Homilies d’Organyà promoted, in reaction to attacks to Catalan language, RCAT
Political motions will be introduced in all town and city councils.
A Catalan Language Tour (Ruta de la Llengua), with seven monoliths to be erected all across the country.
Barcelona, 6th May 2012
As a global response to the unceasing attacks against Catalan language, RCat’s president Dr. Joan Carretero, presented today in Barcelona an action plan to all his country fellows. RCat asks for a national commitment to all Catalan citizens, political parties, civic and cultural associations to stand united and defend their National Language. As a symbol and to set an exemple of this claim, RCat has taken a commitment on promoting the Homilies d’Organyà (Sermons of Organyà), the first document written in Catalan prose ever found.
Maria-Teresa Casals and Ramon Payàs, both RCat national executive members, joined today Dr. Carretero during the presentation and explained in more detail the campaign that is now about to start.
Actions to be developed
• Sending political motions to all municipalities asking them to give the name of “Homilies d’Organyà” to any specific place in all towns. Tomorrow and on following days the political motions will be sent and registered to all Catalan town and city councils to ask them giving the name of ‘Homilies d’Organyà ‘ to any local street, square, library, school or equivalent place. That will be a good chance for local citizens to become more conscious of the vital importance of using Catalan language always and everywhere as a fine means to project themselves into the future.
• Giving support and organizing lectures, public debates and presentations aimed to the divulgation of the “Homilies” and its historical and social contexts. RCat is launching this initiative but does not want to keep it for themselves since any language is a social inheritance. So they will support and celebrate any other initiatives coming from civil society (groups, associations, universities, etc) wanting to give also their help to this aim of divulgating the “Homilies” and its medieval context.
Catalan Language Tour (Ruta de la Llengua)
This tour is being promoted by the association “Amics de les Homilies d’Organyà” to which RCat are giving their support. The aim is to express and reinforce people’s commitment to their language and to set up and strengthen bonds between all Catalan speaking territories.
The following places have been included in this Tour because of their symbolic value:
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Organyà. The « Homilies » site (1204?). Its origins.
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Mallorca (Majorca). Ramon Llull (Palma, 1232-1315). The linguistic consciousness.
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L’Alguer (ocupació de L’Alguer, 1354). The language expansion.
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Beniarjó/Gandia. Ausiàs March (1397-1459) and Joanot Martorell (1413-?). The golden period.
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Folgueroles. Mn. Jacint Verdaguer (1845-1902). Renaixença, the language’s rebirth.
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Prada de Conflent. Pompeu Fabra (1868-1948). The master of language standardization: modern Catalan is again a language of culture.
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Montserrat. The endurance against dictatorship.
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Andorra. Catalan’s fully recognition as a national and official language.
Several actions will take place on each location and the final one will be the erection of a reminding monolith.
The Tour is a project to be still completed and defined by RCat together with some cultural and political representatives from different parts of the Catalan territories. They will provide soon further information.
(Translation: JJNT)