Catalan News Roundup 10 Oct 2012

Updated 4:41pm ET, Oct 10.

Financial Times: Madrid sparks Catalan language debate, by Miles Johnson and Sophie Cohen in Madrid [free registration required]
“Our interest is to Hispanicise Catalan students, so they feel as proud to be Spanish as they do to be Catalan,” Mr Wert said in response to a question in Spain’s parliament on Wednesday."

Reuters: Spain cuts short Catalonia's hopes for independence referendum
[I hate the headline, but love all the italics and scare quotes. There is a perceptive understanding of what I think will be an important difference between "consultations" and "referendums".]
"The Catalan vote was instantly slammed by the central government, which pledged to halt any “illegal” referendums.

But Catalan leaders said they would go on preparing for their “consultations” regardless of Madrid’s position. The referendum is likely to follow snap regional parliamentary elections set for November 25, which are coming two years ahead of schedule."

Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió: General Policy Debate Poll 2012
"74.1% would be in favor of calling a referendum so that the people of Catalonia can decide whether or not they want Catalonia to become a new state in Europe (19.9% against)."

Vilaweb [translated here at News Catalonia]: Letter from MEP Ramon Tremosa to European Parliament Members
"Something curious happened yesterday afternoon. While the Spanish Parliament vetoed a possible referendum in Catalonia, in London, the British government agreed on the conditions for the referendum in Scotland on 2014. In my view; the right to self-determination is more important than independence, and above all, it should be respected."

Vilaweb [translated here on NewsCatalonia]: Spanish Minister of Education, Wert, wants to "Spanish-ize" Catalan school children
"Spain's Minister of Education, José Ignacio Wert, said today that the priority of the Spanish executive is to "Spanish-ize Catalan students so that they are as proud to be Catalan as they are to be Spanish, so that they can have a balanced lifestyle with both identities, since both are enriching and strengthening"."

Vilaweb [translated here on NewsCatalonia]: Co-official status for Spanish puts Catalan in danger
"Sociolinguistics warns that when two languages coexist in the same territory, one always ends up eliminating the other"

Opinion. Vilaweb [translated here on NewsCatalonia]: Danger: A Ukrainian Catalonia , by Vicent Partal
"...language is one of the red lines that definitively separates the better country that I have always wanted to construct from the hypothesis of a Ukranian Catalonia."