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.
