Winds of Freedom in Catalunya

It started in the tiny town of Arenys de Munt, know its all over 100 towns across Catalunya. Madrid spends millions of euros each year making sure that the main stream media portrays the political conflicts in Catalunya, Nabarra and Galiza as something of no consequence when in reality Spain fails to comply with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that demands self determination for all nations that endure colonial occupation.

So you can imagine just how angry Spaniard must be to see that the international community is learning about the call for independence in Catalunya. Here you have one example, an article published at Bloomberg:

Catalan Mayors Plan Independence Vote in Challenge to Zapatero

Emma Ross-Thomas

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- More than 100 towns in Catalonia voted to hold referendums proposing independence from Spain, an attempt to press national leaders to heed their views.

The 117 unofficial referendums will take place on Dec. 12, Feb. 28 and April 25, Jordi Fabrega, spokesman of the Decidim.cat initiative said in a telephone interview after a meeting of around 100 mayors and municipal representatives near Barcelona on Oct. 3. The movement includes representatives from all political parties except the People’s Party, the biggest national opposition group, he said.

“As the constitution prohibits it, we decided to do it ourselves in a very democratic way,” Fabrega said. Private entities will organize the voting to avoid legal problems for the town halls, which are not allowed to hold referendums. “There’s no stopping us now.”

The polls, which have no legal weight, are an attempt to exert pressure on the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to allow Catalans to decide whether they want to remain part of Spain. They will follow a similar poll in the village of Arenys de Munt on Sept. 13, where 96 percent favored independence. Described by the government as illegal and unconstitutional, the referendums may also stir unease in the capitals of other European countries such as the U.K., France and Belgium where separatists are pushing for more autonomy.

“It may cause a frisson of concern if they seem to give others what would be perceived to be false hope,” said Hugo Brady, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank.

Autonomous Regions

Spain’s 1978 constitution ended an almost 40-year dictatorship and established a system of autonomous regions with varying degrees of self-government, including Catalonia and the Basque Country, both of which have their own police and use co- official languages. Rather then defuse nationalism, the return to democracy and entry into the European Union fueled tensions. The Basque terror group ETA has killed more than 800 people in its campaign for independence.

Catalonia’s economy is the biggest in Spain, accounting for almost 20 percent of gross domestic product. Its capital, Barcelona, is home to Spain’s largest gas company, Gas Natural SDG SA and third-largest lender by assets, La Caixa.

Joan Costa i Font, a lecturer in European social policy at the London School of Economics, said the referendums were a “laboratory experiment to test the central state reaction,” and a “first step towards a large-scale referendum backed by the Catalan parliament.”

Independence Favored

More than half of Catalans favor some kind of break with the central government, according to a poll in July by the regional government. Nineteen percent backed outright independence with another 32 percent saying it should be a state within a federal Spain, the poll said.

The regional government is a coalition including Socialists and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, a republican party which favors independence from Spain and counts Welsh, Corsican, Flemish, and Scottish nationalists among its allies in the European Parliament.

The Scottish administration, led by the Scottish National Party, intends to hold a referendum on independence for 2010, which First Minister Alex Salmond said Sept. 23 may include an option allowing voters to opt for greater autonomy rather than full independence from the U.K.

We want to remind Emma Ross-Thomas that Catalunya, Nabarra and Galiza are not mere "regions", they are nations.

Oh, and maybe she could venture telling us how many Basques have been murdered since the XII century when Castile started the invasion and colonization of Nabarra (the Basque Country).

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Trapped in the Past

Scotland and Catalunya are two European nations with a strong sense of identity. Both have very long historic legacy. Their respective populations are very similar. And they share one more trait, their respective societies are not settling down for with the info we just enunciated, they want more, they want for their nations to achieve statehood, just like the English and the Spanish states. Then again, that's when they become really different from each other: while London seems to see as democratic "fair play" the possibility that the Scots make an statement regarding their independence in a referendum set for 2010, when it comes to Spain it takes just a consult that involves no more than 7,000 people for all the red lights to go off, something that includes judiciary vetoes and the Phalanx's street violence.

Yes, Madrid has real reasons to worry about. "El País" reminded its readers just yesterday that the polls in the Generalitat showed an increase of six points for those who support independence since 2005. And "La Vanguadia" stated that the street polls show that the support for independence could easily reach 40% if was actually an option on election day. More so, the pro-independence Catalans gathered yesterday in Arenys de Munt constantly shouted in support of Euskal Herria, where the polls throughout the last few years locate the support for independence above 30%, despite the frustrating fact that such option is not something that will be allowed any time soon.

To the self-determination exercise in Arenys the Spanish state answers by dispatching the Phalanx, a political party that has not been outlawed as opposed to those within the abertzale left (Batasuna, ANV, EHAK, D3M), and with a judicial ban directly inherited from the "Spain one, great and free". We have the very same recipes used almost a century ago on plain sight. A period in which the Spanish state has not only been unable to eliminate the pro-independence camp but has also been unable to offer any democratic alternatives.

Madrid is running out of time. The referendum in Arenys de Munt is undeniable proof that the pro-independence Catalans are more that ready to make Catalunya happen, and perhaps quite soon Euskal Herria too.

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No to Catalonian Self Determination

This note was published at Critics and Monsters:

Spanish court blocks vote on Catalonia independence

Barcelona- A court in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region on Thursday blocked one village's planned referendum on independence for the state, judicial sources said. The vote had been called for September 13 by Arenys de Munt, a village of 8,000 near Barcelona. In a preliminary ruling, the Barcelona court accepted the appeal lodged by lawyers representing the Spanish state, who argued that only the state could stage referendums.

The villagers were to be asked whether Catalonia, a wealthy region of more than 6 million residents, should become an independent state within the European Union.

The referendum plan had sparked a national controversy, with the government fearing that it could become a precedent for other similar votes in the country beset with separatist currents.

Catalan top politicians have not followed the example of former Basque prime minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe, whose attempts to call a Basque vote on self-determination were foiled by the Spanish parliament and Constitutional Court.

¿Separatist currents?

Maybe the people at Monsters and Critics should learn about the international treaties protecting the right to self determination of the nations without statehood signed among others by Madrid and Paris.

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About the Ban Against Internationalist Initiative

This article was published at Workers World:

Madrid court outlaws anti-capitalist party

John Catalinotto

By outlawing a new political party from an upcoming June 7 ballot, ruling circles in the Spanish regime are exposing their links to the 36-year-long fascist reign of Francisco Franco. Their latest anti-democratic step involved fraudulent charges to prevent the newly formed International Initiative—Solidarity among the Peoples (II-SP) organization from competing in elections to the European Parliament.

Spain’s Supreme Court on May 16 by an 11-5 majority supported a lower court decision to ban the II-SP. The new party is appealing to the Constitutional Court to reverse this, while waging an international petition campaign to gain support. A final May 21 decision is likely to maintain the ban, unless a massive struggle arises to reverse it.

The courts are imposing the ban in the midst of the economic crisis that exploded in 2008 and hit Spain much harder than most other developed capitalist countries. The “housing bubble” burst with a fury in Spain, stopping almost all new construction projects. Official unemployment climbed to more than 17 percent in April. Young people can’t find permanent jobs.

To underline an anti-capitalist solution to this crisis, some leftist parties, both on a federal level and in the regions that consist of oppressed nations within the Spanish state, joined together this spring to form the II-SP. They offered a relatively broad but clearly anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist alternative.

The II-SP competes not only with rightist bourgeois parties like José María Aznar’s People’s Party, but also with Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s governing Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). It considers Zapatero pro-capitalist, despite his “socialist” label. It competes even with the United Left (IU) movement—the traditional Spanish left close to the Spanish Communist Party—that revolutionaries consider to be trapped inside the capitalist parliamentary system.

Historically, the Spanish state has included at least four peoples or nationalities. The people of Galicia in the northwest, of Catalonia in the east, and of the Basque Country in the northeast have been under the heel of the Castilian ruling class. Repression was especially brutal during the Franco period against local customs and any languages other than Castilian Spanish.

Today it also includes immigrants from Africa and Latin America, who face racial discrimination.

In carrying out the struggle for Basque self-determination, Basque freedom fighters set up an organization in 1959 known as ETA, an acronym for the Basque words meaning Basque Homeland and Freedom. ETA evolved into a guerrilla group that carried out armed actions against the Spanish state, both during the fascist period and afterwards.

The Spanish ruling class took the same approach toward ETA as the British rulers did toward the Irish Republican Army and the U.S. toward Puerto Rican patriots: repression. They hunted down ETA members and also jailed thousands of Basques involved in political struggles.

This repression extended to pro-independence political organizations in the Basque Country. The “Law of the Parties” of 2002 outlawed Batasuna, the political party that shared the same political program as the guerrilla group ETA. After Batasuna was made illegal, the AVN (Basque Nationalist Action) was set up to politically represent Basque self-determination. The courts then outlawed AVN.

Thus in today’s Spanish state, Basques who are for independence or autonomy have no legal political party, while former fascist youth like Aznar can run the government.

II-SP supports self-determination

The II-SP supports self-determination for Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country. The leading figure on the II-SP ticket, world-famous playwright and historical anti-fascist elder Alfonso Sastre, also led the AVN ticket in a recent election before the AVN was banned. Number two on the II-SP slate, Doris Benegas from the Castilian Left, and number five, Ángeles Maestro of the Red Current, are leaders who have politically supported Basque self-determination. They participated in meetings supporting Basque political prisoners and honoring Basque martyrs.

As Maestro told the media, none of these candidates belongs to ETA, nor does the II-SP advocate armed struggle, nor are the candidates of Basque nationality. Yet the Spanish regime and courts have applied the “Law of Parties” to outlaw the II-SP from the election.

The state’s argument—if you can believe it—is that Basques who support Batasuna and who see Sastre heading the list might consider II-SP an indirect representative of Batasuna’s program. Pro-independence Basques might feel inspired by voting for II-SP and encouraged to continue the struggle and thus, the court reasoned, it must ban II-SP.

Continuing to fight for its place on the ballot, II-SP asks for support inside and outside Spain on a petition to defend “democracy and the presumption of innocence.” Already Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel of Argentina has written to Zapatero urging him to “intervene” to “avoid anti-democratic actions” by the courts against II-SP.

Inside the Spanish state, other federal parties on the ballot like the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) and the Anti-capitalist Initiative (IA) have demanded that the ban on II-SP be lifted. The Basque Left denied it was manipulating II-SP and expressed solidarity with II-SP’s right to be on the ballot.

There are reports the IU is split on this question. So far the IU leadership has said only that it will support the decision of the courts in this matter.

Slanders from the rightist parties, the regime and the media against the militants of II-SP may prevent the election of the II-SP candidates, but even this hostile publicity has exposed many millions of people to this party’s existence and potentially its program at the beginning of an intense class struggle in the Spanish state.

E-mail: jcat@workers.org

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Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Note: The article was written before Spain's constitutional court revoked the ban by the supreme court and published one day too late, but still, it provides important information to help our readers understand that Spain is not a democratic state.

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Spain's Clumsy Censorship

As you may know by now, the Basque and Catalonian fans that were present at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia to witness the final of the Copa del Rey tournament between Basque team Athletic de Bilbao and Catalonian team Barcelona decided to express what Basques and Catalans feel regarding the anthem and king of an expansionist state that has impossed those foreign symbols on them.

Knowing that something like this could happen, the government lead by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided to skip the opening ceremony and in doing so try to ensure that the entire world would learn that Basques and Catalonians do not feel Spaniards, they did it in such a clumsy way that now the Spanish government is the laughing stock around the world. Of course, when something like this happens in a totalitarian state with a king that was selected to the charge by the worst fascist dictator in Europe then someone has to take the blame and in this case, the scape goat is the Sports Director at the state television according to this article published at Soccer365:

Spanish TV station in hot water

While showing the game between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, Television Espanola (TVE) cut to reporters in Bilbao - the largest city in the Basque country - and Catalonian capital Barcelona instead of showing live footage of the Spanish national anthem being drowned out by whistles and boos from the two sets of fans at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia.

The station then aired the playing of the national anthem during half-time in the game, but with the jeers of the supporters edited out while also showing images of some of the supporters, who hail from two of Spain's most separatist regions, holding their hands to their hearts.

Antonio Gutierrez, PP representative for the Spanish autonomous region of Melilla, accused Luis Fernandez, president of the company which owns the channel, of "deciding which images or sounds may or may not be harmful for audiences".

TVE 1 presenter Juan Carlos Rivero apologised to viewers at half-time, explaining the decision to cut away from the stadium while the anthem was being played had been due to "human error".

The company which owns the channel, RTVE, then issued a statement at the end of the broadcast which again put the incident down to human error.

This morning TVE director Javier Pons held a press conference at which he announced that the station's director for sport, Julian Reyes, had left the broadcaster as a result of the incident, and that "an investigation had been begun to seek out others who may have been responsible".

On the pitch Barcelona overcame the surprise of conceding an early goal to Gaizka Toquero by romping to a comfortable 4-1 win thanks to strikes from Yaya Toure, Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and Xavi.

Barca are one point away from clinching the Primera Division title while Manchester United lie await in the Champions League final in Rome on May 27.

There you have it, more evidence that Spain has not yet evolved since the time when Francisco Franco ruled with iron fist.

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Bitter Taste

The article from Victor Mallet that you are about to read was published at the Financial Times contains a basic flaw, it departs from the misconception that the pro-independence vote in the recent Basque electoral process was lower than before when in fact it was higher. If the rabidly pro-Spain parties were able to size control was due to a fascist law that enables Madrid to outlaw any Basque party that they want to keep out of the process to ensure "success" to the parties that consider the perpetuation of Spain's colonial rule over the Basque Country as a priority. After more than 100,000 votes were declared null by Madrid, the political landscape was so thrown out of balance that the PSOE was able to become the party in control of the situation.

Here you have the article which in fact contains interesting info about the status quo between the Spanish State and Euskal Herria, Catalunya and Galiza, the nations abducted by Spain's statehood.

Global Insight: Spanish brew has bitter taste

By Victor Mallet in Madrid


Galician nationalists have lost power in Galicia. Basque nationalists have lost power in the Basque country. At first glance, the results of the two Spanish regional elections in March suggest that ethnic nationalism on the Iberian peninsula is in retreat.

Spain is not unique as a fragile nation state with centrifugal communities on its fringes: the closest comparison is probably with Britain, where Scotland looks far more likely to secede from the union than the Basque country or Catalonia do from Spain.

But the legacy of the civil war in the 1930s means that nationalism is a particularly sensitive issue today for the inhabitants of Spain, whether they call themselves Spaniards, Castilians, Catalans or Cantabrians.

After Francisco Franco, the civil war victor, died in 1975, Spain celebrated the end of his dictatorship – and its harsh suppression of diverse languages and cultures – with a liberal constitution enshrining regional autonomy within a united Spain.

The obvious beneficiaries were the Basques, Galicians and Catalans but, since it was unfair to exclude Andalucians, Valencians or anyone else, the policy adopted was café para todos: coffee for all – and so modern Spain consists of 17 autonomous communities and two enclaves in north Africa.

Support for full independence is mostly confined to the Basque country, where Eta militants pursue a campaign of terror against the Spanish state and those deemed to have collaborated with it.

But many non-Castilians do favour more autonomy and speak vaguely of having their region recognised as part of the European Union rather than of Spain. Autonomy is credited with reviving neglected cultures. Catalonia, brimming with confidence, has established delegations, shadow embassies, in cities such as London and Brussels.

Yet many Spaniards, including those who voted for the unionist parties that won the latest regional elections, say the pendulum has now swung too far in the direction of autonomy.

There is a whiff of centrist counter-revolution in the air, a sense that Spain will fall apart if Madrid is too lenient with the regions. That is one reason for the scant criticism at home of Spain’s divergence from most European partners in refusing to recognise the independence of Kosovo.

Language policy has been especially contentious, with moves by regional governments to impose Catalan, Galician or Basque in schools and the civil service provoking angry reactions from Spanish-speaking residents. Dozens of doctors in Ibiza, for example, have threatened to leave the island because of the Balearic regional government’s insistence that they be tested in Catalan, the local language.

Forced marches towards linguistic divergence have gathered pace in a manner that intrigues philologists but is regarded as artificial and politically dangerous by Spanish nationalists. Catalan speakers, ironically, can be very protective of their own language while simultaneously mocking the pretensions of Valenciano and Mallorquí, the Catalan dialects of Valencia and Mallorca, to an independent existence.

Charles de Gaulle, to illustrate the difficulty of running a diverse nation, famously referred to the hundreds of different cheeses produced in France. But neither he nor his successors would have tolerated the number of languages and dialects officially promoted in Spain today – let alone accepted the need for simultaneous interpreters for television news coverage on election night.

Autonomy is not only occasionally inconvenient for those who want to speak Spanish. Investors, domestic and foreign, complain bitterly about the extra bureaucracy imposed by regional governments, costs that Spain can ill afford as it plunges into the deepest recession in memory. “The administration in Spain suffers from elephantiasis,” was the verdict of one unionist lawyer in Madrid recently.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister, is in a trap set by Spain’s democratic constitution for governments without an absolute majority in parliament. He senses the worries of voters before the European elections in June and his instincts are to promote Spanish unity. But he needs the votes of regional parties, particularly the Catalans, ito pass legislation and stay in control of Spain.

Unfortunately for Mr Zapatero, every regional government from Galicia to Murcia is determined to hang on to the powers it gained after Franco’s death. Café para todos is a stimulating brew that no one wants to forgo. When the waiter comes, however, no one wants to pay the bill.

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Football's Identity Matters

The article you are about to read was published at Goal.com and it tip-toes around the fact that the inhabitants of Euskal Herria and Catalunya (two out of the three abducted nations by Spanish colonialism) do not feel Spanish and therefore do not support Spain's national football team. Here you have it:

World Cup Debate: Spain - Divided, But Still Successful

Goal.com takes a look at that land of many cultures - Spain - and the status of the national team...

It's a rare country that has everyone within its borders cheering for national team success. Virtually everywhere on earth you will find ex-pats, immigrants, and the children of immigrants - sitting quietly at home while the majority are out watching the national team compete in the World Cup.

What's more, in quite a few you will even find native-born citizens, stretching back generations, who are not the least bit interested in the fortunes of the national side. Perhaps nowhere in Europe is this more true than in Spain.

A House Divided

The Spanish football roadshow - easily one of Europe's more mobile national teams - seems to cover a heck of a lot of ground, but this is deceptive. The vast, vast majority of the matches are played in the various pro-Spain heartlands of Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Andalucia, Asturias, Extremadura, and even Galicia and Murcia. Valencia is well-resented, too, while La Rioja, Navarre, Aragon and the Canaries are also visited. But Catalonia? The Basque Country? No.

There are parts of Spain, then, in which the national side simply is not relevant. Catalonia is the first example: sure, there are Spain fans there, but not many, borne out by the fact that the Furia Roja have not played there since 2000. (To give some context, Spain have in the meantime visited such footballing hotbeds as Vila-Real, Elche, Logrono, and Leon.)

More amazingly, the last time Spain hosted international opposition in Bilbao was in 1967 - at the height of Francoism, in other words - and San Sebastian/Donostia in 1923. Have they any immediate plan to return? Why would they? The attendance would probably be low and the outcry massive.

Flying The Flag

Yet despite the groundswell of opposition at grassroots level, when it comes to professional football, Spanish recognition remains the big prize. Proud Catalans such as Xavi and Bojan without hesitation - and without moderation - play for Spain as readily as they would their clubs. So fulsome were Xavi's efforts last summer, in fact, that he was named Euro 2008's Player of the Tournament.

That's not to say that there cannot be tensions. This current squad is undoubtedly one blessed with camaraderie and spirit, but previous coaches have not quite managed the same. Just look at Javier Clemente. He was accused by Marca, among others, of having a bias towards his beloved Athletic Bilbao, and selecting players who had 'a couple of half-decent games' for the San Mames outfit. Later, Luis Aragones weathered the same controversy for his Atletico Madrid predilection, but in Clemente's case there was, sadly, an ethnic undertone to both his (alleged) policy and some of his critics.

In other words, it's a minefield, and specifically so in the Basque country. This video, courtesy of Carlsberg and partofthegame.tv, featuring football writer Phil Ball, may explain more.

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What they do not point out is that unlike England that allows for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to play in international tournaments, Spain will not even allow Euskal Herria, Catalunya and Galiza to do the same which once again proves that those who call the shots in Madrid have little regard for the right to self determination of all nations in the world.

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Language Education in the Spanish State

The article by the Guardian Weekly that you're about to read is quite a departure from the one written by Basque-phobe Keith Johnson a couple of years ago. Here you have it:

Spain's lessons in multilingual teaching

Spain offers some valuable lessons in Clil policy argues María Jesús Frigols Martín. She explains how the the promotion of Spain's regional languages in schools along side Spanish has helped to establish the teaching of content subjects through students' and teachers' second and third languages.

"There has been no single blueprint, yet Clil is now firmly entrenching itself as an innovative educational approach," states Hugo Baetens Beardsmore, one of the international figures in this field. This is very true of Spain, where Clil is now starting to go mainstream after a decade of pilot and experimental projects.

The Spanish experience of Clil continues to be eclectic. There is no single Clil model taking root across the country. There are as many models as regions, different in application but following the same core fundamentals. Spain could be viewed as a "microcosm" of Clil worldwide. This one country is developing different models which share the same main objective: upgrading education and competence in languages throughout the population.

The twin drivers that have powered the uptake of Clil in the last decades are regional and global citizenship. The energy has come from both the general public and, increasingly, political decision makers.

To understand Clil in Spain you first have to understand how the nation functions as a "state of autonomies", a unitary country with 19 autonomous communities (17 regions, plus the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla). Each of these has its own laws, and the power to administer certain aspects of the education system within its own territory. The Organic Act of Education (Ley Orgánica de Educación, LOE) establishes the general frame for the whole country.

This structure is very significant in terms of languages. Whereas Spanish is the official language of the country as a whole, certain communities (the Basque Country, Navarre, Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Galicia, and Valencia) also have their own regional languages, namely Basque, Catalan, Galician, and Valencian. In these communities, both the regional language and Spanish are mandatory in education at the non-university level.

The stage was set for Clil when regional languages were granted official status in the 1980s. From this point onwards regional languages started making their way through the mainstream education systems as medium of instruction. This would become an invaluable experience, for the expertise acquired after years of practice could be easily transferred from bilingual to monolingual communities, and proved to be an excellent starting point for the design and implementation of programmes aiming to produce young people speaking two languages in addition to their monther tongue (MT+2).

Stepping from regional to foreign languages was a natural way for Clil to evolve at a time when increasing priority has been given to global citizenship. This meant generalising the use of more than one medium of instruction. That in turn meant that educators needed to adapt their teaching to suit this context and focussed interest on Clil as the best way to achieve their goals.

There was a transfer of know-how within the regions and across the country that allowed monolingual areas to keep pace with the bilingual regions.

This resulted in scenarios where education was:

* partly in Spanish, and partly in one or two foreign languages
* partly in Spanish, partly in a joint official language other than Spanish (Basque, Catalan, Galician, or Valencian), and partly in one or two foreign languages.

This has given the Spanish Clil spectrum a leading place in Europe. Clil programmes have been implemented in mainstream schools with direct support from educational authorities. The different models vary significantly from one region to another, but can be summarised as following one of these objectives:

* Promoting bilingualism in a monolingual community
* Fostering multilingualism in an already bilingual community


Even though Spain's regional Clil models are diverse, there are certain issues which have been addressed by central government. For example the teachers’ level of language competence has been given special attention. It has been set at B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages for vocational, secondary education, and the Baccalaureate; and B1 for pre-primary and primary. In addition, vocational education is required to have at least two subjects taught through a foreign language. Meanwhile, the communities decide on questions such as subject choice, teaching time invested, and other operational factors.

The learning curve for teachers and administrators has been steep. For years, teacher training has been a major challenge for both central and regional governments. To provide teaching professionals with the necessary linguistic and methodological skills, a specific Clil training programme (Pale, Plan de apoyo al Aprendizaje de Lenguas Extranjeras), comprising improvement of communicative competence, methodology and periods of study abroad, has been designed and implemented. It is funded jointly by the central government and the autonomous boards of education.

Lack of teaching materials and resources is one of the major difficulties Clil teachers have to face. This is common to all the regions. As a general rule teachers develop their own materials by using realia from a target language country, translating and adapting first-language course books, or downloading resources from the internet. Exchanges through seminars, networking, creating data banks, collaborating over the internet, and using blogs have become common means of support.

It is too early to make definitive statements about the impact of Clil across the country. One reason is because some of the separate Boards of Education have not yet carried out extensive evaluation of their Clil programmes. But preliminary research indicators appearing from different communities point to the fact that content acquisition is similar when compared to education through the mother tongue, that learning in Clil substantially improves students’ linguistic and communicative competence, and that it would also appear to assist their cognitive development.

Clil is now consolidating as a trend at all stages of the Spanish educational system, including higher education. It’s a leitmotiv for profound change in the autonomous education systems which are rapidly attempting to adapt to the demands of the knowledge society.

As Rosa Aliaga, a Clil expert at the Basque Board of Education says: "It is fascinating to observe how four- and five-year-old children play, create and have fun in different languages. Their motivation is very high, and they are prepared to take risks in communicating with others with no fear or embarrassment of using the wrong words."

Contrary to common belief, Spaniards have long been keen to learn foreign languages, especially English. The barrier has not been lack of interest so much as lack of response to often outdated language teaching methodologies, and availability of curricular time. The Spanish Clil scenario is one which can serve as a dynamic and realistic model for other countries wanting to reduce barriers to language learning.

María Jesús Frigols Martín works for the Programa Plurilingüe at the Conselleria de Educación de la Generalitat Valenciana, Valencia

One thing we would like to point out is that the advances in education when it comes to Basque and Catalonian are taking place DESPITE Spain and not thanks to its language policies. If it was up to Madrid, the only language spoken in the Spanish state would be Castillian. Just wait and see what will happen to Basque education programs when Spaniard Patxi Lopez takes the presidency of the Basque autonomous community.

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Weather Punishes Euskal Herria

The reports about the storm that hit Western Europe keep mentioning Spain and France, well, as it happens, Euskal Herria is wedged between these two states so yes, the storm did created some havoc in the land of the Basques.

Here you have this note from Google News:

Hurricane-force winds kill 15 in Spain, France

BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Hurricane-force winds lashed Spain and France Saturday, killing at least 15 people including four children when part of a sports hall collapsed, while over a million were left without power.

High winds, gusting up to 150 kilometres an hour (95 miles per hour) in northern Spain, brought down part of a sports hall in Sant Boi de Llobregat, near Barcelona, a regional government spokeswoman said, killing the four children and injuring nine.

Spanish media reported the children had been playing baseball outside but took shelter in the building.

"It seems that the roof shifted and brought down part of the wall," the spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile French forecasters warned the storms could be as ferocious as the tempest in 1999, which uprooted millions of trees, although over a "more limited geographical area."

They reported record-breaking winds, reaching 184 kilometres an hour at Perpignan, and sounded a red alert across nine departments for the first time, though they reduced it to one later in the day.

The winds caused widespread disruption in both countries, with some 1.3 million homes experiencing power cuts in France, according to electricity grid operator ERDF, and tens of thousands in Spain also without power as high voltage lines were brought down.

The weather also wreaked havoc on the roads, with fallen trees hampering engineers struggling to restore power. French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said 715 additional staff had been sent to the region to assist.

"It's the apocalypse," said Peio Poueyts, in the tourism office in the French city of Biarritz on the Atlantic coast, where 135 kilometre-per-hour winds were reported.

Train, bus and rail transportation were cancelled and many of Biarritz's stores were shuttered up.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he would visit the region on Sunday.

Apart from the children in the Spanish sports hall, a 52-year-old woman died in Barcelona late on Friday night when she was crushed by a collapsed wall. Another woman died Saturday in the northern Castilla-Leone region when a door, lifted by the winds, crashed into her.

In Galicia, in northwestern Spain, a civil guard sergeant was killed by a falling tree as he was directing traffic.

In the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante, a 51-year-old man was also killed by a collapsing wall, while one of six seamen rescued from their Portuguese cargo ship by helicopter off Galicia died, media reported.

The death toll also included a municipal employee near Barcelona and a 60-year-old man in Spain's Catalonia province.

Four people died in southwestern France, including two drivers who were killed by falling trees in the Landes department. A 78-year-old also died when he was hit by flying debris outside his home, local authorities said.

Meanwhile, a 73-year-old women died in the southwestern Gironde department when the storm cut electricity powering her breathing machine.

In Spain's northern Basque country, waves as high as 21.5 metres (70 feet) were recorded off Cape Matxitxako, according to a spokesman for the regional interior ministry. Dozens of people had to be evacuated from the area after wind blew the roofs from their homes.

Some 14,000 people were also evacuated in the Alicante region due to a forest fire apparently touched off by a downed cable.

Flights were disrupted across northern Spain from Bilbao in the Basque Country to Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, while train travel was also disrupted.

Most ski stations in the Pyrenees mountains closed due to the risk of avalanches.

Air France cancelled domestic flights passing through the affected zone, and all rail traffic was halted in the Midi-Pyrenees region, mainly because of fallen trees on the tracks.

Authorities said Bordeaux airport and the Aquitaine bridge across the Gironde river were closed, and flights were also suspended at Toulouse airport, though they resumed later Saturday.

However rail operator SNCF said there would be no trains in the region before Sunday.

Separately, avalanches in Scotland and France killed five people with three other lives seriously endangered in the French Alps.

.... ... .

Football and Politics

In this article published at Goal the author takes the act of courage and solidarity towards the Palestinians by Frederic Kanouté to go deeper into the (awkward) relationship between politics and sports in Francoist minded Spain:

Spanish Debate: The Politics Of Football In Spain

Cyrus C. Malek looks at the interplay between politics and sport in Spain - something that has seemingly always been the case and forever will be...

Celebrating a well-taken goal against Deportivo La Coruña in a Copa del Rey match, Sevilla's Frederic Kanouté lifted his club's shirt to reveal a second shirt with the Spanish 'Palestina' and the Arabic, 'Phillistine' (فلسطين) emblazoned across the chest in a public cry of protest against the atrocities being committed in Gaza. While the Spanish Football Federation fined the player a hefty 3,000 euros, Kanouté, a native of Mali and a follower of Islam, has won much praise from many quarters for using his position on the pitch as a stage for socio-political commentary. The Palestinian Embassy released a statement thanking the striker for providing an inspiration for Palestinian children, Barcelona's Pep Guardiola has publicly condemned the fine as excessive and voiced his own condemnation of the massacre, and Iranian first division club Zob Ahan Isfahan has even offered to pay the player's fine as a tribute to the cause.

Politics is no stranger to Spanish football. Throughout its lifetime on the Iberian Peninsula, football has been inexorably linked to the political events of the era. No saga more infamous, of course, than the politically-charged rift between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The Spanish Civil War, Generalissimo Francisco Franco's rise to power, and Spain's eventual transition to democracy (or more precisely, a constitutional monarchy) are marked by the blood rivalry -in the very real sense of the expression- between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona. During the first month of the Spanish Civil war, Barça's politically left-leaning president, Josep Sunyol, was murdered by the Falangistas (the Nationalist military movement) and Spanish football became a symbolic forum for the political ideologies of the day.

Barcelona, which was already the ensign for the progressive movements of fashion, food, architecture, and art, became the symbol for progressive politics—the resistance against the oppression of dictatorial government. With the banning of the Catalán, Gallego (Galician), and Euskera (Basque) languages under the fascist regime, one of the few places that Catalán could be spoken freely (and safely) was in the Barça stadium. Adopting the Catalán motto, 'Més que un club', FC Barcelona became 'more than a club' in its encounters against Real Madrid, the club associated with the oppressive rule of the capitol government.

How close the ties between the Madrid club and Franco's fascist government were in actuality remains ambiguous to say the very least, but the arrival of Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano at the Bernabéu remains a near-undisputed instance of political influence. Wholly left out of the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, a war-torn and impoverished Spain was under Franco's all but total control. Had Di Stéfano signed for Barcelona, the public attention would have shifted toward Spain's gateway to free-thinking democratic ideals and thus the necessary strings were pulled to have Di Stéfano, a player of unmatched talent, call the Spanish capital home.

While some (perhaps not completely unwarranted) claims are made that the government played a more direct role in footballing affairs by influencing referees to favour Madrid in domestic matches, one cannot deny the unsurpassed superiority of Di Stéfano's Madrid that won 5 consecutive titles on the European stage—beyond the scope of Franco's "influence". Nonetheless, the stigma remained throughout the latter half of the 20th century and footballing great Johan Cruyff chose Barça over Real Madrid stating that he could not play for a club associated with Franco.

Since the years of fascism, the historical rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona has assumed a less dual role with respect to political implications. But the sphere of politics still envelops Spain's football clubs in regional disputes. The issues of political/social autonomy from the central government and distribution of resources (e.g. high speed trains) across the Spanish country remain contentious talking points, especially for the Galician, Basque, and Catalunyan provinces. Where Catalán, Gallego, and Euskera were once banned under Franco, now the first language taught in schools are those of their respective provinces. As a result, Spanish is taught for only a few hours a week and the children of Spanish-speakers in these provinces have limited options of studying Castilian Spanish. These tensions lend a distinctly political flavour to matches featuring Barça, the Galician Deportivo La Coruña, or the Basque Athletic Bilbao.

Of course the famous Athletic Bilbao have taken the devotion to their unique situation a step further by only employing Basque players (it is worth noting that the ethno-political ties run so deep, that Athletic captain, Joseba Etxeberria has pledged to forego his wages and play next season, his last as a professional, for free). While the all-Basque roster has seen a few exceptions to the rule (now players of any origin can play for Athletic, just as long as they acquired their skills in the Basque Country), one can imagine the sort of tension that might have surrounded a match during the 90s when the Basque militant group ETA was at at its height. As an aside, there is something to be said for Athletic Bilbao's impressive feat of having remained contentious in La Primera for so long despite such a limited talent pool from which to fish.

Back in Madrid, the country's two main political parties, the conservative Partido Popular (PP) and the socialist Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), have footballing connections as well. PSOE leader and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero is an ardent Barcelona supporter and makes public predictions for El Clásico while his predecessor, José María Aznar of the PP, has even been linked to the Real Madrid presidency in the upcoming summer elections. On the northern edge of Madrid, the regional disputes between the central government and the semi-autonomous provinces make their home at the royal governing body of football, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF) where debates are periodically held on whether Catalunya and the other provinces should be able to compete in international competitions as separate entities from La Roja, the Spanish national team. And not so far away from the Bernabéu, Spanish sports daily Marca, a publication first printed as an iconic form of propaganda for Franco's Falange, now exposes the obstruction of democratic principles as Ramón Calderón was forced to resign in a scandal involving the rigging of votes at Real Madrid's general Assembly.

One of the greatest beauties of Spanish football lies in the fact that its purview is not solely limited to a vessel of entertainment. In a country with a tumultuous history, where language itself was oppressed and women could not open a bank account until 1975, the sport transcends sport, serving as both an implicit and explicit conduit for political and cultural expression. As more foreign players bring their diversity of backgrounds and political views to La Liga, it seems fitting that the political debate would take the next step to the global stage. In the case of Freddy Kanouté's gesture, one can only speculate how the act contributed in raising awareness and mobilizing over 250,000 Spaniards at the midweek, from Madrid to Málaga, to take part in the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in Europe. The beautiful game, indeed.

Something to point out; the children of Spanish speaking families have absolutely no problem getting their education in Spanish (Castillian), for public education in the part of the Basque Country occupied by Spain is in Spanish. That misconception has been making the rounds in the mean stream media ever since a "journalist" by the name of Keith Johnson who happens to be in the payroll of José María Aznar published an extensive article against the teaching of Euskara (Basque language) in Euskal Herria. The truth is, there is plenty of public schools where education is in Spanish, even more, most of the ikastolak (Basque schools) are private so Basque parents have to pay an extra amount to get their kids to receive their education in Euskara, as opposed to the public schools which are free of charge.

One more thing, in 1998, Aitor Zabaleta, a Basque follower of Donostia's Real Sociedad football team was murdered after an Spanish police officer tricked him into entering a bar full of Atletico de Madrid followers.

.... ... .

Essay on Self Determination

The text you're about to read was published at EUobserver, the author tries to make sense out of the way the international community sees the right of self-determination enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Here you have it:

No easy answers to the status of Ossetia, Abkhazia and others

Richard Corbett

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The collapse last week (on the first day!) of EU backed peace talks between Georgia and Russia to resolve the crisis in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, with the sides unable to enter the same room, serves merely to illustrate that there are no easy answers to the question of the status of Ossetia, Abkhazia, and indeed many other territories in the world.

Ever since US President Woodrow Wilson's 14 points, borne out of the wreckage left by the First World War, the self-determination of peoples has featured as a principle of international affairs. But less clear is the definition of who has the right to self-determination.

When Yugoslavia broke up, the international community was willing to recognise the right of its internal units that had the status of republics (such as Slovenia and Croatia) to declare themselves independent, but not to recognise such a right for those that had the status of provinces (namely Kosovo, despite its having a bigger and linguistically more distinct population than some of the republics).

Recently though, after lengthy deliberations, part of the international community has changed its mind and recognised Kosovo's independence.

When the Soviet Union broke up, the 15 internal units that had the status of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR) were recognised as sovereign states, but not the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSR) or Autonomous Oblasts (AO).

Some of the SSRs (such as the Baltic republics) had previously existed as independent countries, but others were based on somewhat arbitrary boundaries, many of which were drawn up by Josef Stalin when he was commissar for nationalities.

Mr Stalin also determined the hierarchy of which groups were to have their own SSR, which an ASSR, and which merely to be an AO. This sometimes changed over time: the Karelo-Finnish SSR was downgraded in 1956 to the Karelian ASSR. Had this not happened, we would presumably now have an independent Karelia, possibly seeking unification with Finland.

A Transcaucasian SSR existed until 1936, when it was split into Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, the latter two including their own ASSRs and AOs. Would we now be defending the territorial integrity of Transcaucasia against Georgian demands for independence had the Soviet leader not re-designed the borders?

It is not surprising that the legacy of Mr Stalin's frontiers is now causing problems. The South Ossetians do not want to be part of Georgia and do not see why they cannot be independent.

Moreover, the Ossetians were bound to see Kosovan independence as a precedent. And if Serbia had sent its troops back into Kosovo in August, the Western countries with troops there would certainly have reacted, as Russia did when the Georgians sent their troops into Ossetia - but hopefully not have over-reacted as the Russian's have done so brutally.

Complex situation

The situation is highly complex. Georgia was wrong to attack Southern Ossetia, and Russia was wrong to have reacted unilaterally and so disproportionately.

Due recognition by the West of this complexity would go a long way to avoiding any continued flexing of muscles by Russia or other actors in the region. As would some more consistent thought on the principles at stake.

It is not as though these issues are new. When Ireland opted out of the UK, its right to do so was challenged by many in Britain. Many Irish then questioned the right of Northern Ireland to opt out of Ireland and many in Northern Ireland opposed the right of Fermanagh and Tyrone to opt out of Northern Ireland.

Divergent opinions on who or which unit has the right to self-determination are inevitable and inherent to such situations.

Indeed, the question of whether Kosovo and South Ossetia should be recognised as sovereign states is only the latest in a trend that has seen the number of sovereign countries in Europe more than double in the space of a century, with every possibility that this trend will continue.

Only 22 states in Europe prior to 1918

In the living memory of our most senior citizens, there were only 22 states in Europe prior to 1918 (and two of these by then, Albania and Norway, were only recently independent).

The break up of Austria-Hungary and the Tsarist empire at the end of the First World War saw this rise to 29, soon reaching 30 with the establishment of an independent Ireland.

At the end of the Second World War, however, this fell to 28, with the disappearance of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania hardly compensated for by the creation of the German Democratic Republic. This figure remained stable during the entire Cold War period.

Since the end of the Cold War, the break-ups of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia saw this jump within a decade to 46.

Recognition of the independence of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia would bring us to nearly 50 sovereign states on the territory of Europe. And, of course, some would argue that the independence of Flanders, Scotland, the Basque country, Catalonia and Corsica is not beyond the bounds of the possible.

Some of these would be strongly contested, others less so - but what are the criteria? Is it possible to have objective criteria? If so, who should define them? If not, should any group that so wishes be able to constitute its own state?

What about my constituency of Yorkshire (it's far bigger than Luxembourg!)? Should Gibraltar? What about the Channel Islands? How would Russia feel about applying the same principle they argue for South Ossetia to Chechnya or Northern Ossetia?

In any case, it is possible that a continent of 20 sovereign states in 1900 could swell to one with over 50 in the coming years. Most of them will be in the European Union, so fragmentation will have been balanced by a degree of integration. Indeed, it is this very integration that has made it plausible in some cases for smaller units to be viable states.

Arguing for independence within Europe sounds far less isolationist when you are simply making the case to upgrade your status rather than head off into the wilderness (although any area opting out of an existing EU country would require the agreement of all member states to become a separate member of the EU).

Nonetheless, a world fragmented into several hundred small countries along with just a handful of giants would not necessarily be a better place for smaller countries, nor in terms of achieving world level agreement on global issues - not least environmental concerns.

The proliferation of states could also produce an arms race as such countries seek to develop their own armies and defend themselves against real or imaginary threats from their neighbours. Much would depend on the multilateral frameworks created for integration and co-operation.

While the EU certainly remains relatively successful in balancing unity and diversity, most of the world does not.

Richard Corbett is Deputy Leader of the Labour MEPs and speaks for the Socialist Group on EU Reform in the European Parliament

If Richard Corbett things that Kosovo has all what it takes to be an independent state, then truly there is not a single reason to deny this right to Euskal Herria, if anything, the Basques have a lot more assets to sustain their claim than the Kosovars.

Oh, by the way, do you remember when smack in the middle of the recent peace process Zapataro insisted that the right to self-determination did not exist? Well, he stands corrected.

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Basque Students in Ireland

While the Spaniards complaint about the effort by the Basque society to strengthen the use of Euskara some Basque parents make sure that their kids learn their own language plus Spanish... and English.

This article published at Mid Ulster Mail talks about it:

Basque-ing in Maghera!

Published Date: 24 July 2008
By Staff reporter

EVERY year now for the past 12 years a group of young people from the Basque Country have spent the month of July in or around Maghera.

More often than not the weather is never kind to them but a warmer welcome they couldn’ t possibly find.

The pupils are aged from 13 to 17 and attend bilingual schools in the Basque Country. Although they are taught through Basque and Spanish, from as early as the age of 4 they start to learn English and many of them end up doing the Social Sciences course in 4th and 5th year through the medium of English.

So, naturally many of the children spend part of their summer holidays improving English. One of the options for the childreen over this year was Malta, another was Dublin and another was the USA but these children chose to come to Maghera.

In fact, for one of the young people, Jon Martinez, this will be his fifth time in as many years.

The pupils stay with local people and are now very much a part of the local July scenery.

They go on various trips, the highlight of which is two nights spent in Donegal, and this year they have done lots of sporting activities such as paintballing and adventure water sports.

But they are also quite happy doing set dancing or playing football and volley-ball in Maghera itself.

Of course, all this would not be possible without the help of members of the Carntogher Community Association who every year very kindly help to organize the trip.

The pupils leave on Saturday but not before having a farewell party followed by a special edition of the Slaughtneill disco this Friday evening.

I pity those Spaniard parents being used by Madrid to boycott the bilingual education efforts put forward by Euskal Herria, Catalunya and Galiza.

.... ... .

Inmune To "Red Fever"

Basques and Catalans are not Spaniards, which explains why we can care less about what the Spanish national team achieves in the Euro Cup.

Now, when the national teams for Euskal Herria and Catalunya are finally allowed to compete in international tournaments things will be different.

In the mean time the reaction will be the one described on this article found at Earth. com:

'Red Fever' sweeping across almost all of Spain

Posted : Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:04:02 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Sports

Madrid - There has been a severe outbreak of "Red Fever" across Spain. "La Seleccion"'s 4-1 thrashing of Russia on Tuesday, in their Euro 2008 debut, has provoked delight, expectation and even euphoria across the country.

The only regions of Spain which appear to be relatively immune to "Red Fever", as per usual, are the Basque Country and Catalonia, two regions where "La Seleccion" has never enjoyed much support - and where the national team has not played for almost 20 years.

Bilbao and Barcelona remained relatively calm on Tuesday evening, whilst David Villa was destroying Russia with the tournament's first hat-trick.

In practically every other Spanish city, though, there was near-bedlam, with people following the game on open-air giant screens or crowding into bars and cafes.

The triumph allowed many Spaniards to put aside, albeit for a few hours, the property market crisis and the truck drivers strike provoked by sky-high petrol prices.

Most offices, warehouses, factories, schools and universities closed earlier than usual on Tuesday, in order to allow people to see the debut of Luis Aragones' talented team.

Continues...

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Spanish Language In Peril

Don't panic, Spanish language is not about to disappear, it is just that an imitator of Basque-phobe Keith Johnson by the name of Graham Keeley has published a piece that would lead the readers to believe that the push by Basques, Catalans and Galicians to strengthen their own languages represents a clear and present danger to Spanish.

Here you have the article:

Spanish speakers fight to save their language as regions have their say

Graham Keeley in Barcelona
The Observer,
Sunday May 4 2008

Habla Español? It is a question that in some parts of Spain ignites a fierce political war of words over the language of Cervantes. A growing number of activist groups in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia claim they are being denied the right to speak Spanish by regional nationalists who use language as a political weapon.

But the speakers of Spain's other 'official' languages - Catalan, Basque and Galician - insist that, on the contrary, Spanish is thriving and regional authorities have to save their own languages from being lost forever.

Since Franco's death in 1975, a process of 'linguistic normalisation' has taken place in autonomous regions that have their own languages. The Basque, Catalan and Galician tongues, repressed by Franco after the end of the civil war in 1939, have been promoted with millions in public funds, in the hope that more people will speak them.

But now Spanish speakers complain that their language is being marginalised by regional nationalists in revenge for the way their own languages were suppressed in the Franco years. They are appealing to the Spanish constitution, which guarantees the right to speak Spanish along with the three other official languages.

The battle has centred on the classroom, with Spanish-speaking parents in the regions worried that their children will be unable to read or write Spanish well, as they will only be taught in Catalan, Basque or Galician - minority languages compared with Spanish, which is the first language of about 322 million people worldwide.

The Basque Country has three types of teaching: in Spanish, Basque and bilingual. Just 5 per cent of parents took the Spanish-only option in primary schools this year, and the Basque government said it has had to cut back on Spanish-only teaching due to the lack of demand.

But Susana Marqués, of the Platform for the Freedom of Linguistic Choice, claimed that schools teaching Spanish have become ghettoes hampered by lack of funding because the authorities are keen to promote Basque at all cost. She said the Basque authorities want schools to have a high level of Basque in order to receive generous local funding. 'The only way to do this is total immersion in the language. In 20 years of this policy they still have not managed to get bilingualism here. It is not the language of the street. And 70 per cent of companies here never use Basque.' Marqués's group has appealed to Spain's ombudsman, Enrique Múgica, arguing that their rights are being denied. But Patxi Baztarrika, deputy head of linguistic politics for the Basque government, said: 'Spanish is present and should be. To say that Basque poses any threat to it is ridiculous.'

In Catalonia, Catalan is the language in all state schools, with Spanish only taught for up to three hours a week. An anti-nationalist party, Ciutadans (Citizens), was launched in 2006 to oppose 'linguistic politics' in Catalonia, but its leader, Albert Rivera, has received death threats. 'Fifty per cent of the population of Catalonia are from Spanish-speaking origins, and it is impossible to study in Spanish in private schools or in state schools,' said Carina Mejías, spokeswoman of the opposition right-wing Popular party in the Catalan parliament.

Bernat Joan, a Catalan Euro-MP and expert on linguistics, said: 'This protest would only be legitimate if students did not have adequate Spanish teaching. This is not the case.'

In Galicia, at least half of teaching must be in the regional tongue. Gloria Lago, a founder of Bilingual Galicia, said: 'The children ask to be taught in Spanish and this is not allowed because the law prevents it. When the bell goes, they start speaking their own language.'

However, Marisol López, Galician head of linguistic policies, insisted: 'Children study in two languages. If we don't discriminate positively in favour of Galician, Spanish will dominate.'

Talking Points

Spanish: 332 million speakers

The third most spoken language in the world, after Chinese and English. Spoken widely in Spain, Latin America and US

Catalan: 9.1 million

Romance language spoken in Catalonia, and parts of Valencia, Balearic Islands, Sardinia, south west France

Galician: 3-4 million

Romance language spoken in Galicia, parts of Asturias and Castilla y León

Basque: 1 million

Language of unknown origin, spoken in the Basque Country of north west Spain and south west France

Good thing that good ol' Graham provides with the chart of speakers for each language at the end of the article so you can see just how ridiculous the whole thing is.

I would like to ask Susana Marqués and Gloria Lago what do they think about the annihilation of several languages (and cultures) committed during Spain's long venture as a colonialist and genocidal power.

And I am going to say it loud and clear, if you are a Spaniard living in Euskal Herria, Catalunya or Galiza and you are afraid your kids will not learn "proper" Spanish easy, go back to Spain and stop being part of an occupying force that deprives entire nations of their freedom.

.... ... .

Welcome The Crofters

This note comes to us thanks to The Independent:

Crofters fight for rights of indigenous people

By Mark Hughes
Saturday, 19 April 2008

Australia has Aborigines, New Zealand has Maoris and the US has Native Americans. Now Scotland could soon have its own group of indigenous people, in the shape of its crofters.

A report by the Scottish Crofting Foundation (SCF) is calling for the Government to recognise Scotland's 13,000 crofters as indigenous to the country in the same way that Australia, New Zealand and the US does with their ethnic groups. It suggests that, not only should the crofters be recognised as indigenous, but that they should be given the power to govern themselves through their own crofters' parliament.

The report states that the Government must "recognise crofters as indigenous people of the Highlands and Islands, respect the growing body of international law on indigenous peoples, and devolve power and decision-making on indigenous issues to the people who maintain the indigenous cultures of the Highlands and Islands."

The Government has refused to accept that the country has any indigenous people, so, should it act upon the report's recommendations, the crofters – essentially farmers who rear animals on small, rented pieces of land – would become the UK's first group of indigenous people.

Patrick Krause, the chief executive of the SCF, says that his organisation decided to seek the indigenous status after becoming disillusioned and worried by decisions taken on behalf of the crofters by a government in Edinburgh which he says "knows very little about crofting".

And he added that the crofters could even follow the example of the Sami people of Norway, who after decades of cultural repression established their own parliament in 1989.

Mr Krause said: "Indigenous-people status would recognise crofters as a people that has its own unique culture and who deserve a certain amount of autonomy. In the past, central government has called all the shots – but they have always used a central belt benchmark.

"What we are saying is that the Highlands and Islands are different and have a distinct culture which should be recognised as different. Urban people making rules for rural people doesn't work. There is a risk that cultural values can be swept aside in the name of progress."

He added: "Crofters have always had a very strong and unique cultural identity. Many crofters speak a different language [Gaelic] and our whole culture is based upon the land and our livestock. We sing about it in our songs and tell about it in our stories. The Government in Edinburgh knows little about our culture, so why should they be making decisions about our lives? We are capable of making them ourselves. The first step away from that would be to be recognised as indigenous, but the ultimate aim would be to have our own parliament."

The report is due to be presented to the United Nations in April next year, in the hope that it will pave the way for crofters to be given more rights under international law. The UN already has a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous people, which says that indigenous people should be free from discrimination and their rights should be respected and promoted.

The draft goes on to say that the only way this can be done is by those people "exercising control over the developments affecting their lands and resources based on their needs".

A copy of the report has also been sent to the Inverness-based government body, the Crofters Commission – which the report says should be abolished.

Drew Ratter, chairman of the commission, has agreed to respond to the report, but he has already said: "I remain to be convinced that this indigenous people's thesis they are developing is the right one."

Indigenous people of the world

*The Sami people are thought to number about 100,000 and have inhabited parts of Scandinavia for 2,500 years. They were almost wiped out in the 1940s, but now have their own parliament.

*The Aborigines have populated Australia for 40,000 years and their number is said to have topped 750,000. But by the end of the 20th century, after British settlers arrived, there were just 190,000.

*The Native Americans were first encountered by Christopher Columbus in the 1400s but after European colonisation of the US were nearly wiped out by the 16th century. Now there are two million.

*The Maoris settled in New Zealand in the 1300s, but were outnumbered by European settlers in the 1800s. They lost much of their land and went into a cultural decline, until a revival in the 1960s.

*The Basque people are thought to be the earliest inhabitants of western Europe. The region, known as the Basque Country, comprises three Spanish provinces which are self-governed.

*The Guanches were the first known inhabitants of the Canary Islands, arriving there in 500BC. Now though, their culture has all but died out after the island's colonisation in the Middle Ages and their language is virtually obsolete.

Actually, the Basque Country includes seven provinces, four occupied by Spain and three occupied by France. Thus, unable to let go of its genocidal and colonialist past, today Spain occupies Navarre (the Basque Country), the Canary Islands, Catalunya and Galiza.

.... ... .

Basque Lessons For Wales

This article was published at IC Wales:

Basques may have lessons for Wales

Apr 18 2008 by David James, Western Mail

THE Welsh Affairs Select Committee is to travel to the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Bilbao to learn about globalisation.

According to the committee’s chairman, Aberavon MP Hywel Francis, the proudly autonomous nations of northern Spain, Catalonia and the Basque country, of which the two cities are the capitals, have adapted far better to the modern world than Wales.

Dr Francis said: “We wanted to see another part of the world that is similar to Wales that is responding very well to globalisation.

“Catalonia and the Basque Country have striking similarities to Wales. So we want to see why they are so successful.”

The worker-owned co-operative of Mondragon, which was founded in the 1940s and inspired a series of similar co-operatives in Wales, is on the select committee’s itinerary.

“We are particularly interested in the Basque country,” Dr Francis said.

“We learned 25 years ago about developing co-operatives from Mondragon and we are going out there to see how they are developing and using the co-operatives to support and in order to serve the tide of globalisation.”

Also on the agenda for the trip from Sunday until Thursday are visits to Barcelona University, a project to turn industrial land into an innovative economic district and the Catalunya broadcasting corporation.

The MPs will also visit Vilaweb, a Catalan news website, El Periodico de Catalunya, a daily Barcelona newspaper, Basque TV and Radio Broadcasting Board and the Basque Country Audiovisual Cluster.

Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams, a committee member, said Wales could learn from the independent media of the Basque Country and Catalonia where he said many more people read a daily newspaper in their own language.

He said: “We will certainly be looking at the way the media are dealing with influences from outside.

“Eighty per cent of people in Wales read newspapers from England. Speaking for myself, I am worried that the reality of life in Wales is not being reflected for most Welsh people because they are not reading newspapers which do that job.”

Around half of the MPs on the committee are going.

Dr Williams said the travelling party would be contributing to an inquiry the committee had been carrying out into globalisation and its impact on Wales.

By the way, the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community is Gazteiz, not Bilbao.

.... ... .

A Matter of Wealth

Do you ever wonder why has Spain resorted to such vicious and violent extremes to prevent the Basque Country from regaining its sovereignty?

This article published at Euroresidentes may dispel one of the many mysteries regarding Madrid's efforts to perpetuate its colonialist hold of Hegoalde, the southern portion of Nabarra:

Region in Spain with highest total personal income

Inhabitants in the Basque Country the richest in Spain

The Basque Country has overtaken Madrid as the area of Spain with the highest capita per inhabitant. Figures published yesterday by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) showed that GDP per inhabitant in Madrid was 29,965 euros compared to 30,599 for inhabitants in the Basque Country. Extremadura and Andalucía remained at the bottom of the list although figures show that the difference in GDP between parts of Spain is going down year by year. The average income per inhabitant in Spain is now estimated at 23,396 euros.

This is the first time that Madrid has lost its place at the top of the list since 1995 when the INE began to publish these figures although this change has been put down to more to changes in the Basque Country’s demography to its economic growth. In fact, the economy in the Basque Country has grown less than the national average over recent years. However, the population has hardly grown at all. Since 1995 it has only grown by 2.3% while the population of Madrid has increased by a massive 21%.

Income per inhabitant has fallen in the Balearic islands. Figures for 1995 showed that income per inhabitant was equivalent to 120% that of the national average while now it is just 108%. However, the population in this part of Spain has also grown by 37% over the last 12 years. Furthermore, the incorporation of more workers in its economy has not led to economic growth. The Canary islands is also a similar case.

The figures just published for 2007 show that Catalonia has the highest GDP in Spain valued at 196,000 euros, followed by Madrid, Andalucía, Valencia and the Basque Country. Aragón showed the biggest growth at 4.5% compared to an average growth in GDP of 3.8% for the rest of Spain. The INE showed that Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia all had thriving economies with strong manufacturing sectors. Economic growth in Aragon was attributed mostly to building work in preparation for the Expo which starts in June.

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Oddly enough, some "pundits" insist that Nabarra could not survive economically on its own.

Same goes for Catalunya.

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Past, Present and Future

Like I told you, I was really looking forward to the chit-chat about Kosovo today.

At Alejandros@World, blogger Alejandro Ribo provides with an analysis of the situation in his post titled "Kosovo and its future, Catalunya and its present, Spain and its past", here you have the part I liked the most:

I do not see how this can be against international law, for there are no consensual rules about self-determination, beyond those ad-hoc norms imposed by big states to save themselves from independence movements or for “stability/security” reasons. Self-determination is basically a political concept, not something that can be reduced to a piece of paper agreed by a few for the many. If a group of people wants to separate from another group of people, and they have the possibility to do it, be it because they have the power or they are supported by the powerful, self-determination will happen; otherwise the most active among the former group of people are called manipulators, for they want to convince others that they are different, or even terrorist.

In Spain, the government has promptly reacted with a nuanced an ambiguous position on Kosovo’s independence. It cannot go against it, for it is supported by the US and it is the product of the suffering of the Albanian Kosovars so-much defended by NATO. But it rejects its forms - unilateral against international law - and it fears a “domino effect” in its own borders. Quickly, nationalists parties in Catalunya (Catalonia) have marked differences between the Kosovar case and the Catalan situation. However, they defend its independence as an exercise of the legitimate right to self-determination.

Obviously, Kosovo is different from Catalunya, and Catalunya is different from Euskadi (Basque country), and Euskadi is different from Vlaanderen (Flanders), and Vlaanderen is different from Scotland, and so on. Nevertheless, they all have something in common: a cultural group (i don’t want to use the term ethnic, for its connotations) that lives in a state dominated by another cultural group, and the latter uses this state to, surreptitiously, favored the population that follows its socio-cultural norms e.g. speak its language. In my opinion, the important here is not what separates Kosovo from Catalunya, or even what is similar in both cases, but how beneficial independence will be for the Balkan province (and soon state) - its future. For if Kosovo proofs the principle that “small states are better off in a globalized world”, we might say with more emphasis that “small states are better off in a united Europe in a globalized world”…

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The "San Mamés" Manifesto

EITb brings to us a note about the compromise to a joined effort by Catalunya, Galiza and Euskal Herria to work together towards the international community recognition of their national teams.

Here you have the note:

Politics

San Mamés Statement

Basque, Catalan and Galician Govt's to promote national teams

12/29/2007

Representatives of the three governments signed Saturday morning a manifesto targeting to promote "sports, autochthonous sports and national teams".

Basque, Catalan and Galician Governments signed on Saturday the "San Mamés statement", an official manifesto that seeks to promote "sport systems, sport practice, , autochthonous sports and national teams" in the three regions.

The Culture councilors of the Basque and Galician governments, Miren Azkarate and Anxela Bugallo, respectively, and the vice president of the Catalan government, Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, signed the agreement on Bilbao's San Mamés field, which hosts Saturday evening the friendly soccer match between the Basque and Catalan national teams.

"We are not here against anybody. We are here in favor of sport, in favor of our countries as sport countries", the Catalan vice president remarked.

The statement, read in Basque, Catalan, Galician and Spanish languages, establishes some basic points within the framework of cooperation dealing with "the promotion of sport exchanges" and the "establishment of open competitive frameworks for the national teams and sport federations" of the signatories of the manifesto.

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About the Match in San Mamés

In just a few minutes the national teams representing Euskal Herria and Catalunya will appear on the field of Athletic de Bilbao's San Mamés stadium to play a friendly match as a means to call attention to their plea of official international recognition.

Here you have an article titled "Euskal Herria vs Catalonia" at a blog called "Football Articles":

Tomorrow evening will see Catalonia play the Basque Country, in San Mames, in a match that takes place between the sides over the Spanish Leagues Christmas off-season period. As always controversy has surrounded this game as both federations suggest that their 'national team' be given official status and recognised by FIFA as separate entities from the Spanish national side.

Previously the Basque country had always been known as Euskadi in such events. However, this time they are lining up under the name of Euskal Herria. The difference between these names is that Euskadi is solely the region of Northern Spain whilst Euskal Herria is suggesting that part of France and the region Navarra in Spain are also part of a 'Basque nation'. This change of name has angered the French Federation in particular.

Catalonia existed as a country before Spain came into existence. Within Spain exists regional identities and strong nationalistic movements for these regions to breakaway from Spain and exist as separate entities. Catalonia was a country with a proud sea heritage, even before the country of Spain was created. This only happened when the houses of Aragon and Castille came together after the marriage of Ferdinand II and Isabella I in 1469.

Both the Catalan and Basque football federations have been appealing to UEFA and FIFA for a number of years now - in the hope of gaining official status for their teams - in order for them to play in Euro Championships and World Cups. European football's governing body UEFA has delayed a controversial decision to grant membership to Gibraltar -- despite being ordered to do so by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The FEF (Spanish Federation) are getting really worried now - as if Gibraltar are granted membership - Catalonia and The Basque Country have made it clear they will push to even harder to be recognized by UEFA.

Gibraltar is a tiny place - if they are granted membership they will not compete at any serious level but with the Faroe Islands already there - whilst remaining attached to Denmark - it is hypocritical to deny them their right to take part. If the Spanish regions gained membership, you might find Corsica applying, and Russian Republics like Chechnya, Dagestan and North Ossetia aswell. However, Catalonia and Euskadi are pushing for a change in the Spanish Constitution - to have more of a federal system, whereas they would technically still remain as part of Spain, but they will be seen and recognized as independent states in their own right. - Some in Spain's ruling Socialist Government as well as the usual nationalist parties are in favour of it. Again though, despite the fact that Germany is a federated state you don't see the likes of Bavaria applying for their own team! Although this is different since Bavaria and other German states haven't got the independence movements that they have in Catalonia and Euskadi.

This internal regional conflict is often a reason given for the poor performances at major tournaments by the Spanish national side. However to use this as an excuse for the Spanish National sides' failures shouldn't it mean that Italy with Sicilia, Sardegna, the Mezzo Giorno and the North in permanent conflict that they too shouldn't win anything? Perhaps a Catalan is not as comfortable or less susceptible to giving his all for Spain and the regionalised side could go on and outperform the Spain side of present.

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Just a comment to DF, Euskal Herria also existed as a country long before Spain came into existence, only that then it was called Navarre.

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