On the 9th, the last stage of the Correllengua Agermanat will take place in Brussels, a mobilization that has managed to unite the Catalan Countries, from end to end, in a popular race that is actually a declaration of collective esteem for the Catalan language. The Flame of Language has been passed on, from relay to relay, from hand to hand, through towns, cities, and islands, symbolically drawing a cultural and civic community that recognizes itself by the Catalan language. Everywhere (in Catalonia, in the Valencian Country, in the Balearic Islands, in L'Alguer), participation has been massive and has made the Correllengua Agermanat an act of self-affirmation with a truly massive mobilization capacity. And with a tone —as in Estellés's verse— festive, joyful, and combative, the result of the organization's excellent work, which has also taken up the baton from the history of the different Correllenguas, first celebrated in Mallorca in 1993.Just last Sunday, the Flame arrived in Palma, and the citizens' reception was once again enthusiastic and massive, as it was during the Yes to Language two years ago. The songs of the group Música Nostra (with the singing of La Balanguera as the closing act) and the speeches of the organizers —far from routine, certainly powerful— set the tone for a great civic affirmation of a feeling, but above all of a right: the inalienable right to live fully in one's own language and, therefore, to be the country we are and not another. The Palma event was so successful that the next day the spokesperson for Marga Prohens' party, Sebastià Sagreras, came out to congratulate the organizers of the Correllengua Agermanat and try to put a good face on it. Naturally, the Popular Party (which governs in the Balearic Islands not with the support, but on the orders of Vox) had turned a deaf ear to the call precisely until the moment of seeing (once again) thousands of people clamoring in the street for the language. The linguistic policy of the PP-Vox government in the Balearic Islands consists of suppressing or marginalizing Catalan from public life (in healthcare, in administrations, in education), although at the same time they try to perform a balancing act by avoiding what they call “linguistic confrontation”.Whatever the rulers do, the Correllengua Agermanat leaves a decisive message: there is a living, awake, and organized citizenry and civil society, with a large base of young people who are both children of deeply rooted families and recent immigrants, willing to defend Catalan and Catalan culture as a way of living and being in the world, and who will not allow it to be taken away from them. This realization should not lead to any triumphalism (the very existence of governments with Vox in the Catalan Countries makes the magnitude of the problem quite clear), but above all it nullifies the catastrophic discourses and hate speeches that want to present Catalan as a semi-dead language due to immigration. Enough whining and finger-pointing, and much more Flame.

The Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating an incident during the passage of the Correllengua Agermanat –the race that travels through Catalan-speaking territories to advocate for the unity and promotion of the language– through the town of Cardedeu, in Vallès Oriental. According to sources consulted by ARA, a person participating in the race suffered a wound to the neck that could have been caused by a projectile.

The Agermanat Correllengua will celebrate its central event on April 21st at Plaça Comercial in Barcelona with various musical groups from the Catalan Countries. This musical and cultural day will be a key point in the journey of the Flame of the Language, and will feature Auxili, Els Catarres, La Fúmiga, and Companyia Elèctrica Dharma, among other well-known groups and artists such as Júlia Colom, Mar Grimalt, La Maria, Pèl de Gall, Pitxorines and Xanguito, Abril, and Maxime Cayuela.According to the presentation, this event will take place at eight in the evening, after the arrival of the flame in the Catalan capital has already made its way through the city streets all afternoon. Beyond musical enjoyment, the Correllengua manifesto will also be read, in favor of the Catalan language and linguistic rights. Immediately after, the collective performance of the Correllengua song, Amb el cor, interpreted by the participating artists, can be seen. This song was featured by about twenty groups, among which La Gossa Sorda is also included, which is one of the few that will not attend the central event, according to the forecast. The day will conclude with the final concert by Auxili, which will close the celebration.The Correllengua Agermanat is a non-competitive popular relay race that aims to bring the Flame of the Catalan Language throughout the linguistic domain, with more than 1,500 kilometers to cover. The initiative, which was conceived by Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua in collaboration with a hundred entities, will start on April 19th in Perpignan and will end on May 5th in L'Alguer. Registrations to participate in the Correllengua have been open since March on its website.