by Maria Teresa Puerto Ferre .Catedrática de Lengua Inglesa.Filóloga.
To clarify some of the misleading facts stated by Julian Glover ( “Spain: why prosperous Catalans may beat rebellious Basques….” The Guardian, Friday 01.04.2011) about the inexistent-ficticious “paissos catalans” , here you are some of the essential facts that will help you to understand the mad ambitions of the new Catalan “feudal masters” towards their neighbouring regions and, as a result, the very serious problems Valencian, Aragonese and Balearic people are having with Catalan nationalism and its “infamous and infectious Barceloni dialect” (=neocatalan language of the 20th century).
Vaclav Havel, the brave Czeck intellectual of the "Prague Spring", said, long ago, that "totalitarian Communism was not dead: it would be reborn under the mask of NATIONALISMS". That is exactly what we are having at present in the Basque autonomy as well as in the Catalan autonomy : Marxist-socialism (PSC/ERC) associated to an imperialist ultraright (PNV / CIU) . " Vasconia and Cataluña have been two perk-autonomies whose wealth, industrialization and top-living standards have been built up over the last two centuries at the expense of the desindustrialization and poverty of the rest regions of Spain" as my university professor Antonio Ubieto used to tell us in the sixties. And he was right. Their privileged position next to Europe has provided them with the advantageous means leading to progress. They have used their "pressure arms" – terrorism ETA/Terra Lliure, antidemocratic Electoral Law- to obtain all these advantageous "perks".
First of all and , according to what was stated by the Catalan "gurú" professor Padre Batllori, " The Catalan dialect from Barcelona which is being imposed in the Valencian Community (and Balearic Islands) is the infamous and infected Barceloní dialect" ( University of Gerona, 2/11/1992) . Padre Batllori is a Catalan historian born in Barcelona (1909-2003) as well as "Doctor Honoris Causa" by eleven Catalan universities -included Valencian unversities- , " 1995 Príncipe de Asturias Award" , and a Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History.
Historically, the Catalan standard is a modern laboratory-invention, produced by the industrial engineer Pompeu i Fabra ( a close friend of fascist Sabino Aranas´s in Basque Country) in 1906 . Catalan didn´t exist as a standardized language in the 19th century: Catalan was a mixture of Provenzal dialects according to the German linguist Friedrich Diez ( "Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen". 1836 ) and his disciple Meyer Lübcke ("Grammaire des Langues Romanes" 1890) . Prestigiuos German linguist F. Diez was the "Father of the Romance Languages" and his classification hasn´t been unbeaten so far.
On the contrary , historical Valencian Language, (which is now in the process of attempted extermination under the overpowered Catalan Big Brother), has always existed as a Romance Language born after the split of Latin language and dating, in early 1121, the roots of its own linguistic "koiné" (standard) . Valencian language, as an independent language, was fully developed in the 13th, 14th centuries and reached the peak of its literature in its "Golden 15th Century" when the language spoken in Catalonia was named "Valenciano" because then Catalan didn´t exist as a language . That is why famous writers such as : Joanot Martorell, Jordi de San Jordi, Jaume March, Ausias March, Jaume Roig, Roiç de Corella, Joan Esteve , Pere Martínez, Marti de Viciana, etc.. and thousands more , were all Valencian writers stating in their books that : "they were writing in Valencian language" (never in Catalan).
The problem with these Catalan nationalists is that they have always felt an awful inferiority complex because, historically, Valencia has always been a Kingdom , with its own "FURS" (laws) and with a brilliant literary tradition and culture, whereas Catalonia has only been a mosaic of “counties” with a very poor cultural and literary past. That´s its reason for the theft to Valencia. What used to be a historical golden language (Valenciano) has now been turned into a dialect . What used to be a dialect ( Barceloní) has now become a neolanguage (neoCatalan) . What used to be a historical kingdom (Valencia) has now been turned into a “pais catalá” . What used to be a mosaic of small “counties” want now to become an invented “nation” …..
Phoney Catalan nationalists and their overpowerful army of publishers have made the trick. As well as turning their dialect into a prosperous "money making machine", their purpose is to colonize, mentally and socially, the indoctrinated Valencian and Balearic youth. Most Valencian pupils and students are being "the useful idiots" (Lenin -sic) of this prosperous business.
The delirious dreams of this “fantastic Catalonia” have led to the invention of endless numbers of false denominations (“paissos catalans”), repeated in an infinite way , and have infected, over the years, the general mass of the under-educated.
Imitating the strategy of “The Big Lie” as promoted by Socialist-Fascist Mussolini :”The people can be easily defrauded all the time provided that the propaganda is sufficiently intense and repeated”, nationalcatalanism has obtained extraordinary achievements by this method.
The “Catalan nation” has never existed but has developed through the feverish frenzy of politicians and their fistsfull of fascist thoughts and ambitious in trying to create a Catalonia different from what it always was .
In 1936, the Catalan historian Jaume Vicens i Vives supported a burning debate with the ultranationalist Antoni Rovira i Virgili on the topic of “the false existence of a Catalan nation” . The honest firm words of the historian Jaume Vicens i Vives compared the idea of Catalan-nationalism to the false but romantic idea of an “idealistic Catalonia” which was a “false Catalonia” . At one stage in the debate , Vicens i Vives contributed this devastating testimony : “In more that three thousand documents, which I have recollected and viewed, I have not found even one which told about a collective nationalist feeling or which unveiled an emotion of national conscience : and , as a Catalan I am, I feel sorry about this” (La Publicitat, 1936) .
Catalan nationalism or sciencefiction? . Absolute sciencefiction.
The publishers´ army of national-catalanism and the economic power of a Catalan bourgeoisie (that –as my teacher said- “has been enriched and industrialised through the empoverishment and deindustrialisation of the rest of Spain during the last two centuries”), have been the two “Goliaths” against the little “David” of Valencia/Mallorca .
The battle against nationaltotalitarism will be long but we, the Valencia People, will resist : and the one who resists , wins in the end. TheBig Monster has no longer the monopoly of information : INTERNET is being our best ally.
Mª Teresa Puerto Ferre,B.A.,M.Anglo-Roman Phil. Catedrática de Lengua Inglesa Filóloga Anglo-Románica Journalist. www.teresafreedom.com
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More details in: “Lengua Valenciana, una lengua suplantada” by Mª Teresa Puerto Ferre (Diputación de Valencia . 2006)
“Cronología Histórica de la Llengua Valenciana” by Mª Teresa Puerto Ferre & coll. (Diputación de Valencia.2007)
![\"http://www.teresafreedom.com//images/articles/paissos](\"http://www.teresafreedom.com//images/articles/paissos)
To clarify some of the misleading facts stated by Julian Glover ( “Spain: why prosperous Catalans may beat rebellious Basques….” The Guardian, Friday 01.04.2011) about the inexistent-ficticious “paissos catalans” , here you are some of the essential facts that will help you to understand the mad ambitions of the new Catalan “feudal masters” towards their neighbouring regions and, as a result, the very serious problems Valencian, Aragonese and Balearic people are having with Catalan nationalism and its “infamous and infectious Barceloni dialect” (=neocatalan language of the 20th century).