Against Catalan, in Alicante

Having seemingly overcome the political problems of the last six months or so, Mazón and his government continue to push ahead with their reactionary agenda, aggravated by the fact that the far-right Vox party has become their partner in approving budgets, making them more dependent than ever. Mazón and his government, however, have managed to be reinstated in the Popular Party's presidential race through the front door, and Feijóo proudly vindicates his catastrophic governance, exemplified by the 227 deaths from the DANA (National Anti-Terrorism Program) while, as is typical, he blames the Spanish government.

One of the priorities shared by the PP and Vox is the ruthless offensive against public schools and teaching in Catalan, or Valencian. The Minister of Education, José Antonio Rovira, failed with the survey of families last March, since – contrary to what he, Mazón, and the Vox partners expected – the option of teaching in Valencian emerged as the winner. However, this does not discourage them from applying their steamroller against the language, an ultra-nationalist obsession that translates into a xenophobic policy against the language of the Valencians. The latest episode in this unfortunate story is the consent given by the Mayor of Alicante, Luis Barcala (PP), to Vox's demand for Consider Alicante as a Spanish-speaking area, to make the teaching of and in Valencian residual.

Alicante is not a Spanish-speaking area, nor has it ever been. The famous Spanish-speaking areas of the Valencian Country are eight regions with a large majority or all of the towns where Spanish is spoken, bordering Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, and Murcia: the Mijares Basin, Alto Palancia, Los Serranos, Rincón de Ademuz, La Plana de Utial, La Llanura de Utiel, and La Plana de Utiel Navarro. The 1983 Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian included an exemption for these regions, requiring the children of these families to study in Spanish. The exemption was supposedly temporary, but it is still applied today, just as it was approved forty-two years ago.

We can debate whether this exemption was a mistake or not, but in any case, it doesn't apply to the reality of Alicante, where Spanish is the majority language, but this doesn't justify considering it a Spanish-speaking area. However, Rovira, Mazón, and their government partners are determined to fight for the right and do everything possible to ensure that it becomes one.

We can add to this news the opening of the registration period in the Balearic Islands, with the option to check the box to choose Spanish as the language of instruction, also in accordance with the budget agreements with Vox. They don't intend to let up on the language-killing crusade, with the active collaboration of the Catalan-speaking PP leaders. It must be emphasized that what happens to Catalan in the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands also happens to the language as a whole. And they are tough to counter those governments willing to deny reality and change the rules in the process.