Cultural independence and the EU
I’ve been traveling over the holidays, first to Brittany and now to Catalonia. It strikes me that despite the many differences- in language and cuisine and temperament- between them, the two regions have something in common.
Both are jealously guarding their cultural and linguistic heritage, and attempting to regain a sense of cultural independence from their nation.
Brittany has celtic roots, including a celtic language Breton, which have persisted despite Gallic dominion for centuries. They maintained this independence mostly intact (it seems like every Breton village has a pub named Duchess Anne) until the French revolution centralized power and crushed the last vestiges of independence. In recent decades there’s been a resurgence of interest in Breton culture, with signs everywhere listing place names in Breton, although it’s still rare to hear somebody actually speaking Breton. In one store I even saw a T-shirt that redrew the iconic photo of Che Guevara to make him look like a Breton farmer. This was at least more politically accurate than the last French reinterpretation of Che Guevara I saw, a diamond-encrusted sweater for sale on the rue St.-Germain.
Catalonia has followed much the same trajectory. A great deal of cultural independence, the last traces of which were crushed by Franco, followed in recent decade by a resurgence of regional pride. Catalan is commonly spoken, giving it a life Breton lacks.
There’s something paradoxical about this regional resurgence of cultural independence at a time when the EU is attempting greater integration. Perhaps it’s because the EU reforms are at an economic and political level, whereas the “cultural independence” of Brittany (at least) is at a more symbolic level. When nation-states felt weak they wanted to erase regional differences, whereas now in the EU regional differences become a valuable tourist and marketing attraction.
