Teacher on hunger strike for Catalan language

Kurdish news agency explains in an article the reasons and developing of the campaign #HungerStrikeforCatalan :

Determined to continue and putting his life in the hands of President José Ramón Bauzá, Catalan high school teacher Jaume Sastre has completed the third week of his hunger strike. It is a powerful protest against the education policies of the Balearic Islands government, which has refused to consider any of the demands of teachers and parents during the school year about the controversial decree that discriminates against the Catalan language in the classroom. Sastre has begun to feel weak, but his mind is as strong as the first day. "Maybe he's the one's who has the strongest morale of all of us," says musician, and former teacher Biel Majoral, que is serving as Sastre's spokesperson now that Sastre's health doesn't permit him to attend to the media.
Jaume Sastre walks a little in the mornings, receives fewer and fewer visitors, and tomorrow will do a complete blood analysis to watch his health. It's been twenty-two days since he began the hunger strike and he is determined to complete at least thirty. From that point, he will enter a more serious phase, and if the government still has not made any gesture, they will discuss how to continue the protest. "He is a natural fighter," says Majoral, and points out the huge quantity of people that have stood by Sastre, including his support team.
"We're headed towards thirty days of the strike, that's for sure. We will wait for the government to make a move, but you've seen what Bauzá says. You'd think the PP hadn't lost a single vote," Majoral says. He's referring to the president's declarations on the government's plans to maintain the current road map. It does not seem that they have any intention of sitting down to talk with the teachers. But Sastre, his support team, and in general the Assemblea de Docents (Educators Assembly) maintain the challenge. And they are confident that a time will come when Bauzá will be forced to listen to them and talk.
Jaume Sastre, 55 years of age, has still not received any visits or calls from the government, but he has been called on personally by several members of the PP, and by dozens and dozens of people, educational centers, and associations, who have joined his cause. "This encourages him greatly, and he says he will keep on as long as the government fails to make any move. If Bauzá is conscious of what a hunger strike means, especially with the movement that is behind him, I don't think he has the luxury of closing his eyes," says Majoral.

All sorts of support
Support for Sastre has come from many directions and from people of all political persuasions, including three former presidents of the government. Yesterday, MP Alfred Bosch presented his case to the Spanish Congress with a question to Minister Soria. He has received ample support on social networks as well, through the selfie campaign promoted by Help Catalonia, with messages on Sastre's Facebook page, with his +VilaWeb blog, and through Twitter. Whoever wants to can also visit the Casa Llarga de Palma, next door to So n'Espases, and sign the visitor's book in order to express their support in writing.
Waiting for the "Diada per la Llengua" [Celebration of Language Day] and the round table on Tuesday
Saturday is an important day: the "Diada per la Llengua" [Celebration of Language Day]. It will be another opportunity to measure the strength of the movement that defends Catalan public schooling. That is why the Obra Cultural Balear has called for participation to fill the Plaça Major in Palma with bows made out of flags. The other important day is Tuesday: in Casa Llarga, where Sastre is staying, there will be a round table with educators and all of the parties that defend dialogue with the Councilor of Education and the suspension of legislation on language treatment. All of the parties that together received more than twice as many votes in the PP in the European elections last week.
The hunger strike is a "reaction against the attacks, the mistreatment and the harassment," say those in charge of Sastre's support team. And they add, "Our education has been hijacked by a government that acts dangerously and unilaterally. After two years, this hunger strike is a response to the smear tactics, bureaucracy, forced rulings, attacks on the language, budget cuts, and derision against the use of the Catalan language in public schools."

Sastre ended his fast after 40 days.

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A crowd for our in language in Palma

More than expected. A crowd of thousands sent a clear message to the Spanish nationalist government of the Popular Party for a decent and quality education in Catalan language. It was yesterday in Palma (Majorca's Island) city. So, Jaume Sastre is not alone. He has been twenty-five days on hunger strike demanding negotiations with the PP party. Last European elections the ruling party lost many votes in the Balearic Islands: from 112.000 to 74.000 votes.

The rally was organized by the Obra Cultural Movement (OCB) a cultural movement who stands for our language in the Balearic Islands. OCB is the most influential cultural institution in the Balearic Islands. It was founded in 1962 by Francesc de Borja Moll, with the aim of promoting the Catalan language, the culture and the own identity of the balearic people.

OCB has promoted the biggest demonstrations, events and campaigns to claim more self-government for the Balearic Islands. Last rally in Palma as yesterday's one was in 2011.About 4.000-10,000 people attended a rally in Palma yesterday evening wearing Catalan flag ribbons and green (the colour of the  campaign) T-Shirts. Help Catalonia is developing an international campaign hand in hand with this popular movement as well as a selfie's campaign in solidarity with the #HungerStrikeForCatalan.

More pictures:

Última Hora
Diari de Balears
Ara Balears
Mallorca Confidencial

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Already in 2012, Hunger strike to defend the Catalan in the Balearic islands

As you have seen Help Catalonia is fully supporting the #HungerStrikeforCatalan. Our organization has initiated a campaign to internationalize the hunger strike for the Catalan language. Jaume Sastre, a teacher at Llucmajor high school in Mallorca, begun a hunger strike on May 8th to demand the government negotiate with the teachers immediately. Sastre, who is a member of the Teachers' Assembly of the Balearic Islands, wants to demonstrate the rejection of the general education community to the government of Spanish Nationalist José Ramon Bauza, who remains determined to implement the controversial trilingualism decree and to crack down on striking teachers.You can help downloading this Green or White sign and share a picture of yourself snd sending it to helpcatalonia@gmail.com

But this is not new. In 2012 education community in the Balearic islands also started a Hunger strike to defend the Catalan language, which HC followed and this video shows the reasons why. On March 1st, 2012, Jaume Bonet began a hunger strike in Majorca to defend our language; as of March 18th, his fast has lasted already eighteen days. The Spanish nationalist party PP arrived to the Balearic government under the pretext of the economic crisis, but it has not carried out any of the measures of economic recovery for the islands. In fact, the situation is worsening, and PP takes advantage of it to rule the islands with a renewed offensive against the Catalan language. According to Bonet, their intention would be to make Catalan disappear or, at least, make it as peripheral as possible.

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A hunger strike to defend a high-quality public education in Catalan

For three years now, public education has suffered continuous aggressions. Using the crisis as an excuse, a public educational system which has been socially cohesive and inclusive is being dismantled with economic, material and staff cuts. And also with the imposition of regressive and impossible reforms. And at the same time teachers are under a repressive situation never before experienced.

The reasons that have brought Jaume Sastre to start a hunger strike are thousandfold. And his demand is very simple: TO ASK THE BALEARIC ISLAND’S PRESIDENT, MR. JOSÉ RAMON BAUÇÀ, TO SIT DOWN AND NEGOTIATE WITH THE TEACHERS, LISTEN TO THEM AND REACH A CONSENSUS. Here are some of the most important points:

1. The most important educational conflict in the recent history of the Balearic Islands has marked the year 2013-14, mobilizing people against the Government's  authoritarian and repressive policies. The peak was the most massive demonstration ever in the history of the Balearic Islands.
    
2. Solidarity never seen before: tens of thousands of contributions reaching €690.000, in donations, activities, concerts, auctions…. in support of the teachers carrying on their indefinite strike until the Government agrees to rectify and start negotiations to reach a consensus. After eight months, no substantial progress has been made with their claims.
    
3. Undeniable social recognition: eight associations from the educational, pedagogical, cultural, associative, journalist and linguistic fields have given prizes, awards and recognitions to the Teacher’s Assembly movement which has shaped the year.
    
4. Repression never seen before: 4 secondary teachers have been ceased for political reasons; there have been more than 300 resignations during one year.
   
5. A linguistic project against Europe, a legislative and pedagogical nonsense. The Government has turned its back to justice and educational community to apply in a hurry a deep change in the school linguistic models, without planning, consensus and resources. Contravening Regional, State and European laws.

INITIAL REQUESTS

It is required a quality education, that means not to increase pupil ratios, with enough specific teachers for them, academic freedom and without administrative disciplinary proceedings.

1. Stop all the administrative disciplinary proceedings started with clearly repressive intention before and during the strike.       

2. Withdraw the TIL decrre, a law that attacks the mother tongue.

3. Withdraw the decree project for Social Harmony and the Symbol Law.

4. Real transport grants and free school meals in due time and form. Enough and efficient resources in order to have a good book reuse system.

5. Go back to the previous workforces before teachers cuts. Also for the diversity awareness teachers and go back to  the previous pupil ratios before the cuts in educational budget.

6. Immediate replacement for sick leave staff.

7. Sick leave 100% payed.

8. Interim teachers hiring during july and august.

9. Get the wage supplements lost back and recognise new six-year periods from the 1st of june 2012.  Achieve the wage agreement signed in 2008 for the concertada schools.

10. Request from the Regional Ministry of Education to the Central Government to withdraw the LOMCE (Organic Law for the Improvement of the Quality in Education).

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Ruairidh MacIlleathain: "Many people in Scotland (or Alba) are fascinated by the vigour of the independence movement in Catalonia"

Many people in Scotland (or Alba as we call it in my language) are fascinated by the vigour of the independence movement in Catalunya and, if we were called upon to lay a bet on which country might achieve independence first, we would be hard-put to know where to place our money. Putting a million people on the streets of Barcelona last year was a phenomenal achievement, and certainly not one that could be copied (even at a smaller scale) in Scotland. If our country’s drive to independence seems to be lukewarm currently, there is more than just economic uncertainty to blame. Indeed, a lot of the political lethargy (with eighteen months to go until the referendum) can probably be linked to the fact that the United Kingdom authorities have actually been rather gentle with, and largely respectful to, the ‘errant’ Scots – so far, at least. Those who wish for independence would probably welcome a Madrid-style interference with our governmental priorities in order to raise the political temperature!

Scotland has been part of Great Britain since 1707, and part of the United Kingdom since 1801. It was in theory an equal partner with England (including Wales) in the 1707 union, but in practice there never was, and never would be, equality between the two countries. England had four times the population of Scotland in 1707; it now has ten times Scotland’s population. The only way that equality might have been achieved would have been for Scottish and English identity to disappear, and for everybody to view themselves as British, and only British. That has never happened. Scottish identity is undeniably stronger today than it was in my childhood, and it now has expression through the devolved parliament and government in Edinburgh. If only our football team were better…!

While it might be tempting to some to compare the roles of Francisco Franco and Margaret Thatcher in boosting the desire of Catalans and Scots to achieve independence, the comparison would be unfair. Thatcher was a democrat, and didn’t try to squash Scottish identity through banning the country’s minority languages. But there is little doubt that the Iron Lady’s policies, and her premiership, fuelled a sense that Scotland was being misgoverned. The English elected her, the Scots suffered her – or so the orthodoxy goes. The end result of that process of disengagement was the setting up of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. Since that time, there has been a new political dynamic in Scotland, and the Scottish National Party, which seeks independence, is now a majority government in a parliament whose electoral system was established with the aim of preventing such a scenario.

But many Catalans would be surprised to hear that language plays an insignificant role in the Scottish independence debate. ‘We want to govern ourselves; we want to have the economic levers to create a more prosperous society; we want to build a fairer society with less of a gap between rich and poor; we want our country to pledge itself to peaceful co-existence with its

neighbours and to reject militaristic adventurism’. You will hear all of these comments from advocates of Scottish independence. What you won’t hear is ‘we want to speak and use our language without interference from the authorities in London’. London doesn’t interfere in that way any more. It doesn’t need to – our languages are so weak that they provide no challenge to the hegemony of the English tongue. The contrast with the vigour of Catalan in Catalunya is stark.

There are two major indigenous languages in Scotland. One is Scots, a close relative of English, which grew out of the Anglian speech common to northern England and southern Scotland. It is traditionally associated with the eastern and southern parts of the country, although dialects are also spoken in the once-Norse island groups of Shetland and Orkney in the far north.

My own tongue, Gaelic, a sister language to Irish, is the only founding language of the kingdom of Alba still spoken today. It grew to be the majority language of Scotland between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, reaching most corners of the country and establishing a Scottish identity that prevented the country being absorbed into an aggressive and expansive England, but it was gradually pushed into its later stronghold of the mountainous Highlands.

It is now only spoken by a little over one percent of the population, having been in retreat for a long time, although there are hopes for its regeneration, particularly through Gaelic Medium education which, like the Catalan system, produces fluently bilingual children with an above-average command of the national majority language (English in our case, Spanish in the Catalan situation). However, in contrast to the vast numbers in Catalunya, only some 3,500 children currently gain the benefit of a Gaelic Medium education.

Whether Gaelic would benefit from independence is not clear. It has certainly benefited from devolution, however. The Scottish Parliament passed the Gaelic Language Act in 2005 with all-party support, and the language’s new confidence and dynamic saw the creation of a (part-time) Gaelic TV channel, BBC ALBA, in 2008. On a small budget, it provides an excellent service.

I was in Catalunya some years ago and met some language activists in Girona. They were unhappy at what they saw as the oppressed state of their language and were convinced that only political independence from Spain would ensure its future. The continued suppression of the language in the Valencia community and other parts of Els Països Catalans, plus the current attempt by Madrid to demote the place of the Catalan language in education in Catalunya itself would certainly seem to support their contention.

But I also experienced a language spoken by many millions (not tens of thousands like my own), with a vigour that most lesser-used or minority languages around Europe can only dream about. Ironically, it is the success of Catalan that marks it as a powerful political symbol, both for its supporters and opponents. The Gaelic language can be largely ignored by the central powers, but

Catalan cannot. An act of suppression can be read, if one is a lateral thinker, as a compliment!

If Catalans are a little disappointed at the apparent lack of interest among Scottish politicians in the struggle for Catalunya’s independence, they can rest assured that there is a lot of interest both in political circles and within the general population. However, Madrid’s tentacles have clearly stretched as far as Edinburgh, stilling Scottish politicians’ tongues when it comes to voicing support for the Catalan cause. In the event of a ‘Yes’ vote for independence in September next year, an independent Scottish government would have to take part in negotiations over the country’s future in the European Union, NATO and other international organizations. The opportunity for Spain to play mischief-maker and block Scotland’s route into those organizations is clear.

However, the attempt by the Spanish authorites to fundamentally alter Catalunya’s education system would be impossible in Scotland. We are entirely autonomous when it comes to education and we have our own legal system, separate from that in England. Decisions to expand or restrict Gaelic Medium education are made in Scotland. Decisions to support the language in other ways are made in Scotland. The role of the UK in such matters is mainly as a signatory to pertinent international treaties such as the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

In that respect we already have a lot of freedom and, even if the majority reject independence in next year’s plebiscite, it is likely that Scots will demand, and most likely receive, further powers from London, particularly concerning economic governance. And Scotland has a couple of big bargaining chips – its substantial subsea oil deposits and its hosting of the UK’s nuclear-armed submarine fleet. On the other hand, the Scottish government’s desire for an independent Scotland to be part of a Sterling currency zone, rather than joining the Euro, is seen by London as boosting their own bargaining position.

What neither Catalunya nor Scotland yet knows is how the independence movement and campaign in each of our countries will affect the argument in the other. We should speak to each other more. What each learns from the other can help to inform our political outlook and ambitions, and our understanding of the universal desire of humans, whatever our languages, to build prosperous, happy and peaceful societies.

by Ruairidh MacIlleathain

Scottish journalist Ruairidh MacIlleathain works primarily in the Gaelic language.

About Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

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Brave Shakira takes a valiant stand in defence of Catalan language: Once again, a wind of liberty is blowing from across the Atlantic

Shakira, an accomplished and recognized artist with a successful career behind her, whose financial success has allowed her to engage in extensive philanthropy, may not look like the likeliest candidate to attract Spanish hate by daring to take a public stand in favour of Catalan language and culture. Given the increasingly contentious battle between renewed independence-seeking Catalonia (conquered in 1714) and undemocratic Spain, bent on destroying the former's language and culture, why bother? There is nothing to gain. Much easier to keep a low profile, and avoid delving into treacherous waters. This is just what many artists have long been doing, looking the other way while Spain tried to destroy Catalan language. Just this week, a Spanish judge deprived a mother of custody over her child because she was a Catalan-speaker. Also this week, Spain's deputy minister for education said that Spanish would be reimposed as the language of instruction in schools “whether they like it or not”.

Fortunately, not everybody is seeking peace in our time with Spanish nationalists. Not everybody is ready to surrender, or even better avoid a fight in the first place. Not everybody is following the simple expedient of pretending no conflict is taking place between a 1,000-year-old nation struggling to survive and recover freedom and a fanatical regime ready to grab a child from her mother's arms to prevent her from being raised in Catalan. There is a growing number of brave souls ready to take up arms in the defence of democracy and liberty, and when a language is being targeted, what better weapon is there than employing that same language to sing, and even better to sing to a world-wide audience?



This is indeed what Shakira has done, by including a Catalan-language song, “Boig per tu” (meaning “Crazy for you”, one of the best-known Catalan pop songs, by a band called Sau) in her latest album. With her valiant gesture, Shakira has put Catalan on the world map. With her brave action, Shakira has made it impossible for the Spanish regime to hide its genocidal intention to stamp out this language for ever.



Like a wounded beast, Spanish nationalists have reacted furiously at the news, bombarding Shakira with a wide range of insults in the social media. Spanish regime figures may have avoided displaying so openly their true feelings, but there is little doubt that they are fuming. Just when they were trying to eradicate Catalan from schools, and while their politically-appointed judges sitting in kangaroo courts were threatening parents daring to speak Catalan at home, one of the world's top artists seizes the initiative and takes Catalan to to the world stage. Their strategy in tatters, their attempted cultural genocide exposed, the victim of their hate propelled to the world's music charts, insults is all they have left, as they lay impotent, seeing their dark dreams wither away.



Once again, when democracy and liberty are in danger in the Old Continent, the New World is coming to our aid. Once again, in Percy Shelley's words, a West Wind is blowing across the Atlantic. Once again this wind will prevail, defeating the forces of evil. This time the West Wind is carrying the sweet voice of Shakira, singing in a language under attack, and once again, in Sheley's words, it is “The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

Alex Calvo

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