Translating from the text of the article that accompanies the video, according to Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida "many times the majority language in the schoolyards is not precisely Catalan, it regrettably continues to be Spanish".
In the video we can see that his own "regrettably" -or were it the stunned faces of some on the parliament's benches?- makes Duran i Lleida lose track, as if he had noticed what he just said, and he tries to make amends, but makes it worse by defiantly underlining that expression and adding a parenthesis about Spanish being the "the language of the majority of the citizens" of Catalonia. This coming just a few sentences after describing the Catalan-only schooling system, that has been in place for some 30 years, as a success.
This is how reality and political aspirations collide, and rarely one can see that in such a condensed fashion. We owe this unique insight to the heat of the debate, that visibly has carried Duran i Lleida away to making some most visceral statements.
He is not a fascist, he's not even what goes for a nationalist hawk in Catalonia, but the idea he is defending here quite clearly is. Spanish, as he himself concedes, is the majority language "of the citizens", and it is an official language in Catalonia. So the citizens must be wrong if they use it. The system cannot be wrong: That's fascism.
Blown-out-of-proportion historical grievances and the totally undeadable idea that a Catalan cannot be wrong have brought us here, and there is no easy way back out.
As Duran i Lleida shows, the most human error is -regrettably- to dig yourself in even deeper.
Ah, a good friend has told me that in politics it's hawks, not falcons. "They're the same thing but that's the word we use."
ReplyDeleteCorrected in the text. Thanks a lot.
http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20121120/54355421725/ciu-consejo-europeo-disuelva-fundacion-francisco-franco.html
ReplyDeleteCatalan is the language of Catalonia, not Spanish, nor English, nor French, nor Chnese...If someone wants to have education primarly in Spanish there are plenty of countries to choose.
ReplyDeleteSpanish is official in Catalonia, and there are actually more Spanish-speakers than Catalan-speakers here. Let's stick to the facts.
DeleteThe fact that there are more Spanish speakers in Catalonia than Catalan speakers is no argument to deny that the language of Catalonia is Catalan, that is obvious, another thing is that since the Spanish conquered Catalonia, Catalan has been prosecuted, the Spanish language has been forced to be official and many Spanish have come to Catalonia, therefore the number of Spanish speakers has increased due to Spanish domination, which takes me to the point that the actual approach of using only Catalan as the primary language of education in Catalonia is not only something natural, but also particularly critical in order to compensate for the Spanish. The result is that people in Catalonia, all of them, get out of education knowing Catalan and Spanish. Again, if someone wants to have education only in Spanish there are plenty of countries to choose, because in Catalonia you'll need to learn Catalan as a primary language. Don't want to? No problem, go somewhere else, because we are not a colony of nobody.
DeleteI don't think it to be good style when citizes who demand their costitutional rights are told to leave the country. And no, as far as I know the demands are not to be taught exclusively in Spanish, but also, alongside in Catalan.
DeleteThey are in their right. That's true in today's legal establishment. But don't confuse rights provided by legal establishment with rights fundamented on justice and democracy. All regimes give themselves laws, however not all of them are in conformity with justice and democracy. Surely I won't need to give specific examples as many come to your head. Therefore the claim that something is democratic just because it is legal is not fundamented. First it needs to be established that the law conforms to democracy and fundamental rights. Is this the case when Spain's constitution says that any Spanish has the right to be educated in Spanish? You know Spain has today regions that speak other languages than Spanish and that these languages are also official languages of Spain. Then, why only the Spanish language has this privilege? Why can I, for instance, have the right to be educated in Catalan in Madrid? Clearly there's a lanaguage which is supported by the law while the rest are not. THIS AGAIN IS NOT DEMOCRATIC? What's your position on this Candide? It would be nice to know ;-)
DeleteThe Spanish Constitution does not say that. The Constitutional Court says that Spanish cannot entirely be left out of the classrooms, and leaves the details to the (Catalan) legislator.
DeleteThe "other languages than Spanish" are not "official languages of Spain", but co-official in their respective regions.
Really, it's hard to talk with someone who distorts reality that much.