El primer catalanisme a les terres de l’Ebre: Francesc Mestre i Noè.

Abstract

Francesc Mestre i Noè (Tortosa, 1866 -† 1940) - journalist, cultural impeller, writer, bookkeeper and Official Chronicler of Tortosa - is a multifaceted, complex and fruitful figure, the result of two generations: the heirs of the Renaixença and the Jocs Florals, and the republicans of the Septentrina and the Tortosa Pact. He was born in a convulse territory by wars, floods and epidemies, where human life ceased to have any value. The Dertusana region, politically and socially, is a conflicted zone where the Bourbon dynasty, state structures and the governmental bipartidism have succeeded in establishing and rooting corruption, caciquisme and cunerisme. Decision-making responds to interests that reside far away from the territory, so that its inhabitants suffer their effects and their consequences with extreme cruelty. Catalan, Catalanity and Catalanism are concepts that do not exist neither in the vocabulary of the people nor in their imagination. Those who speak the land’s tongue do it under the complexed dominance of the local variants; They live in the region of Tortosa as tortosins, roquetencs, ampostins, rapitencs ... or as Spaniards. The schooling, carried out exclusively in Spanish, is a pending subject. Most students only have elementary or primary studies, and, even though they can read and write, are not able to understand the texts that are presented to them. Francesc Mestre will focus his life on a single objective: Tortosa, his territory and the recovery of this land’s identity. He understands Catalan as a way of seeing, treating and working the territory; as a way of living and understanding life. This is a concept that is appropriate for everyone and compatible with all kinds of non-exclusive ideologies. The press in Catalan is his tool, his medium and his weapon of combat; the "Veus" de Tortosa and of Catalunya their main speakers. Mestre is a figure of consensus that highlights the Catalan language, Catalanism and Catalanity in all the Catalan-speaking territories; He vindicates them, connects with them and retrieves them within his ideals. He represents an inclusive, plural and diverse Catalanism; principles that, with his way of being and acting, are recognized as values ​​of order and honesty. His causes are closely linked to its country, the counties of its diocese and its city. The issues of the country will be shared with the rest of the Catalanist movement. His disappointments and failures will come from the lack of understanding and involvement of the leadership of the Lliga Regionalista with the serious problems of these counties; In this area they will leave him without support. Although he never renounces his Catalan identity, Mestre will have to find solutions for his land, seeking old complicities and new alliances. His life course has two well-defined stages: The construction of a national collective imaginary, next to Enric Prat de la Riba, and that of an attempt at of fitting Catalonia within Spain, strongly marked by the figure of Francesc Cambó. Francesc Mestre lives the last stage of his life under the role of counsellor, adviser and mediator, without being able to abandon his old uniform of soldier. The defense of his ideals will accompany him until his last moments. When everything has been lost and his eyes only see the ashes of destruction, he will face adversity, leaving in his last breath a spark of hope.

Date of Award	16 Jul 2019
Original language	Catalan
Supervisor	Borja De Riquer Permanyer (Director)