The Catalan language is experiencing a palpable setback in its social uses, as indicated by the studies and surveys that periodically x-ray it. That is why Òmnium Cultural is launching a far-reaching campaign to reverse this worrying decline.
Yesterday, at the Joan Oliver Pere Quart civic center in Barcelona, the president of the entity, Xavier Antich, and the vice president, Mònica Terribas, accompanied by representatives of some of the entities that give their support, will present the campaign Take out the language, share the Catalan, which seeks to raise the awareness of half a million people so that they become activists in defense of the Catalan language.
Although Òmnium has 190,000 members, when proposing the multisectoral campaign, Antich speaks of half a million people, including supporters of the entity, who show concern for the Catalan language and culture. That is why he encourages the Òmnium community to use the Catalan language "with no complexes and with pride" and to become "activists for Catalan".
The Treu la llengua campaign, with a modernized Rollingstonian image, is aimed "at children, young people and new speakers", paying special attention to "strategic areas such as audiovisual or digital platforms", where a decrease in heavy use.
But Òmnium refuses to “complain” and presents this campaign in a positive way because “our language is a tool for social cohesion and collective self-esteem”, remarks its president. “You have to share it without shame and be activists every day, everywhere, working in a positive and constructive way”, because “culture and language are a fundamental pillar, and an antidote against intolerance. We want Catalan to continue generating bonds, social equality and community”.
“The Spanish State identifies the language as a backbone and powerful instrument and applies its repression –continues Antich–. We will continue to legally defend the Catalan language and school, which should not be a legal battle horse, but rather a place of coexistence”.
Terribas added: “We urgently need to mentalize our society because either we activate massively or this will get worse and worse. We need to generate references in Catalan”, “in a community of more than 10 million speakers”.
The campaign begins on the 14th with new projects and with a resizing, "a change of scale", of those that are already underway. They stand out: the promotion of Vincles, a network of teaching in Catalan whose objective is to guarantee spaces of coexistence for new speakers; the promotion of Catalan in artificial intelligence applications with the Parla'm project; the celebration of the second edition of the Límbic performing arts festival; the expansion of the educational centers that participate in the Sambori; the increase in movie theaters in the new season of CineXics; the collaboration to encourage the language on digital platforms with La Fera, among other projects that will be known in the coming months, so that the speakers take out the language that they have inside.
Catalan version, here
