Spanish Town’s Right-Wing Council Cancels Catalan Magazine Subscriptions

BORRIANA, Spain — Like many municipalities throughout the Spanish state, the local council in the town of Borriana, in the Valencian province of Castellò, swung to the right in the mayoral elections of April 28th. And one of the first actions of the new municipal leadership, formed by the right-wing People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox, has been to cancel the municipal library’s subscription to five Catalan-language magazines. 

Since the municipal decision became known on Wednesday, it has raised controversy due to its “catalanphobic.”. “Alberto Núñez Feijóo must “disavow the madman” who vetoed these publications,” said Salvador Illa the leader of the Catalan Socialists.

The reason given for canceling the subscriptions was not to continue “promoting Catalan separatism with the money of the people of Borriana“, as explained by the new council’s cultural head, the Vox councilor Jesús Albiol. “The Valencian Country has, as its co-official language, Catalan – which is called Valencian in Valencia, but is the same language,” Said El Nacional En.

In fact, most of the publications that Borriana is rejecting are published in the Valencia Country itself. The five magazines are Camacuc, Cavall Fort, El Temps, Enderrock, and Llengua Nacional.

‘Camacuc’
The magazine Camacuc is one of those that have suffered the consequences of the PP and Vox government in Borriana. It is a comic in Valencian aimed at children, which began publication in 1984. The aim of the magazine is to spread and normalize the use of the Valencian language, with entertaining readings in comic format, all created by Valencian authors.

‘Cavall Fort’
The classic Cavall Fort – literal translation “Strong Horse” – also has a young audience. It’s a Catalonia publication aimed at boys and girls aged 9 and over, with varied content to entertain children and young people and generate interest in reading. It has been published since 1961, appearing every fortnight, and contains reports, comics, games, workshops, interviews, and contests, among other fun and interesting material.

‘El Temps’
Borriana council has also decided that its library will no longer receive the political and cultural weekly El Temps (“The Times”), published in Valencia by Edicions del País Valencià. This weekly news magazine was founded in 1984, promoted by Eliseu Climent, and has been a significant journal for coverage of political and social issues – in Catalan, and with a Valencian angle –  for almost 40 years. One of its aims is to promote communication throughout the Catalan-speaking lands.

‘Enderrock’
The music magazine Enderrock has also been vetoed by the PP and Vox in Borriana. It is a monthly publication that began in 1993 and is one of the bibles of Catalan popular music – specializing in pop-rock performed in the Catalan language throughout the Catalan countries. The magazine is edited by Grup Enderrock, a company run by the journalist Lluís Gendrau, and in 2004 it was recognized with the National Award for the Social Projection of the Catalan Language, granted by the Generalitat of Catalonia.

‘Llengua Nacional’
The magazine Llengua Nacional (“National Language”) is a quarterly publication of the National Language Association, an organization that emerged in 1991 as an instrument to defend the Catalan language, promoting the normalization of the language and linguistic unity.

Produced in association with El Nacional En

Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager