Lithuania say they are being persecuted for using their native language to spell Polish street names and even surnames. But authorities in Vilnius insist they are simply upholding the law. Almost a quarter of a million ethnic Poles live in Lithuania. Warsaw ruled the land for centuries. So nowadays in some villages the Polish amount to over 80 per cent of the population.
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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• RT
• Aleksey Yaroshevsky
• Lithuania
• Polish
• state language law
• Lithuanian
• Galina Tomazsevska
• Vilnius
• human rights
• Arunas Dambrauskas
• national minorities

[Cellvar]

It's Lithuania. The Lithuanians are protecting themselves -- in their own nation. If the Poles are that uncomfortable, there's a large nation to the south and west called 'Poland' that they can move to.

[youngbuck189]

I will live in Lithuania next year sometime, depending on some pending obligations in the U.S. This law is aimed in my opinion against Russian language, and this channel is highlighting the effects on the Polish as to not look biased,.. However, Russia's enforcement of it's language and culture onto the Soviet Block is not forgotten. It is only natural that those countries would turn inward looking and tray to rebuild their language and culture to its necessary strength.

[PolishWingedHussar10]

@Beneficiis Infact they are ethnic poles with lithuanian citizenship as they had been born there but as with their heritage and culture they are still polish. Polish Lithuanians are people like me ... Ive been born and raised as a pole in poland and ancestors from mother side are polish and from fathers side a huge part are descendants of lithuanian nobility polonized few centuries back so thats I am pole with lithuanian heritage and Im bearing Lithuanian surname "Kajrys"

[krasjim]

The woman in the grocery store is RUSSIAN her signs are RUSSIAN. This is Soviet Propaganda. Russians, we sent you home stay there. Keep your nose out of Lithuania.

[Beneficiis]

@Cellvar Na... I say we should just create a law in Poland especially for Lithanians, banning them from same things.

I could care less about our lil neighbour. We could also refuse to patrol your skies. I bet that would make French and Brits mad at ya ( more patrol duties for them ).

You clearly don't understand word 'ethnic population' , if similar law was to be done in Belgium they would have a civil war. Those people are not Polish, they are Polish Lithuanians keep it in mind.

[stuffass]

2:21 Before MaKiNG stupid and biased on one side reports WRITE LITHUANIAN NAMES correctly!!!

[namas000]

if you live in a other country at least have the respect to learn their language or even a few street names ... but in this video the shop lady didn't do anything wrong... but the street names have to go...

[andranEU]

@Cellvar

They live there for centuries accept that fact. Why in Poland Germans, Czech, Lithuanians or Slovaks can use own tablets on streets, etc. and Poles in Lithuania can't ? Anwser: Poles are normal european country, Lithuania is small, full of hatery barking dog. The huge complexes of Lithuanians make them fools among EU countries.

[youngbuck189]

@Deimauk Yea, I live in Vilnius now. more than half the people are Russian and Polish. and the lithuanians hate them, and will tell you this the first time you meet them. so i understand the situation better now. but i still believe banning languages is wrong. however, i don't think this is an accurate video. plenty of polish names still are in lithuanian streets. my friends were telling me about a town 50km from Vilnius where only polish is spoken, every street has polish name. which if fine

[Deimauk]

E.g. if Latvian and Ukrainian would have a child -he would be registered as 'Pole'. Most of these 'Poles' speak Russian at home.

Poles have more Polish secondary schools in Lithuanian than all together everywhere else in the world. EU commission replied that Lithuania has right to write their names according to Lithuania's laws. And all this fuss is only about braking The National Language Law. Why they don't complain in France? There also other languages are not acceptable in official documents

[Deimauk]

@youngbuck189

It's not only against Russian language, even if Poland has the similar history with Lithuania as Russia does - broke treaty and occupied capital city Vilnius, when moving a lot of poles, closing majority of Lithuanian schools and physically exterminating Lithuanians on national basis. To addition - the great majority of tese 'Poles' are not Poles, but ex-Lithuanians, ex-Belorussians, etc.