…A Gathering Of French-Speaking People From Around The World
The International Day of Francophonie is celebrated every year on March 20. On this day, Francophones from around the world get together as a way of celebrating that “something” that is common to them – the French language.
The inaugural International Day of Francophonie was held in 1998, although the Francophonie organization was actually established 28 years earlier. The organization has its headquarters in Paris, France.
The term “Francophonie” refers to specific areas in the world in which French is spoken. It was coined in 1880 by Onsime Reclus, a French essayist and geographer. The term “Francophone”, on the other hand, refers to a person who speaks French. When not capitalized, the term is a descriptive word, such as in “franchophone region”.
Currently, the organization is headed (as Executive Secretary) by Abdou Diouf, who served as the second President of Senegal from 1981 to 2000. It has 56 member states, 21 of which were original members (i.e., countries that joined the organization in 1970). These are France, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, and Vietnam.
Within the next 10 years, 12 more states, communities, or colonies joined the organization as members. These are the French Community of Belgium, New Brunswick, Quebec, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon, Seychelles, and Vanuatu.
The rest of the member states today include Albania, Andorra, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Guinea, Laos, Moldova, Morocco, Romania, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, and Switzerland.
The organization has three associate members: Armenia, Cyprus, and Ghana. Fourteen countries, meanwhile, are assigned as observers. These are Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Mozambique, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, and Ukraine.
Other countries with French-speaking regions, but are not members of the organization, are Algeria, Guernsey, India, Italy, Israel, Jersey, Mexico, Syria, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, French is spoken in four states: Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. All these areas certainly are considered francophone regions.
It is estimated that there are over 150 million Francophones, more than half of whom live outside France. Understandably because of this, French is a very important language in the world. To emphasize this, French is extensively used in prominent international gatherings as the Olympics, the United Nations, and the European Union.
Through the International Day of Francophonie, French-speaking people from different parts of the world are able to interact, bringing into the meeting diverse traditions and cultural differences. Such instance promotes a culture of tolerance, which, sadly, is lacking in many parts of the world.
Today, the Francophonie organization has several branches that oversee and coordinate activities between and among member states in areas of concern that go beyond the French language and culture. Such areas include worldwide concerns on the economy, science, peace, justice, democracy, human rights, and the environment.
The International Day of Francophonie carries the slogan “Egalit, Complmentarit, Solidarit. This translates to “Equality, Complementarity, Solidarity.