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The Battle of Valencia was an identity conflict held in the Valencian society during the Spanish transition to democracy. It involved the progressive valencianism known as Fusterianism (named that way after intellectual Joan Fuster i Ortells) and the conservative anticatalanist regionalism known as blaverism .
The positions associated with Valencianism have varied somewhat since the return to democracy, depending on the direction of the supposed "threat". Some Valencianists positions have become mainstream (e.g., the flag), some have lost their association with Valencianism (e.g., role of the autonomous institutions) while some have become more associated with valencianism, and more hotly debated (e.g., the Valencian language).
The question of which flag should be used to represent the Valencian Community is at the origin of the name "Valencianism", which is derived from the Valencian "blava", meaning "blue". The origin of the dispute can be traced to Fuster's "Nosaltres els valencians", where he claims that Valencians and Catalans have always shared the same flag (the Senyera ) and that Valencian groups who had used different flags in the years before Franco "knew not what they did" (no sabien el que es feien, p. 26). The Senyera in its simplest form—sometimes referred to as the quatribarrada—gained a certain (but not overwhelming) support in Valencianist circles, and was on view at the march in favour of autonomy of 9 October 1977.
The Statute of Morella proposed that the flag of the autonomous community be the Senyera with the royal coat of arms at the centre (those of Peter III of Aragon (1336–87), who did much to formalize the autonomy of the Kingdom of Valencia within the Crown of Aragon). This was adopted as the flag of the Consell del País Valencià on 24 April 1979: however the decision was seen as a provocation by the UCD, [1] coming as it did after elections which would have given the centre-right a majority on the Consell but before the new Consell could be constituted.
The more Valencianist groups seized the opportunity provided by the tense political climate: the flags of the Valencia Town Hall were burnt by demonstrators on 9 October 1979, [2] far from the only act of political violence that year.
The socialist representative left the Consell on 22 December 1979 and the choice of flag was reversed on 14 January 1980. The Valencianists continued to insist that the flag of the new autonomous community be recognisably different from that of any other, and particularly that of Catalonia (the Senyera in its simplest form). The Statute of Benicàssim proposed a new design, but the UCD representative on the Constitutional Committee of the Congress of Deputies managed to impose an amendment making the flag of the autonomous community the same as that of the city of Valencia (for, 17; against, 16; abstention, 1) which includes the blue fringe (the Senyera Coronada).
Since the adoption of the first Statute of Autonomy, the issue has lost much of its controversy. The use of the Senyera coronada has a wide acceptance within the Valencian Community, although some small groups on the left of the political spectrum (e.g. Els Verds, ERPV) continue to refer to it as the "blavera" and the Senyera quatribarrada can be seen from time to time, particularly in the districts furthest from the capital.
The question of the name of the autonomous community was initially seen as fairly minor compared to the debates over the flag and the powers which would be granted to the Generalitat Valenciana. However it became the issue which almost caused the rejection of the Statute of Autonomy by the Congress of Deputies in 1982.
At the start of the democratic transition Valencian: País Valencià, Spanish : Pais Valenciano (roughly translated as "Valencian Country") seemed to enjoy a wide consensus. It was under this name that the Consell del País Valencià was established, and it was this name which was used in the Call for Autonomy of 8 October 1978, signed by both the UCD and by the postfranquists of the Alianza Popular.
The blaverist view, minority even on the right at first, was that the term País Valencià implied an identification with the Països Catalans , an anathema to the valencianists. In the context of the political tensions of 1979–80, they called ever more loudly for the alternative name Regne de València ("Kingdom of Valencia").
Generalitat is the name of medieval courts of the ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia as well as, today, the systems of government of the Catalonia and the Valencian Spanish autonomous communities. The term is also used for the government of the semi-autonomous comarca of Val d'Aran, the Generalitat a l'Aran.
Valencian or Valencian language is the historical, traditional and official name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and extra-officially in the El Carche comarca in Murcia (Spain), for referring to the Romance language also known as Catalan. The Valencian Community's 1982 Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution officially recognize Valencian as the regional language.
Nosaltres, els valencians, is a historical and political essay by the Valencian (Spain) author Joan Fuster, first published in 1962.
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized.
Republican Left of the Valencian Country is a Valencian left nationalist and republican party.
The names of the Valencian Community are diverse, even though Comunitat Valenciana is the only denomination with official status in its Statute of Autonomy. Nonetheless, this legal document includes in its Preamble other legal denominations that portray the history and nature of the territory: Regne de València and País Valencià.
Blaverism is an anticatalanist ideology in the Valencian Community, Spain that emerged with the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of Francisco Franco, and characterised by its opposition to Joan Fuster's book Nosaltres, els valencians (1962), which revived the concept of the Catalan Countries which includes Valencia. They consider Fuster's ideas as an imperialist Catalan nationalist movement that tries to impose Catalan domination upon Valencia.
The flag of the Valencian Community and of the city of Valencia, known as Reial Senyera, is the traditional Senyera, composed of four red bars on a yellow background, crowned with a blue strip party per pale next to the spear with 1/4 of the total length. It was adopted on July 1, 1982.
The coat of arms of the Valencian Community is the official emblem of the self-government institutions of the Valencian Community. It is based on the armorial achievement used from the reign of King Peter IV to John II, called the Great. In 1978 the former Council of the Valencian Country approved it “...for being the oldest known representative emblem of the former Kingdom of Valencia, that had located on the Xerea Gate of the city of Valencia”.
Valencian Left was a nationalist Valencian leftist political party founded in July 1934, that advocated self-determination of the Valencian Community. The party was suppressed in Francoist Spain and was not revived when democracy returned to Spain in the late 1970s.
Valencian nationalism or Valencianism is a political movement in the Land of Valencia, Spain.
The Himne de l'Exposició or Himne de València is the official anthem of the Valencian Community, Spain. The song was composed by José Serrano Simeón with lyrics written by Maximiliano Thous Orts for the 1909 Valencian Regional Exhibition. The music is based on a 16th-century anthem dedicated to Saint George, who was the patron saint of the Kingdom of Valencia. It was approved by the mayors of Alicante, Castellón and Valencia in May 1925, and it was declared as the official anthem of the Valencian Community in 1981, with the approval of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy.
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and Madrid with more than 4.9 million inhabitants. Its homonymous capital Valencia is the third largest city and metropolitan area in Spain. It is located along the Mediterranean coast on the east side of the Iberian peninsula. It borders with Catalonia to the north, Aragon and Castilla–La Mancha to the west, and Murcia to the south. The Valencian Community consists of three provinces which are Castellón, Valencia and Alicante.
Emilio Attard Alonso was a Spanish politician.
Enric Monsonís Domingo was a Spanish liberal politician. Monsonís served as the head of the pre-autonomous government of the Consell Pre-autonòmic del País Valencià from 1979 to 1982. He left office in 1982 when Valencia became an autonomous community of Spain, known as the Valencian Community, and elected its first democratically chosen President of the Valencian Government, Joan Lerma as part of the country's transition to democracy.
The Plenary of members of Parliament of the Valencian Country was the body formed and made up of the 41 Deputies to Congress and Senators elected in the first elections held in 1977 after the Francoist dictatorship in the provinces of Alicante, Castéllon and Valencia to give political autonomy to the Valencian Community.
Valencian regionalism is a cultural and political movement that advocates the revival of the identity of the region now within the Valencian Community in eastern Spain. Politically, the regionalists support the administrative decentralisation of the Spanish state and, for some, the recognition of Valencian foral law and increased autonomy for the Valencian Community. The movement emerged during the early years of the Bourbon restoration in the last third of the 19th century. It took political shape during the early 20th century, and persisted in a controlled and attenuated form through the Francoist State. After the restoration of democracy, the regionalist tendency was challenged by a Valencian nationalism with some left-wing and pan-Catalanist associations. Regionalism took on a right-wing and anti-Catalanist outlook which became known as Blaverism, and was represented politically by the Valencian Union until the absorption of that party into the People's Party in 2011.
The Nationalist Valencian Party was a political party created in 1990 as an offshoot of the Valencian People's Union.
Democratic Union of the Valencian Country was a political party in the Valencian Country, Spain. It was founded clandestinely in the University of Valencia in 1962. The party was illegal until 1977.
Valencian Regional Union was a valencianist and anticatalanist political party founded in the Valencian Community in 1977.