Carles Francino
Sunday, 07/07/2019 | Updated 08/07/2019 – 09:46
It has been clear for some time to me that drawing up plans is a rather useless exercise, because it is often life itself which dislocates you; for better or worse. If when I was on TV-3 someone would have predicted that I would go back to Madrid and the radio, I would have had only one doubt: how much I had drunk, or what the prophet’s apprentice had smoked. And yet, here I am. At this point I find the question of whether I have problems to live and work in Madrid burdensome, although I have a catalog of smiles and gestures of commitment to not bother my interlocutor, be Catalan or Castilian; be in an angry mood or simply trying a resource to start a conversation.
On the other hand my reserves of patience are quite minor when I have been raised that the linguistic issue in Catalonia could be a problem of the first order and that is why it had to be taken to court. I have had notable fights, some of them motivated by the ignorance of the ones talking to me; but others directly from the desire to piss off that some have. But I have never denied that the model of linguistic normalization can be revised; because it does not convince me that the claims presented are dismissed by referring to the general consensus and claiming that they are a minority. Everything is improvable. And the linguistic fiber is too sensitive not to exercise extreme caution. That is why I am disturbed – and sickened – by insults like de ones coming from the spokeswoman of the Govern, Meritxell Budó, or from the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, Joan Canadell, when asked by journalists in Spanish.
We are pestered enough by those who have abolished the use of the word ‘Spain’ from the common vocabulary, replacing it with an ethereal, ridiculous and offensive ‘Spanish state’. But presently there is something more serious, because the acceptance -and success- of linguistic normalization was based on a pact: we learn, protect and strengthen Catalan -although Castilian is the majority- because it is a social elevator and because both languages coexist on the street without problem. If signs are sent that this pact has been broken, it could amount to a declaration of war. I heard years ago the imperial command “¡Speak in Spanish, fuck!”; if someone wants to replace it with “¡Speak in Catalan, collons!”, it is quite clear that only the genitals change. The brain and mood are the same. Idiots and sectarians.
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