The PP returns to the charge with Catalan

BarcelonaDespite the PP's efforts to avoid any controversy before the November 29 elections, this Monday Alberto Núñez Feijóo once again took aim at the Catalan school language immersion system. Although his "Contract with Spain" only contains a generic commitment to "guarantee the teaching of Spanish throughout Spain" (as if that were not already guaranteed), in reality, what is being prepared, according to party sources, is the intervention of the Catalan system so that it more closely resembles the Galician one. And what is this Galician school system that Núñez Feijóo defends? Well, it is a system with 50% in each language and where the core subjects, such as mathematics, are taught exclusively in Spanish.

Under the guise of linguistic equality and fairness, the Galician school system is clearly diglossic, that is to say, it places one language above another. Can anyone imagine that in Catalonia mathematics would not be allowed to be taught in Catalan? This is a principle that does not even appeal to the Catalan PP, which is simply in favor of increasing the hours in Spanish, especially in the most Catalan-speaking areas. It often happens to Feijóo that he thinks the Galician reality is applicable to the rest of the State as if it were a template, and this demonstrates profound ignorance.

The Galician president should remember, for example, the uproar caused in Catalonia by supposed words from Adolfo Suárez in 1976 where he said it was absurd to teach nuclear chemistry classes in Catalan or Basque. Although it was known years later that he had not uttered them, at that moment there was a wave of indignation and the Catalan academic community responded forcefully. The chemist Joan Miró i Ametller, for example, wrote articles refuting that thesis.

Feijóo, therefore, should think very carefully about what he wants to do in a matter like this and not let himself be dragged along by the most radical sectors of his party or, worse still, by the far-right Vox. The Catalan immersion system is not a whim, but rather the only method that, in the current sociolinguistic context, allows all students, whatever their native language may be, to learn Catalan. Favoring Spanish or bringing linguistic conflict into schools as the Valencian PP has done with consultations to families about the choice of language, only serves to harm Catalan.

The only clear thing is that if the PP and Vox try from the central government to denature the immersion or put spokes in the wheels of the normalization of Catalan, Catalan society and its institutions will respond. And this fits very poorly with the promise that Feijóo made last weekend in Barcelona when he said that he wanted to "turn the page" on the 'Procés'. If he really wants to turn the page, he should not only accept the effects of the amnesty law, but try not to provoke conflicts where there are none. And if he really believes in the equality of the "co-official languages" he should maintain their use in Congress and also demand their official status in Europe.