The Generalitat de València (the Valencian regional autonomous government in Spain) has shut down signals of Barcelona TV3, the only television station entirely in Catalan broadcast in the region. It persists within Catalonia itself, but will no longer be accessible to the more than 3 million Catalan speakers in the Communitat Valenciana (some 78% of the population), who are now without a consistent medium for obtaining and disseminating information in their own language.
It's mind-boggling to me to conceive of how such blatant attempts at squashing cultural expression can persist in a modern, Western democracy. But old prejudices die hard, and it's sad to see that one of the most vibrant remnants of Franco's Fascism is the contempt against freedom of expression in languages other than Castillian.
I often wonder why I identify so strongly with the Catalan language, as I have no personal or familial connection to it, but why should I need a justification? It is a language with a long and important literary tradition (however little most Americans - most Spaniards! - know of it) and to see something of such cultural value be spit upon repeatedly and continually for the last 300 years drives me crazy, just as much as the cultural resilience of the Catalan, Valencian and Balearic people is an inspiration. There is a protest being planned for May 5 in Valencia, and I honestly wish I could go and participate. As that doesn't appear to be an option, I'm going to let as many people as possible know about it, and
send an e-mail (even if I'm not a Valencian citizen), and generally cause as much of a (tiny) ruckus as possible at such a distance and without very many means.
