14 nov

I never realised what a large part of Catalunya is in France! They do not want you to forget here though. At the end of the day we arrived in Perpignan were the Catalunyan flag is hanging high up the castle that dominates the city. You also see Catalunyan flags on license plates of cars, just like you can see that in England, where there is a choice, it seems between the UK-flag, the English, the EU, and nothing. I remember the days when bumper stickers were popular in the US, mainly to express an opinion about the delicate issue of abortion, and remember hating to be confronted all the time by someones opinion about whatever. I think the same when I see that Catalunyan Flag now.
In Spanish Catalunya people hang the Catalunyan flag out of their windows to express an opinion about possible independence of the province. With a star is pro-independence Claire explained. We’ve seen hundreds, possibly thousands of flags. There was one without a star!
Catalunya voted last year, as far as I know, against independence, but the issue has not disappeared. Nobody seems to be reconsidering a reunion of the Spanish and French parts, though. Although I think the creation of the EU makes those kind of historical alliances possible. The emphasis needs to be on smaller, culturally similar entities, with a maximum of, let’s say 5 mln people, that become self governing within a framework that is provided by the EU.
I keep hoping for a reunion of the southern provinces of the Netherlands (Brabant, Limburg and Zeeuws Vlaanderen) with the Dutch Belgian provinces. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t mind having a license plate with the lovely white red checkered flag of Brabant to express my interest in this independence issue. But only while living in England, though, otherwise it would be too much of a statement.
I came to these thoughts while visiting The cathedral of Elne, or Elna as it is called in catalan. Elne was an important town in the periods when the Romans and Catalans ruled. There was a large map in a sideroom of the cloisters, so not in the cathedral itself – that would not have been dignified – that showed the insignificance of the current ruling of the town by the French. It went back to nine centuries before Christ, when Elne was part of the Iberian empire or kingdom. After that the Romans came, the Visigoths, some Islamitic rulers for about fifty years, a tiny period with French rulers, then the highpoint with the Catalans and then the sad last part under France. The last significant event in the history of Elne was the year 1680 in which year King Louis XIV ordered the defending walls of the town to be torn down.
I love these kinds of insights. And there is a market for them too. That is proven by the fact that the last Asterix & Obelix album, with the independence of Scotland as a very current theme, was printed for the first time also in catalan and was immediately sold out. But then, that was also true for the french and dutch versions. In this sense the popularity of Asterix & Obelix, which little area in France always stayed independent from the Roman Empire, might indicate the protest movement against the supposedly dominating presence of the EU in everybody’s lives these days. But probably it is aresult of the fact that the Asterix & Obelix albums, which for years have been terrible after the death of Rene Goscinny in 1977, when the original creator of the drawings Alberto Uderzo thought he could also write the texts. He couldn’t. Now he luckily luckily is too old and realized it is time to quit and the ‘brand’ is taken over by a new team of talented text writers and drawers. Can’t wait to read the new book!