Hi! I consider myself a PaĂŻsos Catalans ally & I support Catalonia, Valencia or any other region/country currently under Spanish rule struggling for the right to self determination. I've been living in Valencia for almost two years and I was wondering if could talk about what are some of the arguments I can use against anti-pancatalism ideologies and catalanophobic statements. You can reply in Catalan if it makes more sense--I just really want more people to read this. GrĂ cies per el teu temps!
(You can include Catalan sentences/mottos and terms if you think they are important. I can speak Catalan so if they can be used in an argument I'd love to know these. Thank you again for your time and the effort you put into this blog!)Â
Thank you very much for your support! And sorry I took so long to answer, I received the ask during exams week and really didnât have time and the blog was running on queue.
I will go over some of the main arguments Iâve heard, but sadly there is a significant amount of people who will not listen to reason about this topic.
Since this is a long post, the answer is under the âread moreâ.
Before getting into the arguments, itâs worth remembering the origins of blaverisme. In the late1970s-1980s, during the period known as Transition to Democracy (when the Spanish fascist dictator Franco died of old age), the Valencian Country was the âregionâ of Spain with a higher percentage of independentists.
Iâll add a quote by the Valencian sociologist Vicent Flor, who has studied the origins of blaverism: â[...] a la majoria de blavers no seâls pot considerar nacionalistes valencians. Si de cas, regionalistes espanyols. En efecte, el debat identitari [al PaĂs ValenciĂ ] sâha centrat en la filiaciĂł amb Catalunya, una cosa clara, i no en qĂźestions com ara el paper que el valenciĂ ha de tindre a lâesfera pĂşblica. Hem discutit massa si cal dir-ne petit o xicotet i no tant de la necessitat que la llengua fora present als mitjans de comunicaciĂł, per exemple. Mâagradaria que rere el blaverisme hi haguera un valencianisme sincer, però els meus estudis, malauradament, no apunten en aquesta direcciĂł.â (taken from here) Itâs important to remember that blaverism is a mask for Spanish nationalism, and is not a real Valencian nationalism.
Now Iâll talk about 3 arguments that seem to be central in blaverisme.
1. âThey are different languagesâ
This is the argument that says Valencian and the Catalan from Catalonia are different languages, sometimes saying that Mallorcan is a third separate language, too. More absurd theories derive from this, such as âCatalans / pancatalanists want to impose Catalan when Valencians from x place always spoke Spanishâ (mostly used in Alacant). All of this is, of course, false.
Valencian dialects are closer to the dialects of Western Catalonia than Western Cataloniaâs are to Eastern Catalonia. (Below I include the map of dialects of Catalan-Valencian. The dotted line separates the Eastern block and the Western block, which are the most noticeable differences), so it makes no sense to separate Valencian and the Catalans from Catalonia.
The reason for that similarity is because the Catalan language originated in the North of Catalonia and spread to the rest of the territory in the Middle Ages with the conquests. When the Kingdom of Valencia was conquered, people from Western Catalonia moved in, who brought the Western Catalan dialect. In the same way, the Balearic Islands were repopulated with people from Eastern Catalonia who brought the Eastern Catalan dialect and accent. In fact, because of this spread, Catalan-Valencian is a pretty homogeneous language when compared to others.
Thereâs crazy theories such as saying that (and Iâm not kidding) Valencian derives from Ancient Iberian, unlike Catalan which derives from Latin. That shouldnât even need an explanation on why itâs false.
The most common conspiracy theory is that Valencian derives from the Mossarabic (Romance languages spoken by the Christians during the Islamic rule) spoken before Jaume Iâs conquest. This is false, linguists and historians say Mossarabic had already been extinct for a couple of centuries prior to Jaume Iâs arrival. What they spoke then in Valencia was Arabic, until the repopulation of the coast with people from Western Catalonia spread Catalan and the repopulation of the interior by Aragonese people spread Aragonese which later got replaced by Spanish. (Though Arabic remained one of the most spoken languages in many parts of the Valencian Country until the expulsion of the Moriscos, but definitely not Mossarabic).
The words âCatalanâ and âValencianâ have been used interchangeably since the 15th century at least, and we have written documents that prove that. There are texts that use both terms to mean the same. Or for example, the Valencian writer AusiĂ s March (1400-1459), who is sometimes pointed at by blaveros as a symbol of Valencianism, spoke the same way his grandparents from Catalonia did. So which language was that?
Itâs obvious that it doesnât make any sense to say that someone from València and someone from Tortosa or Lleida speak different languages, and it would be easily proven false by just... listening to the other. Many Spanish-speaking people from the Valencian Country who donât speak Valencian-Catalan well believe Valencian and other forms of Catalan are different languages because they hear the Eastern Catalan accent and it sounds different. But just put sentences in Valencian and sentences in Eastern Catalan next to each other and theyâre the same, there are very few different words besides two verb conjugations.
This doesnât make any sense linguistically, but I honestly doubt anyone who goes as far as to deny that two variants with such minor differences are different languages would listen to arguments. Itâs just so absurd. Maybe you could ask them if they think when Mexicans say âpinche pendejoâ that makes Mexican a different language from Spanish.
Other things in this point that I think are worthy to consider:
The fear of a countryâs language, history and culture being erased and having another oneâs imposed is legitimate. València has suffered that, and so has Catalonia. But the imposition does NOT come from Catalonia, it comes from Spain (Spain as the homogenized Castilla). Why would they fear this imposition coming from Catalans (which are not doing it), but not fear it from Spain (who has been working against Valencian language and identity for centuries and continues every day)? One of the mottos of blaverisme is âno mos fareu catalansâ (âyou wonât make us Catalanâ), but they donât put any effort into a potential âno mos fareu castellansâ.
If theyâre worried about a standard version of the language (not necessarily the Central Catalonia standard, because the Valencian standard is the one used in books, media and schools in the Valencian Country) replacing âwhat people actually speak likeâ then thatâs great, they could focus on preserving local variants, words, expressions... But the vast majority of blaveros have no interest in that, they only use this argument to charge against the Catalan-Valencian used in schools, TV, radio, books... Thatâs why they say that standard Valencian is copying Catalan from Catalonia (itâs not, itâs regulated by a Valencian academy), so they can attack even Valenciaâs own publications and media, not only the ones that come from Catalonia or the Balearic Islands. Though, of course, the ones that come from Catalonia are a prime target.
For reference on the books, Iâm from Catalonia, I have a family friend who has written novels for teenagers and young adults, and some years ago all his books were taken out of school libraries in the Valencian Country because of the complains of blaveristes who were mad that their children could read books in âBarcelonĂâ (this writer is not even from Barcelona lol). Will these books be replaced by books in Valencian? Most certainly not. We looked up the website of the organisation that had protested against those books âin BarcelonĂâ and their website is mostly in Spanish and the comments celebrating taking away the books from Catalonia were Spanish nationalist comments with little interest in preserving Valencian.
So is it really about preserving Valencian? How does isolating Valencian from Catalan (which definitely is the same language, but the point stands if it were just a very very very similar separate language) protect Valencian? It doesnât, it only weakens it and makes its speakers feel like their language can be used in less settings, which is a step towards language disappearance.
Conclusion: Valencian and Catalan are variants of the same language, just listen to them and itâs obvious that theyâre the same. History also explains why they are the same. And isolating speakers by denying them the opportunity to use their language in more setting and with more people weakens the language.
2. âWe have no shared historyâ, âValencia was a kingdom and Catalonia was neverâ
False again. As has been said before, València was an Islamic kingdom until it was conquered by Catalonia-Aragon, led by the king Jaume I on October 9th 1238. Thatâs why October 9th is Valenciaâs national day, because it commemorates the foundation of the Valencian culture we know it nowadays. The Kingdom of València was independent, yes, because the Crown of Aragon was a federation (or confederation) of states, together with Catalonia, Aragon and the kingdom of Mallorca, and for a while also other territories in Southern Italy and Greece.
I talked about the âCatalonia was never a kingdom, it was part of Aragon [insert mental gymnastics to say Aragon is Spain so Catalonia has always been Spain, instead of recognising Aragonâs independent history]â in the reply on this post about a year ago. But, even though they bring it up often, thatâs irrelevant. Itâs a well known fact that the Crown of Aragon has a shared history (cultural history, political history, commercial relations, etc).
But most important of all in this âshared historyâ is probably the shared history of oppression by Spain. Linguistically, culturally, and economically.
And again, I want to bring up the consideration: why is it that they feel the need to repeat so much that Valencians have no shared history with Catalonia, while at the same time reclaim that Valencia be a region of Spain because its history is Spanish? Itâs a huge double standard. Small differences are enough for blaveros to distance themselves from Catalonia, but of course Valencia has way more shared history with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands than with, say, Madrid or Castilla. So why is that enough to claim that Valencia not only has shared history with Spain, but is Spain, while way more proof is not enough that relationship with Catalonia?
As you can see, most of their arguments come down to Catalanophobia.
There are more arguments they use that basically boil down to âweâve been taught to hate Catalans and want to distance ourselves from them as much as possibleâ.
3. âValencian/Catalan is useless anyway, we should focus on Spanish so we can be citizens of the worldâ
One of the sentences Iâve heard more often. This is not only blaverist rhetoric, it can be heard in many other contexts, too. Basically, itâs the argument that says that in order to become a modern nation, the Valencian Country must abandon its language and embrace only Spanish.
First of all, what makes them think some languages are more âof the worldâ than others? Where do they think Catalan-Valencian is spoken, in Mars??
According to this argument, having the conversation about Valènciaâs place in the Catalan Countries is irrelevant anyway, because only Spain can bring modernity. The whole point of the âcitizen of the worldâ speech should be recognising every single language and culture of the world as valuable, but instead they use this sentence to mean that only big entities have the right to exist. This imperialistic mindset is sometimes well-intentioned, but itâs a wrong conclusion.
I think those are the three main points, and others are derived from these three so I wonât add more.
The problem with blaveros is often that their attitude is not based on the facts, but they look for the specific facts that will justify their hatred. They will only listen to the arguments that they can use to impose Spanish over Valencian-Catalan, and not look at all the facts.
A very clear example of this was LAPAO. La Franja de Ponent has had a mixed relationship with political-territorial belongings (was for a long time politically dependent of Aragon, but only for a century have its parishes been under Aragonese control instead of Catalonia's control). But the Catalan spoken in La Franja is not much different from the surrounding areas. And yet, the Government of Aragon decided that to call the Catalan language spoken by the people from la Franja âCatalanâ was pancatalanism, and officially declared it is not Catalan but âLAPAOâ (which stands for âLengua Aragonesa Propia del Ărea Orientalâ: âAragonese language from the Eastern areaâ). They can say âitâs not Catalan because itâs in Aragonâ or âthe law says thatâs not Catalan, itâs LAPAOâ and yeah, sure, thatâs a fact. But there are so many more facts that are being ignored so that the conclusion will be the one they want.
I wish you the best if youâre talking to blaveristes. It can get quite exhausting :â) I hope this helped a little! And thank you so much for your support again!















