Spain’s secret conflict

You have three options:

1. Watching the documentary
2. Reading the long post
3. Doing both things

It’s up to you how much of your time you want to spend to know about Catalans in Spain

Gary Gibson, an English Journalist, along with Endboard productions, has done what no other Spaniard or Catalan has done before: explain, in a very simple way, during just 40 minutes, the ins and outs about the Independence of Catalonia, and its relationship with the Spanish Government. It’s remarkable to note, though, that it’s “foreigners” who are able to tell perfectly what’s going on with this 300-year-old conflict, and not the concerning parts themselves.

The topic has been a burning potato during years. Talking about the possible “Independence” of Catalonia, just, four or five years ago, was a TABOO. How can it be that I, a Catalan, could not talk freely about it without risking being scorned?? Let’s discover why

During 2010 Catalans have been voting, peacefully, in non official referendums to choose if they wanted to be an Independent State within the EU or not. These referendums were prohibited by the Central Government. Despite being prohibited, they were made anyway, just because people needed to express their strong opinion.

This conflict comes as far in history as September 11th 1714, a key date for Catalans. According to one of the best historians in Catalonia, Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté, the fact of Castile imposing its rules on the rest of conquered territories was the starting point of Catalans wanting their independence.

To understand this, we have to check out a little bit the Catalan History. Since the marriage of the Spanish Catholic Kings (Ferdinand of Castile, King of the Kingdom of Aragon and Catalonia, and Isabel of Castile), 1469, Catalonia had enjoyed a virtual independence. During the civil war of 1700, in which the last Hapsburg king died without any heir, Catalonia sided the Hapsburgs along with Holland, Portugal and England. However, Castile sided the Bourbons. The difference with these two possible heirs to the Spanish Crown was simple:

• the Hapsburgs favored a descentrilized State, like the one existing from 1469
• the Bourbons favored a centralized State, like that existing in France

The war lasted 15 years. As the English left, Barcelona was the last city to fall. On September 11th 1714 Catalonia fell. This day is the Catalan National day. In this day, Catalans ask for their political freedom back.

According Jordi Pujol, the former President of Catalonia, it was the progressive legislation trying to eliminate Catalan from public and private life, since the 18th century, the means used by Central Governments in order to eradicate the Catalan culture in the region.

• 1881: Catalan was banned from legal documents
• 1896: Catalan was banned in public meetings and… on the phone O_O
• 1900: Catalan was banned in the theaters
• 1939: Franco finally banned it from everywhere (if you spoke in Catalan in public, you could be detained and beaten, reading a book in Catalan in public would be synonym of protest against the Regime).
• From 1960 desperate Spanish monolingual speakers from other parts of Spain were encouraged to move to Catalonia. The target of the Regime was simple: to create friction with the natives and to erode the Catalan language (it didn’t work as perfectly as they wanted, fortunately).

According to Matthew Tree, an English writer who lives in Barcelona and writes in perfect Catalan, Franco, instead of giving the infrastructures that were desperately needed in regions like Extramadura or Andalusia, he just used the desperate people who just wanted a job and a new life, and encouraged them to go to Catalonia. The idea of moving those people for economic reason would create friction and tension, thus, this was a wonderful way to eliminate the Catalan language.

In 1975 Democracy was restored again, and with Democracy, the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia enacted, and the Catalan language restored. Historically talking, Catalans are a Nation of their own right, having their own institutions and language. With the restoration of the language problems with the Spaniards appeared again, this time in schools.

The main language in Schools is Catalan (as the main language in schools in the UK is English, and Spanish in Madrid). However, this is seen as disrespectful by Spaniards, and an attempt to eliminate Spanish. Some Media, specially the right wing media, are misinforming population about this regard. Journalists like Federico Jimenez Losantos are stating that “Catalonia is a Dictatorship”, “they are imposing the Catalan”… These is only creating more and more hatred against the Catalans. Nowadays, Catalans are the most hatred groups in Spain, more than Basques.

Other Spanish journalists are also stating that the Catalan schooling system is creating “handicapped” people. “When ending their studies in the University, as they only know a language, cannot work outside Catalonia”. (Can you grasp how silly this statement is??)

Let’s take me as an example for a moment. During the ’60s part of my family went from the South, Andalusia, to Catalonia. My Dad’s family moved to Barcelona in an attempt to find work and a new life, as many other Andalusians did. Years later, my Dad felt in love with my Mom, a Catalan, and here I am. Even though my Dad is from the South, I’ve been raised as a Catalan. I can speak perfectly both Catalan and Spanish. A perfect bilingual Though my name is a 100% Spanish, and can mislead you easily, the fact is that, I am a “Catalan”, raised and immersed into the Catalan culture and language, without having major problems. (But I have to confess that, after living abroad for so many years, my views have widen quite a lot and just simply stating that “I am a Catalan” is simplifying way too much what I’m feeling right now. Let’s say that I’m quite “international”. But that’s another topic for another post.)

The main language in the school was Catalan, but Spanish was taught, along with Spanish literature and Spanish History. While in college, I also started learning English, like the rest of the kids, and while in University I targeted other languages, like Japanese, French and Italian, like many other of my mates. The result is not a silly monolingual Catalan deprived from opportunities to “work” abroad (take “abroad” both as in Spain and as in other countries). Not only I was bilingual from childhood, not only I can manage perfectly switching from Catalan to Spanish or otherwise, I can also speak many other languages. And hey, I’m not working in Spain, I’m pretty far away… in Japan. The vast majority of my class-mates from Barcelona have been or are abroad right now. Most of them are not only bilinguals but are able to speak several languages. Stating that, the schooling system deprives you from being able to work in other places, is just ridiculous.

Furthermore, stating that a “monolingual schooling system” creates handicapped people making them unable to work in other parts of the country or abroad is just a very stupid statement. English wouldn’t be able to work in Spain or France. French wouldn’t be able to work anywhere. According to that statement, Gary Gibson wouldn’t have been able to do his documentary (he speaks not only English but Spanish as well), or Matthew Tree wouldn’t have been able to live and work in Barcelona (he speaks English, Spanish and Catalan).

What about the attempt of creating friction with immigrants from other Spanish regions? Even though there are many Spanish monolinguals living in Catalonia, reality shows us that those families understand the language. You can have weird cases, like my Grandma, who is entirely Spanish monolingual, talking without any problems with a Catalan monolingual Granny. And they do understand each other, because they understand both languages. They just choose the one they want to speak. My parents speak Catalan without any problems, and I do the same. Because of living in a “bilingual” region, that makes you either a “passive bilingual” or an “active bilingual“. My Grandma, like many other people, are “passive bilinguals”. Even though they learned and understand Catalan, they choose Spanish for communication, simply because it’s easier for them to do so. The same happens with a Catalan Granny who has learned and understands Catalan, but chooses to use just Catalan for communication simply because she’s more comfortable while talking in her native tongue. “Active bilinguals“, however, are, like me, able to switch from a language to another without any problems. You can find active bilinguals not only in “bilingual” regions, but also in families where parents have different nationalities.

Except the case of my Grandma, my parents case and my own is very similar (not to say the same as those families composed by people from different nationalities). Imagine an Italian married to an English, living in London, for example. Their kids, would be perfectly bilingual. As the family is living in London, their kids would go to an English school, and provably would learn Italian in an after school. Those kids, would be English but also Italian, being able to switch from one culture to the other without any problems. Provably they would have some certain accent while speaking in Italian. Well, that’s exactly the same in my case, and the same with many other Spanish+Catalan families. Spanish doesn’t disappear as they state, it coexists with Catalan.

Let’s follow with the documentary. According to the “right wing” media, non-Catalans, or Spanish monolinguals living in Catalonia are discriminated against. Well, as far as I can tell, Catalonia is a country that integrates: as long as you respect the culture you are in (as many other countries do). Monolinguals who have been living for more than 40 years, like the ones appearing in the documentary, seem really happy living in Catalonia, even though they talk only in Spanish (as my Grandma does).

Catalans have been always accused of being tight with money, like Mr. Scrooge. However this image is far from being the truth. In the 19th century Catalonia achieved something incredible: it was the first region of the Southern Europe to start the Industrial Revolution. The lacking of natural resources forced Catalans to try to develop their economy in a different way. Because they were trade based, and they had many small property owners, the Industrial Revolution was possible. However, the Spanish legislation was still favoring big land owners. As a result, the Catalan bourgeoisie asked to the Central Spanish Government to put some money in modern infrastructures to favor a modern economy. As this type of industrial economy was only existing in Catalonia, Spanish started to see the Catalans as parasites, always asking for more and more, getting all the money from Spain, and never giving anything back.

According to Matthew Tree, this kind of “anti-catalanism” has lots of similarities with the “antisemitism” existing against the Jews during the World War II. Quite frightening. Stereotypes as “the Catalan greed” are creating irrational hatred against Catalans. Being a Catalan is synonym of being a greedy person. But isn’t that an stereotype? A very bad generalization?

The Catalan Fiscal Deficit is the highest in all Europe. Said in other words, Catalonia is the most highly taxed region in all Europe…(The fiscal deficit is the amount of taxes you pay to the Government and what is not returned to you).

Thus, Catalans are paying a lot more than other European regions do. Far more, for only being a 7million people region.

According to Paul Preston, a professor of London School of Economics, the reasons for this dispute are, literary words, “pathetic”. According to him, the main reason to a large extent is jealousy“.

However, this jealousy is provoking an unfair situation. The taxes that Catalonia pays and does not get back… where do they go exactly?? According to the documentary, some regions enjoy free books in the schools, or more hospital beds in their regions. This unfair situation makes Catalans to see themselves as exploited.

According to Josep Lluís Carod Rovira, UK has a long democratic tradition, but this tradition does not exist in Spain, which has been eroded by several dictatorships. “Catalonia is like Scotland, however, Spain is not like the UK”. This communication gap is provoking that both sides are more and more reluctant to compromise.

Jaime Pastor, a Historian and Professor of Political Theory of the UNED, states that the Spanish Mass Media has a negative impact on the population. Instead of creating dialogue, Mass Media are adding more and more fuel to the fire. Thus, more and more Spanish are starting to think that Spain is breaking up.

Paul Preston says that “Catalonia is, to a logic stand, what keeps the rest of Spain going”. However you cannot say that to a Spaniard who is almost a “religion believer”, as Matthew Tree states. Some Spanish believe in the unity of Spain as if it were God, thus, any type of dialogue is futile.

So, what about the “Spanish identity“? Does that really exist?? Those who have a very strong “national” Spanish feeling are really fearing the tendency to plurality, according to the documentary. As Carod Rovira states, today thinking about a Spanish President with a Catalan name, or someone who speaks Catalan at home as the President of the Country is just unthinkable.

Being so extremely reactive against the “plurality” just shows up your weakness. Spanish have no agreement on the national flag or the “lyrics” of the national hymn… There is no “lyrics” at all! The “Spanish identity” is still being constructed, and maybe because of that there still are so many problems related to the “plurality” inside the country. “Nationalism” has to be respectful with other types of nationalism, so that the communication gap is erased. While there’s still existing a huge communication gap, the problem won’t have any possible solutions.

“Why is not Catalonia declaring itself independent? Simply because they have to use the national laws to do so. Using the existing laws, the region can gain independence.

In the documentary we can see the first village in Catalonia voting for the Independence. Votes were clear: from 2671 votes, 12 were void, 29 blank ballots, 61 noes, and 2569 yeses. “During 300 years we had to listen to you and do what you tell us. Now this is what we have to say.”

Watching this documentary makes you feel quite strange, specially if you are “Catalan” or “Spanish”. Seeing a good documentary made by foreigners makes it even better. Why?? Simply because they are objective. Being an objective source of information makes you see the good points and the bad points in the conflict. We have to make an effort, ourselves, as the parts involved in this conflict, to be objective and sit down around a table and start a dialogue. Without talking and dialogue, conflicts cannot be solved, just postponed. Isn’t it time to act like adult and grown up people?

Spain is living a very strange period in her history. Not only internal conflicts are up to date and hot, but also other social problems, like the unemployment and the corruption of our politicians, are making us forgetting one essential and powerful thing adults are proud to say to kids when they are scorned: instead of fighting, sit down, talk, and listen to your mates. By far, the most difficult thing to achieve right now: to act like an adult.