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adhesion of Catalan identity exists without any official equivalent
and is an identity without papers: devoid of legal existence,
‘Catalanity’ in France is an abstract value that corresponds
regardless of the social reality. The Catalan and the Catalan
language themselves manifest the desire and the effort for an
adhesion of the heart and of Catalan collectivity in a rhythm
that suits them. This voluntary spirit recalls the model South
Catalan, exemplary in Europe, where the individual Catalan in
acquell qui ho vol ser (he who wishes to be. ‘Catalanity’ is
not confined to North Catalonia but it does play an advantageous
role in the integration process.
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Some
archaic tendencies sometimes invite the idea that Catalans are
only individuals who come from Catalan stock and define their
identity by the dangerous guidelines of ethnicity or linguistics.
This point of view is in direct opposition to the Catalan dynamic
of rights to the land and of the desire to exist, and is dedicated
to an accelerated disappearance of Catalanity. However, the
slogan ‘nouveaux Catalans’ spread by the Conseil Général
of the Pyrénées-Orientales permits the opening
of the door of integration to all who value Catalan identity.
This integration takes place within the limits offered by law:
the absence of an official character and of the protection and
public promotion of Catalanity in France impedes its development
and tends to make the social equilibrium of the region more
fragile. The sharing of a culture deprived of legal worth raises
a number of difficulties. The North Catalan paradox is remarkable
in Europe; the North Catalans, French citizens, do not exist
legally in their territory but enjoy recognition some kilometers
away where the Spanish constitution recognises the national
plurality in Spain. To momentarily recover their personality,
some increase their stays in South Catalonia in a movement strengthened
by the erasing of the frontiers.
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