María Jesús Cañizares – 06/02/2020
Censorship exists in Catalonia. It is exercised by publishers and bookstores in Barcelona, Tarragona and Girona. This is stated by Jesús Rul Gargallo (Castellón, 1949), professor and retired inspector of Education, whose book on independentist indoctrination in schools has been banned in certain establishments. “That shows that in Catalonia we do not live in a free society,” he denounces in statements to Crónica Global.
Rul has become the scourge of nationalist proselytism in Catalan schools. In February 2017, he declared in the trial against former President Artur Mas and two members of his Government for the organization of the 9N independence consultation. As a witness, he said that “there they were interesed in the collaboration of inspectors with what their superiors said,” to facilitate the delivery of the keys of the high schools hosting the polls.
His book “Catalan Nationalism and school indoctrination. Strategy and practice of social control and behavioral modeling.“ In it, I evaluate the cases of indoctrination, the link between nationalism and education, until reaching the fracture of the constitutional order in 2017,” explains Rul, is about the impact of the pro-independence process on the Catalan education system . It was published at the end of 2019, but the problems started earlier. “I tried a publishing house in Barcelona, but it didn’t interest them. Finally, it was a Salamanca firm, Amarante, which published it. ” The prologue is in charge of the politician and writer Maite Pagazaurtundúa.
Third edition
The author also tried that a bookshop in Barcelona would host the presentation of the book. He visited one, but refused to celebrate the event, which finally took place at the headquarters of Impulso Ciudadano, an association that promotes and defends political, ideological, linguistic and cultural pluralism in Spain, as well as the values contained in the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
The difficulties continued, because in Reus (Tarragona) he also did not find bookstores willing to sell copies of his book. Something similar happened in Girona. “I think the book brings benefits, it is already in its third edition. But what happened has a great political and symbolic charge. ” These establishments do have books for sale in defense of the pro-independentist project.
Ideological neutrality
“Nationalism has penetrated social, economic and cultural life so much that even censorship is achieved,” he laments. Rul states that these bookstores do not argue their rejection. “In a free society this cannot happen. But in Catalonia we do not live in a free society. Curiously, the nationalists are the first to claim freedom of thought and expression. ”
The teacher affirms that ideological neutrality in the educational system “is fundamental”.
The inspector plans to present the book, which can be purchased at large distributors, in Lleida, Valencia, Zaragoza, Madrid and Seville. What happened demonstrates, in his opinion, that “the process has not died. From Catalanism we have passed to an exclusive vision where everything that is Spanish is foreign, it is the enemy. And after 40 years, it is very difficult to reverse. ”
Coexistence of citizens
The book is dedicated to the coexistence of the citizens of Catalonia, which according to its author “has been broken. It will be very difficult to overcome that. Reversing the situation will take a long time. And it is necessary that the Government, the Courts and the Judiciary make the right decisions. ”
Rul is a retired inspector, promoter of the Inspectio Project, which brings together inspectors and education inspectors who defend the exercise of their profession independently.
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