The new concern is spreading among those who have a strong Catalan conscience. A concern that also challenges those who, like myself, far from nationalism, love the Catalan language, an irreplaceable expression of our personality. There is concern about the effect that the high level of migration will have on the social use of the Catalan language.
In the last 35 years, one and a half million people have arrived in Catalonia, most of whom speak Castilian (Hispanic Americans). Maghreb people also adopt this language as familiar. Given that there was already a very high number of Spanish speakers in Catalonia, it is inevitable to conclude that the minority of Catalan is approaching.
Some of those who are concerned about the marginalization of Catalan share ethnic and cultural prejudices with the far-right French who speak of “le grand remplacement” or “great replacement” of the white population by the African and Muslim population. Vox and some sectors of the PP share this fixation, which, in the Catalan case, in addition to being belligerent and ethnic, is suicidal.
Like it or not, they will come. Famine and wars are a more powerful incentive than steel barriers, racism and our fears. They will come because the inverted pyramid of our population demands them. They will come because their weakness makes them invincible. They risk crossing our mother mortum and dying of hunger and thirst in the desert: the drive to live is stronger than the scythe of death.
They come. they will come Diluting yourself in an ethnicist battle, inevitably losing, would be a stupid way to end the history of Catalonia.
What we need is a great pact within Catalan society to strengthen the alliance in favor of the language. An agreement with the support of Spain, of course, since language is a State matter, as the Constitution perfectly explains.
Getting the language to be a great instrument of integration could reunify the Catalans who have been divided up until now around the process. We could devote maximum energy to building a Catalonia that is more plural than ever, but gathered around the manor house of the language. Sew the unit to save the language.
It’s not easy at all, but I can’t imagine a more patriotic challenge. Will politics be able to respond?
