The activists fighting for Catalan in Ibiza

PalmThis academic year is the second year under the implementation of the Free Choice of Language in Classrooms Plan promoted by the People's Party (PP) government of Marga Prohens. 80.52% of parents in public schools in the Balearic Islands have chosen Catalan over Spanish as the primary language of education (4th grade of Preschool). This figure is three percentage points lower than last year. The island with the highest support for Catalan remains Menorca (91.56%), followed by Mallorca (82.72%). Ibiza and Formentera, on the other hand, dropped five percentage points (60.34%).

In 2023, the Pitiusas Islands also finished at the bottom of the list in the results of the Institute for the Evaluation and Quality of the Education System (IAQSE) tests, which, however, were poor across the islands. Only 38% of its 4th-grade students achieved Catalan proficiency, compared to 51% of those in Mallorca and 55% in Menorca. Furthermore, this year, the largest of the Pitiusas has added four of its five private schools enrolled in the Language Segregation Plan that the Balearic government also implemented two years ago. Fifteen in Mallorca have signed up, while none in Menorca. In contrast, the Plan has been flatly rejected by all public schools in the Balearic Islands.

Language dropout teachers

The language situation in Ibiza has been a great discovery for Mallorcan Miquel Àngel Marrero, a 27-year-old teacher from Can Picafort. "I," he says, "have a degree in History. Last year I was given a position teaching Catalan at the IES Xarc in Santa Eulalia del Río. It's a field with a shortage of teachers. In any case, I've been studying Catalan Philology at the UIB for two years. I was very surprised to see how poorly it's doing." Marrero is a product of the well-known Minimum Decree passed in 1997 by Jaume Matas's PP. The law establishes that at least 50% of education, both public and private, must be conducted in the native language of the Balearic Islands. "My family is Spanish-speaking. If I know Catalan, it's thanks to school. In Ibiza, however, the lack of linguistic awareness of some teachers means that the Minimum Decree is not enforced. In some schools in Mallorca, the same thing happens."

The Can Picafort native landed on an island that has become very Spanish-speaking due to a tourism model that has attracted many people from outside. It now has around 163,000 inhabitants, almost five times more than it had in the 1960s when the coronavirus broke out. boom Tourists. "In Mallorca, we've also faced strong demographic pressure, but we've managed to preserve more cultural strongholds. On the other hand, in Ibiza, identity has been completely devastated," he opines. Faced with this situation, some teachers are choosing to throw in the towel. "Many of my classmates at school were also Mallorcan. On the first day of class, some people were turning their tongues when they saw that almost all the students were answering them in Spanish. Being the son of Spanish-speaking parents, this infuriated me greatly. As teachers, we cannot abandon our linguistic responsibility. We have a responsibility of prestige."

In Catalan classes, initially at Marrero, students also spoke in Spanish. "Far from scolding them, I encouraged them to do so in Catalan. Sometimes I found that the demand provoked rejection." That was a lesson in sociolinguistics. "I had a few students with Ibizan ancestry: Tur, Marí, Torres... Some told me they answered their parents in Spanish, even though they spoke to them in Catalan."

'Don't exclude me'

Marrero avoids any catastrophic discourse. "Catalan in Ibiza is very bad. By chipping away, however, we can also make our language loved." Lament, however, is inevitable when faced with reality. "At the second-year high school graduation ceremony, it was very gratifying to see students from diverse backgrounds making an effort to give their speeches in Catalan. But it's really infuriating that later, on the street, Ibizans address them in Spanish just because they have different facial features. The same goes for Mallorcans." The teacher does not hesitate to describe this linguistic attitude as racist. "Thus, newcomers end up reaching the conclusion that the Catalan they learned in school is useless. Just two weeks ago, a group of students from the Josep Sureda i Blanes Secondary School in Palma made a video of denunciation entitled Teach me Catalan. Don't exclude me.".

One of Marrero's second-year high school students was Victor Torres Bustos. About to turn 18, he has begun studying a double degree in Law and Economics in Valencia. Last April, he helped create an association of young people from Ibiza concerned not only with the language, but also with other issues, such as the Institute of Ibizan Studies and the Platform for the Language. Torres' case is a case of 'reconversion'. They speak Catalan, but my two brothers and I always use Spanish. And between the siblings we speak Spanish. The only one in the family who has passed on the language to us has been grandma The young Ibizan's linguistic awareness was awakened in high school. "On the street, I always spoke Spanish with almost all my friends. I saw it as normal. But in 4th year of compulsory secondary education, thanks to a Catalan teacher, I realized the disastrous cultural consequences that tourism has had on the island. The problem here is that newcomers have always been told that the useful language is Spanish."

Prejudice

Torres also confirms that the Decree on Minimum Standards in education is not being complied with. "Many of the teachers I had in elementary school and high school taught us in Spanish. I have classmates who completed their second year of high school without speaking a word of Catalan and ended up with a B2 certificate [with a fourth year of compulsory secondary education, they can obtain a B1]." The Ibizan laments the prejudices about Catalan among his generation. "They believe it's the language of the elderly, of the peasants. It makes me deeply sad to see how the identity of my land is being lost. On the contrary, I am very happy that in recent years there has been a resurgence of Pitiusan dance groups. Many of their members are young, some of whose parents are from outside the island."

The Ibizan is the only one of his siblings who has changed languages. However, he hasn't yet dared to do so with his parents, who decided not to teach it to him. "At this point, it's hard to change our tune." However, at home, there has been debate about the Balearic Government's project to segregate languages in classrooms. "Even if they spoke to us in Spanish, my mother and father are clear that now, if they had to choose, they would choose the Catalan language. They believe that learning it is always positive."

Humiliating situations

Another of Torres' teachers at the IES Xarc was Jesús Angosto Martínez. He is 55 years old and is from a town near Cartagena (Murcia). He arrived in Ibiza in 1996 after having been stationed in Mallorca for two years. "Although it wasn't a requirement at the time," he says, "I decided to learn Catalan. At that time, many teachers were from the Peninsula and, since there was still no school language project, they taught classes in Spanish. The students, on the other hand, were mostly Catalan speakers. Now the situation is the opposite. Inertia."

Angosto laments the inaction of the Education Inspectorate in enforcing the Minimum Decree in the classrooms. "The Administration doesn't want problems, much less with parents from outside who are already happy with classes being in Spanish." Meetings with families often lead to uncomfortable and even humiliating situations. "There are always people who ask me to speak Spanish. Some are arrogant. But I'm clear that my linguistic responsibility is with the students, not the parents." This teacher, who arrived 31 years ago from Cartagena, confesses that it's becoming increasingly difficult for him to be optimistic: "I speak Catalan to my daughters. At home, I make them consume cultural products in Catalan. When they go out, however, everything is in Spanish. In Ibiza, the language is at a minimum."