The Ramon Llull Election

There is some dispute, but 29 June is the date usually given for the death of one of Mallorca's very few famous historical figures, Ramon Llull. The year of his death is generally accepted to have been 1315, even if the exact day is open to question. Despite the uncertainty, you can be sure that in three years time Mallorca will be gearing itself up for some serious Llull-ing; a Llull-tide festival, one would imagine.

29 June, 2015, 700 years after Llull's death (possibly) will also be a week or so after the next president of the Balearics is sworn in, assuming the election and its interminable post-election process follow the same pattern as last year. The anniversary of his death would be symbolic regardless of any political dimension, but it will be even more so given the current politics of Mallorca's languages.

Catalan is the language of Llull (well one of them as he could also speak and write Latin and Arabic), so the coincidence of the anniversary of his death so soon after the culmination of the next electoral process will make that anniversary a major factor in the next election.

The Partido Popular government of José Ramón Bauzá finds its language policy undermined, especially as far as education is concerned. As Llull, a scholar himself, is so closely associated with modern-day education, the policy towards education is particularly apposite.

A key aspect of this policy has been the intention to introduce free selection of teaching language (Castellano or Catalan). This is a subject I have dealt with previously, as recently as 11 May ("Why Is My Friend Different, Mummy?"). I come back to it because, as that previous article suggested, there isn't a groundswell of support among Mallorca's parents for their children to be taught in Castellano. There isn't anything like it, and now we know how little support there is: 10%. Support for Catalan, on the other hand, is 62% (the remaining amount being explained by the fact that parents would go along with whichever language were to be the main teaching language in a particular school).

As education minister Rafael Bosch has implied that there won't be a doubling-up of lessons conducted in the two languages unless there is a critical mass of pupils whose parents want Castellano, where does this leave the government's policy on education language? Indeed, other than the government's perseverance with its downgrading of Catalan as a pre-requisite for public-sector employment, where does it leave its entire language policy? Another aspect, that of changing place names to their Castellano version, is one on which the government has backtracked significantly, to the point where it is likely to be quietly forgotten.

The government has maintained that it had a mandate to go ahead with introducing free selection. Which is true, but only partially. That free selection may have been part of its manifesto doesn't, however, mean that it was something that those who voted for the PP agreed with. The PP were elected last year for two reasons: they weren't PSOE and it was hoped they might do something about the economy, however forlorn a hope that was ever going to be.

Whatever now happens to the free-selection policy, this is a government that will, right up to the next election, be associated with the politics of language that are increasingly looking like a failure as well as a totally unnecessary diversion from far more pressing matters. How is the PP going to react, though? Llull's anniversary is going to play a part in the next election and all political parties will doubtless seek to claim Llull as their own, including the PP. But how will it be able to when it will be remembered as the party that sought to reduce the influence of Llull's language?

The PP might hope that three years will be long enough for it to do something positive about the economy and for everyone to forget about its language policy. It won't be. And opposition parties will use Llull's anniversary as the hook on which to try and hang the PP and its attack on the island's Catalan culture and heritage. This might all seem rather silly to the neutral, foreign observer, but it quite obviously isn't silly for the majority of Mallorca's parents.

If the PP had any sense, it would already be paying serious attention as to how it can handle the inevitable Llull question in three years time. But whatever it might come up with as spin is going to lack credibility, so long as the current leadership remains in place. The way things are going, it will lose the Ramon Llull election.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.