The doctor Òscar Escuder (Barcelona, 1968) has been re-elected as head of Platform for Language for another four years. We review here his strategic points.
What is a doctor doing presiding over the Catalan NGO?
In this case, it doesn't matter if you are a doctor, a supermarket worker or anything else. Coincidences of life. I came to the Platform for my sister, and I stayed.
He has been president of the entity for 22 years.
No matter how you look at it, it's a lot of years. Obviously it is not done for the salary, because the salary is zero, it is volunteering. As for work, there is a before and after 2012, when Martí Gasull died. He worked a lot and, furthermore, the entity was smaller. Then we had 3,500 members, now more than 26,000.
Where do you think the Catalan language is worse?
The area where it is worst is justice. The thing is that it is probably not the most important area. It would not be the most efficient when it comes to obtaining any results, if it were possible, because they are the responsibility of the State, with harsh laws in favor of Spanish.
Where should we influence?
At school and throughout the world of leisure. School is very important, but you can't ask it to fix everything. You can be asked to teach children to master the language who do not have it mastered from home, so that they feel it is theirs and see that it is as normal as any other. But if they later do not find Catalan in a series, a video game or in extracurricular activities, Catalan ends up becoming only the school language.
The study they have done in the Saló de l'Ensenyament gives disheartening results.
A full 60% of the exhibitors did not do any dissemination in Catalan either in the signage, the brochures, the oral service or the website.
What is there to do with leisure?
In the audiovisual sector, the European directive was adapted a couple of years ago, with limited results. We believe that it could have been more ambitious with the large platforms. But it must be recognized that the Government has had initiatives that are bearing fruit. It's not about Catalan now, but, although we started from very low, we have increased considerably. There is more and more audiovisual material available in Catalan and now it is necessary to make it known, because sometimes it is hidden.
You always have to take three steps to reach Catalan.
We have to get closer to being normal. And the same for video games and other extracurricular activities, working with whoever corresponds. We have to focus especially on neighborhoods where if you walk down the street you hardly hear Catalan.
What are those neighborhoods like?
They tend to be the most socially disadvantaged. By giving them the opportunity to make Catalan their language, we are increasing their opportunities in life.
What opportunities?
A 2018 survey shows that between people who speak Catalan regularly and those who do not, there is a significant difference regarding unemployment: 10%. And discrimination is not based on origin, but rather on ability, because the former include both those who have Catalan as their first language and those who do not.
How is health?
We are not as bad as in justice, but we do have to influence. A month ago, the Consell de Col·legis de Metges presented a study that said that 13% of doctors working in Catalonia do not understand Catalan.
How come they have a place?
We don't know if they own a place, but that has consequences. On the one hand, it is clear that, if they do not understand you, it will have some repercussions against the user who wants to speak in Catalan. And on the other hand, there is a health danger. This doctor must interact with other doctors who may have made a report or request in Catalan. What you cannot ask is for everyone else to stop using Catalan because there is someone who does not understand it.
Therefore, the law is broken.
It has been non-compliant for more than 20 years. The only ones who are required to have C1 are administrative employees. In the infirmary, if they don't have it, they do some, let's say, reduced tests. And to the doctors, some tests of laughing, or crying, depending on how you look at it. In other words, a self-trap of the system.
Are there a lack of professionals?
Yes, throughout Western Europe. But in all countries it is required that when they start working they master the language of the place.
Today the political situation in the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands and Aragon is not favorable to Catalan.
That a society has governments that are clearly hostile and contrary to its own language is very serious. The summary is that, in these cases, citizens have to be more aware and empowered.
Given that Catalan is spoken in four communities, shouldn't the State be the one to guarantee unity and regulations?
It would be nice if the Spanish State, which is where more than 90% of Catalan speakers live, but also French and Italian speakers, treated us as first-class citizens. It is said that the language should not be imposed and we forget that Spanish is hyperimposed. We are often told that Catalan is hyper-protected and hyper-subsidized. That's a hyperlie. If the State was really concerned about the situation of Catalan, it would not only put pressure on the EU, but it would do everything it can do directly, as in justice.
Is a lot demanded of the speakers?
Yes, as Joel Joan said the other day, being Catalan is very tiring. The thing is that we don't have a normal country. In Denmark, a citizen does not wake up saying: “Today I have to speak Danish.” I would like to remind everyone who reads this interview: Let's always use Catalan, because it is not rude to speak the language of a territory throughout the territory. The fact of changing languages because someone appears to us that they are not from here or that they do not understand us is simply racism. Not changing the language is the way of telling the interlocutor that Catalan is useful and that we want them to join the Catalan-speaking community.
Catalan version, here
