There is a real risk of losing sway and becoming the object rather than the subject, both in the economic field and in the political arena. The country’s identity is equally under threat and its loss could prove irreversible. The same goes for its consciousness. If this is lost, Catalonia will lose its capacity to play a leading role, that is, to exercise truly important roles. Also in the political arena.
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The Catalan identity is centred not only on the Catalan language (and on the culture to which it is linked). It has other components, such as memory and sentiment, and a set of distinctive values and customs that form a collective outlook and consciousness. Yet language is a substantial element of its identity, especially in the case of Catalonia. We are not however an exception. Today, in France, where a lively debate is taking place around French identity, the country defines itself thus, “What is France? It is the State, namely, the Institutions and the language”. Obviously, France is much more: it is its History, its republican values and so forth. However, the crux of France, they say, is the State and the language. Moreover, the French are deeply concerned that their language is losing ground in the world. And that French is being infiltrated by English expressions.
Language is likewise essential for Catalonia. Far more than for France, because we have less of a State.
And it is under pressure. Recently a Catalan novelist –Carles Casajuana- wrote a book called “The last man that spoke Catalan”. An unsettling title. Writing in Le Monde (17 December 2009) the French critic, Jean Soublin, commented on the novel from a detached, curious and lukewarm point of view. However, Soublin surely has a nervous breakdown each time he hears that a school in Denver (Colorado) has decided to replace French with Spanish as a foreign language subject. Nevertheless, the relatively young Casajuana, a top international diplomat, -that is, by no means an inward-looking flag-flyer - writes in Catalan. He says that “words that might first appear moribund can be immediately resurrected”. If they are adequately defended, we add.
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If they are defended. If, in our case, we wish to defend them and truly defend them.
In all areas.
1. Starting with legislation. Over the last two decades the legislation has established a number of – important and positive - rights and duties that the new Statute for Autonomy, if it surmounts the hurdle of the Constitutional Court, will have to consolidate and broaden:
a) The official status of Catalan, and therefore the official language of the Catalan civil service. It shall be the vehicular language.
b) The right of all the citizens of Catalonia to be addressed in Catalan, (and in Spanish). In other words, although one cannot demand others to speak in Catalan, one should have the right to be understood and addressed in Catalan. In all areas: administrative, social, commercial, law and order, judicial, etc.
c) It should empower linguistic immersion in education. As is the case today.
If applied, it would significantly bolster the Catalan language. Starting with the Catalan civil services themselves. Recently some local councils in Catalonia have adopted Catalan as its first language. Having taken so long to do it shows a certain lack of interest of these councils. And in these conditions, what can one expect of the public at large and of civil servants themselves?
Moreover, many Catalan speakers are meek, sometimes even indifferent, with regard to the use of Catalan. They are when they deal with the public services, and also, and very much so, in their everyday use of the language. With this kind of attitude the Catalan language will decline, and no law will be enough to stop it. And this situation has significantly increased now with the huge and diverse volume of immigration of the last ten to twelve years. Very soon they may reach the conclusion that in many places and environments in Catalonia it is not necessary to either speak or understand Catalan. That it is superfluous. That there is no need to know it for many jobs and many dealings with public services. And as such it is a nuisance.
I repeat, we have only ourselves, the Catalan speakers, to blame for this. And we might say the Catalans in general. Catalan is not only an instrument of communication like the flags that ships use to communicate between one another. A language is much more than this. It is the most powerful symbol of identity. It is for the French, for instance, as we remarked. And if this is true for the French, and for everyone, will it not be for us? Then, language, when it is no longer merely an instrument of communication, but also a sign of a deeply-rooted identity, which ensures the permanence of a culture and a collective sentiment, acquires far-reaching importance and dignity. And it needs to be defended.
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The ruling awaited from the Constitutional Court is troubling in many aspects. But one aspect that could prove particularly serious is that it could force a reversal in the language rights and duties of the people of Catalonia.
For example, if the possibility of implementing linguistic immersion in schools were curbed. Without the adequately adopted language immersion policy, the migratory influx of recent years, which is already having a negative impact on the use of Catalan, our language situation would have been far worse. Dangerously worse.
Linguistic immersion in schools with many immigrants from a diversity of countries is also very positive from another point of view: the generally encouraging acceptation by the immigrants themselves. People who have arrived in Catalonia without knowing they would encounter another language, besides Spanish, that their children would have to learn. This is positive for everyone, both for the host country and for the new-arrivals. And it is important because in part the future of our identity is contingent on the extent to which Catalan spreads to the immigrant community.
In fact, this is important in all aspects of the relationship between the host society and the newly arrived. Between the host society and the new Catalans (new Catalans, in their outlook and traditional doctrine in Catalonia in this question). In all areas, but especially in language terms. As was the case with the wave of immigration during the fifties, sixties and seventies. An altogether different type of immigration to today’s, but also with its language problems. And the times were equally difficult then. But together we were able to solve it quite well.
In linguistic terms, but also in coexistence and cohesion. We can feel satisfied with the outcome.
Thanks to a good understanding that in a new situation everyone has their rights and duties. The rights of the new arrivals, who must receive fair treatment and have future perspectives, the ascenseur social, as we call it in Catalonia – and those of the host society that must conserve their own way of life. Of which their own language is a key component.
