Ní thuigim Brian

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Thursday September 09, 2004 23:38 by Tocasons roger_tocasons at yahoo dot com

I wish to publish the following translation I have made of an editorial in one of the most important electronic newspaper written in Catalan, www.vilaweb.com. This editorial, entitled "Ní thuigim Brian", was published on the 14th of June and describes Brian Cowen's particular attitude towards the language of a nation, the Catalan countries, that has always been a close friend of Ireland. This editorial must be placed within the context that at that stage the (new) Spanish government had shown, possibly for the first time ever, a slight interest in asking for the officiality of the Catalan language within the EU. At that stage, the Irish government had shown no interest in doing similarly for the Irish language. This position has surprisingly changed since, but the opposition towards Catalan remains. I think the translation and publication of this editorial is of particular interest in so far as the Irish media have bypassed such criticisms.

“Brian Cowen, Irish minister for Foreign Affairs, said yesterday [translator's note: read 13/6/04] that Catalan language in Europe stands no chance whatsoever. He said that we had to settle for a translation of the Constitution, and for us not to waste our time asking for anything more than that. In this case (unless this was one of the typical European pantomimes) it looked like the Spanish government was pressing in favour for a minimum degree of officiality for Catalan language in Europe. But our friend Brian says that we should get none of it. Thanks! Brian Cowen was born in county Offaly, in the middle of the island. A county where Irish language is not alive anymore and which, when it was set up, it was called King's county, in honour of the king...of Spain. This precedent and a probably significantly high level of insensitivity with respect to his own culture must explain that this individual has become since yesterday one of the anticatalan ogres. This is so despite the fact that he is a member of the party founded by Eamon de Valera, one of the fathers of the Irish nation which allowed a whole generation of nationalists in our country to dream. Macià and Ventura Gassol [translator's note: they are both Catalan nationalist politicians, particularly important during the thirties] would be today very disappointed.”