One has the impression that for years, many lesser-used language communities used to look up to the Catalan language as a model to envy and follow. Some went so far as to see it as proof that, even in complex and advanced economic and political environments, stateless languages could thrive and even aspire to a degree of hegemony in their own territory that others could not dream of. But can we still say the same of Catalan today?
Back in 1975, when Franco died, spoken Catalan seemed to have survived his Catalanphobic regime in reasonably good shape. Indeed, the repression suffered meant that the language was generally seen as a worthy symbol of resistance. The language had survived where others struggled -Occitan, Breton or Gaelic- showing resilience to the 40 years of public persecution and school deprivation it had been exposed to. The world of politics -speeches, posters, parliamentary proceedings etc.- as well as many cultural events, the theatre world, some newly created media (notably local radio stations), sports commentaries and local businesses witnessed the immediate resurfacing of a language which enjoyed support even among many -though not all- immigrants. The new regime resulting from a Frankenstein-style pact between the softer Francoists and a very tame centre-left, though begrudgingly, was to accept Catalan as a co-official language in Catalonia, though Spanish was always reserved the position as sole obligatory language.
Unfortunately, unlike the Basques, the first Catalan governments, though efficient creating media and schools in Catalan, largely induced in society a rather paternalistic “you-quit-worrying,-Daddy’ll-take-care-of-things-now” kind of syndrome, which partly doused popular momentum in what had until then been a fully-fledged popular struggle for the language. The perception was that, as in any normal democracy, it would now be the Generalitat government that would see to language management.
In my humble opinion, in a situation such as Catalonia’s -with a still voluntary language, a high immigration influx and potential Catalanphobic turbulence that might rock the boat- this opened the door to a danger that Catalan-speakers, cradled into a slumber of complacency, might fail to see the perills on the horizon. Indeed, the government and local administration had not shown one fraction of the concern for creating pro-language public opinion (PO) that the Basques had -both at an institutional and popular level- in their need to encourage parents to choose the only educational stream -model D- that would guarantee that their offspring mastered Basque. Catalans seemed to see this as a screen of the past. Parallel to this shortcoming was the State’s unwillingness to treat Valencian and Majorcan as variants of the Catalan language, but rather as languages in their own right in a clearly colonial “divide and conquer” operation, a further reminder that Spain was to remain hostile to Catalan even if it meant refuting what Romance language faculties worldwide upheld.
Then, in the first decade of the new Millenium, something did start to rock the boat in a more hostile fashion. President Pasqual Maragall’s -by no means a nationalist- had led a parliamentary initiative to upgrade Catalonia’s Statute of Autonomy (1979) and legitimately strengthen home-rule. One of the key moves was to try and gain ground for the language in an attempt to achieve some sort of equity with Spanish after years of effective downstaging. This step was seen as vital by experts who saw that Catalan was being increasingly threatened by chronic education system underfunding, a dire shortage of teaching staff and uncontrolled immigration, this latter question being a matter of concern for what was in all respects a voluntary lesser-spoken language. However these logical demands for change in the new legal frame, and a simultaneous call for local consultations on sovereingty (the so-called “Consultes”), sparked off a wave of opposition amongst Spanish right-wing media and parties (although “Socialist” Alfonso Guerra also expressed glee in having successfully contributed to “planing down” the powers that the new Statute granted the Catalans).
In what was soon to be seen as a Spain-wide crusade against Catalan rights (depicted as “privileges”), the appearance of the party Ciudadanos and its leader Albert Rivera was to be a particularly obnoxious novelty. The promotion his new party got on the Spanish mass media -public and private- had to be seen to be believed. Ciudadanos even seemed to enjoy the blessing of rival unionist parties that knew how “beneficial” its particular crusade against the Catalan claims might turn out to be for the common Spanish nationalist cause. With hour after hour of TV publicity, fully pepped up with considerable doses of fake news, golden boy Rivera was omnipresent on endless shows, interviews and publicity stunts for months on end. The effect on Spanish public opinion -already steeped in age-old Catalanophobia- was to prove devastating.
The problem about this offensive was that is caught the Catalans off their guard. It came after decades of what was termed the “Catalan oasis” in which unionist opposition to the Catalan question had little more than a token status. For years, Catalan was the almost unanymous language of the Parliament. But this now began to change. The fact is that not having a solid public opinion to counter populist pro-Spanish rhetoric was soon to prove a serious shortcoming. Incidentally, a situation compeletly different to the Basque Country’s where, despite having for years been the scenario of ETA’s armed action -with hundreds of deaths- the Spanish right-wing parties such as Ciudadanos and VOX had almost no parliamentary support despite the contradictory fact that the leader of VOX was actually Basque-born.
This change in the political scene in Catalonia, aggravated by the independentist Process (which gained massive street support in the years leading up to the 2017 Referèndum), caused a major social upheaval that was to lead to dangerous ground for the language. It whipped up opposition to the language amongst Spanish-speakers. One of its most visible features was the induced perception that to normalize the Catalan language was an “imposition” (sic) and a way of “excluding” Spanish. There was also a latent insinuation -cultivated by populist Ciudadanos and fellow organizations- that this was all a prelude to what was to result in the eventual “expulsion” of Spanish-speakers from Catalonia. It was certainly a preposterous and cynical accusation when no unionist had ever complained that Spanish was the only language to have been imposed in Catalonia since the times of Felipe V. Without a doubt, populist unionist hate speech had by now become a vital ingredient in the blatant denial of reality.
The extent to which this narrative became widespread and harmful can not only be explained by the deep disinformation common people generally suffered from -and suffer today- regarding what it means to conserve and promote a lesser-spoken language. It is also explained by the fact that the manipulation regarding the situation of the language was -and is- quite rampant. The hypocrisy that underlines the movement becrying the “discrimination” of Spanish (93% in courtrooms, 95% in cinemas, circa 80% youth language, almost hegemonic in big business, etc.), becomes sorely evident when its whistleblowers were seen to mock the ever-smaller percentatge of Catalan-speakers and, in the same breath, claim that Catalan is being “imposed” in all fields. Funny “imposition” indeed if the numbers of speakers are shrinking so alarmingly. This was populism at its worst.
All this eventually leads us to ask the question today if stateless languages, no matter how formerly strong, have a chance of surviving in the bosom of a western democracy. Does they? Catalan had for years been seen as the lighthouse language that was to inspire hope into speakers of lesser-spoken languages worldwide. But can this claim be made today? Figures show a significant slump in the percentatge of speakers, especially amongst younger people. In an incredibly short period of time, Catalan has passed from a position of hegemony to one in which it is hard to hear one word in this language in most urban school playgrounds. And though a National Pact for the language -introduced last year- seemed to show some degree of political concern over the issue, it has so far proved to be yet another farce, as the signatory Government itself -falling over backwards to wash its hands of the Referèndum and eagerly embracing Catalanophobes at every opportunity- has been the first to betray its very essence.
Another worrying sign of the times is that there has also been a significant rise in cases of discrimination against Catalan-speakers, an issue that not only has its roots in legal discrimination but also -I insist- in an almost non-existent use of intelligent, pedagogical PO campaigns by the Catalan authorities. Large quantities of Latin American immigrants seeking a better future in Catalonia have no idea idea they are coming into a country with a language other than Spanish, and, once there, tende to be faced by bureaucratic obstacles and disinformation rather than clear, empathetic stimulants.
On the other side of the coin, there are daily reports of Catalan-speaking patients being literally expelled from medical appointments with immigrant doctors who refuse to be addressed in Catalan (because no law obliges them to do so). And yes, the Catalan government -the least pro-Catalan executive since Franco’s day- claims to provide Catalan classes for immigrants (from 4% foreign-born in Barcelona to 31,3% by 2025 today) though it openly confesses that it can only cater for -and finance- classes for well under 10% of newcomers! Meanwhile, under these circumstances, what are Catalan-speakers meant to think when they hear president Illa calling for a further two million immigrants? The mind boggles. With these cooordinates on the table, what could possibly go wrong for the future of the Catalan language?
All things considered, three questions must be posed: 1) Will the EU -and not Franco- have the doubtful glory of being the administrative environment in which one of its languages (with more speakers than Danish or Lithuanian) crumbles into functional disuse? 2) What future can State-less languages within the EU be expected to have when the cards are so heavily loaded against them? And 3) Who can harbour the slightest doubt that in the current EU, the only future open to the continuity of languages such as Catalan is political independence for the countries those languages are native to?
Under current trends, there is a serious risk of the substitution of Catalan by Spanish in but a few generations. Will the EU Parliament president, Roberta Metsola, sigh in relief when it happens? Would this not reveal an attitude in keeping with her predecessor -Mussolini-admirer Antonio Tajani- rewarded alongside Juncker in 2017 with Spain’s Princesa de Asturias prize for the blind eye showed to massive police violence deployed against peaceful Catalan voters at the October 2017 Referèndum? Today she will again receive the blessings of Spain’s Partido Popular, Vox and Socialist Party, for the cooperation she has cynically offered in keeping Catalan out of Europe where her Maltese is admitted.
Now, as the far-right push the threat aganist Catalan even further, it is in the hands of popular movements such as Plataforma per la Llengua, Assemblea Nacional Catalana, Òmnium Cultural, Acció Cultural del PV, Obra Cultural Balear, CAL, Mantinc el Català, No Em Canviïs de Llengua, the teacher’s unions -who conducted spectacular strikes throughout the Catalan Coutries this Spring- as well as countless other local associations, to create the momentum necessary for survival and new life for the language. They will do everything in their power to prevent Europe’s lesser-spoken language lighthouse from blacking out.
About the Author
Toni Strubell was born and brought up in England in an Anglo-Catalan Family. His mother’s side of the family were refugees forced to leave Catalonia in 1939 due to the victory of Franco’s fascist forces. Invited to give lectures to British military surgeons on a miraculous treatment for traumatic war injuries he successfully introduced in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), his grandfather -famous surgeon Josep Trueta- eventually took root in England becoming Oxford Professor of Orthopaedics and director of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital for almost 30 years. Toni Strubell -is grandson- was educated in Oxford schools and University studying modern languages.
On returning to Catalonia, he worked for a time at Radio Olot but soon moved to the Basque Country where he taught languages and tourism at Donostia’s branch of the University of Deusto. As of 1996, he took an interest in the Historical Memory writing a book with credited historians Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté and Carles Llorens on FC Barcelona’s President Josep Sunyol, a victim of the fascists in 1936.
Strubell was a founder member of the Comissió de la Dignitat (Dignity Commission) in 2002, an entity that is still very active in the recovery of the Historical Memory and in denouncing and taking steps to curb the presence of the Francoist heritage in a country where there was no Nuremburg-type persecution of 40 years of fascist crimes. Strubell has written some 14 books and has been distinguished with the Saint George’s Cross, one of Catalonia’s highest official awards. He was elected MP for the 2010-2012 Catalan Parliament legistlature. His latest book is a novel on the 2017 Referendum and resulting repression called “La Darrera Paraula” ("The last word").
