Between 26 November and 4 December, a „referendum“ is to be held in the schools and universities of the Comunidad Valenciana on the entry into force of the „Law on Educational Freedom“, which puts an end to the multilingualism model of the previous Botànic government
As good as it is to get an overview of the will of those affected or the parents, the terms „educational freedom“ and „“multilingualism“ used in this survey are deceptive, as is the assumed possibility that the participants or parents can really decide on the languages of instruction with this survey.
As the Información from Alicante reports, despite the referendum, „the Valenciano must remain an educational priority“ and concludes by asking: „Should the preference of the family take precedence in the organisation of the language, or is it necessary to pursue a firm policy to protect the Valenciano?“ A deceptive choice with questionable arguments.
Facts for media users Valenciano language impositions debates on social media
There was an unusually high number of comments on my last post „25% Valenciano - parents not asked!“. Some of them are astonishingly fact-free or simply insulting. Others, thankfully, responded objectively to these objections. I don't usually comment in these media. However, it seems sensible to me to help by pointing out a few facts. In the following, I quote a few examples from an English- and a German-language facebook group from the immediate vicinity of my Spanish hometown and start with the insults that resemble a kick „Get out of here!“.
Is this democracy? 25% Valenciano - Parents not asked!
An example timetable for a 6th grade in a public school in Valencia. 30 lessons1, 7 of which are decreed for Valenciano. 4 hours for the language itself (Valen) and 3 for Ciencias Naturales (C/N = natural sciences), which is taught in Valenciano. Spanish is taught 3 hours a week2 and is used for all other subjects.
The parents were not asked whether they wanted their kids to be taught in Valenciano.
The changes „could be implemented now, without having to wait for the 25/26 school year, when the new law on the use of languages in education will come into full force.“ demands Hablamos Español.
Spain's absurd language policy Gloria Lago (Hablamos Español) to the Valencian Minister of Education
Before the elections, the PP and VOX, which now form the government in the Comunidad Valenciana, had promised that they would implement the demands for parents to be free to choose the language of instruction. Instead, they passed a law that softens the language requirement for Valenciano. This continues to present parents with a difficult problem.
That is why the president of Hablamos Español recently wrote to the Valencian Minister of Education, Antonio Rovira, and made a constructive proposal for the coming school year. I have translated this letter below.
Disputes over money are the main cause of the current turmoil surrounding the formation of a government in Catalonia. That doesn't leave much room for the language dispute and the silly seamson seems to be pushing all debates about the latter it into the autumn.
Parents not asked Teachers strike against parents' rights
Normal school morning. No signs of a strike
Several state school teachers went on strike yesterday. They are also said to have called on pupils to take part in their demonstrations in various towns in the Comunidad Valenciana, as some press reports suggest. As always, the figures for participation in the strike vary widely. They range from 20% to 68%.
This strike came as a surprise to many parents. I found out about it from a reader of my blog and from a few conversations with parents at the local youth football training session the evening before. So yesterday morning at the school entrance in Jávea I saw some parents who were completely unaware of the strike. My grandchildren's parents hadn't been given any notice either. At no school in Jávea was there any indication, for example through banners, posters or similar, that there was a strike.
If you want to plan better for the future, you should learn from history. History always has a prehistory. The Second World War is a consequence of the Versailles peace treaty at the end of the First World War and Versailles in turn... The gap in my history lessons in a German school was that history stopped with Bismarck at some point, so during that time at school we avoided dealing with National Socialism and Hitler.
After a petition by 190,000 petitioners in 2019 to regulate university admissions uniformly across Spain failed to have any effect, the teachers' union AMES has now published an article on a study by the organisation „Escuela de Todos“1 comparing the content of university entrance exams (EBAU) in the various autonomous communities in Spain. I find the results for the area of history extremely astonishing and when you look at them, you start to realise what kind of indoctrination is possible in schools with such gaps.
El País: „Proces“ buried Catalonia election: Will language imposition remain?
The Catalan Socialists (PSC), „offshoot“ of Pedro Sánchez's PSOE, have won the election and Carles Puigdemont's conservative, neoliberal Junts are in second place, having obviously taken votes away from the ERC. For the separatists, the realization remains that, as before, there is no majority for independence from Spain.
In this respect, this result is initially a reassurance for the continuation of the Spanish government and the tense situation in Catalonia itself. However, the language situation has not been resolved. There are three official languages in Catalonia: Spanish, Catalan and Aranese. The question that therefore concerns us here is what will change in terms of language constraints?
The Basque Country is not Catalonia Separatist Basque party?
Andoni Ortuzar - PNV-President
In my last article on April 25, I used the election results from the Basque Country as an opportunity to ask various questions and noted, among other things, that „although I am not familiar with the Basque Country, I am more familiar with Catalonia and Valencia.“ In this article, I used simple research to describe both Basque victorious parties as separatist. This provoked harsh criticism.
I am therefore quoting a letter I received from a reader. I leave it to each reader to judge the question of the separatist nature of the Basque party in question, the PNV. This question is completely irrelevant to the issues raised in the article itself, but I do not want to give the impression that I am working with false or insufficiently researched assertions.
Separatism and geopoliticss Left, right, regionalism, nationalism, globalism
Last weekend elections were held in the Basque Country. The two separatist parties PNV and Bildu won. „Historic success for the left“ writes the German platform nd Journalismus von links (Journalism from the left) and the more bourgeois Costa-Nachrichten distinguishes between the separatist Basque parties i.e. „between the moderate nationalists of the PNV (35.2%) and the nationalist left-wing party EH Bildu (32.5%).“ Bildu won 6 seats, while the PNV lost 4 seats.
In view of the terms „left“, „nationalist left party“, „moderate nationalists“, etc., I do have some questions regarding the classification in times of recognizably growing importance of global geopolitics. This doesn't just apply to the Basque Country, but to all Spanish autonomous regions with separatist movements. I've written these questions down, although I'm not familiar with the Basque Country, I'm more familiar with Catalonia and Valencia.
PP and green nationalists in the same boat People's initiative (ILP) failed
Gloria Lago, President of „Hablamos Español“, speaks before the Cortes Valencianas
The day before yesterday, after two years, the Valencian Parliament finally allowed to debate and vote on the popular initiative (ILP) that respects the rights of Valencians to use their mother tongues.
In March 2022, the organisation „Hablamos Español“ submitted this popular initiative with over 40,000 signatures (four times more than necessary). This forced the Valencian parliament to debate and decide on the proposed law.
Language imposition as a means of politics The politicization of language
Google spells Kiev in English and Russian
In my blog, I focus on the opposition to separatist forces in Spain and the language policies of all those who serve this goal of „divide and rule“. Politicians of all stripes do not think at all about following the will of the voters, as demonstrated recently in the province of Valencia, where the two conservative election winners, the PP and VOX, broke their promises on the day they took office1 to ensure freedom of choice of languages.
Thinking out of the box shows that the same principle also applies in Germany, where federal and state governments want to enforce their woken gender language impositions against the will of the overwhelming majority of Germans. These attempts at ideological re-education have now been extended „by a linguistic gift“, as tagesschau.de, the main German news-portal, put it on February 24. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (famous for „I don't care what my German voters think“) has ordered „a small change in the German language“. „We have done what was long overdue: the spelling of your capital in the Ukrainian language.“ From now on Germans should write Kyjiw instead of the former German word Kiew.
Prof. Dr. Werner Müller, a German business economist who speaks Platt (a North German dialect/language „in between Dutch and standard German“) as well as Spanish and Russian. He has not only thoughts worth reading about the languages in „northern Germany, Catalonia and Ukraine“.2 For him, the renaming to „Kyjiw“ has a certain American touch.
UNESCO commemoration day at the request of Bangla Desh International Mother Language Day
The exact number of people killed during this demonstration in Bangla Desh in 1952 is not known. The government (then still based in Pakistan) had decided to only allow Urdu as an official language. Not much more than during the suppression of the uprising by South Africans in Soweto, in which over 700 people were probably killed. It is also not known how many Ukrainians may have lost their lives because there is hatred of Russia and a ban on all non-Ukrainian languages (Russian, Romanian, Hungarian). We do know, however, that the Ukrainian language ban is one of the causes of the situation we see every day in the news about the war.
Of course, these circumstances are nowhere near as dramatic in Spain. But it is nevertheless a reason to take the day of remembrance on February 21 as an opportunity to reflect on the situation in Spain. Language imposition breeds hatred and ultimately violence. This makes it all the more incomprehensible that Spanish politicians of all stripes, whether extreme Spanish nationalist or extreme regional nationalist, are still depriving many parents of their right to choose the language of instruction for their children. The organization Hablamos Español has published some of the voices of those affected.
Unfortunately, this message is not surprising and readers of this blog have already learned early on that Spain's conservative parties will not keep their promises regarding language policy.
Language policy of the Valencian PP Spreading fear and divide
„Don't deprive your children of cultural and professional opportunities in Valencia“: Pressure on families not to choose Spanish, ABC.es judged for the new year, quoting a teacher: „Personally, I think it's a shame to deprive your children of integration and cultural opportunities in bilingual Valencian society and, of course, job opportunities.“
1980 the Spanish journal "El Periodico" published a secret document about the strategy of the Catalan government. It shows in a frightening way the actual spiritual world of the separatist leaders.
The Catalan government exports the conflict into communities with Catalan population, supporting all efforts of the separatists including financial means to destroy Spain. An important tool is the establishment of a language dictatorship that is not afraid to use the same means as Franco.
Separatist indoctrination
In 2017, the teachers' union AMES published a study on school textbooks, as they appeared in Spain and in Catalonia on the same topic. In this study the indoctrination becomes clear, as it describes how Separatists operate. It is now translated into English
An essay in 6 parts on the potentially violent effect of language imposition containing contributions from South Africa, Catalonia, Ukraine and France.
The title says: "Catalonia, a conflict is exported. Insights of a migrant" Sorry, up to now, this book is only available in German. However, drop us a line, if you are interested to learn more Contact.
1980 the Spanish journal "El Periodico" published a secret document about the strategy of the Catalan government. It shows in a frightening way the actual spiritual world of the separatist leaders.
The Catalan government exports the conflict into communities with Catalan population, supporting all efforts of the separatists including financial means to destroy Spain. 
The title says: "Catalonia, a conflict is exported. Insights of a migrant"