Barcelona City Council apologizes for the Catalanophobic display at a municipal event.

BarcelonaBarcelona City Council apologized this Friday for the crisis generated by a performance against racial, gender, origin, and class discrimination that discriminated against Catalan and its speakers. This paradox occurred on Tuesday, as if that weren't enough, at the presentation of the Barcelona Discrimination Observatory 2024 Report, which showed that racism, gender, health, LGBTQ+ orientation, and, fifthly, the Catalan language are the main reasons for discrimination. At a public event held by City Council, the amateur company Teatro Sin Papeles, made up of migrant women of Latin American origin, was given space to perform a fragment of their show. Those LatinasIt turned out that the fragment ridiculed Catalan speakers and denounced—in Spanish—situations such as doctors speaking Catalan, jobs requiring the country's language, and the use of Catalan in reception centers. It also included the fact that they weren't hired despite having completed "level C2 of Catalan" because they weren't native speakers.

— There are some parts of the report I don't understand, could you please explain them to me?
—Everything you need to know is in the report. If you don't speak Catalan, you should learn it.
"Speak Catalan!" all the actresses shout.

In response to the flood of complaints, Mayor Jaume Collboni issued a statement on Instagram expressing "his most sincere apologies" for the theatrical performance. Collboni admitted an error in supervising the content and emphasized that "it in no way reflects the position or vision of the City Council." He rejected "any disdain for the Catalan language" and reaffirmed the council's "firm commitment" to the defense, protection, and promotion of Catalan. "We will continue working every day to strengthen the social use of our language in Barcelona," he said.

The second deputy mayor, Maria Eugènia Gay, also appeared to apologize and modify her initial statement. While this Thursday, in statements to ARA, he explained that "it is the satirical impression of a specific group, within the framework of freedom of expression, but in no way the City Council's view," and believed that women contribute "their perspective on some of the situations they perceive as discriminatory" as newcomers, this Friday's coverage was better known.

In statements to reporters, he asserted that there is "discontent within the governing team" and admitted responsibility: "We express our deep discontent and accept our mistake in not having supervised or not having fully understood the content of the performance that was to take place, especially since this government has no sympathy with the protesters." "This government has a firm commitment to the defense and promotion of the Catalan language, and in this regard, we will continue working tirelessly," he added. However, he ruled out any resignations within the municipal executive. When asked if the offensive fragment had been reviewed, he admitted that "this gag was obviously not included" during the prior review.

The apologies have not satisfied several political groups in the city council. The president of the Junts municipal group, Jordi Martí, considers the events "extremely serious" and described Gay's explanations as "insufficient." Martí pointed to Collboni, saying that "he has done nothing, but nothing means anything for Catalan to defend, promote, and disseminate the language of Catalonia."

Jordi Castellana, spokesperson for the ERC municipal group, has expressed a similar opinion. He considered that Catalan "does not have all its rights guaranteed" and demanded that the municipal government assume "responsibilities, beyond apologizing." Marc Serra, deputy spokesperson for Barcelona en Comú, also spoke out, describing the fragments of the work as "unfortunate" that "confront rights instead of guaranteeing them." He recalled that "more than 90% of the linguistic discrimination recorded in the report relates to speaking Catalan" and called for efforts to be focused on facilitating its learning, rather than fueling controversy."

A host of complaints

The Platform for the Language, which was present at the event because it is part of the panel of entities participating in the report, was the first to denounce these "supposedly humorous sketches that mock the linguistic rights of Catalan speakers and ridicule the defense of the language." For this reason, it has requested a rectification from the City Council, which had organized the event. At the same event, the Second Deputy Mayor, Maria Eugènia Gay, expressed her regret for the situation.

The Minister of Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila, stated that he felt "hurt" by the video, which "distorts reality" and "harms coexistence and social cohesion." ARA has attempted to contact the company.

Does Catalan discriminate, or vice versa?

—What's more important: that I speak Catalan or my health? That I speak Catalan or that I get a job? What's really important?

The personal situations exposed in the gags contrast with the reality shown by the surveys. The 2023 figures show that the majority of medical staff speak Spanish (50%) or bilingual, and only one in four doctors regularly speak only Catalan. In small businesses and large stores, the exclusive use of Catalan does not exceed 20%. In the State administration, 45% of communications are in Spanish. Furthermore, they collide with rights recognized by the Statute of Autonomy and the Constitution.

According to the 2024 Barcelona Discrimination Observatory Report, 99% of language discrimination reported by Barcelona residents is due to speaking Catalan. These discriminations have increased by 52% in one year, reaching 190, one every two days of the year. The Catalan government received 1,956 complaints or claims of violations of the linguistic rights of Catalan speakers during 2024: more than five official complaints a day for not being able to express themselves freely in Catalan.

Reactions on social networks

A video of the event was posted on YouTube at noon this Thursday, and reactions on social media were swift. For organizations working with the language, this is intolerable. Òmnium Cultural also denounced the City Council's support for "the ridicule and disregard for the linguistic rights of Catalan speakers" and for people learning Catalan. Òmnium, as well as Plataforma per la Llengua, Junts, and ERC (Catalan Revolutionary Party) are demanding an apology and public rectification from the council. Òmnium also demands that the Culture Commissioner, whom ERC agreed upon with Jaume Collboni at the beginning of the year, be finally created. Maria Eugènia Gay asserts that the commissioner's appointment will come soon and will serve to promote "new policies to reverse the decline in the regular use of Catalan in the city," just as they have already contributed to expanding the free Catalan courses offered to immigrants.