Battle of Valencia

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, 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.

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