spanish nationalism

The opposition has denounced “the insult to intelligence” and the “ridiculousness” of changing the official name of the Catalan language in Aragon. Catalan has been spoken in the eastern part of Aragon for almost a thousand years. In addition, the regional parliament has also changed the name of Aragonese, a minority language also spoken for many centuries in Aragon’s Pyrenean valleys. The People’s Party (PP) and a minority regional party called PAR have changed the law ruling Aragon’s official languages. Spanish is now considered the only official language in all Aragon and LAPAO (formerly Catalan) and LAPAPYP (Aragonese) are secondary languages. University experts have strongly criticised this decision which goes against all scientific criteria. From Catalonia, the situation is perceived as another attack on the Catalan language and an attempt to eradicate it from certain areas.

The CIS – the Spanish Government’s public opinion survey institute – has indicated that 55.1% of Catalans would like a Catalan state, either independent from Spain (33.7%) or within a federal Spain (21.4%). 29.4% would like to keep the Autonomous Community model and 12.1% would back recentralisation and Catalonia being a Spanish “region”. The survey was taken between September and October but the results were only released recently in early May, more than half a year later. In addition, 65.1% of the interviewees said they wanted more power for the Catalan Government.

The poster ‘Keep Calm and Speak Catalan’ was created by Josep Maria Ganyet, expert in digital communication, in order to protest against the draft law proposed by the Spanish Minister of Education which puts at risk the school model of linguistic immersion in use in Catalonia since the end of Franco’s dictatorship. The poster, in its origin a tweet, came from the fields of social media and reached Congress as a symbol of passive resistance directed at those aiming to alter the Catalan school model. It refers to the historical poster ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, which also became one of the most wide spread pop icons.

The European Commissioner for Education, Culture and Multilingualism, promised Catalan Euro MPs to ask the Spanish Government – chaired by Mariano Rajoy - about the Education Reform it is preparing, which goes against the linguistic immersion model of Catalonia’s school system. According to the Catalan MEPs, Androulla Vassiliou was “a bit perplexed” about the Spanish Government’s initiative and the recent judicial sentences obliging teaching to be in Spanish if a single pupil in the classroom asks for it. Besides, the Spanish State Council – the Spanish Government’s top advisory body – criticised the reform’s measure obliging the Catalan Executive to pay for private schools in Spanish for the pupils who do not want to attend public schools in Catalan. The Catalan Education Minister asked the Spanish Government “to paralyse” the reform.

Four Members of the European Parliament representing three Catalan parties have asked the European Commission and the European Council to declare their position regarding the linguistic immersion model in place in Catalonia’s schools. The four MEPs are reacting to a series of court decisions deriving from Spanish Supreme Court sentences and to Spanish Government initiatives against the current Catalan school model, which has been in place for the last 30 years and guarantees knowledge of both Spanish and Catalan. In fact, this model has already been praised by the European Commission, in 2007. The four MEPs represent the Centre Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), the Catalan Green Socialist and Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA) and the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC).

The Catalan Education Minister will appeal the decision to the Spanish Supreme Court and meanwhile will not follow the petition of the Catalan Supreme Court (TSJC). The Minister stressed that “the classroom language cannot change just because a child asks for it”. She emphasised that only 17 families have asked to have their children schooled in Spanish. These kids received individualised attention in Spanish but the TSJC thought it was not enough. In the last few years, the Catalan school model has been put in the spotlight by Spanish nationalism, despite having been in place for the last 30 years. The model has shown that pupils perfectly command both languages by the end of their studies. It has also been praised by international organisations, as it guarantees equal opportunities and social cohesion.

“The United Nations respect self-determination processes” stated the Secretary General of the United Nations when he was asked about Catalonia’s and Scotland’s self-determination processes during his official visit to Andorra, a small independent country in the Pyrenees which has Catalan as its official language. Ban Ki-moon urged all the political leaders to talk and find a negotiated and peaceful solution. “All the pending issues among countries have to be solved via peaceful means and through dialogue, respecting the genuine will of the affected people”, he stated. As opposed to the United Kingdom’s Government, the Spanish Executive currently refuses to even talk about Catalonia’s self-determination claims, which are backed by November’s electoral results and recent opinion polls.

The Catalan Government’s grant will be reduced by 14% and revenue from advertising is expected to decrease by 10%. The budget reduction has been approved with loud protests from the workers, since it will mostly affect labour costs, which may plummet by 18%. Since 2010, the production and investment budget has dropped by 50%. The Catalan Public Television Broadcaster’s main station, TV3, has been clearly leading audience rankings in Catalonia for most of the years since its creation in 1983. The majority of the political parties and citizens in Catalonia support strong public television and radio stations. The idea of reducing the TV3 budget has been constantly presented by Spanish nationalists as the way to reduce Catalonia’s public deficit despite the €225 million public grant only representing 5% of the total budget adjustment to be accomplished in 2013.

The Catalan Parliament has approved the same declaration that the Spanish Parliament rejected 2 weeks ago with 104 votes out of the 135 MPs. The text urges the Spanish and Catalan governments to talk and agree on the organisation of a legal self-determination vote in Catalonia. The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) presented the proposal, which also received the votes from the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) – which runs the Catalan Executive, the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) and the Catalan Green Socialist and Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA). The radical left-wing and independence party (CUP) abstained. The People’s Party (PP), which runs the Spanish Government, and the anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans (C’s) opposed the vote.

A few hours earlier, the Swiss bank Lombard Odier stated that the Catalan presidents Artur Mas and Jordi Pujol do not have any relationship with the company. The Spanish nationalist newspaper ‘El Mundo’ published a report 9 days before the Catalan elections, with the official stamp of the Spanish Police on it, accusing the incumbent President of the Catalan Government, and candidate for re-election from the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), Artur Mas, of having secret accounts in Switzerland. The fake report also incriminated Mas’ family, the former Catalan President Jordi Pujol and two of Pujol’s sons. The report completely altered the election campaign. Now, four months after the report was issued, the Catalan Government has demanded a public rectification since some Spanish Ministers and leading members of the People’s Party validated the report at the time.

Earlier this week the Director of the Public Prosecution Office of Catalonia, Martín Rodríguez Sol, was pushed to resign by his boss at a Spanish level, who is directly appointed by Spain’s Government. Rodríguez Sol said in an interview that it was “legitimate” to “allow the people” to decide on their collective future regarding Catalonia’s self-determination process. However, he emphasised that he was not supporting an independence referendum as such because “it does not fit into the current legal framework”, but he suggested that a “legal vote” could be held with the appropriate question being asked. He also stated that legal frameworks should be connected to social realities and should have the option to be changed. On Thursday six members of the European Parliament, representing four Catalan parties, filed a question to the European Commission about the case.

The parties supporting the current school model, representing 80% of the new Catalan Parliament, and Catalonia’s School Council – with all the stakeholders – have met to decide upon a consensual answer to the Spanish Government’s Education Reform relegating the Catalan language and centralising competence. The meeting ended with a consensual decision to stick to the current Catalan Education Law if the Spanish Executive does not change the spirit of its reform and continues to insist on breaking up the school model that has been in place for more than 30 years. Cancelling the linguistic immersion model would mean splitting Catalan society into two language communities, which is absolutely not acceptable to the wide majority of Catalans. The current model has been validated twice by the Spanish Constitutional Court and is based on Catalonia’s Statute of Autonomy which was approved via referendum.

José Ignacio Wert, the Education Minister, made this statement at the Spanish Parliament, while defending the recentralisation measures he is trying to implement. Wert’s words have provoked major outrage in Catalonia. The Catalan Government, all the non-Spanish nationalist parties, trade unions and civil society organisations have qualified Wert’s statements as being “totalitarian”, “a barbarity”, and “pre-Constitutional”, reminding them of Franco times. Furthermore, many citizens channelled their outrage for Wert’s words through Twitter, making the related hashtag Spain’s main trending topic. Besides, results show Catalan students have better results in Spanish than Spain’s average.

The Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, states that the claim for Catalonia’s independence during the last FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid Clásico football game “damages Spain’s brand”. On the contrary, the Catalan President, Artur Mas, praised the demonstration for its peaceful and democratic nature, and for “projecting our identity to the world”. Furthermore, the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, considered García-Margallo’s statements to be “undemocratic” for not accepting “the free and democratic expression of the people at Camp Nou”. Thousands of Catalan independence flags were shown at the match – many more than in any other game ever. Furthermore, on several occasions, a large part of the stadium shouted pro-independence chants.

The Catalan Education Minister reminds her Spanish peer that such measures are not legal and do not correspond to the current legislation. The Spanish Education Minister, José Ignacio Wert, is considering giving public funds to privately-owned schools teaching in Spanish, which would set up a de facto parallel public school system in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Wert stated earlier this week that he would work to end the current Catalan school model, which is based on the linguistic immersion principle and guarantees the knowledge of both Spanish and Catalan by all pupils, as results show.