01.06.2014 - 10:48
The Obra Cultural Balear [Balearic Cultural Works] called another demonstration in favor of “Language Celebration Day”, after three years without. The event exceeded all expectations as Palma filled with green t-shirts [in support of Catalan education] and bows made out of Catalan flags. These are two undeniable symbols of the struggle against the aggressive linguistic policies of the Bauzà government in the Balearic Islands. The policies and attitudes of the government against the Catalan language in various fields were paramount today, particularly in school. That is why the OCB called for a sea of bows in the main square of Palma to respond to the “government decreed siege against our language”.
Mar de 10000 llaços per la llengua catalana a Mallorca @ocbcat pic.twitter.com/9JuDItjgbA
— Xavier Mora (@Xavier_Mora) May 31, 2014
La Plaça Major plena de gom a gom. #DiadaLlengua2014 #DiadaPerLaLlengua #minoriasilenciosa pic.twitter.com/IWIIZkv9iG
— Armando *! EducSanid (@ATrovador) May 31, 2014
Diada per la Llengua 2014. pic.twitter.com/upYwn6wZ5s
— Xisco Bellés (@labollanumero8) May 31, 2014
The events began at 6pm in the Plaça d’Espanya, and continued on toward the Plaça Major. There was a children’s celebration, followed by the main event, a sea of bows to remind people that “exhibiting the four striped flag, which represents our language, is not permitted in public education centers “, in the words of the president of the OCB, Jaume Mateu.
As an answer to the “ferocious, continual” attacks from the government, Mateu called on people to “demonstrate, one more time, that this language that we have spoken for almost eight hundred years deserves a joyous, calm celebration”.
The demonstration will also serve as support for Jaume Sastre, who is in his fourth week of a hunger strike for quality public education in Catalan. You can read his blog (in Catalan) here.
