Description :
This radio programme from Ràdio País is part of the European Tramontana Network (Réseau Tramontana / Tramontana Network), co-funded by the European Union, a project dedicated to preserving and sharing the oral heritage, languages and cultural memories of rural European communities. In this episode, Jean Larzac looks back on the emergence of the Occitan magazine Viure, the intellectual debates of the post-1968 period and the development of immersive Occitan schools known as Calandretas.
Larzac explains that Viure was created during a period of growing awareness of Occitan identity and of the idea of cultural “decolonisation”. The magazine sought to be a space where poetry, political analysis, economic reflections and social debates could all be expressed directly in Occitan. Unlike publications that used Occitan only for titles or literary sections while keeping French for the main articles, Viure aimed to demonstrate that the language was capable of addressing all areas of modern life, including politics, religion, society and intellectual debate.
The discussion then turns to the role of teachers, activists and the creation of the Calandretas, which transformed the ideal of language preservation into a concrete educational practice. Larzac recalls the struggles surrounding the recognition of Occitan teaching and the tensions between different approaches within the movement, while emphasising the importance of dialogue and openness. The episode presents the Occitan cause not as a withdrawal from the wider world, but as a way of strengthening cultural diversity and ensuring that a living language continues to be transmitted to future generations.