The way I feel my nationality is exclusive and not additive. I do not think that someone can be
Spanish and Catalan at the same time. I think someone can feel 50% Spanish and 50% Catalan. In a normal day, I feel 70% Catalan and 30% Spanish. When I read some of the statements made by the thugs of Esquerra Republicana, my Catalanity descends to a mere 50% (that's my minimum, no matter how upset I may be). When I read ABC, EL Mundo, the trancripts of the COPE radiostation or I listen to politicians like Acebes, my Catalanity moves to 90%, leaving a mere 10% for my "Spanish Nationality".Some Spaniards may get upset about it, but I cannot help it. The Spanish flag and the Spanish national anthem do not resonate with me at all, I feel absolutely nothing. When I see the Spanish flag at Boston national airport (among many other flags there), my eyes go directly to the Catalan flag that appears in the royal logo. But if I see a Catalan flag or I hear the Catalan national anthem ("els segadors"), that makes my flesh creep.
There might be a psychological reason for that. Most probably it is related to the fact that many Catalan babyboomers like me (the Catalan babyboom was in the sixties) unconsciously relate the Spanish symbols to the Franco dictatorship.
For those of you who did not understand anything, because you are not familiar with Catalonia, Spain and our futilities, I would like to provide this comparison as a reference:
Catalonia = Massachusetts = state
Països Catalans (I like to call them Baleària) = New England = A conglomerate of states with common culture and origins
Spain = United States of America = country
5 comments:
ok, i'm one of those that didn't understand anything- so thanks for the new england example...
still not sure what you're trying to illustrate- i mean if all of the sudden i will need my passport to go to main and eat me some 2lb lobsters i'd be pretty pissed!!!! even worse if i'll have to speak a whole new language to order it! but what the heck do i know--
Antes que nada perdona por postear en español pero tengo mi inglés algo 'oxidado'.
Una pequeña puntualización, las barras del escudo de España a las que aludes como bandera catalana pertenecen al antiguo Reino de Aragón (Aragón, Cataluña, Comunidad Valenciana, Baleares, Murcia (que se anexionó más tarde) y algunos territorios italianos así como el Ducado de Atenas) al igual que cada una de las otras divisiones pertenecen a cada uno de los reinos que constituyen España (Navarra, Castilla, León y Granada). Me parece bien que tú cuando las veas te acuerdes de Cataluña, al igual que yo pienso en Aragón.
Por lo demás me parece interesante tu blog, aunque haya muchas cosas que no comparta.
Saludos
I understand how you feel, I must be like you, not perhaps 70-30 but it depens on the day as well.
I always thought that the future of Spain should be a Federation. I wish it was already like Massachusetts, but it is not. But, what I have talked with my American friends, there is not such a difference from being from Massatchusets than from, I don't know, Illinois. I mean, that they (you) have a strong national feeling altoghether. So I like to say that it is more like Canada, where there are at least two nation identities.
Yo live it from closer, you tell me.
About the flag: yes, it is originally from the crown of Aragon but, hey, we can share it, can't we? What if a person from Monaco and a person from Indonesia are looking at their flag? Or let's say Cantabria and Poland?
Regarding the flag, there is a lot of debate about its origins. Nowadays the main part of the flag is shared by Aragon, Valencia, the Balearic islands and Catalonia, although the first three decided to add some other symbols to make it different from the Catalan one.
It is clear that the flag represented the whole kindom of Aragon when all those kingdoms and the county belonged to it. At that point of time the ruling monarchs belonged to the House of Barcelona.
Whether or not the origin of the flag came form the original Catalan counties, I do not know and it is not important to me. When I look today at the 4 red bars on a yellow background, I think of Catalonia.
The Massachusetts comparison was for people who have no clue about what I was talking. Clearly Quebec is a much better example.
Thanks for the explanations.
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