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Second-Class citizens

by ViTo • April 16, 2007 5 comments

Even though I am living far away from Spain, it has recently come to my attention the controversy generated due to a TV documental broadcasted by a Madrid station. The topic is a recurring one: the coexistence of Spanish and Catalan in Catalonia (the north east region of Spain). Its title is Second-Class citizens.

Unfortunately, it is only available in Spanish, but in case you wanna watch it anyway, here’s the full 45 minutes documentary:

YouTube Preview Image

After living for 24 years in Barcelona, I would say I have a pretty good sense about the day to day reality, and it has nothing to do with the constant conflict situation described on that show. However, if I lived in Madrid and saw something like that, I couldn’t do much but pretty much dislike (¿hate?) Catalan: the language and the people as well.

Although I have a clear position on the topic, I don’t want to express my personal feelings on it; independently from who’s right (in case somebody is), let me just say at least, I find it highly disturbing that a public station broadcasts a show aiming to cultivate conflict feelings, specially on a region where many struggles took place during recent history exactly for this reason …

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  1. juana

    … que no tiene nada que ver con la realidad? entonces, todas estas personas mienten? quizás al nivel de la vida diaria que tu lleves veas las cosas de otra forma, pero por desgracia, a nivel político (administración, servicios, etc) esta sí es la realidad. Te guste o no.

  2. Pepus

    quina tela! Per mi el més fort de tot ja no és que s’hagi fet un reportatge que és constantment una mentida o una distorsió, el problema és que s’hagin destinat diners públics per emetre’l!!!

    juana… a la l’administració pública d’Horta (Barcelona) se’m segueixen dirigint en castellà de tota la vida. Tota la paperassa per fer-me autònom també l’he tramitat en castellà i les cartes m’arriben en els dos idiomes, excepte les de la mútua que venen només en castellà.

    La realitat l’has de viure… i no pas posar 4 imatges seleccionades (i a sobre que les repeteixin vàries vegades!!)

    Quina penya…la veritat és que aquí a Catalunya, excepte aquests 4 matats, la gent està molt tranquil·la amb tot plegat.

  3. Pepus

    Per cert, el següent comunicat honra als treballadors de telemadrid: http://bp1.blogger.com/_0sC7ZNL4hUs/Rh4AzDOVLtI/AAAAAAAAAGw/3jUIzFcYmfc/s1600/comunicadoTelemadrid.png
    http://www.hidebehind.com/img/4D0E4FBB.png

  4. Rick

    Well written. I live in Barcelona. No one I know has ever had any problem communicating in Spanish here. The Catalans rightfully speak their language just as everyone else on the planet, but graciously and immediately switch to Castellano when speaking to a non-Catalan. In fact, I have non-native friends who speak Catalan that can’t practice because the natives assume she doesn’t know it well! Telemadrid is definitely drinking the Cool-Aid with that documentary.

  5. marc

    juana ,you are a liar!
    oh poor spaniards living in catalonia…they can’t go the supermarket because everything is in catalan…no poden llegir diaris,ni revistes,ni productes farmacèutics.They can’t even speak spanish on the streets….quina poca vergonya
    te digo lo que yo no puedo hacer en mi lengua en mi tierra?
    com a mínim,hauríeu de ser agraïts a la terra on us heu guanyat les garrofes, perquè recorda,a casa teva(espanya)per molt que parléssiu tots castellà,no ho vàreu poguer fer
    No va dir CERVANTES (un altre català nacionalista radical)allò de “dónde fueres , haz lo que vieres”.i’m off to sleep mates,it’s the same old boring sh*te…..again!Rick,you shows us we’re not alone,ta!

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