Catalonia, Ireland and their things in common

If you have read my previous posts I suppose you have now a brief idea about how my culture is and the history of my land and why am I so proud of being Valencian and my language (Catalan). Today I am going to talk about these two murals painted in Belfast:

When we studied the history of Ireland, I got pretty astonished, since I found a number of similarities in some things that also happened in the Catalan Countries. But first of all: What are the Catalan Countries (Països Catalans)? The term Catalan Countries refers to the territories in which Catalan is traditionally spoken (Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Roussillon, Andorra, East Aragon, the Valencian Country, el Carxe of Murcia and Alghero [Sardinia]).

But what do the Catalan Countries have in common with Ireland? Both countries were oppressed, the people of these countries couldn’t use their own languages and both countries suffered and suffer from a serious internal division.

Catalonia was an independent principality within the Crown of Aragon, but Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabel of Castile and that dynastic union formed what is known now as Spain. However, the kingdoms of the crown of Aragon kept their borders, its institutions, its laws and its own currency. But that were not to last, during the War of Spanish Succession the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon supported the candidate of the House of Habsburg (the Spanish Habsburgs had respected the independence of the territories of Aragon), however Castile supported the Bourbon (more centralist, since they were French). Philip V of Bourbon won the war in Spain and was proclaimed king, abolishing the institutions and laws of all the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon.

Since then the Catalan Countries only regained part of their autonomy during the Second Spanish Republic. Besides the use and learning of Catalan was encouraged. However, it did not last long. The Spanish Civil War erupted and the dictator Franco came to power in 1939, abolishing again the use of Catalan and stagnating the autonomy processes of Valencia and Andalusia and abolishing the autonomy of Catalonia and the Basque Country.

And why I consider that both countries suffered and suffer from a serious internal division? Because of the nationalist feeling in politics. The people of the Republic of Ireland felt that Ireland was a nation that should be free, but the people of Northern Ireland didn’t felt that. The same happens with Catalonia and the rest of the Catalan Countries. If we take a look at these two maps, we can see the political parties that won in Ireland and Northern Ireland in the general election of the United Kingdom in 1918 and the political parties that won in all municipalities of the Catalan Countries in the European Elections of 2014:

In Spain the Popular Party (light blue) and the Socialists (red) would be the unionist parties, while the rest would be more nationalists. As can be seen, there is an internal division in both cases. Now this is changing, at least in the Valencian Country where Coalició Compromís (our nationalist party) is winning votes.

Pau Casals and the History of Catalonia

Today I'll show you a video. Maybe you may not know this man, his name is Pau Casals and was considered one of the best cellists in the world. He was Awarded in 1971 with the U.N. Peace Medal in recognition of his stance for peace, justice and freedom. In this video you can hear his speech in front of the UN:

 In this speech he talks about some things in the history of Catalonia that you may not know but they have their historical basis:

1.- Catalonia has been the greatest nation in the world.

Well, maybe not, but Catalonia did be one of the greatest nations in the world: Catalonia was a group of counties that formed part of the Spanish March (a buffer zone between the Frankish Kingdom and the Muslim Al-Andalus). That Catalan Counties united under the rule of the Count of Barcelona and in 985 the Count of Barcelona Borrell II broke the vassalage to the Frankish kingdom and declared the independence of Catalonia. With the dynastic union upon the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon the principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon united to found the Crown of Aragon, a Kingdom that would spread across Valencia, the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean Sea, becoming one of the greatest nations within the known world.

2.- Catalonia has had the first Parliament, much before England.

Iceland and the Isle of Man have claimed to have Parliaments before Catalonia. However, the Parliament of Catalonia (Corts Catalanes), dating from the 11th century, is one of the first parliaments in continental Europe. The Parliament of England dates from 1215.

3.- Catalonia had the beginning of the United Nations.

When Pau Casals speaks about a French city in that time Catalan in which all authorities met to discuss about peace, I think he refers to the city of Toluges, a city in which took place the Pau i Treva de Déu (Peace and Truce of God) that was a social movement promoted the 11th century as a response of the Church and of the farmers to the violence perpetrated by feudal nobles (the different counts of Catalonia). That Pau i Treva de Déu can be considered the origin of the Catalan Parliament, because the three levels of society then represented in the Parliament had to reach an agreement.

Bullfighting: tradition or torture?

When many people think of Spain they think in flamenco and bullfighting. During the Franco’s dictatorship this idea was promoted abroad and still persists. Today what I am going to talk is about bullfighting. There has always been debate about whether it Spain should abolish bullfighting, but since Catalonia decided to do so in 2010, the debate has intensified. The picture that is given to us about bullfighting is a picture of an idealized bullfighter who is making art, dancing with the bull. However, the harsh reality is that these animals suffer greatly at the hands of these bullfighters. The main argument of the more conservative people is that bullfighting is a tradition that can’t be missed because it is part of the Spanish culture. They also claim that, since these bulls are bred only for the purpose of bullfighting, if bullfighting were banned and these bulls maiden free its species would become extinct. Moreover, we find the anti-bullfighting associations that carry out peaceful protests to end with the torture suffered by these animals. I think it's pretty clear what my answer to the question in the title would be: TORTURE. I think that an advanced society should treat animals properly, they are living beings that share habitat with us. However, bullfighting is still deeply rooted mainly in the deep Castile and Andalusia and only the Canary Islands (1991) and Catalonia (2010) have dared to ban it as we see in the following map:

Below you can also see in which territories of the world bullfighting is still legal (in green) and in which ones was legal but now is banned (in red):

Aspencat, my favourite music group

Today we talk about music. In this case, a music group that sings in Catalan. Maybe you find it a bit boring that I am always talking about Catalan language and my culture, but I've noticed that when you're away from your land you sorely miss your language and customs. In Spanish we have a term that comes from Galician that perfectly express this feeling: morriña (something similar to the English term ‘homesickness’). Turning to my favourite music group, its name is Aspencat and its members are from the region of La Marina Alta, in the Valencian Country. Their style is based on ska, reggae and drum and bass, but now they've moved towards a more electronic rhythms. They have been considered one of the most critic groups with the Valencian institutional culture due to the content of their work. In 2013 they finished second in the Premi al Disc Català de l'Any (Award to the best CD in Catalan of the year), if they had won they would have been the first Valencian group to win this award. The last time I saw them in a concert was in the Aplec dels Ports, a festival held in the region of Els Ports (Valencian Country) in the summer of 2013. Below you can hear one of the songs that I most like of this group:

My Favourite Movies of my Childhood (and Today)

There are many movies that I like, but today I will speak of the films that I have liked since I was a little child. These three films that I’m going to talk about are from 1993, 1994 and 1995. I was born in 1994, so these films have accompanied me during my whole short life. I think if I count the times I've seen these three films the number of times would be around the million. Well, maybe I have exaggerated a bit. However, I have seen these movies a lot of times. These are my favourite films:

1.-Toy Story: I saw this movie so many times that the tape broke. Two years ago my mother gave me the entire trilogy as a present for Christmas. The film is about the toys of Andy, a child with a lot of imagination who enjoys playing with them. However, there comes Andy’s birthday and the toys begin to fear being replaced by some toy better than them. So Buzz comes to Andy’s home Buzz, a galactic toy with all the things that a toy could wish. Woody starts to feel replaced by Buzz but a great adventure during the move of Andy’s family will change everything. Here you can listen “You’ve got a friend in me”, from the intro of the movie:

2.-The Nightmare before Christmas: Jack is the most venerated person of Halloween Town, but he feels sad and lonely, he doesn’t want to be always the king of scares. One day he accidentally finds Christmas Town and gets amazed by the joy and the entire atmosphere of the town and decides that the inhabitants of Halloween Town will celebrate Christmas. However, things will not go well. Here you can listen “This is Halloween”, from the intro of the movie.

3.-The Lion King: If you’ve read Hamlet, the plot of this film will sound familiar to you. The lion Mufasa is the king of the Pride Lands and Simba, his son, is the heir to the throne. However, Scar, Mufasa's brother, aims to take the throne and will do everything in his power to achieve their goal. Here you can see one of my favourite scenes from the movie:

I highly recommend you these three films, I never get tired of watching them. Moreover, every time I watch them I discover something new.

The Earth: Arid Planet

Since the Industrial Revolution, the levels of carbon dioxide (the most important greenhouse gas affected by human activity) have risen. It is very difficult nowadays not to know what are the greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect. However, I will explain it briefly. The greenhouse effect occurs when gases such as carbon dioxide prevent that solar radiation from leaving the atmosphere, heating the surface of the earth. 

This global warming has as main consequences the melting of ice caps and the rising of the risk of desertification. In fact, if you look at this map you can see that the risk of desertification in areas near to the Sahara desert are at high risk of desertification. Also almost all the Mediterranean coast is in danger. All India and the Middle East are not spared from that risk.

In this other map we can see the consequences of the melting of the ice caps: the more they melt, the more water will be in the oceans. Furthermore, the higher temperatures are, the more the water expands. So the coasts disappear under the sea.

I hope it has become clear, if governments don't do something to remedy the climate change that is what awaits us. In the following video you can see how circulates the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during a year. As can be seen in the video, the main emitters of CO2 to the atmosphere are the United States, Europe and China. 

The Battle of Valencia

The Battle of Valencia is an identity conflict that confronted the Valencian society during the Spanish Transition to democracy (1975-1982), characterized by a high degree of conflict, and that caused a political and social fracture in the Valencian Country that still endures.

The conflict began during the autonomy process of the Valencian Country, in which the conservative parties sought to gain votes by promoting the fear of a "Catalan invasion" that pretended to suppress all that was part of the Valencian identity (between that was included the Valencian language). At first the progressive parties were strong and they established the Consell del País Valencià (Council of the Valencian Country) with José Luis Albiñana from the Partit Socialista del País Valencià (Socialist Party of the Valencian Country) as the President. A temporary flag for the country was established:

On October 6, 1979 in Valencia took place a mass demonstration against the new flag organized by conservative groups and other groups linked to the Franco’s dictatorship. Due to the blockade of the Consell, the Socialist councillors resign and the Unión de Centro Democrático (a centre party) takes control of the Consell. Here begins the Battle of Valencia.

The quatribarrada (flag of the Crown of Aragon) with the Coat of Arms in the middle was changed for the flag of the city of Valencia (with the blue stripe and the crown), the name of Valencian Community was adopted instead of Valencian Country and they gave to Valencian the category of language (without considering it a dialect of Catalan).

Since then the fear to a "Catalan invasion" continued and groups of blavers (groups who refuse to consider Valencian as a dialect of Catalan) began to use violence against political figures and intellectuals such as Joan Fuster, which was bombed at the door of his house. Fortunately he wasn’t damaged.

Today the blavers remain almost half of the population of the Valencian Country and thanks to them the People’s Party (conservative party) gets large majorities in the Corts Valencianes (regional parliament). The situation today is different but still exist posters as this one:

No mos fareu Catalans means "You won’t make us Catalan". The youth of today and much of the population of Valencia know that we have a language and a culture in common with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. The theory that Valencian is an independent language from Catalan contradicts itself. In this image you can see the map of the regions where Catalan is spoken (Catalonia, Roussillon, Valencia, Balearic Islands, East Aragon, North East Murcia and Alghero [Sardinia]):