An old, familiar smell
The title of this article borrows from a play by Josep Maria Benet i Jornet, one of the great authors of 20th-century Catalan literature, whom our leaders, naturally, have no idea about. However, perhaps it would have been better to make a slight adjustment and speak, instead of smell, of an old, familiar stench: the hatred of the Balearic language, which is Catalan. This hatred is a veritable fever of the Spanish right, which shows no signs of abating. On the contrary: years and legislatures pass, leaders and generations of, shall we say, conservative members of parliament come and go, and the obsession with the language persists.
Since ignorance is bold, Vox had a bright idea this week: to ask the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) if they could use the definite article in the transcripts of the official proceedings. The UIB will naturally answer no, because Catalan (which is, let's repeat, the language of the Balearic Islands, and not Mallorcan, Menorcan, Ibizan, Formentera, Porreres, or Santa Antonier) has its own grammar, something their lordships are also completely unaware of. In any case, the UIB could also answer yes, but on the condition that Gabriel Le Senne presides over the sessions dressed in loose clothing, and that Manuela Cañadas and Sergio Rodríguez perform a dance at the beginning or end of each plenary session. The people of Vox, and also those of the People's Party, still cling to the –Francoist– notion that the culture and identity of the citizens of the Balearic Islands are merely a folkloric matter, something for peasants and shawls. Since they like folklore so much, let them pay it a fitting tribute.
It goes without saying that if Vox's absurd and ignorant request has been approved, it's because it received the support of the PP, which never ceases to align itself with Vox in its obsession with governing against the Catalan language. In fact, the PP has recently presented another proposal that is equally absurd, but far more dangerous: to make Spanish the language of instruction in public schools. This would be a severe blow to the language, which is already experiencing a decline in social use, and would, in turn, turn public schools, once again, into a battleground of conflict and social division over language. This is the message they want to convey to families: Catalan and public schools are problematic and will cause you trouble; come to a private or semi-private school where Spanish is spoken, and everything will be peace and harmony. That staunchly Mallorcan leaders like Prohens, Sagreras, and Vera would agree to this crude charade is a disgrace that will forever haunt them.
They think they need to mistreat Catalan because in doing so they're doing some kind of favor for Spain, or whatever Spain is in their imagination. Thinking and acting this way in 2025, a quarter of the way through the 21st century, is a stale, antiquated relic. It's a form of ideological and mental regression, obscurantism, and fanaticism that leads nowhere, but causes unrest and social tension, which fuel this kind of provincial Trumpism that the PP and Vox treat us to every day. They also say they plan to transcribe the speeches of Vox members of parliament in Catalonia only in Spanish, because they're excited to see this language in the official transcripts. Let them do what they want, but if they love Spanish so much, the first thing they could do is learn it, because they speak it as badly as the members of parliament do.peperos' They speak Catalan.
