Thousands of people – more than 50,000 according to the organizers – participated, in a playful and protesting atmosphere, this weekend in the four Escola Valenciana trobadas in defense of public schools and in Valencian. Under the motto ‘Fem poble. Parlem Valencia, students, parents and teachers supported the calls for Cabanes and Estivella (last Saturday) and Burjassot and Benimodo (on Sunday).
Some events that were held just a few days after the parliamentary groups of PP and Vox supported the beginning of the processing of the educational freedom law that will allow changing the linguistic model in the classrooms and presumably will lower the percentages of Valencian. In Les Trobades, Escola Valenciana claimed a quality, multilingual and multicultural educational model, as well as references such as the poet Vicent Andrés Estellés and the journalist, writer and activist Didín Puig.
“In a context of great political and social hostility towards our identity, it is necessary to demand diversity and unity, to assume the voice of our people, as Estellés inspires us,” said the vice president of Escola Valenciana, Pablo Montaner, present in Burjassot.
The president of the Diputación de Valencia and mayor of Gabarda, the popular Vicent Mompó, took part in the Benimodo meeting, who in his speech urged to challenge the catastrophic predictions about the future of the Valencian. Sharing the banner with him were also leaders of the PSPV such as the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, Arcadi España, or the trustee of Compromís en Les Corts, Joan Baldoví.
Hours before the PP leader participated in the meeting in his region, the Vox spokesperson in Les Corts, José María Llanos, had criticized on the social network and identity”. With a message in Valencian, very unusual for him, the Vox leader described the organizers as “enemies of the Valencian land.” By the way, the writing did not follow the official regulations dictated by the Valencian Language Academy, which Vox does not share.
Precisely, the president of this institution that has the regulatory capacity over Valencian, Verònica Cantó, was one of the participants in the day that was held in Burjassot which, between workshops, castells and even a concert, served to pay tribute to Vicent Andrés Estellés, the most famous poet of Burjassot. A commemorative sculpture was even inaugurated for the 100th anniversary of his birth.
A figure that has also generated a lot of political controversy in recent weeks due to the refusal of the PP and Vox in Les Corts Valencianes to declare in 2024, coinciding with the anniversary of the writer’s birth, the Estellés Year. A celebration to which the Diputación de Valencia, which runs Mompó, has joined.
