Catalan Countries

Map of the Catalan Countries

The concept of the Catalan Countries includes territories of the following sovereign states:
STATES	COUNTRIES
Andorra	Catalan is the official language
France	Catalunya Nord in the Pyrénées-Orientales department
Italy	File:Alghero-Stemma.png The city of Alghero
Spain	Aragon (for Western Strip) Balearic Islands Catalonia Murcia (for Carche) Valencia

The estelada is often regarded as the flag of the Catalan Countries, especially the red-star version.

Graffiti on Belfast's Falls Road

Graffiti in Argentona.

Graffiti in Vilassar de Mar.

The Catalan Countries (in Catalan Països Catalans) refers to the territories where Catalan language is spoken. A political side to this concept sprung out simultaneously to its cultural dimension, and what had remained as a cultural term for connaisseurs then rose to prominence and became highly controversial during the Spanish Transition period.

The Catalan Countries do not have any legal entity nor is there any universal territorial definition of the scope covered by this concept. It may refer strictly to the territories in which the different varieties of Catalan are spoken, or the entire political entities in which Catalan has some official status, in spite of the fact that those entities include areas where Catalan is not traditionally spoken (the map to the right covers this latter usage).

Different meanings

Catalan Countries is a polysemic expression and so it has different meanings depending on the context. These can be roughly classified in two groups: linguistic or political, the political definition of the concept being the widest, since it also encompasses the linguistic side of it.

As a linguistic term, Catalan Countries is used in a similar fashion to the English Anglosphere, the French Francophonie, the Portuguese Lusofonia or the Spanish Hispanophonie.

As a political term it refers to a number of political projects as advocated by Catalan independentism. These, based on the linguistic fact, argue for the existence of a common national identity that would surpass the limits of each territory covered by this concept and would apply also to the remaining ones. These movements advocate for "political collaboration" amongst these territories. This often stands for their union and political independence. As a consequence of the opposition these political projects have received –notably in some of the territories described by this concept– some cultural institutions avoid the usage of Catalan Countries in some contexts, as a means to prevent any political interpretation; in these cases, equivalent expressions (such as Catalan-speaking countries) or others (such as the linguistic domain of Catalan language) are used instead.

Component countries

Catalan is spoken in:

• the Spanish autonomous communities of
  • Catalonia —even though in the comarca of Val d'Aran Occitan is considered the language proper to that territory—
    • "La Franja de Ponent" ("The Western Strip") a Catalan-speaking area in the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon;
  • the Balearic Islands and
  • Valencia, under the name of "valencià", with the exception of some western comarques where Spanish is the traditional language;
    • Carxe, a small Valencian-speaking area in the Spanish autonomous community of Murcia;
• Andorra, a European microstate;
• most of the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales, also called le Pays Catalan (Catalan Country) in French or Catalunya (del) Nord (Northern Catalonia) in Catalan;
• the Italian city of Alghero, in the island of Sardinia, where a variant of Catalan is spoken.

Catalan is the official language of Andorra, co-official with Spanish and Occitan in Catalonia, co-official with Spanish in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community —with the denomination of Valencian in the latter— and co-official with Italian in the city of Alghero. It is also part of the recognized minority languages of Italy along with Sardinian, also spoken in Alghero. It is not official in Aragon, Murcia or the Pyrénées-Orientales, even though, recently, the General Council of Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan, along with French, as language of the department, on December 10, 2007.

Cultural dimension

Trans-regional cultural collaboration

There are several endeavors and collaborations amongst some of the diverse government and cultural institutions involved. One such case is the Ramon Llull Institute, founded in 2002 by the Government of the Balearic Islands and the government of Catalonia. Its main objective is to promote Catalan language and culture abroad in all its variants, as well as the works of writers, artists, scientists and researchers of the regions which are part of it. While having participated with the government of Andorra—most notably in the Frankfurt Book Fair of 2007—the Institute is nowadays undergoing a process of restructuring in order to formally incorporate it in the organization.. Another relevant example is the Joan Lluís Vives Institute, a collaborative network constituted by universities in the Catalan linguistic domain.

Political dimension

Controversy

The term is controversial because many non-Catalans see the concept of the Catalan Countries as regional exceptionalism, counterpoised to a centralizing Spanish and French national identity. Others see it as an attempt by a Catalonia proper centered nationalism to lay a hegemonic claim to the historically Catalan regions in southern France or, in Spain, to Valencia or the Balearic Islands –where the prevailing feeling is that they have their own respective historical personality, not necessarily related to Catalonia's, as the Catalan Countries name would suggest.

Thus, in extensive areas included in the territories designated by some as Catalan Countries, Catalan nationalist sentiment is uncommon or nonexistent. For example, in the Valencian Community case, Esquerra Repúblicana del País Valencià (ERPV) is the most relevant party explicitly supportive of the idea but, despite participating in elections in a number of Valencian cities, its representation is limited to a total of five city councilors in the municipalities of Sueca, Vall de Laguar, Simat de la Valldigna and Xixona; at the regional level, it has run twice (2003 and 2007) to the regional Parliament election, having received less than 0.50% of the total votes (other minor political parties supportive of the concept have achieved so far well below results than those of ERPV). This notwithstanding, some of the most vocal defenders or promoters of the "Catalan Countries" concept (such as Joan Fuster, Josep Guia or Vicent Partal) were Valencian.

The subject became very controversial during the politically agitated Spanish Transition in what was to become the Valencian Community, especially in and around the city of Valencia, by the late 70s and early 80s when the Spanish Autonomous Communities system was taking shape, the controversy had reached its height. Various Valencian right wing politicians (originally from Unión de Centro Democrático) fearing what was seen as an annexation attempt from Catalonia, fueled a violent Anti-Catalanist campaign against local supporters of the concept of the Catalan Countries, which even included a handful of unsuccessful attacks with explosives against authors perceived as flagships of the concept, such as Joan Fuster or Manuel Sanchis i Guarner. The concept's revival during this period was behind the formation of the fiercely opposed and staunch anti-Catalan blaverist movement, led by Unió Valenciana, which, in turn, significantly diminished during the 90s and the 2000s as the Catalan Countries controversy slowly disappeared from the Valencian political arena.

This confrontation between politicians from Catalonia and Valencia very much diminished in severity during the course of the late 1980s and, especially, the 1990s as the Valencian Community's regional government became consolidated. Since then, the topic has lost most of its controversial potential, even though occasional clashes may appear from time to time, such as controversies regarding the broadcasting of Catalan television in Valencia —and vice versa— or the usage by Catalan official institutions of terms which are perceived in Valencia as Catalan nationalistic.

As for the other territories, there are no political parties even mentioning the Catalan Countries as a public issue neither in Andorra, nor in la Franja, Carche or Alghero. In the Balearic islands, support for parties related to Catalan nationalism is around 10% of the total votes. Reversely, the Popular Party –which is a staunch opponent of whatever political implications for the Catalan Countries concept– is the majoritary party in both Valencia and the Balearic islands.

See also political issue surrounding Valencian

Legal frame

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 contains a clause forbidding the formation of federations amongst Autonomous Communities . Therefore, if the case was that the Catalan Countries idea gained a majority democratic support in future elections, a constitutional amendment would still be needed for those parts of the Catalan Countries lying in Spain to create a common legal representative body.

Nonetheless, in the addenda to the Constitution there is a clause allowing an exception to this rule in the case of Navarre, which can join the Basque Country should the people choose to do so.

History and evolution of the name. Alternate names

The term Països Catalans was first documented in "Historia del Derecho en Cataluña, Mallorca y Valencia. Código de las Costumbres de Tortosa, I" (History of the Law in Catalonia, Majorca and Valencia. Code of the Customs of Tortosa , I) written by the Valencian Law historian Bienvenido Oliver i Esteller.

The term was both challenged and reinforced by the use of the term "Occitan Countries" from the Oficina de Relacions Meridionals (Office of Southern relationships) in Barcelona by 1933. Another proposal which enjoyed some popularity during the Renaixença was "Pàtria llemosina" (Llemosine Motherland), proposed by Victor Balaguer as a federation of Catalan-speaking provinces; both these coinages were based on the theory that Catalan is a dialect of Occitan.

None of these names reached widespread cultural usage and the term nearly vanished until it was rediscovered, redefined and put in the center of the identitary cultural debate by Valencian writer Joan Fuster. In his book Nosaltres els valencians (We, the Valencians, published in 1962) a new political interpretation of the concept was introduced; from the original, meaning roughly Catalan speaking territories, Fuster developed a political inference closely associated to Catalan nationalism. This new approach would refer to the Catalan Countries as a more or less unitary nation with a shared culture which had been divided by the course of history, but which should logically be politically reunited. Fuster's preference for Catalan Countries gained popularity, and previous unsuccessful proposals such as Comunitat Catalànica (Catalanic Community) or Bacàvia (after Balearics-Catalonia-Valencia) diminished in use.

Today the term is politically charged, and tends to be closely associated with Catalan nationalism and Catalan independentism. The idea of uniting these territories in an independent state is supported by a number of political parties, being the most important in terms of representation ERC. Other groups with no representation in the relative regional parliaments, such as ERPV, PSAN, Estat Català, CUP also support this idea to a greater or lesser extent.

See also Catalan language history

See also

• Gate of the Catalan Countries
• Military history of Catalonia
• Muixeranga, proposed hymn for the Catalan Countries.
• Nationalities in Spain

References

• Pere Grau, "El panoccitanisme dels anys trenta: l’intent de construir un projecte comú entre Catalans i occitans". El contemporani, 14 (gener-maig 1998), p. 29-35.
• Francesc Pérez Moragón, "El valencianisme i el fet dels Països Catalans (1930–1936)", L'Espill, núm. 18 (tardor 1983), p. 57-82.
• Jordi Ventura, "Sobre els precedents del terme Països Catalans", dins Debat sobre els Països Catalans, Barcelona: Curial…, 1977. p.347-359.
• Enric Prat de la Riba, Greater Catalonia. (Online in Catalan)
• Joan Fuster, Qüestió de noms. (Online in Catalan)
• Josep Guia, "És molt senzill, digueu-li Catalunya", Llibres del segle. Col·lecció "Què us diré", 22. ISBN 978-84-920952-8-5 (Online in Catalan - PDF)

Footnotes and External links

• Catalan Countries in the English version of the Catalan Hiperencyclopedia.
• Lletra. Catalan Literature Online
• The Spirit of Catalonia. 1946 book by Oxford Professor Dr. Josep Trueta