The language
of the stupid
This is a
singular case in Europe: The Catalan separatists have enforced a hegemony of
their language – and have pushed Spanish out of school curricula.
While the Madrid
court case against the alleged perpetrators of the illegal referendum on 1
October 2017 is coming to an end, the social conflict between the two groups of
Catalans – those who want an independent Catalan state and those who regard
themselves as both Spaniards and Catalans – is as acute as ever. It's just not
news anymore, it's smouldering. And the lines of its argument are diabolically
difficult to understand, for every detail in the great tale of Catalan
independence aspirations is ideologically charged. This also applies to the
language in which young Catalans are taught. Since school and university
are not the focus of attention however, the repressive and gruelling struggle
against Spanish has been largely waged in
silence.
Paul Ingendaay
(The language of the stupid)
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