“Remembering Robert Lafont: The Centenary of a Major Occitan Intellectual Figure”

Robert Lafont, a major Occitan intellectual figure. Academic, writer, activist, he was born in 1923 and died in 2009. This year celebrates its hundredth anniversary: ​​lo centenari Robèrt Lafont.

A central figure in Occitanism, Robert Lafont, who died in 2009, left behind a monumental body of work: more than a thousand publications and more than a hundred books. A team ofOccitan language edition of France 3 was at CIRDOC from Béziers on March 16, the very day of the hundredth anniversary of his birth, for a tribute evening:

Whether in his academic research, his literary work or his political commitment, he followed the same struggle: the defense, the promotion of the langue d’oc, of Occitania and its culture.

Robert Lafont has worked in many fields. Academic, linguist, historian, writer, poet, novelist, Occitan activist: he has long been known for his political commitment more than for his literary work.

Born in 1923, he is an activist in Félibrige in Nîmes in 1941 and 1942, before founding in 1942 the movement Occitan youth (Occitan Youth).

He produced his first texts in 1943. Eversatile writer, his work is important, it includes nearly a hundred books in Occitan, French, Catalan and Italian. There are both historical works, as well as writings on linguistics and sociolinguistics, or in the socio-economic field.

From 1945, he took part in the creation of theInstitute of Occitan Studies, an organization which still aims today to maintain and develop the Occitan language and culture. He will be in 1950, the secretary general, then the president in 1959. He will remain an active member of the IEO until 1981.

In the 1970s, on the Larzac, in the mines de Ladrecht in the Cévennes, or even with the winegrowers of Languedoc, Robert Lafont and the Occitans will combine social struggle and cultural struggle.
Thus in July 1980, during the Occitan Summer University, the Occitanists organized a trip to Ladrecht, where by a symbolic act Robert Lafont will lay the Occitan flag next to the French flag at the bottom of the mine.

We will find him in the political current Occitan Wrestling (Occitan struggle)or collectives We want to live in the country (We Want to Live in the Country) et Mon País cut off (My Skinned Country).

In the 90s, Robert Lafont sought with Europe a way out of the logic of States and a rapprochement with Catalonia. The great thinker of the Pays d’Oc had already said in the 1970s: “The solution is more autonomous regions in a European project”.

In 2003, on the Larzac again, Robert Lafont contributes, in an alterglobalist movement, to the birth of the collective Gardarèm the land (We keep the earth).

Robert Lafont’s actions for the Occitan cause are numerous. It would be difficult to list all his commitments, all his struggles… We invite you to discover a summary of his political career in an episode of the series Memory of oc drawn up from the archives of theWHEN :

The Memória d’òc series is produced as part of the Occitan-language program on France 3: Living in the Country

Viure al País, can be seen on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. on France 3 Occitania.

France 3 Occitania

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