Madrid and Barcelona agree:
Legal - Illegal - F*** it

Today the European Court of Justice (the highest European court) announced its ruling on the detention of Oriol Junqueras. Ultimately, the ruling means that the immunity that Oriol Junqueras has gained through his election to the European Parliament has been violated by the detention in which Junqueras is sitting. Junqueras is therefore illegally in custody.

Also today, the Catalan President Quim Torra was sentenced by the highest Catalan(!) court to a year and a half's ban from public office[1] for refusing to comply with the order to remove the yellow ribbons of the separatist movement from public buildings during the national parliamentary elections. He refused that order and let them illegally hang there.

From satire to political movement?
Tabarnia

It seems to be quiet in terms of extreme nationalism and language imposition, but it isn't. The Spanish parties are busy with themselves and in the schools the indoctrination of the students continues undisturbed.

But it doesn't have to stay that way. Around 2011/2012 the term Tabarnia was born as a satirical reflex [1] to the independence aspirations of Catalan separatists. It refers to the areas around Barcelona and Tarragona and demands independence from a possible independent Catalonia. This has almost become something akin to a political movement that is not slackening in the fight against separatism.

Fanning the flames of unrest! Valencian govenment no better than VOX!
Nationalist arsonists

„Las Provincias“ reports today: „In the coming school year, all public and subsidised schools offering secondary compulsory education (ESO)[1], high school graduates and professional training will have to change their current language project...“ „It is to be realigned to what is already the rule in infantil: at least 65% of the subjects will be taught in Valenciano“.

In Catalonia, the extension of the language dictatorship in favour of Catalan was an important tool for the indoctrination of pupils towards separatism. It can be assumed, that the Valencian government has the same intentions in a situation where VOX has won many votes to fight Catalan nationalism with Spanish nationalism.

Something positive
Good news

The first news: the Basque regional government has issued a decree on the use of languages in the Basque Country, which is much more respectful of the use of Spanish than in the municipalities of Catalonia, Galicia and the Balearic Islands.

Indoctrination at school
The pressure is increasing

Extreme Spanish nationalism has experienced great support in the elections in Spain and hardly anyone is likely to have been unaware of VOX's electoral success. But not all voters of VOX, PP or Cs really wanted extreme Spanish nationalism, perhaps they just wanted to signal that they could no longer bear the hustle and bustle of the separatists. Perhaps they just wanted peace to be restored and the real problems of Spain to be tackled.

I'm afraid this bill won't add up. The separatists want the fight just like VOX. „For us or against us?“ Already at school the students are forced to take a stand instead of thinking and looking for a way out of the dilemma.

Hot times ahead
Keep cool!

Nothing will change after the elections? Not quite. There were no big changes in the traditional right-left blocks. It was mainly about nationalism and so in Catalonia the relatively small CUP was almost strengthened with a doubling of votes. The CUP stands politically behind the CDR, which can probably be understood as the main organization responsible for the riots in Barcelona. They collected almost a quarter of a million (244,754) votes in Catalonia.

The overwhelming success of the ultra-right VOX did not go unnoticed in the National press. VOX is supported by all the Spanish nationalists.

They demand justice, disregard democracy and create fear.
From now on: Only Valenciano?

Hundreds of thousands of them are on the streets of Barcelona demanding justice. Even in Valencia some violent demonstrations took place supporting the separatists.

The right wing and nationalist education minister of Valencia, Vicent Marzà, feels strengthened and demands: „It is the most importand that the students have a Valenciano teacher, we will give the necessary incentives“ [1] One of the indications/incentives is that the Arenal school in Jávea only sends letters in Valenciano now.

For a peaceful solution: leniency before justice!
Amnesty!

The verdicts in the trial against the Catalan separatist leaders have turned out as expected.

As expected, there are now demonstrations by the separatists too, because they also feel punished, after all, they have carried out the actions for which their leaders have now been condemned.

Although the Catalan separatists lost almost half a million votes in the last national elections, there is now a threat of a renewed escalation. What would serve a peaceful solution, an end to the conflict?

If you want answers: Follow the money!
Independence as a business

The Spanish parties PP and PSOE and the Catalan CDC to UDC/CNxR [1] and ERC do not really differ at all on all fundamental issues. There is essentially only one distinction: independence.

One wonders why so many Catalans fight for independence with such fanaticism. At the end of August 2019, Dr. Antonio Jimeno explained the means by which manipulation took place in Catalonia, i.e. how. With the example of Jordi Pujol, President of Catalonia from 1980 to 2003, Dr. Jimeno gives answers to the why.

Anyone who recognises Valenciano and Spanish feels kidded.
The bilingual mockery of the Jávea Town Hall

The Constitution of Valencia has two official languages. The town hall of Jávea, like many other town halls in the Comarca, understands this: If it is a potentially life-threatening situation, then Valenciano is chosen, the language of the minority. This is also the case if the communication is positive, beautiful, cultural or official.

Only if it is negative, if it is about prohibitions or if they want to be absolutely sure that everybody understands, then the town hall chooses/uses Spanish.

Total monitoring of use of language in schools planned
The Valenciano offensive

It's hard to believe. As if we have no other problems in Spain, now not only the imposition for the use of the Valenciano in public and especially in schools is being increased. Spies are also being used to monitor students in the schoolyard to see if our kids speak Valenciano.

Of course, there is also money available for these measures, which the „Plataforma per la LLengua“ (platform for the language), for example, is happy to receive, and uses to pay its 19 employees and needs half a million euros annually for this.

How was the separatist success made in Catalonia?
Separatism and Social Manipulation
by Dr. Antonio Jimeno, president of the teacher's union AMES

The separatists set the agenda in Catalonia. Due to the electoral system, they are in power again, although they have never been able to win a majority of Catalans for their independence aspirations. Nevertheless, the demonstrations in the streets of Barcelona are impressive and cannot be overlooked.

Now the influence of the separatists is increasing in Valencia. The new government under the socialdemocratic President Ximo Puig again leaves the education system to the extreme right-wing nationalist Vicent Marzà of the „bloc nacionalista valencià“. In this way, he wants to ensure that language imposition, as an important means of nationalist politics, finds even more place in schools and among our children.

Dr. Antonio Jimeno has described the process of social manipulation that led to the success of the separatists in Catalonia.

Doing practical tasks instead of fighting for government seats:
Open letter to Pedro Sánchez
by the President of Hablamos Español

The next school year starts in autumn and Spanish-speaking pupils in autonomous regions with regional languages will continue to be confronted with the need to learn in a foreign language. Children of EU citizens have to learn in a language that is useless to them, making integration in Spain more difficult for them.

The struggle for the right of parents to determine the language of instruction of their children continues and therefore the organisation Hablamos Español has addressed an open letter to the President of Spain, Pedro Sanchez. This letter is translated and can be read here.

Facts about languages and language imposition
Language imposition and democracy
Part 6 Language protection - does this work in France?

Already the ancient Greek Heraclitus knew: „One cannot go twice into the same river“. The only constant in our universe is perpetual change, and evolution teaches us that only those who adapt survive. (Survival of the fittest)

This is not the case in France as far as language is concerned. France passed a law in 1994 to protect the French language. This law of the then Minister of Culture Jacques Toubon is often ridiculed by many Frenchmen as „Loi Toubon“, because it can be understood as much as „All Good Law“. But it can also be understood as an imposition of language, as there are a lot of regional languages in France.

Facts about languages and language imposition
Language imposition and democracy
Part 5 Ways out of language conflicts - What is Language?

Language impositions can even take on existence-threatening forms as in some Baltic countries, where during the time of the USSR Russians immigrated (or were immigrated) and who today have to live as „sans papiers“ (stateless persons) without chances of income, accommodation etc. because they do not speak the corresponding Baltic language as required.

Facts about languages and language imposition
Language imposition and democracy
Part 4 Language impositions in the Ukraine

The Ukraine saw many rulers in the last decades who wanted to assert their claims also by means of a language imposition. For example, the polonization of the Ukainian upper class was replaced by russification in the second half of the 19th century, accompanied by a ban on printing Ukrainian books.

Facts about languages and language imposition
Language imposition and democracy
Part 3 Language imposition, falsification of history and indoctrination

Imposition of language is always a tried and tested means of domination, because it makes it more difficult to discover falsifications of history from those in power, and indoctrination is facilitated in the educational system.

Facts about languages and language imposition
Language imposition and democracy
Part 2 Catalonia: language imposition and the division of a nation

Language ban, language imposition and language dictatorship are various instruments from the toolbox of undemocratic rulers and governments. Spain is a state of several nations in which these instruments are still used today.

No more area-dependent examens
Petition for uniform university entrance examinations

Roy Castrillo Puente and already more than 190.000 followers are making this request to you: „Please, if you care about your future, or your child's, niece, nephew, brother, read what follows. It is very important. And sign my petition. Together we will achieve the goal, change things and put an end to this injustice.“

Facts about languages and language imposition
Language imposition and democracy

Language imposition triggered the uprising 1976 in Soweto in South Africa, that led finally to the liberation from the Apartheid regime. The situation in Spain's autonomous regions is not yet dominated by violence. And that should remain so. It is useful to be well informed enabling a better judement.

We start with an info series about language imposition and democracy, which touches in 6 parts on the following topics:

1. South Africa: Bloody insurrection against language imposition
2. Catalonia: Language imposition and division of a nation
3. Language imposition, falsification of history and indoctrination
4. Ukraine: Language imposition in the West
5. Ways out of the conflict - what is language?
6. Language protection - does it work in France?

Teacher beats 10-year-old girl who paints Spanish flag
Can that be true?

Already in the last weeks several newspapers reported that a teacher in Terrassa/Catalonia had met a 10-year-old pupil with aggression, who had painted a Spanish flag and written the words „Viva España“ in her notebook. The student suffered minor injuries. These reports are based on the report of the parents to the Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra.

What's really behind it?

Vicent Marzà again Valencian Minister of Education
The elections do not put an end to the struggle

Anyone who has followed the Spanish press over the last few weeks has been able to see how the usual haggling of posts has been done everywhere since the elections.
In the Comunidad Valencia, Ximo Puig, the President of the Valencian Government, has decided to form a coalition with Compromís and the Valencian Podemos. On 17 June, Vicent Marzà was reappointed Minister of Education. What does this mean for education policy?

Is it okay to laugh about it?
Catalonia split in two: Tabarnia und Lazilandia

I have to admit, I laughed out loud when I saw this picture.

I have to admit, I laughed out loud when I saw this picture.

But what's really behind it?

How the separatists understand laws
Only Catalan, Spanish not wanted

Teachers in the Balearic community of Inca are forced to communicate only in Catalan These demands are not only in strict contrast to the Balearic and Spanish Constitution. It also violates the rights of parents to decide the language of instruction for their children

Teachers in the Balearic community of Inca are forced to communicate only in Catalan These demands are not only in strict contrast to the Balearic and Spanish Constitution. It also violates the rights of parents to decide the language of instruction for their children

German Costa Blanca News reports
An enrichment that splits

Marí Àngels Casas Galán teaches Valenciano in Alicante Very few of their students come voluntarily.

Marí Àngels Casas Galán teaches Valenciano in Alicante Very few of their students come voluntarily.

Valencia after the elections
The party is always right!

The elders maybe still remember this hymn of praise for the SED (East-German Communist party): „The party, the party, is always right!“ But those who think that only the Stalinists think so must be mistaken. Almost all the Spanish parties, right or left, act on this maxim when it comes to languages.

Who to vote for?
Questionnaire for the local elections 2019

We have sent a questionnaire to the representatives of the 5 parties who stand for the election 2019 for the town hall in Jávea. was polite.

curriculum request in Germany: 65% Low German, 20% Standard German, rest English
Are you nuts?

This seems to be the way to understand the response of the German authorities to my „reasonable“ request, although these exact words were not used and in reality it was polite.

More and more Spaniards are turning to the UN for help
A cry for help from Mallorca

The well-informed are aware of the shortage of doctors in the Balearics, because the knowledge of Catalan is more important to the local government than proof of medical competence. Now several Balearic civil organizations have turned to the UNESCO.

A German witness in the Madrid trial against separatist politicians
B. v. Grünberg, lawyer and social democrat, takes a position

Bernhard von Grünberg, member of the (German) North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament. observed the events surrounding the attempted referendum on 1 October 2017 in Catalonia. He was recently heard as a witness in the trial in Madrid. A reason to ask him some questions.

He did not answer these questions, but he sent an interesting statement, worth to read.

A majority turns to the UN representative for minorities
Situation of the linguistic rights of Spanish speakers

Absurd: Spanish speakers are also in the majority in all autonomous regions with regional co-official languages. Nevertheless, their rights are ignored everywhere. Now they have turned to the UN minority rapporteur for help. Particularly informative is Chapter 3, where the sober facts about the situation are detailed.

Separatist logic
About the right to decide

The separatists understand this as the right to secede from the Spanish state. Is this democratic and would this law also apply within a hypothetical state of Catalonia?

CDR tear off street signs and want to annex parts of Aragón
Catalonia is not enough!

The Catalan CDR are now extending their violent actions outside Catalonia. What is behind it?

Has the next step of the strategy of recatalanization begun?

Do languages have rights?

Again and again you hear from separatists,

* that you have to protect the languages,
* that languages are the wealth of a nation,
* that the different languages should have the same rights,
* that languages have the right to take their rightful place in their territory,
* that languages should not be lost,
* that you have to defend languages.

That sounds very plausible at first glance, who is not for equal rights? Let's take a closer look. What is language? Language is a sophisticated tool of human communication in contrast to animal communication, which exists at a rather very low level.

So language is a tool, like a key, a car, a computer. Do tools have rights?

How our kids are indoctrinated

This week, teachers distributed pamphlets to the children, asking their parents to place orders until March 1 for T-shirts intended for a day of festival.

Newspapers amongst others the "Libertad Digital" report that behind the action was the separatist Escola Valenciana, who pomotes these encounters with the intention of persuading the children that they would have to speak Valenciano in future. [1] That does not sound unlikely, considering that the Valencian government has already sent out a bus staffed by young fanatics telling our kids to use Valenciano instead of their mother language [2]

I do not know if the teachers were ordered to support the political action of "our" separatist and nationalist Minister of Education. But I wonder, did the teachers use their brains, when they gave out the pamphlets?

Should we, who want the freedom of choice of language in the education of our children, now equip our children with counter-t-shirts, so that the children better recognize during the breaks with whom to start a row? Unbelievable. Already bad enough that Valenciano is imposed upon our children. I'd say, please leave them alone! Don't let them get involved.

Otherwise they end up like many parts of Catalonia's youth that found themselves alone on the streets yesterday during the "big general strike" in Catalonia, where the only adults seemed to be employees of the Catalan government and Government related companies.

[1] https://www.libertaddigital.com/espana/2019-02-21/familias-valencianas-denuncian-que-entidades-independentistas-utilizan-a-sus-hijos-para-financiarse-1276633534/
[2] El autobús de la lengua vistia Jávea https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ypihb

What effect will the trial of the 'procés' have?

Some Catalan politicians are on trial since February 12th 2019, and newspapers around the world carry headlines about this.

It is to be feared that legal arguments will be rolled back and forth, experts will speak out, one knows that. It is clear that the Catalans have no right to secession, that is what really stands for the so-called „right to self-determination“. Again and again, they will mistakenly refer to Spain vs. Catalonia, while in reality it is an intra-Catalan conflict, that is, union or secession.

It is a fear that the real problem will not be debated and that the people affected will not be guaranteed to be heard in this trial, i.e. the people who are affected by the 'procés'. Why is that?

Myths and deceptions of the Catalan nationalists

The trial of the Catalan politicians has been postponed until 12 February.

Therefore there is time to prepare thoroughly for the arguments that the Catalan nationalists will produce. Alvaro Peredo has a homepage called piratas & emperadores (pirates and emperors). He refers to the famous journalist and novelist George Orwell quoting an anecdote from the time of Alexander the Great. Alexander has captured a pirate and asks him: "Do you dare to rob on the sea?" To which he replies: "You dare to rob the whole world, I have only a small boat, so you scold me pirate, you have a whole fleet and you call yourself Emperor."

George Orwell, who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, is well known to many through his 1984 book (written in 1948), in which he describes a future dictatorship (The Big Brother) that gives words new meanings (war is peace!) and constantly adapts the historiography to the recent requirements of the dictatorship.

Peredo describes in his voluminous document, based on well over 400 sources and quotes, how the Catalan nationalists have reinterpreted word meanings and history in Orwellian style.

February 5: trial against the separatists begins

The newspapers will be full of reports on legal applications, demonstrations in and out of Barcelona, comments by high-ranking politicians, etc.

Now it is still quiet and therefore a good opportunity to make your own thoughts on the subject. These are mine:

100,000 euros penalty for Playmobil?

Several newspapers, including Elmundo and The Irish Times, reported yesterday that Playmobil faces a fine of up to € 100,000 for not offering their products on Catalan.

Whittling

Since the summer of last year there is a shortage of doctors in the Balearic Islands because of the decree of the local government that all employees in the public health service must be able to speak in Catalan. The Valencian government had previously waived this decree, because they fear a shortage of physicians here, too.

Yesterday, Las Provincias announced that all civil servants/employees managing a Valencian institution must be able to speak Catalan.

Today El Mundo reports that in the Balearic Islands now the judicial staff and lawyers must speak Catalan. This should even apply to the employees of the central government authorities, for which the Balearic government has no authority. This does not take into consideration that the decrees on Catalan language are agianst the law. Not only is the majority of the Balearic people Spanish-speaking, but also the Balearic Statute of Autonomy defines clearly that there are 2 co-official languages, namely Spanish and Catalan.

Half of PSOE voters reject dialogue with Torra

They also call for the application of §155 in Catalonia, reports El País this morning in the main article.

Much criticism came after our last article: "Beware of Sánchez, the incumbent prime minister!", we would support the far-right. Of course, these critics must now ask themselves, if they would extend this criticism to half of the PSOE voters.

Of course, Sánchez is in an extreme situation, he can only remain in government if he makes compromises with these ultra-right separatist leaders. But these compromises must not be at the expense of the Spanish-speaking majorities in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.