"Catalan for all": the reaction of civil entities to the situation of the language

BarcelonaThe figures on the situation of Catalan have provoked reactions from various fronts. On the one hand, Òmnium and Top Manta have denounced the lack of places to study Catalan. On the other hand, groups such as Junts and the CUP have pointed the finger directly at Spain. More than thirty entities, unions and organizations have already joined together to present, This Friday, the movement Catalan for everyone; in every neighborhood, in every school, in every job, which aims to promote universal access to learning and the use of Catalan. There are from Òmnium to UGT, Unió de Pagesos, FemCat, the Sindicato de Inquilinos, CECOT, the Chamber of Commerce and a long etcetera.

This Wednesday, Òmnium has already stated that the Catalan figures require "a response from the country", but in particular it has demanded from the Government an "immediate" action to increase the training places in Catalan. The president of the entity, Xavier Antich, has said that "there is no response to the demand" of the 2 million people who want to improve their level of Catalan.

"Migrants want to learn Catalan, but the administration makes it almost impossible" and "causes a lot of anguish and makes our irregular situation chronic", says the spokesperson for Top Manta, Aziz Faye. Faced with this situation, they are calling on the Generalitat to simplify the registration process, to keep the registration open throughout the course and to increase the number of courses on offer. They add that it is also the responsibility of society: "It is important to create social and neighbourhood networks and a fluid relationship with people of all origins, which facilitates conversations in the Catalan language."

The Platform for Language is calling for more commitment from the administrations: "Enforcing immersion, reinforcing audiovisual and socialisation spaces in Catalan, and committing to a collective identity that is explicitly open and linked to Catalan," says the president of the platform, Òscar Escuder. The entity attributes the situation of the language to "the discriminatory legal structure, the habit of changing to Castilian, the failure of immersion, demographic changes, the lack of audiovisual references and the siege of Spanishness."

From the role of the State to tools in the classroom

Juntos sees the decline of Catalan with "concern" and regrets the lack of help from Spain. "We have accepted not having help from Spain as normal. It would be very important if it existed," said the deputy from the Catalan Council, Francesc Ten. "If instead of a state against us we had a state in favour, this would grow," he added. The CUP has reproached the Government for "not mentioning" that behind the decline of Catalan "there is a responsible party, which is Spain and structural linguistic discrimination." The CUP deputy Pilar Castillejo has also pointed out the "laziness" of the last Governments of the Generalitat, "with policies with little commitment, cuts in culture and education, ignoring the linguistic conflict or subordinating themselves to the State or the Spanish courts." Castillejo has defended some of his proposals to reverse the situation, such as a "100% Catalan school", disobeying the rulings that impose quotas of Spanish or making "the entire administration speak in Catalan".

The majority educational union, Ustec, also wants "immediate and effective measures to reverse" the poor situation of Catalan. Its proposals include "ensuring Catalan as the only vehicular language in teaching, in all educational stages and educational areas", more resources for reception classrooms and free Catalan courses for all. They also demand "firm commitment on the part of the administration in the inspection and application of linguistic immersion" and improving linguistic and sociolinguistic training in teacher master's degrees.