Territory that crosses from Euskal Herria to move to Catalonia and from Catalonia to the Basque Country. This definition would be what Aragon would take in its personal dictionary. The area of Gallur, which begins or ends and ends near Fraga, or begins, that the pan-Catalanists forgive me by the way. However, a practical tip: the journey through Huesca is much more effective and economical. In fact, the Aragonese writer Ánchel Conte has been located, not in vain, in Barcelona, the destination of this transfer, and with its travels to her country of origin, where she resides in recent years.

The Board does not need great excuses, but we have a good one, in this case: to translate to Basque a collection of poems, Time and days, the second of Conte, in 1996. “The first book that has returned from the Aragonese”, according to the translator Joxemari Sestorain, who participated in the meeting. That is the hallmark of Conte, who writes in Aragonese. Born in Alcolea de Cinca in 1942, vestiges of the Aragonese could be found in the Spanish lexicon, in the syntactic forms, in the conjugation of the verbs. The grandfather, founded around 1880, as he grew older, lost his head, recovered the Aragonese: he only spoke. But Conte took the knowledge when he was a teacher to Ainsara: the students from the surrounding villages did not speak in Spanish, “they taught me the Aragonese”.

Since then he hasn’t left, but “I wouldn’t fight just for saving a language. I care about people. In the case of people who speak Aragonese, we must save those people with that language.” He knew the destruction of the territory during the years of Ainsa, scheduled. Forty schools closed in three years. Families sold their cows, left their homes and retired to Barbastro. The reservoirs were not only fungible, the energy was then transferred to the Basque Country and to Catalonia. The sketch ended the transhumance. A Civil Governor defined him the province of Huesca, with no objection whatsoever: to the north, white, ski resorts; to the center, blue, reservoirs; and to the south, yellow, wheat fields. “If the exiled wars were few, almost half of the population, Franco’s destruction was terrible, the territory was deformed, almost evacuated. And there came my awareness of the territory.” Language, therefore, but also culture, the economy and the defence of fundamental rights.

Today the Aragonese has a black panorama, “it may be in the last”. In total, 25,000 people will speak throughout the day. “It is true that linguistic awareness has increased in cities. People speak less than forty years ago. In addition, the new speakers have no credibility in the face of the patrimonial.” Then there is a wide variety of dialects, “some philologists argue that Aragonese does not exist. Only an academy can fix it. Creating two standards, East and West, with the aim of forming a unique standard over time. Something similar to what they have done with occitan.” But among the institutions that defend language, war is total. “For example, on the subject of spelling, the proposals are radically different.” A conflict, therefore, between speakers, between institutions. And also among politicians.

For Conte, on the other hand, the solution will come from the government: “Cooficiality is essential in the places where Aragonese is spoken and compulsory learning, if desired, progressively”. The parties now want to seek consensus, for everyone to give up something: “But nothing or little, choosing between them makes no sense; in this case, few do not serve at all.” He will add that language cannot be patrimonial, it belongs not to anyone, but to the one who speaks. “Language and nation cannot be considered equal, taking language as a sign of identity, almost ethnicist. Aragonese is not only the Aragonese speaking. Aragonese nationalism has contributed well to the awakening of linguistic awareness. But at first in the Consello d’a Fabla Aragonès there were people of all kinds, including those of the PP, and now there are only those of the CHA.”

He knows that this is not too straightforward an idea, but he believes that Aragonese is the victim of Catalan. Pancatalanism has done much damage to Aragonese: “Catalan is not in danger in Aragon, because there are seven million speakers across the border, in Catalonia.” It says that the expansionist policy of some Catalan parties is considered an attack: “Anti-Scoranism is endogenous in Aragon, but also exogenous. It has always existed, but it is now being revived on social levels never before known. Some do not understand that a Aragonese who speaks Catalan may feel Aragonese and not Catalan. This idea of the Catalan Countries is not welcomed by the majority of Aragon.” This new situation has brought with it, among other things, the modification of the Language Law in 2013, with the consequent loss of the names of those who were previously as tranquil as Catalan and Aragonese – let us remember, they became the LAPAO and the LAPAPYP, that is, the Aragonese Language of the Eastern Zone and the Aragonese Language of the Pyrenees. Conte adds: “If Catalan were not spoken in Aragon, Aragonese today would be official throughout Aragon.”

Time and days

But let's go back to the literature, to the new collection of poems translated into Basque. In Sestao’s words, “On the subject, the first part is a long song of Eresia, as Ánchel lost his partner while doing agricultural work in his youth. The second part deals with the things of love and time.” Thus, the book fundamentally describes the relationship between two children, the first poems of Franco dating back to 1969. “In those years, same-sex sexual relations were prohibited by law and there were concentration camps in Spain to punish and imprison LGTB people. And, of course, there was also his friend’s family.” Care had to be taken with this issue, therefore, “and care must be taken, to some extent,” says Sestao.

One thing is the public person, the wise, the activist, and another is the poet Conte. You can see it right away. “For me poetry, writing, is not militancy, except in one thing: in language. But in poetry I show myself as I am, alone with myself, I don’t talk about political programs.” He began writing poetry in the days of Ainsa: “Being homosexual was not easy in a village as small as Ainsa, in the 1960s; you were forced to live inside you.” In this context the poetry is born, “probably by a sublimation: All the poetry devoted to Antonio is church, born of that rebirth, to praise what I lacked. I had a need to share, to undress in part.” In this sense, he has a poem that has sung Mai, Labordeta-eta, and that tells of those times. “I tried to speak as clearly as possible. But, of course, at that time it was possible to speak as clearly as possible.” Asked about the photograph of his cover, yes, is Antonio, the same one that appears in a poem: “Today he has immersed me in his memories in your patio / in the only photo I made you in the last summer.” But you don't see it clear, the image is diffuse. “In 1996 I wouldn’t have dared to put this picture, now I’ve also had a hard time putting it. Out of respect for the family of Antonio, and for Antonio: with what right do I place that photo after his death.”

The meeting begins to stretch and, finally, the impression that is what makes us unfamiliar to our eyes because he writes in Aragonese. We are, moreover, faced with a person of great authority who can speak of it in all peace and quiet. Before saying goodbye, November 27 presented a book, an invitation. Let's see if that book is the one that's been announced, a book about his life. No, but it does. There is no lack of material. Based on his father's biography, he had a double life, he had a daughter in France; he was a civil guard, as well as a Maqui. When he heard about the latter he understood why in the people the rich looked evil at Ánchel, but well, the poorest. “If I ever put it on paper, I’ll let you know.” We said goodbye to that.