#blaverisme

[useless-catalanfacts]

Forgive my simplifying this or not understanding the nuances as well as I could have, but with what seems to be so much historic, linguistic, and cultural overlap (at least with certain touchstones), is there a reason Catalans and Valencians have branched in identity?

Hello! Sorry for the delay in answering. I've been very busy so I don't have time to add sources for everything as I always try to do, but I'll give you the terms so you can do your own research.

The identity of being Valencian, Catalan, Balearic, etc or from more specific areas like Penedès, Pyrenean, etc don't necessarily mean these people don't also identify in general terms as Catalan (Catalan Countries). Most people identify with different levels. For example, this is how I would say my identity: I am from my town, I am from Penedès (the cultural area within Catalonia), I am from Catalonia, I am Catalan from the Catalan Countries, and I am Mediterranean. They aren't exclusive, all the contrary.

That being said, it's true that there are people (increasing in number) who are Valencian and their Valencian identity has diverged from the broader Catalan Countries identity, or are from Catalonia and their identity as Catalan is limited to Catalonia. In the Valencian case, this tends to be people who don't speak Valencian/Catalan (you'll see why in the post), but there are even some who do.

Catalans and Valencians have historically (since the conquest in 1200s) been part of the same people, as they themselves often talked about back then (they called themselves the same nation). Catalans moved south and settled in what became the Catalan-speaking part of the Valencian Country, and Aragonese people moved south and settled in the inland that eventually became the Spanish-speaking part (eventually Aragonese got substituted by Spanish). The kings were the same in both, families were related in both, the language was/is the same, the books that circulated were in both, etc. It was not perceived as different, but because of how the Catalan political system worked, each area that they invaded was made into its own kingdom: Kingdom of Mallorca and the Kingdom of València were created in this moment. These kingdoms were part of the same system, more or less in a federation with Catalonia and Aragon. (Aragon was always seen as more different because it had its own separate history/legacy and legal privileges.)

Now, fast forward some centuries. After all the kingdoms of this Catalan-Aragonese federation are conquered by the Castillian armies in the War of the Spanish Succession (ending in 1715), all these federated kingdoms lose their independence and become simply part of Spain. When Spain organizes its administrations, it does so under a system of provinces, and the provinces are not allowed to group themselves together (that's why the Mancomunitat de Catalunya in 1914-1923, the first time that provinces were allowed to put together their money and do a few things together, was such an important thing at the time, even though it was almost purely symbolic).

A strong repression follows, which will continue very strongly with Franco's fascist dictatorship (1939-1978). During all of this long time of repression, the Catalanophobic Spanish nationalists tried the "divide and win" strategy, creating theories that said the Catalan Countries have nothing to do with each other and putting us against each other (saying x other area wants to steal your history and claim it as theirs —when in reality it's a common history— and this kind of statements). Some of these movements manufactured by the fascists only convinced a handful of people and never got far, for example the "Leridanismo" movement, which said that the Lleida area (Western Catalonia) isn't actually Catalonia. This will sound absolutely ridiculous to anyone now (and already sounded absolutely ridiculous to most people back then), but when the government is the one deciding education and funding institutions... Well, some times it works. In Lleida it didn't because it has literally zero things to base itself on, but in the Valencian Country it sank in a little bit (not much at first) because there's the (real) claim that the Kingdom of Valencia used to be its own entity (in federation with Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Aragon, and at times parts of what now is Italy).

Meanwhile, the education system was very reduced and extremely controlled by the government (later, a fascist dictatorship). Many people didn't go to school or went only for a few years, so many people didn't know much outside their town and the city they go to market in. Many people didn't know any history, they knew the language they speak but they didn't know what is spoken where or how far away other places are. This is normal in the kind of society 1940s-1950s Iberia was. So these people would go to school and be taught (by the fascist dictatorship's schools) that Spain is an eternal empire chosen by God to wage the holy crusade etc etc etc and the province division. Thus, the government wanted to make people identify only with Spain, and to a little extent the province they're in, but erase the idea of larger nations that could be stronger together.

Towards the end of the dictatorship and when the dictatorship ended (1978), the Valencian Country was where Catalan independentism was the strongest. For context, the dictatorship ended when the dictator Franco died peacefully of old age in bed (1975) and then starts a period where the fascist government tries to reorganize to keep as many things the same while giving in to a minimum of democracy to be internationally respected as a modern country. In this context, one of their obsessions was to keep the subjugation of the nations (that's why, for example, when political parties were legalized, the only parties that were kept illegal were the ones who were pro-independence). Here enters the strategy to divide the Catalan Countries: blaverism.

Blaverism is a political movement that was funded by the far right-wing Spanish nationalists that claims that the Valencian Country has nothing to do with the rest of the Catalan Countries. It denies the existence of the Catalan Countries, and says that the Valencian language is it's own separate language instead of just the historical term for the Catalan language in the Valencian Country. They deny the term "Valencian Country" because they consider "country" a word that is too strong because, to them, the Valencian Country is nothing more than a Spanish region. They also make a lot of pseudohistorical claims that make absolutely no sense, for example saying that "Valencian" was already spoken there before the Catalan conquest (?????) and some even say that "Valencian" cannot be related to Catalan because while Catalan is obviously a Romance language (=language that comes from Latin) "Valencian" is a language that doesn't come from Latin but from Ancient Iberian itself (????????????? For context, Ancient Iberian is a non-Indoeuropean language that hasn't been desciphered). At this point you're probably wondering if these people can really be that stupid to believe this, and to be fair I don't believe that many people who defend these theories actually believe in them, at least not the "higher-ups". But that's why they need to keep people ignorant. First of all, they took advantage of already-existing Catalanophobia and accentuated it a lot, leading to a new wave of neonazi anti-Catalan(Valencians speakers included) violence during what was called the Battle of València (1970s-1990s). Since everyone who grows up within the Spanish system and society is taught Catalanophobia, many people (including Catalans) can be very Catalanophobic. This internalised Catalanophobia was used to make Valencians more easily convinced of whatever stupid theories they were told, because some of them wanted to believe anything that would tell them they aren't Catalans and they can distance themselves from those horrible, stupid, annoying, arrogant, stingy Catalans.

But now you'll be thinking: "okay, people are willing to believe what will prove them right and make them feel good without having to rethink who they consider worthy of existing or being equal and who they don't. But how can you claim Catalan and Valencian are two different languages, when they're less different than American English is to England English? And when people from Northern Valencian Country speak in the same way as people from Southern Catalonia, while people their dialect is more different from the dialects from other parts of Valencia and other parts of Catalonia?". This is why they desperately need ignorance and still to this day use the law to create it.

On the left: map of the dialects and accents of Catalan. On the right: map of the Catalan Countries with the territorial divisions. You can see how the territorial divisions don't match at all with the dialectal areas, with the exceptions of Northern Catalonia and the islands because of their isolation.

When the dictatorship ended, Spain's system has continued to be based on the region system (called comunidades autónomas). Each region has its own regional government with limited power over certain things (nothing even close to the degree of autonomy that the states of the USA have, or Scotland and Wales in the UK, but it's something). This means that each region has its own of certain things, such as TV channels.

When the TV and radio channels for each region started, you could watch them from anywhere you wanted as long as there were towers/posts that sent the signal there. Since in the Valencian Country, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands we speak the same language, it was common for people to watch the TV channel or listen to the radio they liked from either. This was nice because it meant we had more choice than only 1 TV channel in our language. But this also meant that everyone knew that we speak the same language and can understand each other perfectly. So in 2011, when the PP (right-wing Spanish nationalist) party was in the government of the Valencian Country, they decided to ban Catalonia's TV channel in the Valencian Country, and ban the Valencian TV channel in Catalonia. There were many demonstrations in the Valencian Country and many Valencians tried to keep up pirate signal towers, but the government sent people to saw them down and legally persecuted those who put up the towers. This continues nowadays. With modern TVs, we don't need repetition towers because it works through the internet: we can see the regional TVs and radios of all the regions (Castilla, Madrid, Galicia, Aragón, Extremadura, Cantabria, Andalucía, Murcia, etc)... except for Catalonia's if you're in València, and València's if you're in Catalonia. (I went more in depth about the illegalization and persecution of Catalonia's TV and radio stations in the Valencian Country in this post linked here, it's in Catalan but you can copy-paste it on Google translate if you're interested). This means that now we aren't in communication, we don't follow what happens there are much, and people might become less familiar with other accents. In conclusion, we are being isolated from each other. This way, people are more likely to believe blaverists when they say "those aren't like us", because they don't know what "those" are like.

This "each region have its thing which mustn't be shared with any other" thing also applies to symbols. Each region has its flag. Since the Middle Ages, all the Catalan Countries and Aragon had the same flag (the four red bars on a yellow background, which is the shield of the House of Barcelona). But the Spanish regional system demanded every area to have its own "regional flag". Catalonia kept its historical flag, but the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands made up a new flag when the region system was being reorganized at the transition from dictatorship to democracy (the Valencian Country's current flag was created in 1982). This new Valencian flag was made by adding a new design of the blue ribbon with a crown on the historical (Catalan) flag. "Blue" in Catalan/Valencian is "blau", thus the term "blaverista" (literally it would mean "blue-erist") because they were the ones who used this new non-historical flag just to be separate from Catalonia. For a few decades, this flag was seen as a very political symbol and you could guess the ideology of those who used it, but over time, after so many years of the governments having it hanging and the newest generations seeing it around as the only flag of their area and studying it in school as the flag of their region, to the young generations it's becoming a less political flag and it's being accepted as simply what the Valencian flag is. This is another very visible example of how shared cultural symbols are artificially separated to make us look more different from each other than we are.

The same isolation applies to other things, including the school system. Each region in the state of Spain studies Spain things in general (history, geography, etc) and some things specific to their region (for example, in Catalonia you learn all the counties of Catalonia and their capitals, in Valencia the same for the counties in Valencia, etc) which means that we are artificially kept apart from the places of our nation that are outside of our region in the Spanish region system.

Now, for all these reasons, it's increasingly more common for people from the Valencian Country to be ignorant about Catalonia (and believe only the stereotypes), and for people from Catalonia to be ignorant about the Valencian Country (and believe the stereotypes). Add to this the huge amount of hatred against Catalonia that the Spanish nationalist political parties rely on in the Valencian Country for votes. As a result, Catalonia is villainized in the Valencian Country, and the Valencian Country is invisibilized in Catalonia.

To sum up, Spanish nationalism keeps us isolated from each other and tries to make us hate each other. This is possible thanks to ignorance and already-existing Catalanophobia, as well as a reinforcement of regional identities and the Spanish identity to counter the Catalan-Countries identity. It's worth adding that this is such a common tactic done by imperialist countries to dilute and kill the local languages that the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages warns against it and prohibits, among other things, banning peoples from receiving the TV and radio signals of other areas that speak their same language. Spain has ratified this charter but still violates it.

I talked about this topic previously in this answer about the language issue, it might be useful to you:

There could be many more things to say and examples to give, but I think this is enough for now. I hope it makes it more understandable now. Thank you for your interest!

As always, of course, everyone but especially Valencians are more than welcome to comment everything you want to say.

[no-passaran]

Bon dia. I've had a question on mind — and it's not very important — but it seems you would be a good person to ask. Say all the Catalan countries become independent together (good for you!). Would people use the term 'Catalunya' to refer to Catalonia proper (aka, the current comunitat autònoma), or would it refer to the whole country? Would the name of the country be 'the Catalan republic', or would it be the 'Catalan republics?' I'm just curious as to how people would distinguish. Cheers!

Bon dia! That's a very good question, and something that has been debated but in the past decade or so has kind of disappeared from the public debate, at least outside of the Valencian Country.

It would most certainly be "Catalan Countries", but since you asked I'm going to give a more complete answer so as to not hide any position on this debate.

First of all, it's important to say that the matter of names is very itchy in the Valencian Country, so that is where most of the naming debate is centered. Not only the name of the whole nation, but even the name of the “Valencian Country” itself (right-wing positions, and the official position from the Spanish government, is that is must be “Valencian Community”), and questioning the name is really, after all, questioning the unity with a very clear political agenda.

Something that is argued about a lot is whether the language as spoken in the Valencian Country should be called only “Valencian” or if “Valencian” is synonymous with “Catalan”. Now, this may seem like a stupid debate (and it is lol, it's obvious that it's the same language when there's less differences between Valencian and the Catalan from the rest of the Catalan Countries than between British and American English) but it has a very clear intention: the people who argue against the unity of the language (and the unity of culture, history, etc) do so with the ultimate objective of making Valencian-Catalan disappear. Simple as that, it’s the old “divide and you will win”. If you want to look for more information, this movement is called “blaverisme” and its followers “blaveristes” or “blaveros”, it was created in the 1970s by the Spanish nationalist right-wing to divide and weaken the Valencianist movement.

I’ll link you to two posts by @useless-catalanfacts where this is explained: here it explains more about blaverism, and here is an interesting post about how and why blaverism made airing Catalan TV illegal in the Valencian Country. The second post is in Catalan but I’ve checked and if you run it through Google Translate it does a good job.

But let’s leave these fascists beside, and see what more honest people have said.

Nowadays, when we say Catalunya we mean Catalonia alone. So Catalonia is Catalonia alone, the Valencian Country is the Valencian Country/Community and the Balearic Islands are the Balearic Islands, and all of them together are the Catalan Countries (with Andorra and l'Alguer too, though these wouldn't be part of the independent country because Andorra is already independent and doing well on its own and l'Alguer is isolated and would probably rather stay with Sardinia). However, because of what I've mentioned before, fascists say that saying "Catalan Countries" is wrong and erases the Valencian Country, ignoring everything about Valencian history, language and society on purpose. This position that started being defended only by fascist movements has spread to a wider amount of those people who consider themselves "apolitical" as a result of decades of right-wing government in the Valencian Country and the help from Spanish media. Valencian activists and left-leaning people in general or people who simply want the Valencian language to survive use the term "Catalan Countries" and consider, as has always been the case, Valencian language to be synonymous with Catalan language.

So it would seem easy, "Catalan Countries" is the term used. But it's not the only option: the most prominent Valencian intellectuals who have written about this have sometimes said that the whole Catalan Countries should be called "Catalonia". This is a position that most people who haven't read quite a lot about the national liberation struggle from our own writers (as the huge majority of the population hasn't) aren't familiar with nowadays. It would seem strange that someone would propose that, and our first reaction (including mine) is to think that's wrong, and that it's giving blaverists (the right-wing pricks who complain that speaking Valencian is "Catalanizing" the Valencian Community, and these people consider becoming similar to Catalans as the worst thing that could happen) an excuse to attack us even more. In that case, Catalonia itself would be referred to as "el Principat", I assume, as we already call it sometimes.

And by saying Valencian intellectuals I don't mean some obscure guy nobody has heard about, I mean even Joan Fuster (author of Nosaltres, els valencians, or "We, Valencians", the most important book about Valencian identity and national politics).

However, calling all the Catalan Countries "Catalonia" has only ever been popular among some sectors of Valencian activists decades ago. The most common way of saying it has always been, and it remains to be, Catalan Countries.

To anyone from Catalonia, calling all of them "Catalonia" would look like a mistake, and I think a lot of people from the other areas might not like it and would think it's weird. I don't defend calling it all "Catalonia", since we already have the term "Catalan Countries" which is the widespread term and is also much clearer imo. Tbh if I saw someone calling Mallorca or Alacant "Catalonia" I would think that person has made a mistake, that's how little used this option is.

I think the name would be Catalan Republic, or at least that's how we always refer to it, but it's true that since about 2014 we don't consider that all the Catalan Countries will become independent at the same time, so the Catalan Republic will be Catalonia at first, and then see who wants to join. So when we say Catalan Republic we mostly mean independent Catalonia. The project of the independent Catalan Countries is always decentralized, usually what is talked of is a federation of the different areas, so it would make sense if each area would be one of the republics, and using the term in plural. I had never heard of or thought of using the plural there, but it would make sense.

Tl;dr: it's Catalan Countries, Catalonia is (98% of the time) only Catalonia proper, and I'm not sure about Catalan Republic or Republics but probably just Republic.

[germandejuana]

jordiborras : RT MoissPrez: El revifar del gonellisme, blaverisme a la balear. A ElTemps_cat …… https://t.co/uzvaFntMSE

jordiborras : RT MoissPrez: El revifar del gonellisme, blaverisme a la balear. A ElTemps_cat … https://t.co/58EOUg5pUJ) http://pic.twitter.com/0nF5Sr7Czk

— German d Juana DUI (@GermanDeJuana) August 16, 2017

via Twitter https://twitter.com/GermanDeJuana August 16, 2017 at 02:40PM

[useless-catalanfacts]

As you've discussed in your blog there's a distinction between Catalans and Valenciansin terms of identity, is there also one for Balearics?

(Sorry it took me a few days to answer, I've been very busy lately and I didn't have time to write a long post.)

First of all, I wouldn't quite say there is a distinction between Valencian and Catalan identity, because for many there isn't. For many Valencians, it's obvious that Valencians are part of the Catalan Countries, but there are right-wing groups who try very hard to push the idea that they're completely different, ignoring uhhh.... All of history, language and most of culture, and basing on pseudohistory, a handful of dialectal/accent differences and mostly a lot of Catalanophobia and Spanish nationalism/supremacy (some of this groups are openly fascist/neo-nazi). I know you're simplifying in order to ask the question, but I just wanted to make it clear.

For those new to the argument, I'll link to a previous post talking about Blaverism (the right-wing movement to consider the Valencian Country separate from the rest of the Catalan Countries, only a region of Spain, justified with conspiracy theories that contradict every serious historian and linguist):

To answer your question: in the Balearic Islands, it hasn't really happened. Technically it exists, it's the posture known as "neogonellisme", but it's soooo small that most people have never heard about it, and very often (as we'll see below) it's imposed from outside of the Balearic islands. In the (extremely few) cases where people from the Balearic Islands have defensed this, it was always Spanish nationalists who wrote exclusively in Spanish (mostly Antoni Alemany). When there's people in the Balearics who want to distance themselves from the rest of the Catalan Countries, it's usually just Spanish nationalism with Mallorcan regionalism, not an indentity in itself (like the now dead Centro Cultural Mallorquí and the still "active" Grupo d'Acció Baléà, Catalanophobic groups created by copying the Valencian blaverist groups).

I've only heard of the existence of these groups years ago when I was doing research into Blaverism, but I've never heard any Balearic person consider that their language isn't Catalan or that they're culturally something else. I know many Mallorcans, some Menorcans and an Eivissan and I think they'd be surprised to hear about this micro-movement.

However, right-wing Spanish groups are trying to push this idea there, since the "divide and conquer" strategy kind of worked in the Valencian Country. For example, the conservative politician Pablo Casado (of the PP party, he's from Castille) went to the Balearic Islands and gave a speech saying "what you speak in the Balearics isn't Catalan, you speak Mallorcan, Menorcan, Ibizan and Formenteran". Basically, this dude who doesn't even speak the language comes to tell us what is it that we speak lmao, but not only that, he says that each island speaks a different language! If I hadn't heard him on the news and knew about the Blaverism he's trying to copy, I would think this was made up as a joke. Sadly, a few time later, the Spanish so-called "left" wing party Podemos also copied this idea and tried to pass a law saying that Catalan in the Balearic Islands from now on should be called "Balearic". Both of this things were widely mocked, of course, since they don't make any sense and everyone considered them ridiculous.

So yeah, the idea exists, but it mostly comes from Spanish people who don't even speak the language and who try to convince us of it for purely ideological reasons, not because they actually believe it's something different. However, very few people actually believe it or defend it so it's basically seen as a joke, unlike Valencian Blaverism which is a bigger movement and well-organised in neo-nazi or philofascist organizations that have even attacked people for it and often get books banned for being written in "Barceloni", have prohibited Catalan TV and radio stations in the Valencian Country, etc., as we explained before.

[useless-catalanfacts]

What do you think about the idea that Valencian is a separate language from Catalan? I'm pretty sure you don't agree with it but do you think it's harmful? What do you think are the motivations behind it?

Yes, it's harmful because it was created to be harmful.

A while ago I answered a similar ask about the main talking points of blaverism. That post is more "academic", in a way, as in you'll find citations and a serious breakdown of the arguments. You can find the post here:

But to focus on your question, you guessed right, I don't believe they're different languages. It's obvious to anyone who speaks the language that Catalan and Valencian are the same language. It's like saying that British English and American English are different languages. Actually, it's even less different than dialects/accents from different parts of inside England itself.

Many languages have historically had more than one name, but that doesn't change the fact that it's the same. For example, nobody claims that "castellano" and "español" are different languages just because two words exist for it. Throughout history and places, Catalan has had many names: Limousin, Catalan, Valencian, Mallorcan, Tortosan, etc. But that doesn't stop it for being the same language.

And the variant of Catalan spoken in the Valencian Country is more similar to the variant of Catalan spoken in Western Catalonia, than Western Catalonia is to Eastern Catalonia.

Even if you don't speak the language, just looking at history it's obvious that they're the same language.

(the label "Castilian" means "Spanish")

Nobody doubts that the language from Andalucía is a variant of Spanish (even though Andalusian dialect is far more different from Northern Spanish than any sub-dialect of Valencian is to its most farther away sub-dialect of any other variant of Catalan). In Seville they speak Spanish for the same historical reason that in València they speak Catalan, as a result of the Medieval expansion of the Christian kingdoms after the Islamic conquest.

The idea that Valencian is a separate language was spread by Spanish supremacist right-wing in the 1970s, in the political context of the Transition (end of Franco's dictatorship, begging of the democracy). At the moment, the Valencian Country was the place with a stronger pro-independence movement in all Spain. This movement was in favour of the independence of the Catalan Countries (the Valencian Country, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands). Spreading "blaverism" (the ideology that Valencians have nothing to do with Catalans, that the language is different, that the history is completely separate) was a political strategy defended mostly by the right-wing (the political parties that has championed this idea the most are UCD and PP). The objective was to divide Catalans, turn us against each other, make us waste time arguing about pointless things instead of organizing, and to have an official set of excuses to use to separate us and implement anti-Catalan (=anti-Valencian) legislation.

It was mostly spread by UCD when they lost the 1977 regional elections in Valencia. They had an idea that is recurrent in Spanish politics which is "hey, let's use hatred towards Catalans to win votes!" and so they based their political strategy on that. (Same as Lerrouxism had done before, C's would do later, and Vox also first gained significance only with this).

It doesn't make any sense for anyone who speaks the language, it's so unbelievable that they're different languages and it would require a huuuuuge ignorance of any history whatsoever to deny the existence of the Crown of Aragon and the Catalan population of the Kingdom of Valencia. But they don't care, because it's not about culture or language or history: it's about ideology, (internalized) Catalanophobia and Spanish supremacy.

Blaverists don't (in 95% of cases) defend Valencia as its own culture or identity. It wouldn't be such a problem if they did. No, instead what they do is defend that Valencian culture doesn't exist per se, it's only a regional variant of being Spanish, ~but completely different from those Catalan rats because we don't want to be like them they're bad Spaniards pls Madrid senpai notice us we're good spanish patriots!~. That last sentence was me patronizing what they say, but it's not exaggerated at all. They even deny that the Valencian Country can be called "Valencian Country" (a historical name that Valencian people elected as their own in a referendum, but Spain last minute decided not to listen to) because they don't consider it a country but a Spanish region, and made up a conspiracy theory with no historical nor linguistic basis saying that Valencian is a different language and was already spoken before Jaume I's conquest... 🤦 (before the conquest, people spoke Arabic, and centuries before there had also been Mozarabic but it had gone extinct by the 12th century).

The worst thing is that blaverists have been violent too. As I said before, it's a movement whose most active members are far right-wing groups, often openly neo-nazi. The conflict reached its peak in the 1970s and 1980s during what was called "the battle of València", but continued to the 1990s, and has been responsible for attacking Valencian intellectuals, scholars, activists and bookshops. Think just as an example how many times Joan Fuster's home was attacked with bombs!

That is a summed up explanation of the motivations of blaverism, but there would be so much to be said about it. During the years that the conservative party PP was in the Valencian government, they applied many policies in this direction. For example, did you know that in Spain each "comunidad autónoma" (administrative region) has its own TV and radio channels and we all can see all of them, except Valencians and Catalans? I live in Catalonia, I can watch the channel from Andalusia, Madrid, Galicia, whatever I want... Except for the Valencian one. And in València, they can watch again every channel they could want... Except the ones from Catalonia. Because the PP government made it literally illegal. Things like this are done to stop us from hearing the other, to make it easier that when a young Valencian person is told "Catalan is something else entirely", they will never have heard a person from Catalonia speak their same language and they'll be more likely to believe it.

So I'm sure there's someone who actually believes it, but tbh most people who claim to believe in the conspiracy theory that they're different languages and that Valencian comes from something older (I've even seen some claim that it comes from Ancient Iberian and not from Latin 🤯) ... I doubt they can actually believe it? It's so stupid and requires ignoring so much evidence for something that has zero evidence, I'm sure many of the leaders who say it (I'm thinking for example Jiménez Losantos, who yes is a fascist, but he has an education) are more focused on spreading that idea to further their ideological agenda of dividing the Catalan Countries to make us weaker, and not because they actually believe it. But, sadly, some people are fervent defenders of it, whether or not they actually believe it.

Needless to say, everyone is welcome to add to this post, especially Valencians.

[useless-catalanfacts]

For the previous ask, this 👆 is the post where I went into historical and linguistic explanation about blaverisme!

Hi! I consider myself a Països Catalans ally & I support Catalonia, Valencia or any other region/country currently under Spanish rule struggling for the right to self determination. I've been living in Valencia for almost two years and I was wondering if could talk about what are some of the arguments I can use against anti-pancatalism ideologies and catalanophobic statements. You can reply in Catalan if it makes more sense--I just really want more people to read this. Gràcies per el teu temps!

(You can include Catalan sentences/mottos and terms if you think they are important. I can speak Catalan so if they can be used in an argument I'd love to know these. Thank you again for your time and the effort you put into this blog!) 

Thank you very much for your support! And sorry I took so long to answer, I received the ask during exams week and really didn’t have time and the blog was running on queue.

I will go over some of the main arguments I’ve heard, but sadly there is a significant amount of people who will not listen to reason about this topic.

Since this is a long post, the answer is under the “read more”.

Before getting into the arguments, it’s worth remembering the origins of blaverisme. In the late1970s-1980s, during the period known as Transition to Democracy (when the Spanish fascist dictator Franco died of old age), the Valencian Country was the “region” of Spain with a higher percentage of independentists.

I’ll add a quote by the Valencian sociologist Vicent Flor, who has studied the origins of blaverism: “[...] a la majoria de blavers no se’ls pot considerar nacionalistes valencians. Si de cas, regionalistes espanyols. En efecte, el debat identitari [al País Valencià] s’ha centrat en la filiació amb Catalunya, una cosa clara, i no en qüestions com ara el paper que el valencià ha de tindre a l’esfera pública. Hem discutit massa si cal dir-ne petit o xicotet i no tant de la necessitat que la llengua fora present als mitjans de comunicació, per exemple. M’agradaria que rere el blaverisme hi haguera un valencianisme sincer, però els meus estudis, malauradament, no apunten en aquesta direcció.” (taken from here) It’s important to remember that blaverism is a mask for Spanish nationalism, and is not a real Valencian nationalism.

Now I’ll talk about 3 arguments that seem to be central in blaverisme.

1. “They are different languages”

This is the argument that says Valencian and the Catalan from Catalonia are different languages, sometimes saying that Mallorcan is a third separate language, too. More absurd theories derive from this, such as “Catalans / pancatalanists want to impose Catalan when Valencians from x place always spoke Spanish” (mostly used in Alacant). All of this is, of course, false.

Valencian dialects are closer to the dialects of Western Catalonia than Western Catalonia’s are to Eastern Catalonia. (Below I include the map of dialects of Catalan-Valencian. The dotted line separates the Eastern block and the Western block, which are the most noticeable differences), so it makes no sense to separate Valencian and the Catalans from Catalonia.

The reason for that similarity is because the Catalan language originated in the North of Catalonia and spread to the rest of the territory in the Middle Ages with the conquests. When the Kingdom of Valencia was conquered, people from Western Catalonia moved in, who brought the Western Catalan dialect. In the same way, the Balearic Islands were repopulated with people from Eastern Catalonia who brought the Eastern Catalan dialect and accent. In fact, because of this spread, Catalan-Valencian is a pretty homogeneous language when compared to others.

There’s crazy theories such as saying that (and I’m not kidding) Valencian derives from Ancient Iberian, unlike Catalan which derives from Latin. That shouldn’t even need an explanation on why it’s false.

The most common conspiracy theory is that Valencian derives from the Mossarabic (Romance languages spoken by the Christians during the Islamic rule) spoken before Jaume I’s conquest. This is false, linguists and historians say Mossarabic had already been extinct for a couple of centuries prior to Jaume I’s arrival. What they spoke then in Valencia was Arabic, until the repopulation of the coast with people from Western Catalonia spread Catalan and the repopulation of the interior by Aragonese people spread Aragonese which later got replaced by Spanish. (Though Arabic remained one of the most spoken languages in many parts of the Valencian Country until the expulsion of the Moriscos, but definitely not Mossarabic).

The words “Catalan” and “Valencian” have been used interchangeably since the 15th century at least, and we have written documents that prove that. There are texts that use both terms to mean the same. Or for example, the Valencian writer Ausiàs March (1400-1459), who is sometimes pointed at by blaveros as a symbol of Valencianism, spoke the same way his grandparents from Catalonia did. So which language was that?

It’s obvious that it doesn’t make any sense to say that someone from València and someone from Tortosa or Lleida speak different languages, and it would be easily proven false by just... listening to the other. Many Spanish-speaking people from the Valencian Country who don’t speak Valencian-Catalan well believe Valencian and other forms of Catalan are different languages because they hear the Eastern Catalan accent and it sounds different. But just put sentences in Valencian and sentences in Eastern Catalan next to each other and they’re the same, there are very few different words besides two verb conjugations.

This doesn’t make any sense linguistically, but I honestly doubt anyone who goes as far as to deny that two variants with such minor differences are different languages would listen to arguments. It’s just so absurd. Maybe you could ask them if they think when Mexicans say “pinche pendejo” that makes Mexican a different language from Spanish.

Other things in this point that I think are worthy to consider:

The fear of a country’s language, history and culture being erased and having another one’s imposed is legitimate. València has suffered that, and so has Catalonia. But the imposition does NOT come from Catalonia, it comes from Spain (Spain as the homogenized Castilla). Why would they fear this imposition coming from Catalans (which are not doing it), but not fear it from Spain (who has been working against Valencian language and identity for centuries and continues every day)? One of the mottos of blaverisme is “no mos fareu catalans” (“you won’t make us Catalan”), but they don’t put any effort into a potential “no mos fareu castellans”.

If they’re worried about a standard version of the language (not necessarily the Central Catalonia standard, because the Valencian standard is the one used in books, media and schools in the Valencian Country) replacing “what people actually speak like” then that’s great, they could focus on preserving local variants, words, expressions... But the vast majority of blaveros have no interest in that, they only use this argument to charge against the Catalan-Valencian used in schools, TV, radio, books... That’s why they say that standard Valencian is copying Catalan from Catalonia (it’s not, it’s regulated by a Valencian academy), so they can attack even Valencia’s own publications and media, not only the ones that come from Catalonia or the Balearic Islands. Though, of course, the ones that come from Catalonia are a prime target.

For reference on the books, I’m from Catalonia, I have a family friend who has written novels for teenagers and young adults, and some years ago all his books were taken out of school libraries in the Valencian Country because of the complains of blaveristes who were mad that their children could read books in “Barceloní” (this writer is not even from Barcelona lol). Will these books be replaced by books in Valencian? Most certainly not. We looked up the website of the organisation that had protested against those books “in Barceloní” and their website is mostly in Spanish and the comments celebrating taking away the books from Catalonia were Spanish nationalist comments with little interest in preserving Valencian.

So is it really about preserving Valencian? How does isolating Valencian from Catalan (which definitely is the same language, but the point stands if it were just a very very very similar separate language) protect Valencian? It doesn’t, it only weakens it and makes its speakers feel like their language can be used in less settings, which is a step towards language disappearance.

Conclusion: Valencian and Catalan are variants of the same language, just listen to them and it’s obvious that they’re the same. History also explains why they are the same. And isolating speakers by denying them the opportunity to use their language in more setting and with more people weakens the language.

2. “We have no shared history”, “Valencia was a kingdom and Catalonia was never”

False again. As has been said before, València was an Islamic kingdom until it was conquered by Catalonia-Aragon, led by the king Jaume I on October 9th 1238. That’s why October 9th is Valencia’s national day, because it commemorates the foundation of the Valencian culture we know it nowadays. The Kingdom of València was independent, yes, because the Crown of Aragon was a federation (or confederation) of states, together with Catalonia, Aragon and the kingdom of Mallorca, and for a while also other territories in Southern Italy and Greece.

I talked about the “Catalonia was never a kingdom, it was part of Aragon [insert mental gymnastics to say Aragon is Spain so Catalonia has always been Spain, instead of recognising Aragon’s independent history]” in the reply on this post about a year ago. But, even though they bring it up often, that’s irrelevant. It’s a well known fact that the Crown of Aragon has a shared history (cultural history, political history, commercial relations, etc).

But most important of all in this “shared history” is probably the shared history of oppression by Spain. Linguistically, culturally, and economically.

And again, I want to bring up the consideration: why is it that they feel the need to repeat so much that Valencians have no shared history with Catalonia, while at the same time reclaim that Valencia be a region of Spain because its history is Spanish? It’s a huge double standard. Small differences are enough for blaveros to distance themselves from Catalonia, but of course Valencia has way more shared history with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands than with, say, Madrid or Castilla. So why is that enough to claim that Valencia not only has shared history with Spain, but is Spain, while way more proof is not enough that relationship with Catalonia?

As you can see, most of their arguments come down to Catalanophobia.

There are more arguments they use that basically boil down to “we’ve been taught to hate Catalans and want to distance ourselves from them as much as possible”.

3. “Valencian/Catalan is useless anyway, we should focus on Spanish so we can be citizens of the world”

One of the sentences I’ve heard more often. This is not only blaverist rhetoric, it can be heard in many other contexts, too. Basically, it’s the argument that says that in order to become a modern nation, the Valencian Country must abandon its language and embrace only Spanish.

First of all, what makes them think some languages are more “of the world” than others? Where do they think Catalan-Valencian is spoken, in Mars??

According to this argument, having the conversation about València’s place in the Catalan Countries is irrelevant anyway, because only Spain can bring modernity. The whole point of the “citizen of the world” speech should be recognising every single language and culture of the world as valuable, but instead they use this sentence to mean that only big entities have the right to exist. This imperialistic mindset is sometimes well-intentioned, but it’s a wrong conclusion.

I think those are the three main points, and others are derived from these three so I won’t add more.

The problem with blaveros is often that their attitude is not based on the facts, but they look for the specific facts that will justify their hatred. They will only listen to the arguments that they can use to impose Spanish over Valencian-Catalan, and not look at all the facts.

A very clear example of this was LAPAO. La Franja de Ponent has not even belonged to Aragon for that long, Spain only gave those shires to Aragon in the year 1822. Before that, la Franja was a part of Catalonia like any other. And yet, they decided that to call the Catalan language spoken by the people from la Franja “Catalan” was pancatalanism, and officially declared it is not Catalan but “LAPAO” (which stands for “Lengua Aragonesa Propia del Área Oriental”: “Aragonese language from the Eastern area”). They can say “it’s not Catalan because it’s in Aragon” or “the law says that’s not Catalan, it’s LAPAO” and yeah, sure, that’s a fact. But there are so many more facts that are being ignored so that the conclusion will be the one they want.

I wish you the best if you’re talking to blaveristes. It can get quite exhausting :’) I hope this helped a little! And thank you so much for your support again!

[useless-catalanfacts]

Estic flipant, què descarat!!

La manipulació del retaule major de la Seu de València

Al llarg dels darrers anys, a la Seu de València algun canonge (amb la connivència de l’arquebisbe) ha tingut la dèria d’esborrar les quatre barres de la senyera del rei Jaume I. 

Així ho podem veure en la manipulació de la pintura de Marçal de Saix que hi ha en una capella de la Seu de València: concretament, la part manipulada d’aquesta obra pictòrica correspon a la part central d’aquest retaule, amb Sant Jordi i el rei Jaume I en la batalla del Puig. 

En la pintura original, Marçal de Saix mostra en un primer terme el rei Jaume I en la batalla del Puig, amb la senyera reial sobre el cavall del rei i al pit del monarca, i en segon terme Sant Jordi, amb la creu roja sobre fons blanc. Pel contrari, la pintura manipulada de la capella de la Seu, mostra Sant Jordi, en un primer terme, amb la creu roja sobre fons blanc i darrere seu el rei Jaume I, que curiosament ha “perdut” la senyera quadribarrada que cobreix el cavall en la pintura original i que ha estat revestit, com Sant Jordi, amb la creu roja sobre fons blanc. Aquesta còpia infame, que tergiversa la història (i l’original d’aquesta obra mestra del gòtic valencià), es trobava (o es troba) a la Seu de València, a la capella on la tradició diu que se celebrà la primera missa després de la conquesta de València, amb la presència del rei conqueridor.

Però a més d’aquesta manipulació de la pintura de Marçal de Saix, a la catedral de València hi ha una altra absurda manipulació, també amb l’objectiu d’esborrar les quatre barres de la senyera del rei Jaume I, de la mateixa manera que es va fer amb la pintura de Marçal de Saix. Concretament, aquest nou atac a les senyes d’identitat dels valencians el trobem al retaule major de la Seu de València. Quan jo visitava la Seu, fa anys, i el retaule estava obert, sempre havia vist la imatge de la Mare de Déu amb l’Infant Jesús, amb unes grans quatre barres sense cap mena de blau, com la senyera que hi ha al Pouet de Sant Vicent al darrere de la imatge de Sant Vicent Ferrer. Però des de fa uns anys (no sabria dir quants), el fons quadribarrat sobre el qual hi havia la Mare de Déu, ha desaparegut i ha estat substituït per una tela, molt diferent a les quatre barres. 

¿Qui va donar l’autorització per modificar la tela que emmarca la imatge de la Mare de Déu? No puc precisar quan va ser fet aquest frau al retaule traient les quatre barres, evidentment amb la connivència de l’arquebisbe (quin?) i del Cabildo de la catedral i la Conselleria de Cultura del govern valencià. Evidentment aquesta manipulació al retaule major de la Seu de València, es va fer quan el PP havia fet del Palau de la Generalitat el seu “cortijo” particular i els dirigents d’aquest partit feien i desfeien al seu gust, atacant obsessivament la història dels valencians i esborrant qualsevol referència a la senyera del rei Jaume I, amb un autoodi digne de ser psicoanalitzat. Encara no m’explique com aquests inquisidors no es van atrevir a esborrar també les pintures del Saló de Corts i la senyera (sense blau) de l’Àngel Custodi del retaule de la capella del Palau de la Generalitat.

[useless-catalanfacts]

[...] Van vestir la plaça de festa, relata, i van preparar tallers per a xiquets. Van valorar si posaven la senyera o no. Hi havia posicions enfrontades, però, finalment, per si de cas generava conflicte, no la van posar.

"I jo després deia -recorda Conca-: 'Veieu com jo tenia raó, que l'agressió no depenia de posar la senyera o no?'" [...]

Recomano llegir tot l'article per recordar moments importants de la història recent del País Valencià. Volia compartir concretament una part del què es diu.

La violència feixista, com sempre, impune i protegida per la policia, el sistema judicial i tot l'Estat. I, mentrestant, hi havia qui lluitava incansablement pels drets i llibertats, però també qui pensava que més valia ser discrets, renunciar a certes reivindicacions per a acontentar el feixisme, esperant que així ens deixarien en pau. Però òbviament no va ser així, el feixisme busca la total anihilació de les minories nacionals com nosaltres i de les nostres llengües, com de les persones LGBTQIA+, gitanes, migrants, la subjugació de les dones i la classe obrera, etc.

Com diuen en anglès: ‘Meet me in the middle,’ says the unjust man. You take a step towards him, he takes a step back. ‘Meet me in the middle,’ says the unjust man.

No va servir renunciar al nom de la llengua (catalana), al nom del país (País Valencià), als símbols, a l'ensenyament... Els feixistes no ens respecten més per fer-los cas, l'únic que s'aconsegueix és perdre tot allò al què es renuncia.

Aprenem-ne.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hola! Una pregunta, com és que la gent a Catalunya no pot veure els canals del País Valencià, però sí els d'Euskadi o d'altres comunitats autònomes? (no soc ni visc als països catalans)

Hola!

És una de les estratègies de l’Estat espanyol, impulsada sobretot pel PP i també pel PSOE, per eliminar la llengua catalana. No estic exagerant, aquest és l’objectiu.

En un primer moment, quan es van crear les televisions i ràdios públiques, aquestes podien emetre on vulguessin. TV3, Catalunya Ràdio i Catalunya Informació es podien veure/sentir des del País Valencià i les Illes Balears, i Canal9 (aleshores el canal de tv públic del País Valencià) es veia des de Catalunya i les Illes. L’entitat Acció Cultural del País Valencià (ACPV) s’encarregava dels repetidors que permetien que la senyal de TV3 arribés arreu del País Valencià, tot i les dificultats que hi posava el govern espanyol (el PSOE va donar les freqüències de TV3 a Canal9 per intentar fer-les incompatibles).

El govern autonòmic del País Valencià, en mans del PP, es va dedicar durant anys a posar multes per raons purament ideològiques a ACPV, dient que emetien TV3 de manera il·legal, fins que el preu de les multes va pujar tant que no les van poder pagar. El PP veia TV3 com una amenaça perquè enfortia l’ús de la llengua catalana-valenciana, i sobretot la unitat de la llengua i la consciència de Països Catalans.

Al 2011, el govern del PP a la Generalitat Valenciana va prohibir que TV3 emetés al País Valencià alhora que van fer un canvi en la llei que posava 30.000€ de multa per cada 15 dies que s’emetés un canal il·legal. Per una associació com ACPV, aquestes xifres són impensables. El 2014, la Generalitat Valenciana del PP va prohibir també l’emissió de Catalunya Ràdio. Aquells anys es van veure imatges surrealistes de la Guardia Civil anant a precintar els repetidors i funcionaris tirant-los a terra durant la nit, en contra del que dictaven sentències judicials locals.

A sobre, el 2013 la Generalitat Valenciana, encara en mans del PP, va tancar Canal9. Es va començar amb la “imposició de Catalunya” * però un cop eliminat el català de Catalunya el següent pas va ser el propi valencià de la Comunitat Valenciana. El País Valencià va passar a ser l’única regió d’Europa amb llengua pròpia sense cap mitjà en el seu idioma, fins que 5 anys després i amb moltes dificultats s’ha obert el canal públic valencià A Punt.

*Cal recordar que entre la dreta al País Valencià és molt comú utilitzar la retòrica del “blaverisme”. El blaverisme és el moviment incentivat per l’Estat espanyol dels anys de la Transició (1970s) que defensa, amb dades que no tenen absolutament cap rigor històric ni lingüístic, que el valencià i el català són llengües completament diferents, que el valencià ja es parlava al Regne de València durant l’ocupació musulmana abans de la conquesta de Jaume I, i que el concepte Països Catalans (que per cert, el va inventar l’escriptor valencià Benvingut Oliver i Estellés al segle XIX i el va popularitzar l’escriptor també valencià Joan Fuster) és un complot de Catalunya per esborrar la història del Regne de València que segons ells no és més que una regió espanyola. Segons els blaveristes, ells són els únics defensors del valencià, mantenint-lo pur i allunyat dels catalans que el volen substituïr, per això han creat les seves pròpies normes ortogràfiques per l’única raó de separar-se del català parlat a la resta dels PPCC. Un dels eslògans més típics dels blaveristes és “no mos fareu catalans” justament en referència a això. Curiosament (no), mai no defensen València amb un “no mos fareu espanyols”, i a sobre estan en contra de la denominació “País Valencià” perquè diuen que no és un país sinó una regió espanyola, i s’oposen a l’ensenyament del valencià a les escoles perquè diuen que és una imposició pancatalanista, preferint el castellà. Fins i tot sense entrar en qui va finançar aquest moviment en els seus inicis i per quins motius (*ehem* el País Valencià era la comunitat autònoma amb un percentatge més alt d’independentistes durant la Transició i l’Estat no podia permetre que el moviment s’escampés i s’enfortís amb la resta dels PPCC *ehem*), es pot veure com el motor principal del blaverisme és la catalanofòbia i voler-se allunyar del seu propi poble per ser uns bons espanyols i no uns catalufos més. La introducció del blaverisme al País Valencià va aconseguir en part enfrontar el moviment valencianista i una part de la població valenciana contra Catalunya.

Òbviament, els valencians no es van quedar de braços plegats davant de tot això. Hi va haver manifestacions tant contra el tancament dels repetidors de TV3 com posteriorment els de Canal9.

A més, posar traves d’aquest tipus és il·legal segons la legislació europea. La llei diu el següent:

Els Estats membres garantiran la llibertat de recepció i no obstaculitzaran les retransmissions en el seu territori dels serveis de comunicació audiovisual procedents d’altres Estats membres per motius inherents als àmbits coordinats per la present Directiva.

A més, la Carta de Llengües Regionals o Minoritàres reconeix la necessitat de la reciprocitat dels mitjans en la llengua comuna de les comunitats minoritzades:

ARTICLE 7.2

Les parts es comprometen a eliminar, si encara no ho han fet, tota distinció, exclusió, restricció o preferència injustificades que afectin l’ús d’una llengua regional o minoritària i tinguin per objecte descoratjar o posar en perill el seu manteniment o el seu desenvolupament. L’adopció de mesures especials en favor de les llengües regionals o minoritàries, destinades a promoure una igualtat entre els parlants d’aquestes llengües i la resta de la població o encaminades a tenir en compte les seves situacions particulars, no és considerada com un acte de discriminació envers els parlants de les llengües més esteses.

ARTICLE 11.2

Les parts es comprometen a garantir la llibertat de recepció directa de les emissions de ràdio i de televisió dels països veïns en una llengua usada en una forma idèntica o pròxima d’una llengua regional o minoritària, i a no oposar-se a la retransmissió d’emissions de ràdio i de televisió dels països veïns en aquesta llengua. Es comprometen, a més, a garantir que no sigui imposada a la premsa cap restricció a la llibertat d’expressió i a la lliure circulació de la informació en una llengua usada en una forma idèntica o pròxima d’una llengua regional o minoritària. L’exercici de les llibertats esmentades més amunt, que comporten deures i responsabilitats, pot ser sotmès a certes formalitats, condicions, restriccions o sancions previstes per la llei, que constitueixen mesures necessàries, en una societat democràtica, per a la seguretat nacional, per a la integritat territorial o per a la seguretat pública, per a la defensa de l’ordre i per a la prevenció de la delinqüència, per a la protecció de la salut o de la moral, per a la protecció de la reputació o dels drets d’altri, per impedir la divulgació d’informacions confidencials, o per garantir l’autoritat i la imparcialitat del poder judicial.

Tornant a la teva pregunta, tots aquests atacs han anat contra els mitjans en català-valencià perquè l’objectiu és dividir la llengua per matar-la. No els importa que veiem la televisió en castellà de l’Aragó, d’Extremadura o d’on sigui que parlin castellà (a Aragón TV només hi ha un programa de mitja hora a la setmana que s’emeti en aragonès), el gallec ens queda lluny i l’èuscar no l’entenem. Aquestes altres televisions no són una amenaça per a l’Estat.

Ara per sort a moltes part de Catalunya rebem la senyal d’IB3 i a moltes parts de les Illes Balears i Pitiüses reben la de TV3. Però el País Valencià continua aïllat. A la Catalunya Nord depén de la proximitat geogràfica amb la frontera, i a L’Alguer no reben cap mitjà en català.

Al segle XXI, és indispensable per la supervivència de la llengua que els parlants puguin sentir-la als mitjans, sobretot els infants amb canals com el Súper3. Estem veient una devallada sense precedents en l’ús de la llengua i tots aquests impediments hi han jugat un paper clau.

Espero haver-me explicat bé, no dubtis en tornar a preguntar si alguna cosa no ha quedat clara. Gràcies per l’interès!

[useless-catalanfacts]

The bookshop Llibreria Tres i Quatre, located in València, has been for decades a symbol of the resistance of Valencian culture and Catalan culture in general. For this reason, the library has been a frequent target of fascist/neonazi attacks and constant vandalizing.

The bookshop was founded in 1968 by Eliseu Climent, and it became a meeting point for underground social movements and unions who defied Franco’s fascist dictatorship. It was also frequented by Valencian antifascist intellectuals and artists like Joan Fuster, Vicent Andrés Estellés, Josep Renau, the Equip Realitat, Andreu Alfaro, Francisco Brines...

The bookshop’s façade was first spray painted with insults and swastikas in December 1970, and from then the spray paint with swastikas and different Catalanophobic/“blaverist” slogans on it became constant. And, every time there was a “blaverist” or right-wing demonstration, the police had to protect the bookshop.

Some of the attacks:

In March 26th, 1971, neonazis broke the windows and threw ink inside.

On March 8th, 1972, they attached a plastic explosive to the windows, which exploded and caused a fire.

June 8th, 1972, they set fire to book packs of the library after rushing them with gasoline.

October 31st, 1973, the Partido Español Nacional-Socialista (PENS, Spanish National-Socialist Party) attacked it with molotov cocktails.

October, 1974, the PENS attacked it with molotov cocktails again.

5th November, 1976, attack with an explosive of great force.

January 20th, 2006, it was assaulted by hooded men who attacked and injured workers and clients and threw spray at them, especifically at the Valencian leftist economist Gustau Muñoz i Veiga who was there at the moment. All of this while shouting Catalanophobic and Spanish supremacist slogans.

January 27th, 2007, the bookshop had moved to a different location inside the Octubre centre of contemporary culture, which is safer, but the façade was sprayed with blaverist (anti-Catalan) slogans and threats.

[germandejuana]

jordiborras : RT ElTemps_cat: Les cendres del blaverisme i del franquisme a les Falles … https://t.co/8CO8wEin2r) https://t.co/2Pd6Dbi8xv

jordiborras : RT ElTemps_cat: Les cendres del blaverisme i del franquisme a les Falles … https://t.co/8CO8wEin2r) http://pic.twitter.com/2Pd6Dbi8xv

— German d Juana DUI (@GermanDeJuana) March 19, 2017

via Twitter https://twitter.com/GermanDeJuana March 19, 2017 at 11:35AM

[germandejuana]

jordiborras : RT ElTemps_actu: Una dissecció descolorida del blaverisme … https://t.co/WpHCkkTl3z) https://t.co/zHQIAmsnjW

jordiborras : RT ElTemps_actu: Una dissecció descolorida del blaverisme … https://t.co/WpHCkkTl3z) http://pic.twitter.com/zHQIAmsnjW

— German d Juana DUI (@GermanDeJuana) March 9, 2017

via Twitter https://twitter.com/GermanDeJuana March 09, 2017 at 08:06AM

[tess-da28]

I'm majorcan and I knew about blaverism but as op said i had no idea about people trying the same in the islands.

People in the Balearic Islands that love our lenguage and our culture do so also defending our connections with Catalonia and the entirety of the Catalan Countries.

When we talk about our language we use the terms "mallorquí", "menorquí" and "eivissenc" but we all know and defend that we all talk catalan. (And the Podemos thing is so funny because i've never heard someone saying "i speak balear")

As you've discussed in your blog there's a distinction between Catalans and Valenciansin terms of identity, is there also one for Balearics?

(Sorry it took me a few days to answer, I've been very busy lately and I didn't have time to write a long post.)

First of all, I wouldn't quite say there is a distinction between Valencian and Catalan identity, because for many there isn't. For many Valencians, it's obvious that Valencians are part of the Catalan Countries, but there are right-wing groups who try very hard to push the idea that they're completely different, ignoring uhhh.... All of history, language and most of culture, and basing on pseudohistory, a handful of dialectal/accent differences and mostly a lot of Catalanophobia and Spanish nationalism/supremacy (some of this groups are openly fascist/neo-nazi). I know you're simplifying in order to ask the question, but I just wanted to make it clear.

For those new to the argument, I'll link to a previous post talking about Blaverism (the right-wing movement to consider the Valencian Country separate from the rest of the Catalan Countries, only a region of Spain, justified with conspiracy theories that contradict every serious historian and linguist):

To answer your question: in the Balearic Islands, it hasn't really happened. Technically it exists, it's the posture known as "neogonellisme", but it's soooo small that most people have never heard about it, and very often (as we'll see below) it's imposed from outside of the Balearic islands. In the (extremely few) cases where people from the Balearic Islands have defensed this, it was always Spanish nationalists who wrote exclusively in Spanish (mostly Antoni Alemany). When there's people in the Balearics who want to distance themselves from the rest of the Catalan Countries, it's usually just Spanish nationalism with Mallorcan regionalism, not an indentity in itself (like the now dead Centro Cultural Mallorquí and the still "active" Grupo d'Acció Baléà, Catalanophobic groups created by copying the Valencian blaverist groups).

I've only heard of the existence of these groups years ago when I was doing research into Blaverism, but I've never heard any Balearic person consider that their language isn't Catalan or that they're culturally something else. I know many Mallorcans, some Menorcans and an Eivissan and I think they'd be surprised to hear about this micro-movement.

However, right-wing Spanish groups are trying to push this idea there, since the "divide and conquer" strategy kind of worked in the Valencian Country. For example, the conservative politician Pablo Casado (of the PP party, he's from Castille) went to the Balearic Islands and gave a speech saying "what you speak in the Balearics isn't Catalan, you speak Mallorcan, Menorcan, Ibizan and Formenteran". Basically, this dude who doesn't even speak the language comes to tell us what is it that we speak lmao, but not only that, he says that each island speaks a different language! If I hadn't heard him on the news and knew about the Blaverism he's trying to copy, I would think this was made up as a joke. Sadly, a few time later, the Spanish so-called "left" wing party Podemos also copied this idea and tried to pass a law saying that Catalan in the Balearic Islands from now on should be called "Balearic". Both of this things were widely mocked, of course, since they don't make any sense and everyone considered them ridiculous.

So yeah, the idea exists, but it mostly comes from Spanish people who don't even speak the language and who try to convince us of it for purely ideological reasons, not because they actually believe it's something different. However, very few people actually believe it or defend it so it's basically seen as a joke, unlike Valencian Blaverism which is a bigger movement and well-organised in neo-nazi or philofascist organizations that have even attacked people for it and often get books banned for being written in "Barceloni", have prohibited Catalan TV and radio stations in the Valencian Country, etc., as we explained before.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hi! I consider myself a Països Catalans ally & I support Catalonia, Valencia or any other region/country currently under Spanish rule struggling for the right to self determination. I've been living in Valencia for almost two years and I was wondering if could talk about what are some of the arguments I can use against anti-pancatalism ideologies and catalanophobic statements. You can reply in Catalan if it makes more sense--I just really want more people to read this. Gràcies per el teu temps!

(You can include Catalan sentences/mottos and terms if you think they are important. I can speak Catalan so if they can be used in an argument I'd love to know these. Thank you again for your time and the effort you put into this blog!) 

Thank you very much for your support! And sorry I took so long to answer, I received the ask during exams week and really didn’t have time and the blog was running on queue.

I will go over some of the main arguments I’ve heard, but sadly there is a significant amount of people who will not listen to reason about this topic.

Since this is a long post, the answer is under the “read more”.

Before getting into the arguments, it’s worth remembering the origins of blaverisme. In the late1970s-1980s, during the period known as Transition to Democracy (when the Spanish fascist dictator Franco died of old age), the Valencian Country was the “region” of Spain with a higher percentage of independentists.

I’ll add a quote by the Valencian sociologist Vicent Flor, who has studied the origins of blaverism: “[...] a la majoria de blavers no se’ls pot considerar nacionalistes valencians. Si de cas, regionalistes espanyols. En efecte, el debat identitari [al País Valencià] s’ha centrat en la filiació amb Catalunya, una cosa clara, i no en qüestions com ara el paper que el valencià ha de tindre a l’esfera pública. Hem discutit massa si cal dir-ne petit o xicotet i no tant de la necessitat que la llengua fora present als mitjans de comunicació, per exemple. M’agradaria que rere el blaverisme hi haguera un valencianisme sincer, però els meus estudis, malauradament, no apunten en aquesta direcció.” (taken from here) It’s important to remember that blaverism is a mask for Spanish nationalism, and is not a real Valencian nationalism.

Now I’ll talk about 3 arguments that seem to be central in blaverisme.

1. “They are different languages”

This is the argument that says Valencian and the Catalan from Catalonia are different languages, sometimes saying that Mallorcan is a third separate language, too. More absurd theories derive from this, such as “Catalans / pancatalanists want to impose Catalan when Valencians from x place always spoke Spanish” (mostly used in Alacant). All of this is, of course, false.

Valencian dialects are closer to the dialects of Western Catalonia than Western Catalonia’s are to Eastern Catalonia. (Below I include the map of dialects of Catalan-Valencian. The dotted line separates the Eastern block and the Western block, which are the most noticeable differences), so it makes no sense to separate Valencian and the Catalans from Catalonia.

The reason for that similarity is because the Catalan language originated in the North of Catalonia and spread to the rest of the territory in the Middle Ages with the conquests. When the Kingdom of Valencia was conquered, people from Western Catalonia moved in, who brought the Western Catalan dialect. In the same way, the Balearic Islands were repopulated with people from Eastern Catalonia who brought the Eastern Catalan dialect and accent. In fact, because of this spread, Catalan-Valencian is a pretty homogeneous language when compared to others.

There’s crazy theories such as saying that (and I’m not kidding) Valencian derives from Ancient Iberian, unlike Catalan which derives from Latin. That shouldn’t even need an explanation on why it’s false.

The most common conspiracy theory is that Valencian derives from the Mossarabic (Romance languages spoken by the Christians during the Islamic rule) spoken before Jaume I’s conquest. This is false, linguists and historians say Mossarabic had already been extinct for a couple of centuries prior to Jaume I’s arrival. What they spoke then in Valencia was Arabic, until the repopulation of the coast with people from Western Catalonia spread Catalan and the repopulation of the interior by Aragonese people spread Aragonese which later got replaced by Spanish. (Though Arabic remained one of the most spoken languages in many parts of the Valencian Country until the expulsion of the Moriscos, but definitely not Mossarabic).

The words “Catalan” and “Valencian” have been used interchangeably since the 15th century at least, and we have written documents that prove that. There are texts that use both terms to mean the same. Or for example, the Valencian writer Ausiàs March (1400-1459), who is sometimes pointed at by blaveros as a symbol of Valencianism, spoke the same way his grandparents from Catalonia did. So which language was that?

It’s obvious that it doesn’t make any sense to say that someone from València and someone from Tortosa or Lleida speak different languages, and it would be easily proven false by just... listening to the other. Many Spanish-speaking people from the Valencian Country who don’t speak Valencian-Catalan well believe Valencian and other forms of Catalan are different languages because they hear the Eastern Catalan accent and it sounds different. But just put sentences in Valencian and sentences in Eastern Catalan next to each other and they’re the same, there are very few different words besides two verb conjugations.

This doesn’t make any sense linguistically, but I honestly doubt anyone who goes as far as to deny that two variants with such minor differences are different languages would listen to arguments. It’s just so absurd. Maybe you could ask them if they think when Mexicans say “pinche pendejo” that makes Mexican a different language from Spanish.

Other things in this point that I think are worthy to consider:

The fear of a country’s language, history and culture being erased and having another one’s imposed is legitimate. València has suffered that, and so has Catalonia. But the imposition does NOT come from Catalonia, it comes from Spain (Spain as the homogenized Castilla). Why would they fear this imposition coming from Catalans (which are not doing it), but not fear it from Spain (who has been working against Valencian language and identity for centuries and continues every day)? One of the mottos of blaverisme is “no mos fareu catalans” (“you won’t make us Catalan”), but they don’t put any effort into a potential “no mos fareu castellans”.

If they’re worried about a standard version of the language (not necessarily the Central Catalonia standard, because the Valencian standard is the one used in books, media and schools in the Valencian Country) replacing “what people actually speak like” then that’s great, they could focus on preserving local variants, words, expressions... But the vast majority of blaveros have no interest in that, they only use this argument to charge against the Catalan-Valencian used in schools, TV, radio, books... That’s why they say that standard Valencian is copying Catalan from Catalonia (it’s not, it’s regulated by a Valencian academy), so they can attack even Valencia’s own publications and media, not only the ones that come from Catalonia or the Balearic Islands. Though, of course, the ones that come from Catalonia are a prime target.

For reference on the books, I’m from Catalonia, I have a family friend who has written novels for teenagers and young adults, and some years ago all his books were taken out of school libraries in the Valencian Country because of the complains of blaveristes who were mad that their children could read books in “Barceloní” (this writer is not even from Barcelona lol). Will these books be replaced by books in Valencian? Most certainly not. We looked up the website of the organisation that had protested against those books “in Barceloní” and their website is mostly in Spanish and the comments celebrating taking away the books from Catalonia were Spanish nationalist comments with little interest in preserving Valencian.

So is it really about preserving Valencian? How does isolating Valencian from Catalan (which definitely is the same language, but the point stands if it were just a very very very similar separate language) protect Valencian? It doesn’t, it only weakens it and makes its speakers feel like their language can be used in less settings, which is a step towards language disappearance.

Conclusion: Valencian and Catalan are variants of the same language, just listen to them and it’s obvious that they’re the same. History also explains why they are the same. And isolating speakers by denying them the opportunity to use their language in more setting and with more people weakens the language.

2. “We have no shared history”, “Valencia was a kingdom and Catalonia was never”

False again. As has been said before, València was an Islamic kingdom until it was conquered by Catalonia-Aragon, led by the king Jaume I on October 9th 1238. That’s why October 9th is Valencia’s national day, because it commemorates the foundation of the Valencian culture we know it nowadays. The Kingdom of València was independent, yes, because the Crown of Aragon was a federation (or confederation) of states, together with Catalonia, Aragon and the kingdom of Mallorca, and for a while also other territories in Southern Italy and Greece.

I talked about the “Catalonia was never a kingdom, it was part of Aragon [insert mental gymnastics to say Aragon is Spain so Catalonia has always been Spain, instead of recognising Aragon’s independent history]” in the reply on this post about a year ago. But, even though they bring it up often, that’s irrelevant. It’s a well known fact that the Crown of Aragon has a shared history (cultural history, political history, commercial relations, etc).

But most important of all in this “shared history” is probably the shared history of oppression by Spain. Linguistically, culturally, and economically.

And again, I want to bring up the consideration: why is it that they feel the need to repeat so much that Valencians have no shared history with Catalonia, while at the same time reclaim that Valencia be a region of Spain because its history is Spanish? It’s a huge double standard. Small differences are enough for blaveros to distance themselves from Catalonia, but of course Valencia has way more shared history with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands than with, say, Madrid or Castilla. So why is that enough to claim that Valencia not only has shared history with Spain, but is Spain, while way more proof is not enough that relationship with Catalonia?

As you can see, most of their arguments come down to Catalanophobia.

There are more arguments they use that basically boil down to “we’ve been taught to hate Catalans and want to distance ourselves from them as much as possible”.

3. “Valencian/Catalan is useless anyway, we should focus on Spanish so we can be citizens of the world”

One of the sentences I’ve heard more often. This is not only blaverist rhetoric, it can be heard in many other contexts, too. Basically, it’s the argument that says that in order to become a modern nation, the Valencian Country must abandon its language and embrace only Spanish.

First of all, what makes them think some languages are more “of the world” than others? Where do they think Catalan-Valencian is spoken, in Mars??

According to this argument, having the conversation about València’s place in the Catalan Countries is irrelevant anyway, because only Spain can bring modernity. The whole point of the “citizen of the world” speech should be recognising every single language and culture of the world as valuable, but instead they use this sentence to mean that only big entities have the right to exist. This imperialistic mindset is sometimes well-intentioned, but it’s a wrong conclusion.

I think those are the three main points, and others are derived from these three so I won’t add more.

The problem with blaveros is often that their attitude is not based on the facts, but they look for the specific facts that will justify their hatred. They will only listen to the arguments that they can use to impose Spanish over Valencian-Catalan, and not look at all the facts.

A very clear example of this was LAPAO. La Franja de Ponent has had a mixed relationship with political-territorial belongings (was for a long time politically dependent of Aragon, but only for a century have its parishes been under Aragonese control instead of Catalonia's control). But the Catalan spoken in La Franja is not much different from the surrounding areas. And yet, the Government of Aragon decided that to call the Catalan language spoken by the people from la Franja “Catalan” was pancatalanism, and officially declared it is not Catalan but “LAPAO” (which stands for “Lengua Aragonesa Propia del Área Oriental”: “Aragonese language from the Eastern area”). They can say “it’s not Catalan because it’s in Aragon” or “the law says that’s not Catalan, it’s LAPAO” and yeah, sure, that’s a fact. But there are so many more facts that are being ignored so that the conclusion will be the one they want.

I wish you the best if you’re talking to blaveristes. It can get quite exhausting :’) I hope this helped a little! And thank you so much for your support again!