July 14th, the French national holiday, to commemorate the end of the Bourbon monarchy and the establishment of a republic driven by easily embraceable universal values, such as liberty, fraternity, and equality. It was only fitting that in "Casablanca," the "Marseillaise" competed against a Nazi anthem to become the anthem of freedom sung with pride and courage by a group of Free Frenchmen, in one of the most moving scenes in cinema history. It would all be very beautiful if it weren't for the fact that in the name of this fraternal republic, France has pursued languages like Catalan to the point of self-loathing and extinction.It is similar to what the Spanish state has done in Catalonia. What it has done, and what it continues to do:The Supreme Court has ruled that Spanish cannot be excluded from the signage of public educational centers in Catalonia. He says that “Castilian is the official language throughout Spain, which means it is a language that cannot be excluded from communications between public authorities and citizens".As Sebastià Alzamora titles his article today, “if you are Spanish, speak Spanish”, which is what my parents had to hear in their youth during the dictatorship. It's the same old song, when it suits us we are Spanish (especially when it comes to paying taxes that go away and don't serve the well-being of Catalans) and when it suits us (always) our language is not Spanish enough. We know all this by heart and, even so, meanwhile, President Illa went to Madrid yesterday and signed Catalonia's loyalty to the State. A loyalty that, as we see, is not reciprocal and that, by dint of repetition, led to the logical conclusion of half the country wanting independence in 2017. Loyalty is only possible from equality. And what exists between Spain and Catalonia or between Spanish and Catalan is a Catalan subordination to the supremacy of the State over the province. The rest are rhetorical sleight of hand that no one can believe anymore. Or kind, almost pleading, ways of telling the Spanish that the current government of the Generalitat will not organize any October 1st for them. 

"Since this plenary session will be broadcast online and can be seen by everyone around the world, and surely many Venezuelans in South America, I will say it in Spanish: From Juntos we celebrate the fall of Mr. Maduro..." Jordi Puigneró, deputy mayor of Sant Cugat del Vallès and former vice president of the Catalan government, justified his switch to Catalan last Friday during the January plenary session. Since then, Puigneró has faced a barrage of criticism on social media for refusing to present his arguments in Catalan. This Tuesday, the Catalan Minister of Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila, seized on the situation, pointing out the double standards of the Junts party: "When push comes to shove, the standards they apply to themselves are more lenient than those they demand of others."

Dozens of Catalan writers, editors, agents and booksellers They are landing in Mexico, where from November 29 to December 7 the 39th edition of the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), the second most important book fair in the world, will be held, only surpassed by FrankfurtThe presence of Barcelona as the guest city of honor – with 80% of authors writing in Catalan and 20% in Spanish – is a good time to analyze What Catalan literature is read in the world And in which languages, what are the sector's strengths, and what challenges lie ahead?

This morning marked the 85th anniversary of the execution of President Lluís Companys by the Spanish government. The President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, laid a wreath at the foot of Companys's grave in the Fossar de la Pedrera in the Montjuïc Cemetery in Barcelona.