Galicians, that is to say, Spaniards: a manifesto for July 25, the day of the patron saint of Spain

@ElentirENG ESGL 7·25·2022 · 7:01 0

Today we Galicians have two reasons to celebrate, because July 25th is the day of Galicia and the day of the patron saint of Spain, Saint James.

This is how Saint James the Greater, the 'Son of Thunder', became the patron saint of Spain
The Miracle of Empel: this is how the Immaculate Conception came to become the patroness of Spain

For this reason, and given the drift that a large part of the political class, the media and the academic environment in Galicia have been taking for years, Counting Stars launches this manifesto on July 25:

1. Galicia is Hispanicity. Galicia has its origin in the province of Gallaecia, a part of the ancient Roman of Hispania. Galicia is today the oldest of the Spanish regions. Therefore, Galicia has been historically linked to Hispanic heritage since its origins and is inseparable from it.

2. We Galicians have had two languages for hundreds of years. Like the Galician language, Castilian or Spanish has been spoken in Galicia since the Middle Ages. Its presence in this land is embodied in numerous documents and also in its own toponymy. Excluding, erasing and discriminating against this part of our cultural heritage is an attack against Galicia, whose life and history has been reflected in both languages. Galician speakers are just as Galician as Spanish speakers, and both are equally as Spanish.

3. We have the right to use our two languages freely wherever they are official. This includes the right of Galician families to free choice of language, that is, to send their children to school in the language of their choice, without excluding learning the other language through the corresponding subject, and the duty of public administrations not to exclude Spanish, as many do today for the sake of so-called "linguistic normalization".

4. Spanish is our common language with the other peoples of Spain and also with the peoples of Hispanic America. Its exclusion and marginalization by public administrations is not only an attack against the individual rights of Spanish-speaking Galicians, but also an attempt to break our cultural ties with the rest of Spain, an attempt that we must denounce, especially when it is carried out within the framework of authentic social engineering projects.

5. Separatism is not defending Galicia, but betraying it, because it aims to break our historical ties with the peoples of the rest of Spain, pitting Spaniards against each other and, particularly, also pitting Galicians against each other, just as it has done separatism in Catalonia. Separatism is a totalitarian ideology that seeks to erode our freedoms and destroy our coexistence, so that the separatist elite can exercise absolute power in Galicia on the basis of a liberticidal and excluding nationalism.

6. Separatism is a harmful ideology, and underhanded nationalism is too. In fact, both feed each other. Separatism is the political movement that openly asks to break the unity of Spain. Underhanded nationalism is what is promoted by those parties that say they are not separatist but assume various aspects of the thesis of excluding nationalism, such as the marginalization and discrimination of Spanish, the eradication of Spanish place names from Galicia and also the extolling historical figures of separatism as if they were the genuine representatives of the soul of Galicia.

7. We must vindicate and promote those Galician historical figures who are a true source of pride for Galicia and for the rest of Spain, but who have been marginalized for not conforming to the dogmas of separatism and underhanded nationalism. This especially includes those Galician writers who have been marginalized for writing in Spanish. Their work is also a very important part of the cultural heritage of Galicia, in which names such as Emilia Pardo Bazán, Camilo José Cela, Wenceslao Fernández Flórez, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester must figure prominently, among other illustrious Galicians.

In conclusion: we are Galician, that is to say, Spaniards. Both conditions are intertwined with each other, as are our two languages, our estuaries and our coasts, our valleys and our rivers, our emigrants and those who reside in Galicia, and also the Galicians of today and the legacy of our ancestors. As intertwined as the Flag of Spain and the Flag of Galicia are in our hearts.

Long live Spain and long live Galicia!