Madrid asks Catalonia to pay 6,057 euros for every pupil being privately educated in Spanish

Spanish Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert

The Spanish government is asking the Catalan Government to pay 6,057 euros annually for every pupil that enrols in private education in Spanish if there is no such an offer in the public system. Catalan is the main language of instruction in schools in Catalonia, but this has caused a conflict between the PP government and the Catalan executive that is now coming to a head. Madrid says that Catalonia should pay for this private education if it refuses to make Spanish the language of instruction together with Catalan. Recently, the State Council, the Spanish Government’s main advisory body, asked the Ministry of Education to “reconsider entirely” its decision.

The plan of the Spanish government is to pay the sum of 6,057 euros to every child enrolling in private education because his or her family is not satisfied with the linguistic offer in the public system. Afterwards, Madrid will ask Catalonia to pay this money back.

Irene Rigau warned that there are no private schools in Catalonia offering full education only in Spanish. “The move aims to create a new offer, it is not designed with current education offers in mind”, she said in an interview. “There is not a single private school offering all classes in Spanish”, she warned.

According to the Catalan Minister, the Spanish Government “is not hiding” its intention to introduce “the Basque model” in Catalonia. In the Basque Country, there are schools teaching only in Spanish, bilingual schools and schools teaching only in Basque. “Our model is different, we don’t separate pupils for language reasons”, she warned. “The final results at the end of compulsory education show pupils’ linguistic competence” in both Spanish and Catalan, she added.

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The creator of Wikipedia about Catalan language

The creator of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales

Speaking at the V Fórum Impulsa in Girona last Friday, the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, discussed how the online encyclopaedia "protects and expands knowledge" of Catalan. In fact, it was one of the first languages to launch articles on the site, after English and German, and has now already amassed more than 400,000. Wales has highlighted Catalonia’s "passion for its language," and compared it with the Welsh Wikipedia, which is also “extremely active” despite Welsh being a relatively little spoken language. The creator of the free encyclopaedia was one of the featured speakers at the fifth edition of the Fórum Impulsa in Girona, along with others such as the President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfenshon, and Antonin Léonard, the creator of Ouishare, a movement which promotes collective and collaborative consumption.

Jimmy Wales was one of the big names speaking at this fifth edition of the Fórum Impulsa, an international showcase of entrepreneurship annually held in Girona. The 2014 edition bore the slogan “open and collaborative" and held Wales as an example of someone who embodies this spirit.

The free encyclopaedia he created today attracts more than 550 million monthly visitors from around the globe, and is funded entirely by donations. Last year, the budget of Wikipedia was $ 50 million, thanks "to a large majority of small donors", as Wales explained (donors who on average contribute between 30 and 40 euros).

The online encyclopaedia, which already has an app for iPhone and Android, has rapidly developed, expanding knowledge around the world. "Our application 'Wikipedia Zero has no charge, and that gives us access to developing countries, where sometimes users may pay for little more than the phone" explained its creator. 

But the potential of Wikipedia does not just lie here. The free encyclopaedia also serves to protect and expand the knowledge of "sensitive tongues,” according to Wales. To illustrate this, the Wikipedia creator referred to the similar situations of Welsh and Catalan. Both have an active presence on Wikipedia despite being comparatively little spoken languages. 

"Extremely active"

Jimmy Wales said that Welsh and Catalan pages are "extremely active" demonstrating "the passion for language" that their speakers share. In addition, he highlighted the drive to teach Catalan in Catalonia, a contrast to Wales, where its use on the street is “limited”.

The Wikipedia founder explained during his presentation that today, there are 430,000 entries in Catalan within the free encyclopaedia. And, indeed, this was one of the first languages to have articles on the site. The first language set up after English was German, and “just a few moments later,” Catalan. Wales explained this was because “some Catalan people were very eager that we should set this up.”

Wales illustrated the push of Catalan in Wikipedia with some statistics. "The Catalan Wikipedia, with respect to the volume of entries, occupies the 17th place in the world rankings," he announced. "In addition, for every million speakers of Catalan, Wikipedia has 56 publishers, compared with 21 in English or 8 in Spanish”, he added.

Finally, with regards to the global regulations that pertain to the Internet, the Wikipedia founder believes that it is not necessary to tighten and restrict the web with new laws. "Those in smaller countries, however, need more government transparency," he argued.

Internationally renowned

The fifth edition of the Fórum, organized by the Prince of Girona Foundation (FPdGi), has brought internationally renowned speakers to the city. The conference opened on Friday with a lecture by the former President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfhenson. During his speech, Wolfhenson talked about the international perception of the new Spanish King Felipe VI (who had just chaired the FPdGi Awards ceremony on Thursday), which he generally considered to be very positive. 

"He is a new face, and all I can say is that you are very lucky to have him," said the former President. "At least, people on the outside, and in particular non-Catalans, think of him as a great leader for Spain, and want to keep the country together," said Wolfhenson, who also stated that he believed Felipe VI could help eliminate the economic crisis. 

The morning’s presentations were divided into three sections: The Opportunity, the Present and the Horizon. Among those speaking on the stage of the Auditorium in the Palace of Congress of Girona were the inventor of Internet identities, Paul Mockapteris; the creator of the collaborative movement OuiShare, Antonin Léonard and CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz.

Over 1,300 people, mostly young people, attended this year's V Fórum Impulsa. The presentations in the auditorium ended early in the afternoon on Friday, and the programme was closed by the second annual meeting of the “talent sponsor”.

The initiative promoted by FPdGi aims to improve young people’s access to the labour market, putting them in contact with employers. This second meeting was held at the Hotel-Ultònia in order to open the forum to the city with the participation of 150 people (including youth and mentors).

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Solidarity from Veneto and Friûl

Autodeterminazione delle Nazioni Friulane e del Litorale (A.N.F.e.L.), newborn movement for self-determination of the peoples of the region Friuli-Venezia Giulia from Italy, expresses its solidarity with Jaume Sastre's hunger strike for the teaching of Catalan language in the Balearic Islands.


In the same sense Sanca Veneta from Veneto too expressed its solidarity with the hunger strike for Catalan some days ago. We really thank both movements.

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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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#HungerStrikeForCatalan, some press...

We offer you below a press collection about #hungerStrikeforCatalan

Catalan language hunger striker – solidarity from Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey

WEST BELFAST MP Paul Maskey (pictured below, right) has joined the global solidarity social network campaign by ‘Help Catalonia’ for Jaume Sastre, now on hunger strike for more than 30 days “to defend the teaching of Catalan in the Balearic Islands”.

The campaign consists of people around the world taking a photo with a poster containing the message “#Solidarity with #HungerStrikeForCatalan”.

Help Catalonia says the campaign is in solidarity with the hunger strike “to demand education in Catalan, to defend language immersion and to raise international awareness of the contempt suffered by our language in Spain”. Read more

Solidarietà con Jaume SastreLa Catalogna esprime la sua solidarietà a Jaume Sastre, in sciopero della fame per difendere 

l’insegnamento del catalano nelle isole Baleari.

Help Catalonia ha promosso attraverso le reti sociali una campagna che consiste nel farsi una foto con un cartello dal messaggio “#Solidarity with #HungerStrikeForCatalan” (solidarietà nei confronti dello sciopero della fame per il catalano). L’obiettivo è fare arrivare la nostra solidarietà nei confronti della protesta a favore della lingua che si è messa in moto nelle isole Baleari; e il nostro supporto.... read more

Teacher on hunger strike for Catalan language

ANF - Barcelona31.05.2014 10:39:23

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. Read more...

Support to teacher on hunger strike for education in mother tongue

NEWS DESK (DİHA) - Supporrt is going on for teacher named Jaume Sastre who is on hunger strike for freedom of education in Catalan language.

Help Catalonia has launched a campaign through the social networks and this campaign met with international support. Lots of artists, actors and politicians supported this act of hunger striker teacher Jaume Sastre. Help Catalonia launched the campaign through the social media which consists of taking a photo with a poster containing the message “#Solidarity with #HungerStrikeForCatalan” to show our solidarity with the protest in favour of the Catalan language which is taking place in the Balearic Islands; and with the hunger strike to demand education in Catalan, to defend language immersion and to raise international awareness of the contempt suffered by our language in Spain. Read more...

La Catalogne exprime sa solidarité envers Jaume Sastre, en grève de la faim pour défendre l'enseignement du catalan aux îles Baléares

[Barcelone] —Help Catalonia (Aidez la Catalogne) a lancé une campagne sur les réseaux sociaux : elle consiste à se prendre en photo avec une affiche portant le message « #Solidarity with #HungerStrikeForCatalan » afin de montrer sa solidarité non seulement envers la protestation en faveur de la langue qui se développe aux îles Baléares, mais aussi avec la grève de la faim de Jaume Sastre, demandant ainsi un enseignement en catalan, défendant l'immersion linguistique et permettant de faire connaître internationalement le mépris que subit notre langue dans l'État espagnol. La campagne attire des journalistes internationaux qui n'avaient pas conscience que la langue parlée sur des territoires aussi différents que Valence ou Majorque est la même que celle de la Catalogne. Read more

La Catalogne exprime sa solidarité envers Jaume Sastre, en grève de la faim pour défendre l’enseignement du catalan aux îles Baléares

Help Catalonia (Aidez la Catalogne) a lancé une campagne sur les réseaux sociaux: elle consiste à se prendre en photo avec une affiche portant le message « #Solidarity with #HungerStrikeForCatalan » afin démontrer sa solidarité non seulement envers la protestation en faveur de la langue qui se développe aux îles Baléares, mais aussi avec la grève de la faim de Jaume Sastre, demandant ainsi un enseignement en catalan, défendant l’immersion linguistique et permettant de faire connaître internationalement le mépris que subit notre langue dans l’État espagnol. Read more

Catalonia in solidarity with Jaume Sastre, on hunger strike to defend teaching of Catalan in Balearic Islands

Help Catalonia has launched a campaign through the social networks which consists of taking a photo with a poster containing the message “#Solidarity with #HungerStrikeForCatalan” to show our solidarity with the protest in favour of the Catalan language which is taking place in the Balearic Islands; and with the hunger strike to demand education in Catalan, to defend language immersion and to raise international awareness of the contempt suffered by our language in Spain. The campaign is attracting the attention of international journalists Read more...

Mai d’un mes en cauma de la fam per l’escòla en catalan, e decidit a contunhar

L’ensenhaire Jaume Sastre es intrat dins la fasa mai delicada de sa protèsta, mas lo govèrn balear a pas fach cap de pas per dialogar

Fa trenta un jorns que lo professor de licèu Jaume Sastre comencèt una cauma de la fam per protestar contra lo mesprètz del govèrn balear envèrs las demandas e los planhs de la comunautat educativa. Mai d’un mes en cauma de la fam per forçar lo president de las Illas Balearas, José Ramón Bauzá, a acceptar lo dialòg amb los ensenhaires que defendon l’escòla publica en catalan e de qualitat. Sastre a pas encara recebut cap de comunicacion del govèrn, mas a recebut per contra fòrça mòstras de solidaritat arribadas de pertot,quitament d’Occitània. Bensai es mercés a aquel sosten que Sastre pren de vam. read more....

Daŭre en malsat-striko, de antaŭ pli ol unu monato, por la edukado en la kataluna

esperantocat | diumenge, 8 de juny de 2014 | 19:11h

La instruisto Jaume Sastre estas en la plej delikata fazo de la protesto, sed la baleara registaro rifuzas dialogon

La pasintan sesan de majo, la mezlerneja instruisto Jaume Sastrekomencis malsat-strikon por protesti kontraŭ la malestimo de la aŭtonoma registraro de la Balearaj Insuloj al la petoj kaj bedaŭroj de la instruistaro. Pli ol unu monaton Sastre malsat-strikas por igi la balearan prezidanton, José Ramón Bauzá, akcepti dialogon kun la instruistoj, kiuj defendas instruadon publikan, kvalitan kaj katalunlingvan. La strikanto ricevis ĝis nun neniun komunikon de la registraro, sed tamen li ricevis multajn solidarajn esprimojn kiuj venas de la tuta mondo, ĉefe de la Kataluna Landaro. Laŭ li, tiu solidaro helpas daŭrigi la penon. Read more...

Mamosteyê katalan ji bo ziman dest bi greva birçîbûnê kir

Giravên Balearê ku rêvebiriya wê dixwaze hebûna katalanî di perwerdeyê de kêm bike, carekê din bi berxwedana ji bo ziman ket rojevê. Mamosteyê katalan Jaume Sastre yê li dibistaneke Mallorcayê bi armanca ku hikumeta herêmî di warê tetbîqkirina qanûna ziman a perwerdeyê de bi mamosteyan re hevdîtinê pêk bîne, di 8’ê Gulanê de dest bi greva birçîbûnê kir.

Mamoste Sastre ku endamê Meclîsa Mamosteyan a Giravên Balearê ye dixwaze bi çalakiya xwe balê bikişîne ser qanûna sêzimanêyê ku ji aliyê hikumeta spanyol ve hatibû qebûlkirin û niha ji aliyê hikumeta Herêma Xweser a Balearê ve dixwaze bê tetbîqkirin. Read more....

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Let's stop hunger strike: Resistance box, Solidarity made real

691000 €  to express support and solidarity through more than 5600 donations done by thousands of persons understanding teachers fight.

Teacher’s Assembly Resistance Box has arrived to 691000 €. It is considered as an immense exhibition of solidarity from the society towards the teachers. Thousands of people wanted to express their support to the teacher’s fight through the different actions that have taken place during the last months and have had an economic materialisation.

 

There have been a total number of 5615 donations which have been used by the teachers to keep high their fight after 18 days of strike with a very high following never seen before. From one hand, 117 organizations from different associations have contributed to the resistance box with 117000 €. More than fifty activities organized by parents associations,Conservatory, teachers,.... have to be outlined. And also a concert at Palma’s Auditòrium completely full. All these events supposed about 35000 €. It also was organized a historical auction with more than 200 artworks and more than 100000 € for the resistance box. Stand out more than 5285 private contributions that come to 400000 €.

Supportive artists

220 artists have given 260 artworks that represent an example during the last thirty years of art with the different modalities: painting, sculpture, etching, comic,.... We are talking about an historical event realised in a brief period. Authors so renowned as Joan Miró, Jean Marie del Moral, Calder, Català Roca, Bernadí Roig, Humberto Rivas, Josep Maria Subirachs, Josep Guinovard, Ràfols Casamada, Damià Jaume, Ñaco Fabrer, Miquel Barceló, Menéndez Rojas, Riera Ferrari, Joan Ferran Aguiló, Antoni Tàpies, Toni Catany...

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