The crisis has a three-pronged origin. Large companies (Telefonica, Repsol, Abertis...) owe vast amounts of money, largely for ambitious international expansion which in some cases has ended up in South American nationalisations (eg YPF).
Next, Spanish banks had lent in the form of mortgages that in part fuelled the building bubble vast amounts of money which came, as always, from account holders, but at least as much from foreign (mainly European) banks.
Finally, all the public authorities were well used, despite the 1992 Maastricht treaty requirements, to grossly overspend, relying on overseas loans at very low interest rates. All very well until confidence dropped and interest rates soared, eating up a disproportionate share of the budget. Central government reacted selfishly, raising taxes to its own benefit and drastically reducing its funding to regional authorities; and also imposing impossible regional deficit objectives. This has crippled the Catalan government (with flat rate funding, not related to GDP), which has been brought to its financial knees, with a scarcely veiled threat that this will go on till Catalonia drops its plans for independence.
As you say, the social costs are enormous, at a time (chicken or egg?) of widespread social discredit of the political... caste: particularly because of corruption charges (or hints), unfulfilled promises and the apparent inability to lead Spain out of the nose-diving economic crisis.
Only today we read of a single mother with three kids, on a €400 monthly income, with a court eviction order (she hasn't paid the rent since 2010) that the judge has had the decency to keep on hold until the authorities find a solution (which would surely be cheaper that paying an orphanage to take care of her kids). And a number of suicides when the evictors were banging on the door. Ugh!
On the identity/language/culture front, apart from VAT being hiked from 8% to 21% by central government, the tidal wave of the crisis has washed away or paralyzed key Catalan institutions that (largely) relied on Catalan and local government grants such as the Centre Unesco de Catalunya and (we fear) the Hospital de Sant Pau for instance. The only Catalan-owned airline (Spanair) also went bust.
The crisis is also political. Spanish nationalism has intensified its attack on Catalonia's (highly successful) language-in-schools model with a flimsy application of the 'freedom' principle (surely schools are for teaching and should be regarded as black boxes left to the specialists to get on with their job, and with accurate and periodical evaluations of the level of attainment of schools objective in terms of knowledge, skills and values!). The last court injunction says that if just one Spanish-speaking family wants instruction through Spanish for their child, the whole of the rest of the class has to get it as well: an aberration if ever there was one, the confirmation that there are still 2nd class citizens in Catalonia. It is up to each school, according to the (contested) 2009 Catalan Education Act, to decide how much instruction their pupils need throught the medium of the non-default language, to ensure they all achieve the language proficiency requirements laid down by the system, but the court has stampeded over this law like a herd of maddened elephants. To rub salt into the wound, the spokesman for the latest bout of parents is from the Argentine.
Miquel Strubell
22 Apr 2013
26 d’abr. 2013
19 d’abr. 2013
The Catalan language in US human rights reports
Extracts from the
U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor's
2012 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2012/eur/204341.htm
Recent Elections: National elections in November 2011 were considered free and fair, as were regional elections during the year in Andalusia, Asturias, Galicia, the Basque Country, and Catalonia*
In April the Supreme Court confirmed the suspension of seven articles of Barcelona’s regulations on the use of Catalan in the city hall that required all public documents and any oral communications to be presented in Catalan.
* Webmaster's note: However, of the 155,923 Catalan living abroad who were registered on October 5 2012 to vote in the snap November 25 2012 election, called on the independence issue only 6% received the voting papers in time and were able to vote, as stated in the documents taken to court. This scandal was widely reported in the press, as being a deliberate strategy on the part of the Spanish government to reduce votes in favour of pro-independence parties. This is not mentioned in the 2012 Report.
U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor's
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Spain
The Law of the Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional
legislature (Generalitat) in 1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the
official language in local government and administrative offices, regional
courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the
Catalan regional government. Spanish-speaking citizens are provided with the
right to be dealt with by public officials in Spanish. The legislation also
establishes minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television
programming. Many activists in Catalunya's Spanish-speaking community
criticized the law for discriminating against Spanish-speaking citizens and
imposing "linguistic hegemony" on a diverse population. Lawsuits
regarding specific applications of this law are pending in various courts. Both
Galicia and Valencia have laws stating the duty of the Government to
"promote" their regional languages in schools and at official
functions.
The Law of the Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional
legislature (Generalitat) in 1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the
official language in local government and administrative offices, regional
courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies subsidized by the
Catalan regional Government.
Spanish-speaking citizens have the right to be addressed in Spanish by
public officials. The legislation also
establishes minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television
programming. Controversy continued over
the language law implementing legislation and related regulatory measures. Facing strong resistance from film
distributors, the regional government in March annulled legislation that
required foreign films distributed in sufficient quantities also to be dubbed
and distributed in Catalan.
In June an administrative court in Tarragona considered a challenge to a
local university regulation that imposed extensive use of Catalan in university
affairs. The court, although leaving
some of the regulation intact and declaring itself not competent to rule on the
constitutionality of the linguistic law, struck down several sections of the
regulation. For example, the court found
that the regulation's treatment of certain administrative issues and a
requirement that staff use Catalan at all public university functions exceeded
university authority and autonomy and were not in conformance with other laws. Another court challenge involved the
propriety of the same university's discipline of a professor for supplying
copies of the university entrance examination in Spanish, rather than Catalan,
to two students requesting Spanish versions.
The court ruled in December that the professor was excluded wrongly from
the administration of the examinations and praised her for defending the
students' rights. The court clearly
implied that the university's regulation limiting access to the exmination in
Spanish was discriminatory and said that it was permissible to foster the use
of Catalan but not to do so in a manner that excludes or limits the use of
Spanish. The university administration
responded that it had no intention of modifying its regulation and intended to
appeal the continued suspension of certain aspects of the regulation. Notwithstanding its response, in May it began
supplying the entrance examination in Spanish to those who requested it.
…The Law of the
Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional legislature (Generalitat) in
1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the official language in local
government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned
corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional
Government. Spanish-speaking citizens have the right to be addressed in
Spanish by public officials. The legislation also establishes minimum
quotas for Catalan-language radio and television programming. Some
controversy continued over the implementing legislation and related regulatory
measures.
The Law of the
Catalan Language, approved by the Catalan regional legislature (Generalitat) in
1998, stipulates the use of Catalan as the official language in local
government and administrative offices, regional courts, publicly owned
corporations, and private companies subsidized by the Catalan regional
Government. Spanish-speaking citizens had the right to be addressed in Spanish
by public officials. The legislation also established minimum quotas for
Catalan-language radio and television programming. Some controversy continued
over the implementing legislation and related regulatory measures.
The Law of the Catalan Language stipulated the use of
Catalan as the official language in local government and administrative
offices, regional courts, publicly owned corporations, and private companies
subsidized by the Catalan regional Government. Spanish-speaking citizens had
the right to be addressed in Spanish by public officials. The legislation also
established minimum quotas for Catalan-language radio and television
programming.
During the year, the Catalan
regional government signed an agreement with various socio-economic
institutions to increase the use of the Catalan language in public places. The
Catalan Government also rejected the Government's decree mandating a specific
number of Castilian Spanish language classes in all autonomous regions, calling
it an "invasion" of autonomous responsibilities. Critics contended
that efforts to promote the use of non-Castilian languages made it more
difficult for Castilian speakers to live and work in those areas.
Citizens have filed more than 445 complaints with the
Catalan regional government denouncing the lack of compliance with the law on
linguistic policy, which requires that Catalan be the official language but
provides Spanish-speaking citizens the right to be addressed in their native
language. The Catalan Government has penalized the Post Office for repeatedly
failing to comply with Catalan law.
-
In the autonomous province of Catalonia, Catalan and
Castilian are both official languages and both may be used in official
institutions as well as in schools. However, during the year both Spanish and
Catalan ombudsmen received isolated complaints of alleged discrimination
against the use of either Castilian or Catalan (see section 5).
…
During the year the national ombudsman received
approximately 50 complaints related to alleged discrimination in Catalonia,
where both Castilian and Catalan are official languages, against the teaching
of the Castilian language. During the year the Catalan ombudsman received 10
complaints related to discrimination against the teaching or use of the
Castilian language and 33 complaints about the failure to use the Catalan
language in Catalan official institutions (these complaints were from persons
who wished to be served in Catalan but were served in Castilian), although the
law requires that civil servants dealing with the public be able to speak both
languages. Critics on one side asserted that limiting education in Castilian
reduced opportunities for Catalans who wish to live or work outside Catalonia
or who simply wish to speak Castilian, and circumscribed the opportunities of
Castilian speakers in Catalonia. Others, however, insist on their right to be
served in the Catalan language.
In October an estimated 5,000 writers, politicians,
journalists, publishers, academicians, actors, and filmmakers reportedly signed
a manifesto criticizing the firing of Cristina Peri, a writer/journalist for
Catalunya Radio who said she was fired for speaking in Castilian rather than
Catalan.
The controversy regarding official
language policies continued, with complaints that current policies offend the
right to an education in the "mother tongue," or Castilian Spanish.
In 2007 the ombudsman received approximately 100 complaints regarding
Catalonia's linguistic policies, and in March the "Platform in Defense of
the Freedom of Choice in Language Election" filed a formal complaint
against a school in the Basque Country.
The school had refused to offer all classes in Spanish.
In October 2007 an estimated 5,000 writers,
politicians, journalists, academicians, actors, and filmmakers signed a
manifesto criticizing Cataluña Radio for firing a journalist for speaking in
Castilian (Spanish), rather than Catalan (Catalonia's regional language).
In October 2008 Reporters without Borders identified
ETA for threatening journalists, contending that several journalists in the
country required personal protection or chose to leave the Basque Country due
to such threats; the judicial sentence against the weekly El Jueves for
printing an obscene cartoon of the prince and princess of Asturias; the
summoning of daily Gara and Deia editors by a court for the publication of
satirical images of King Juan Carlos; the Partido Popular's boycott of Grupo
Prisa; and the firing of Cristina Peri Rossi by radio station Cataluña Radio
for speaking in Castilian rather than Catalan.
…
The controversy regarding official
language policies continued, with complaints that current policies offend the
right to an education in the "mother tongue," or Castilian Spanish.
In 2007 the ombudsman received approximately 100 complaints regarding
Catalonia's linguistic policies, and in March 2008 the NGO Platform in Defense
of the Freedom of Choice in Language Election filed a formal complaint against
a school in the Basque Country. The school had refused to offer all classes in
Spanish.
In April, 39 doctors at the sole
hospital on Ibiza (one of the Balearic Islands) announced their decision to
leave their jobs due to a new requirement that doctors be tested for fluency in
Catalan. The decree, approved by the Balearic government on March 27, requires
that doctors working in public service speak Catalan and provides a window of
three years for them to learn it. The doctors' union asserted that the
requirement was not for public benefit but rather the result of a
"political obsession." In response to the decree, 2,500 persons
participated in a demonstration protesting the Catalan language requirement.
According to security forces, 4,000 persons
participated in a demonstration in Barcelona in September 2008 to protest the
government's linguistic policies and to defend the right to have school classes
taught in Castilian.
The controversy regarding official
language policies continued, with some persons complaining that policies in
Catalonia interfered with receiving an education in the country's majority
language, Castilian Spanish. Likewise, there were instances of Catalan speakers
raising concerns that the Catalan language was not equally favored.
On December 22, the Supreme Court
ruled that Castilian Spanish must become a "vehicular language" or
lingua franca in Catalonia's educational system. The decision involved three
separate cases of Spanish-speaking parents pursuing legal action against the
Catalan education system. The ruling came during the transition to the new
Catalan government. Both the outgoing and incoming administrations defended the
existing education model and maintained that the decision pertained to three
individual cases and that no changes were needed in Catalan language policies.
Catalan leaders in favor of the existing language-immersion model claimed that
students could become equally proficient in Catalan and Spanish.
On September 14, the Catalan parliament approved a
decree that will require new full-time professors at public and private
universities to take a language examination before they are hired to prove that
they have "C-level" (medium-high oral and writing communication
level) proficiency in Catalan. The decree permits universities to exempt
full-time research staff or professors teaching in a foreign language from the
requirement. To prevent the loss of talented professors, universities can, in
some cases, delay the test for up to two years after the actual date of hire.
Some universities and educators criticized the decree as discriminatory,
especially if the language of instruction is not Catalan.
On September 2, Catalonia’s Superior Court ordered the
regional government to comply within two months with a 2010 Spanish Supreme
Court ruling that Spanish become a vehicular language in Catalonia’s public
schools. As of year's end, the Catalan government had not complied with the
ruling. Catalan president Artur Mas staunchly defended the current educational
model and stated that Catalonia’s language policy is a “red line” not to be
crossed. Advocates of the Catalan immersion model cited studies showing that
Catalan public school students performed as well as their counterparts in other
parts of Spain on Spanish language proficiency tests.
2012 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2012/eur/204341.htm
Recent Elections: National elections in November 2011 were considered free and fair, as were regional elections during the year in Andalusia, Asturias, Galicia, the Basque Country, and Catalonia*
In April the Supreme Court confirmed the suspension of seven articles of Barcelona’s regulations on the use of Catalan in the city hall that required all public documents and any oral communications to be presented in Catalan.
* Webmaster's note: However, of the 155,923 Catalan living abroad who were registered on October 5 2012 to vote in the snap November 25 2012 election, called on the independence issue only 6% received the voting papers in time and were able to vote, as stated in the documents taken to court. This scandal was widely reported in the press, as being a deliberate strategy on the part of the Spanish government to reduce votes in favour of pro-independence parties. This is not mentioned in the 2012 Report.
10 d’abr. 2013
Catalan independence? Not everyone shares the same point of view
Here are three examples of different points of view as regards Catalonia's quest to regain independence from Spain. Comments made to a April 2013 text by Matthew Parris.
Click here,
if need be, to read the whole post
Click here,
if need be, to read the whole post
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