14/5: It’s totalitarian to expect judges in Catalonia to understand Catalan

Vicenç Villatoro
1 min

To expect someone to speak Spanish in order to work as a judge in Catalonia is not totalitarian. Quite the opposite: it’s the most normal thing in the world. This is the thesis of the PP. But according to this thesis, requiring the knowledge of a language to hold a public position is not totalitarian in itself. Whether it is totalitarian or not depends on which language is required.

It’s not totalitarian to require Spanish in Spain, or French in France, or German in Germany. But it is, if you require Catalan in Catalonia. What’s the difference? I can only detect one. It’s not totalitarian when there is a state behind the language, but it is totalitarian when there isn’t. Spain is the State behind Spanish, but it is not, nor does it want to be, the State behind Catalan. As such, Catalan does not have a state’s backing. Therefore, imposing Catalan would be totalitarian.

But it turns out that some of us want Catalan to continue to be –alongside Spanish!– a language of justice in Catalonia, and that means judges should understand it. And we don’t want to be totalitarian at all. How can we go about it? The solution is simple, if you follow the PP’s thesis: to have a state for Catalan. The same as with Spanish, French, or German. And, thanks to this, its imposition will not be totalitarian. Ok, then. Let’s get down to it.

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