I never said they did!State and nation do not mean the same.
I see you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. You should have been raised in Catalunya, País Valencià or Illes Balears to understand what we mean.
Nonsense. That's a victimist discourse similar to the one used by the Islamic fundamentalists (saying that "we" don't understand Islam). Besides, I know many people who were raised in those parts of Spain you mentioned and they would disagree with you. It's your own personal view or feelings. I am not arguing with your feelings (you can't do that)but trying to keep facts and feelings apart.
Finally, I did not deny that at other times in history Catalan was persecuted just as now Spansih is being marginalized. But even during the Franco era books in Catalan were published and important literary figures were active. But apart from episodic persecutions, Catalans on the whole adopted the Spanish language out of practical convenience. Spanish is the language which unites us all (as well as hundreds of millions of Latin Americans). Spanish and Portuguese are the only international languages in the Iberian Peninsula and Spain and Portugal the only canonical nations. Imagine if people in Miranda do Douro in Portugal wanted to be regarded as a nation and have their own national football team. What would Rui say? Imagine if Lousiana wanted to have a national football team because Cajun culture exists? What would danyet think? Better still, how would you feel, Dixie, if the people in the Aran Valley, a part of Catalonia with its own separate language, wanted to have a national team like the one you claim for Catalonia? Where does separatism stop?
:D
