February 15 candidacy Princess of Asturias Award for Concord for Assembly of the bilingual school in Catalonia (AEB). His promoters, Deputy PP from Barcelona Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo and the person in charge of programming CLAC (Free Art and Culture Center) Paula Agno Santiagoenjoyed the support and approval of well-known figures in the Spanish cultural and political sphere, including Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, former vice-president of the government Alfonso Guerra, president of the Community of Madrid Isabel Diaz Ayuso, or writers Andres Trapiello, Felix de Azua, Fernando Savater and Felix Ovejero .
AEB was established in 2013. Ana Losada as well as Joseph Sunday calling on the institutions to guarantee the ideological neutrality of educational centers in Catalonia and, in particular, the right of students to receive education in the two official languages: Catalan and Spanish.
Thanks in large part to the work of the AEB – its generous support for affected families, its strenuous efforts to raise public awareness and its strong action before the courts – the Supreme Court decided (in November 2021) not to allow processing of the appeal filed by the Generalitat against the decision of the Supreme Court of Catalonia, which in 2020 forced him to propose at least 25% of classes in Spanish. The decision of the Supreme Court put an end to decades of imposition of the Catalan language and guarantees teaching in Spanish in all educational centers in Catalonia without exception. This is the victory of harmony over sectarianism, impunity and alienation.
The work of the AEB goes beyond the protection of language rights. It was a patient, persistent, peaceful and heroic battle, in the deepest and most common sense of the word, in the name of harmony. There can be no agreement when the existence of different is scorned. There can be no harmony when the civil rights of a part – in this case more than half – of the population are violated. There can be no consent when the law is violated systematically and with impunity, least of all for reasons of identity. And, of course, there can be no harmony when part of society lives in silence for fear of being singled out.
The energetic and defiant stance of the AEB – the rejection of any submissiveness, even the simple concept of resistance – is the hope for thousands of parents, an example for millions of citizens throughout Spain as well as the opportunity to restore the principle of reality in Catalonia.
By declaring bilingualism in schools, the AEB has shattered one of the most perverted fictions that hid the social reality of Catalonia. Neither homogeneous in identity nor ideologically monolithic: Catalonia is as diverse as all of Spain.. And their diversity deserves exactly the same respect and recognition. In times marked by cynicism or resistance, the AEB is also an example of courage and mobilization.
His defense of linguistic harmony reached the highest European institutionswhere their cause deserves attention and follow-up. In Spain his courage also had the double power of lesson and place. For too long, associations like the AEB have had to defend the democratic rights of citizens without any material or moral support. Neither the state, nor the public authorities, nor the political parties, nor the Spanish economic and social elites gave the cause of freedom in Catalonia the support it deserved.
The AEB had to deal almost alone with nationalist persecution. He defended civil rights and the observance of the Law, using only the convictions and courage of his founders and families who one day decided to break their silence. The AEB is a triumph of reason and an example of a better civil society. It is the voice of those who have not come to terms with the fact that democratic rights and the rule of law are ignored, and the moral conscience of a society that often suffers from apathy and subordination. First of all, this the hope of Catalonia reconciled with harmony and Spain without democratic gaps.
The list of guarantees and support that the candidacy enjoys is as follows:
Albert Budella
Alberto Gonzalez Troyan
Alfonso war
Andres Trapiello
Andreu James
Cesar Antonio Molina
Dolors Kaminal
Felix Azua
Felix Sheepdog
Fernando Saveter
Fernando Mujica Eras
Ines Arrimadas
Isabelle Diaz Ayuso
John Juaristi
Jose Luis Pardo
Maite Pagazaurtundua
Mario Vargas Llosa
Miriam Moreno
Pablo de Laura
Ramon Tamames
Tony Sang
Xavier Pericay