10 Fifteen, perhaps? Twenty, at most? I haven't had a minimally documented and well-founded political consciousness for that many years, but I can't recall any time when the country's spirits have been so low. I lived through the eruption of social movements on Twitter, including the indignados; I participated as much as I could and more in the spectacular response of island society to the linguistic extermination attempts by the Government of José Ramón Bauzá; I witnessed, as a distant observer, the orange joy of the Valencian spring, and not many years ago I beat with the Catalan autumn and the self-determination referendum, the anti-repressive movement afterwards... And now? Where are we now, that the citizens of the Catalan Countries seem to be so discouraged?Everything indicates that the country is experiencing a moment of hangover from what we could have been or achieved and that could not be. And I'm not just referring to the independence of the Principality, which would have been a magnificent first step towards the constitution of a federal republic among the different Catalan Countries, but also to the progressive ideas proposed by the governments of the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands which, whether due to a lack of consensus among the forces that composed them, or due to a lack of courage and decisiveness in moving forward, were not consolidated. The social use of the language seems to be at an all-time low, political debate is eaten away from top to bottom by hatred and resentment, and suddenly, in Mallorca and the Principality, two new supposedly self-centered forces (in Valencia, Vox is already in charge...) have begun to defend right and wrong the same exclusionary discourses of the global far-right.Something, however, tells me that there is hope, and that this time hope will come from one of the groups most judged and doubted throughout all time: those who will save the language (that is to say, the country) will be the young people. After the generation of heroes who in the seventies and eighties fought to establish our own laws and institutions that we still preserve today, and the subsequent wave of the 'baby boomers', who with all due love I say, thought they had paid for everything and now see that they haven't, a new batch of young people with drive has erupted throughout the territory. Initiatives like Acampallengua, not many days ago in Manacor, or the Correllengua Agermanat, which youth organizations from all over the linguistic domain have launched thanks to the spur and meeting point that has been the New Congress of Catalan Culture, make me think so. Or Sant Jordi per la Llengua, with demonstrations in different cities of the Principality, organized in large part, also, by organizations and unions led by youth.Yes: perhaps they, them, and him will be. They will do it from self-esteem and love for diversity, online or in assembly or in rounds of folk dance, and the others will not always understand them. The important thing, however, is that there is a generation that does not intend to give up, and with that, often, it is enough to start again.

]]> We already know the world isn't exactly rosy, especially for those of us who still believe in a better society and planet than the one we have now. The general feeling is that, in the best-case scenario, things won't get worse: in terms of inequality, employment, housing… global governance, mental health… The latest episode, during these days of Christmas festivities, is the forced eviction instigated by Albiol in Badalona. An inhumane eviction—like those we've also experienced here, in Can Rova, Ibiza—of people, many of them employed, but unable to afford a roof over their heads because of the 'freedom' of the market.

]]> With everything happening in the world—nonstop conflicts, tense discourses, collapsing ecosystems—sometimes one wonders if watching the news serves any purpose other than adding to the anguish of the day. And perhaps that's why, increasingly, the refuge of a book, the starry sky, or the inside of a cell don't seem like bad places to lose yourself for a while. Not to escape reality, but to remind ourselves that there are still spaces that can amaze us. That science, however, continues to discover and open windows.

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