GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

For a long time, Breton speakers with some sense of identity (sometimes until the late 19th century) felt closer to the other side of the Channel than to France.

No one has been able to propose arguments granting other groups the designation of “peoples,” “nationalities,” or “national minorities” that are not equally applicable to the Bretons. French education has succeeded in creating a denial even within intellectual circles. As I mentioned earlier, through an automatic or reflexive defense process, France has cemented anything it perceives as weakening it.
The French concept of Nation (confused with that of State, contradicting the potential right of peoples as recognized in theory by the UN) is not naturally the concept of the Bretons; it is simply imposed by a majority that obviously does not share a Breton way of thinking. Our concept is closer to the “Anglo-Saxon” one, along with other tendencies. But I must add that the French concept, in discourse, does not correspond to the actual feeling in France (including among intellectuals), which is sometimes very ethnic (the baguette, the beret, “the” language, cheeses, etc.).

As Bretons, we have the concept of “Francie,” which refers to France without its national minorities or overseas territories. We call it “Bro-C’hall.” France with its minorities is rather called “Ar Frañs.” I admit I prefer other, less ambiguous terms, such as “Ar C’hwec’hkogn.” This double Breton concept parallels the double concept of England and Great Britain.

All human groups are divided by various political tendencies. People have been led to believe that any Breton claim is reactionary, even far-right in nature. It has been shamefully hidden that some Breton “nationalist” activists were in the Resistance (notably in the Saint-Nazaire region, but not exclusively) and died for it, just as a democratic and left-wing faction within the Breton movement of the interwar period has been overlooked.
In the book, I explain my perspective on the term “nationalist.”

Similarly, people have been made to believe that the division of Breton into dialects is a Breton flaw, instead of recognizing it as a universal rule shared by the entire world.