Mind Your Language: Catalan and the Guardia

A Moroccan interpreter, Saïda Saddouki, has been found guilty of defaming a Guardia Civil officer and been fined a total of 1500 euros. The Saddouki case is the first of two to go to court in Mallorca, along with one in Gerona on the mainland earlier this year, which all have as their theme the speaking of Catalan to Guardia officers.

In August 2007 Saïda Saddouki went to the Guardia’s command headquarters in Palma in order to translate from Arabic. She spoke to a captain in Catalan. At a later press conference, she alleged that the captain racially abused her by referring to her as “una mora catalanista” (literally a Catalan dark-skinned woman). The court found in favour of the captain who denied that he had said what Saddouki had alleged.

The case has become something of a cause célèbre, thanks in no small part to the role of the Obra Cultural Balear, an organisation which this year celebrates its fiftieth anniversary as one that promotes Catalan in the Balearics. The OCB was with Saddouki at that press conference. Since the court’s decision it has said that it believes her account of what happened and not the captain’s. It has also referred to discrimination in matters of language, has brought the Saddouki case to the attention of Amnesty International and has called for international observers and journalists to attend a future court case.

In March this year a woman called Àngels Monera was fined 180 euros for showing a lack of respect to Guardia officers at Gerona airport. Her version of events was that officers, to whom she did speak in Catalan, showed “contempt” for the language, and detained her long enough for her to miss her flight. She then made complaints to the media and ultimately found herself in court as a defendant. The Guardia version was that she had spoken aggressively and had called them “Francoists”. The officers insisted that they had asked her to speak Castilian not because they sought to “impose” a language but because they didn’t understand Catalan.

The future court case to which the OCB has invited observers from the European Union, and which has also been raised with the European Parliament, concerns one Iván Cortés. On 7 August last year Cortés was allegedly given a beating by Guardia officers who had asked him to produce his papers at Palma airport security and to whom he spoke in Catalan. He was allowed to make his flight – to London – where a doctor seemingly confirmed his injuries. The OCB took up his case and publicised it widely in the media. The court case is the trial of one of those officers.

What are we to make of these cases? Setting aside the rights or wrongs of what has happened or may have happened, they point to one thing – a ratcheting up of the whole Catalan issue. Appealing to Amnesty International and international observers and media takes it to a new level, and one that, on the face of it, seems somewhat extreme.

By doing so, the OCB, which had its own brush with the Guardia when a leading member was detained during the “Acampallengua” (language camp) in Sa Pobla last year, is further politicising an already political issue and also elevating it, via Amnesty, into the realms of human rights abuse.

The Spanish constitution recognises, through the exercise of human rights, the cultures, traditions and languages of all the peoples of Spain. Yet there is a dichotomy in that the defenders of the state, in the form of the Guardia, are officially only Castilian speaking. It is a dichotomy that needs addressing. Whether witting or unwitting, the Guardia should not be pushed into being a defender of language as well; it’s not their job. But as things stand, the Guardia, placed in an invidious position, are an institutional target for those with a Catalanist agenda. Which is not to say that they can’t potentially be brought to book, as will happen with the Cortés case.

The Saddouki case would probably be quickly forgotten about were it not for the Cortés trial. It is the alleged violence, together with the Catalan connection, that will, in all likelihood, make it more of a cause célèbre than Saddouki. And it probably will attract international attention. Moreover, it is likely to ask some awkward questions, ones that go to the heart of the constitution and of institutions.

For many of you, the Catalan issue might seem pretty arcane, but the depth of feeling that surrounds it is of great significance and is one that colours much of the local political discourse, as shown with the debate over language in education. Yes it’s political, but then it’s been a political issue for centuries, and an incident at Palma airport is about to make it more so.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Captain, I Said What

Let’s say you are Welsh. At Cardiff airport two policemen come up to you and ask you, in English, to produce your papers. You comply with the demand, but reply in Welsh. One of the policemen insists that you speak English. You do so, but the policeman then says that you must speak in a clearer fashion, to which you ask what he said. The police then, behind closed doors, attack you, hitting you on the head, in the mouth and the stomach and then charge you. 

 

This, in essence, but substituting Catalan for Welsh and Castilian for English, is what is alleged to have happened to one Iván Cortés at Palma airport on 7 August. The police were Guardia Civil officers. The case has been taken up by the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), an organisation that defends and promotes the use of Catalan. It has obtained a meeting with the director general of the island’s Guardia to ask that “aggression” towards Catalan speakers ceases, the Cortés incident being the springboard for this request.   

 

Cortés was allowed to make his journey, to London as it happens, where he was seen by a doctor whose report would appear to confirm injuries. The OCB adds that security cameras at Palma airport could also confirm what is alleged to have taken place. 

 

This incident first came to light at the start of this month. A report in “The Diario” (3 September) listed what I have above. It also carried a photo from a press conference of Cortés, together with Tomeu Martí, the co-ordinator for the OCB. Cortés would probably be in his twenties. He has long dark hair and a beard with a longish, thin goatie. He has a dark complexion, suggesting mixed race or possibly one particular race.

 

Accusations against police happen everywhere, not always with justification. One has to bear in mind that the incident took place a few days after the Palmanova bombing. The police would have been on high alert, though one thing one can probably say is that Cortés does not look like how one might expect an ETA terrorist to appear. A question might be, however, why the officers demanded to see his papers in the first place. They are within their rights to do so, but the question might still be raised.

 

Guardia officers speak Castilian. Only Castilian. It is not the first time that one has heard of an incident, assuming the Cortés one to be accurate, in which there has been something of an issue with someone speaking Catalan. Guardia officers speak Castilian because it is the language of the state. And the Guardia is very closely associated with the state, the Spanish state. It is a defender of the state. Whether that means that it should be a defender of one language is another matter. In Mallorca, Catalan and Castilian enjoy joint official status.

 

One does not of course have the other side of the story. Nevertheless, an alleged attack on a defenceless man, whose only apparent “crime” was to speak Catalan and to seek clarification of what was being asked of him, is deserving of investigation, especially as it involves the schism of language and regionalism. There is, though, more to all this. Go back a bit. That other name. Tomeu Martí. Remember him? Probably not. Remember the “Acampallengua”, the pro-Catalan gathering in Sa Pobla in late May? Remember that a senior figure in the OCB was arrested for “disobedience” by the Guardia? That was Martí. He was recently fined for refusing a request to show his papers, the cause of his arrest. Why he was asked to do so, I am unsure. But asked he was. 

 

The OCB is not a party, but it has links to the political establishment locally. You may recall that back in December there was the campaign to speak Catalan over a coffee in the local bar. The OCB was behind that. It followed hard on the heels of the campaign to promote wider use of Catalan in bars and restaurants, one funded at a not insignificant cost by the Council of Mallorca. Both campaigns were innocent enough, but the “Acampallengua” did have an undercurrent of youth radicalisation, and then there was the demonstration in Palma during the summer in favour of Catalan (and indeed another in support of Castilian).

 

The Cortés case cannot be seen just as an isolated incident of possible police aggression. It has to be seen in a wider political and social context. At a press conference held two days ago to announce that request for a meeting with the Guardia, a representative of the republican left in the Balearics shared the platform with Martí, and a link was made to the fact that José Bono, president of the national congress of deputies, had been prohibited from speaking Catalan in the congress. Moreover, Martí has accused the Balearics delegate to the central government, Ramón Socias, of a failure to respond to “acts of discrimination against Catalan”. 

 

If it hasn’t already been, the Guardia risks being dragged into some murky political waters, some, given its past reputation, it would do well to avoid. As a defender of the state, the whole state, it should not become the clarion call for political opportunism and polarisation in Mallorca, which this has the danger of becoming, and with the forces of the law set against elements of the political establishment, themselves supported by elements of a spot of “agitprop”.

 

 

* To see the original “Diario” article and photo, go here: http://www.diariodemallorca.es/mallorca/2009/09/03/joven-afirma-agentes-guardia-civil-le-agredieron-hablar-catalan/499821.html

Suspicious Minds

Right, let’s get back to something resembling normality – after a fashion. Or maybe not. The tension post-Palmanova was reflected on Saturday by the closure of roads around the Lago Menor in Puerto Alcúdia when a “suspicious package” was discovered. Nothing came of it of course. As ever after incidents anything looks like it might be packed with explosives. A problem is that there are any number of things that might qualify as suspicious – bags of rubbish discarded or all the stuff that just gets left out either for rubbish collection or for people to help themselves to. You could fill a house with what gets plonked on the street. Fridges, televisions, stereos, paintings, doors, drawers, entire patio suites of furniture (in need of restoration), old boilers in cardboard boxes. You name it, you can find it if you drive around long enough. And some of it could well fall into the “suspicious” category, especially suitcases. As for an old boiler, God knows what you could pack into that – a nuclear warhead probably. Reacting to a potentially suspicious bag or some such in the street does rather suggest too heightened a level of paranoia. If someone were of a mind to plant something, there are fairly obvious places to put them – like all the different rubbish containers.

 

And if not suspicious packages, then try the suspicious looking people. One review I read referred to someone that the reviewer thought he or she had seen on “Crimewatch”. Let’s face it, there are some on the loose who should be. Anyway, now we are being told that the ETA terrorists may have had contacts with radical, pro-Catalan youth groups on Mallorca. Indeed the police have in fact previously intercepted correspondence. There is no particular evidence that such a connection existed in respect of Palmanova, but it is one that naturally the police and Guardia are interested in examining, especially as they try to make sense of how a cell might have been able to exist on Mallorca for several weeks and to reconnoitre its targets. It might come as a surprise to learn that there are such groups. Mallorca is hardly a hotbed of revolutionary fervour, but there is a growing Catalan radicalisation. Any such association that may be proved would not help the cause of legitimate and honourable Catalan promotion.

We Haven’t Had That Spirit Here …

“Plucky.” “Dunkirk spirit.” “Bastards.”

There is nothing like a terrorist incident to excite the juices of tabloidism. Let us for Heaven’s sake get Palmanova into proportion. Horrible it may have been, but it simply does not rank in the lists of the truly dreadful. Unusual it may have been for Mallorca, but it was an isolated incident directed at a symbol of the Spanish state.

There is seemingly also nothing like a terrorist incident to excite misinformation and wild rumour. The Chinese whispers have been shouted out. The bomb was at the airport. The airport is closed for days. There are terrorists everywhere, ready to set off further bombs. What if they are about to do something here (as in around Alcúdia)? All of it rubbish. The lockdown of Mallorca for a time and the ongoing police checks are all part of a well-rehearsed contingency plan in the event of an incident. There may have been a lack of vigilance in Palmanova, but there is no lack of foresight in dealing with a terrorist incident. That in itself speaks volumes. The bombing may not have been anticipated, but it was not unexpected. Mallorca may have been spared the terrorist excesses of the peninsula, but it is still Spain; Palma was once widely thought to have been a target for Al-Qaeda, even for Saddam Hussein, which just goes to show the sort of exaggerated garbage that gets trotted out but also the fact that Mallorca has not been excluded in the past from possible attack.

The tabloid reporting has been to an extent sensationalist and out of proportion, but locally it is understandable. Nevertheless, it was “The Sun” what did it with the use of “plucky”. I honestly didn’t believe that the paper did actually use the adjective. I had assumed it was a parody. But no. “Plucky British holidaymakers” were defying the terrorists, blah, blah. These plucky tourists were determined to still be heading for the beaches or the bars, and the Spanish press reported that things in Palmanova were all pretty much normal, yet “The Bulletin” showed a “desolated” beach, suggesting that everyone was staying away, a report that ran counter to others. Who do you believe? ‘Twas ever thus with the press.

Those plucky Brits referred to having lived with the IRA. It’s a tired comparison and justification, but there is some sense to it. And you can chuck in post-9/11 as well. Quite why British tourists should feel the need to cancel holidays or to try and get on the first flight out is unfathomable. Palmanova is, I suppose, a shock for those in Mallorca who have not known terrorism at relative first-hand, such as those of us who have lived in London for example. It is why, I guess, the hyperbole works overtime. Paradise lost. Paradise shattered. All that. Perhaps Palmanova has, though, made people realise that there is such a thing as reality, one that many seem to have forgotten existed or one that they were unaware existed at all. But one keeps coming back to what actually happened. It may sound callous, heartless or as though I am wilfully seeking to understate the significance of the attack, but in the terrorist scheme of things only the location is particularly surprising, the actual attack is not. ETA have made a habit of targetting the Guardia, which is not to suggest that the dead officers should have expected to have been blown up, but there should have been an awareness that a Palmanova could happen. Mallorca had seemed immune because of terrorist logistics, but the fact that there is now talk of there being or having been (for some weeks) an ETA cell on the island and of a safe house does again bring into question the role of intelligence.

Contrary to an impression that has been conveyed, there are not people wandering around weeping, being solemn or in a state of shock. People are talking, of course they are, but often talking in order to tell others to give it all a rest and to stop making more of the incident than it merits. There is also a fair degree of annoyance with the press, not least “The Bulletin” and its ludicrous appeal for a “Dunkirk spirit”. One does actually despair of some of the reaction. It needs to be measured, it needs perspective. It does not need emotional language that serves only to ratchet up feelings and to heighten fears unnecessarily.

Shit happens, even in so-called paradise. They probably called Bali a paradise, and Palmanova does not come anywhere close to that in terms of scale or horror. It can happen and does happen. Anywhere.

PALMANOVA BOMBING – UPDATES

Three days of mourning have been announced by the president of the Balearic Government, Francesc Antich.

 

Everything at the points of entry and exit is more or less normal again. The airport was closed for only two hours, pressure being applied by tourism sources to get things back to normal as soon as possible. Alcúdia port was closed for a time, as were main roads in and out of the town with vehicles being subject to police checks. 

 

There is concern for the impact on tourism, but it is being pointed out that other destinations – Egypt and Turkey – have suffered terrorist acts and not experienced any great harm to tourism. Indeed the attack in Mallorca is far less obviously aimed at tourism than those in these other countries.

 

The British Foreign Office has raised its advice in respect of travel to Spain to high risk, which seems like an over-reaction. Yes there may be a risk of a further attack, but once again one stresses that tourists are not in the firing-line.

 

A second explosion yesterday – a controlled one – occurred when a further bomb was discovered attached to a Guardia vehicle in Palmanova.

 

Six suspects named. Photos on http://www.diariodemallorca.es

 

The delegate for the Balearics to the central government has said that he believes that the bomber or bombers are still on the island. The interior ministry has not confirmed this.

 

“Rings of steel” imposed by the Guardia at the airport and ports, including Alcúdia, to check all movement of vehicles. Checks on ID etc. Demonstration involving 6000 people in Palmanova against the terrorists. Heavy traffic controls mainly directed at checking vans.

Studies of the second bomb suggest that it, like the killing bomb, was a “limpet”, i.e. magnetically attached. A conclusion is that this would have given the bombers ample chance to get away from the scene.