• Language.The independence movement returns to politicize the feast of the Magi

  • Language: The Three Wise Men from the East spoke Catalan in the Balearic Islands

The

City Council of La Pobla de Vallbona

(Valencia) has organized a Christmas contest for children between three and eight years old in which the main requirement is that they write their letter to the

Three Wise Men

in Valencian.

If they do, they will receive their gifts: a set of educational games in Valencian.

If they write it in Spanish, they will not have a prize. The contest has been denounced by the

Hablamos Español

association

before the

Catalan Ombudsman

for "discrimination against children who

speak

Spanish c

as a mother tongue or preferred language. ”The mayor of the municipality,

Josep Vicent Garcia

, of

You compromise

, defends that it is part of an initiative of the

Valencian Use and Promotion Office

of the municipality and downplays the controversy: «It is part of the campaigns that are carried out periodically to promote the use of Valencian and, as stated in the

Statute of Autonomy

One of our obligations as an administration is to promote a language of special protection such as Valencian ". The first mayor says that children can participate in any language although, yes, if they want to qualify for the gift they must do so in Valencian.

«It is an essential requirement because it is an initiative to promote the language.

It would not make sense otherwise, "he says.

Gloria Lake

, president of Hablemos Español, objects that "there is no alternative contest for those who express themselves better in Spanish" and contextualizes this campaign within a broader linguistic strategy that has been

intensified

in communities with a co-official language.

"Another sample of hispanophobia"

Recently, the

Platform per la Llengua

, for example,

has distributed

in Catalonia a model letter to the Three Kings asking "to be able to play in Catalan".

Meanwhile he

Leioa City Council (Vizcaya)

has used

to the

Olentzero

, the Basque Santa Claus, to scold the children who ask him for gifts in Spanish. Hablemos Español has also denounced the

Menorca Educational Inspection Service

Christmas greeting from the

Official School of Languages ​​of Mahón

, where Catalan, English, French, Italian and German are used but Spanish is excluded. «This is yet another example of Hispanophobia in a teaching center dependent on the

Ministry of Education

.

In this case, the hackneyed argument that it is about fulfilling the mandate to promote Catalan is not plausible, given that other languages ​​are included in the poster, ”the complaint states.

Catalan, "backbone language"

Precisely in the Balearic Islands, the

councilor

of Education,

Marti March

, just submitted a

Law of education

autonomy that does not recognize Spanish as a vehicular language and defines only Catalan as "own language" and "backbone language of teaching".

Spanish is downgraded to "the teaching and learning language of the educational system", at the same rank as foreign languages. They are modifications that are made after the

Celaá Law

has removed the reference to Spanish as the vehicular and official language of the State, a change that minimizes the central government but which, in practice, gives wings so that in communities with a co-official language such as Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community or the Basque Country Spanish is further marginalized.

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