Since the PP and Vox won the 28-M elections in the Valencian Community, the drive to question the Valencian Academy of Language (AVL), a regulatory entity that defends the unity of Catalan and Valencian, has been enormous. And it has contaminated Valencian political action in recent weeks, rekindling a conflict that had remained more or less latent since the aforementioned Academy was created in 1998 at the initiative of Eduardo Zaplana. The recognition that Carlos Mazón has made of the scientific authority of the entity has calmed, for the moment, the debate, but the threats exist and can be reactivated shortly.
Why is it important to recognize the legitimacy of the AVL with Valencian? During the 70s, 80s and part of the 90s, Valencia experienced harsh social, political and cultural conflict between those who defended the unity of Catalan and Valencian and those who embraced linguistic secessionism, between the so-called “Catalanists” and the ” blaveros”. With episodes of violence in the streets and assassination attempts by the ultra-right of key figures in the identity debate such as the essayist Joan Fuster or the linguist Manuel Sánchez Guarner. The Valencian transition, de facto, ended falsely.
In 1996, after decades of conflict, the PP needed to pacify the situation in a context in which José María Aznar wanted Jordi Pujol’s help to govern Spain. Eduardo Zaplana championed the creation of the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, which brought together all sensibilities at the same table and made possible a necessary consensus on the regulations of Valencian, while recognizing the unity with Catalan.
The reform of the Statute of 2006, approved by the PP and the PSOE, incorporated the AVL, and for more than two decades the consensus has remained stable: denomination of Valencian to the language of the Valencians and recognition of the normative authority of the Academy.
But the arrival of Vox has altered the scenario. Without forgetting that the PP of Mazón also announced in the campaign its intention to approve a law on Identity Signs with the objective, among others, of allowing non-regulatory entities such as Lo Rat Penat or the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture, to also issue official Valencian titles. The popular know that among their ranks there is a sector that has never accepted the AVL pact and that continues to want to take linguistic secessionism to the institutional level.
Vox has wanted to stir up the conflict and, in a certain way, it has succeeded. That is why Carlos Mazón’s decision to defend the authority of the AVL has been important, because an escalation was taking place that threatened to reopen tensions, precisely in the midst of the negotiations that Feijóo intends to open with the Catalan separatists. Even Vox has ended up assuming the legality of the AVL, but they reject it; That is why he only uses Spanish in his communications. The Valencian president has requested a meeting with the entity for next September 11, which, in the opinion of the PSPV and Compromís, is an “interference” and a movement that can generate discomfort in the academic world. In addition, the Valencian PP has not renounced its Law on Identity Signs, the content of which is still unknown.
The pact for the Valencian is very fragile. It is a very sensitive matter, since it appeals to identity; and any spark can reignite a fire that the majority of Valencian society does not want to suffer again.
