The Government Council has approved an institutional declaration on the occasion of Andalusia Day, which is celebrated on February 28th, in which it demands its place in a Spain of equals, without privileges or disparities, highlighting that Andalusians are the Southern Europe and calling for lucidity, common sense, sensitivity, moderation, civilization, and humanity from the world.
In this sense, the Andalusian government asserts that «this commemoration is, therefore, an open invitation to all, a shared emotion, an outpouring of broad-mindedness, generosity, joy, and humanity that are the hallmark of Andalusia,» while also remembering Andalusians abroad, «that prodigious ninth province, who are an example of love for their roots and whom we long to see return, although they never truly left.»
Full text of the institutional declaration of the Government Council on the occasion of February 28th, Andalusia Day:
Forty-five years ago, on February 28, 1980, the Andalusians decided, for the first time in our history, in a massive and exemplary exercise of democracy, that we would never again be less than anyone else. Today, forty-five years later, that determination beats stronger and more alive than ever in the current generations, heirs of a feeling that has been enriched with new reasons to love our land and commit to it. In the midst of the transformation towards leadership among Spanish autonomous communities and European regions; in a clear process of social, economic, environmental, scientific, and technological progress thanks to the work of all; in an enthusiastic conquest of the future that has known how to preserve and reinforce its most distinctive signs of identity, its culture, and its traditions, Andalusia is now, more than ever, a reality to believe in, where to thrive, to which to return. Therefore, on the occasion of Andalusia Day, as we did forty-five years ago, we fill the streets and squares once again, the schools where our daughters and sons are educated and the future of this people is forged, the residences of our elders where experience and wisdom live, the windows and balconies open to our dreams, the courtyards and avenues where the spring of the South is already announced wrapped in the flag of our land: the flag raised by the great Andalusians, men and women, who preceded us; the one our predecessors conquered with love and dedication and that symbolizes our greatest hopes for justice, equality, freedom, and progress.
February 28th is a day of celebration and coexistence, of exaltation of the myriad ways of being and feeling that beautify our towns and cities, our land, composing the peculiarities, the singularities, and the character of each corner of Andalusia, in all its immense diversity. This date also calls, especially, to Andalusians abroad, that prodigious ninth province, who are an example of love for their roots and whom we long to see return, although they never truly left; and to those who, coming from other origins, have discovered the South, have deposited their dreams here, have seen them grow, and now only understand themselves as part of our destiny.
Therefore, this commemoration is an open invitation to all, a shared emotion, an outpouring of broad-mindedness, generosity, joy, and humanity that are the hallmark of Andalusia.
The flag of Andalusia waves on the facade of the Palacio de San Telmo, seat of the presidency of the Junta de Andalucía.
Andalusia is a living, changing, modern reality. It is much more than geographical coordinates: it is a way of understanding life. A luminous, profound, and simple way to remind the world of the things that truly matter and the need for a brotherhood superior to all controversies that isolate and separate us. We are an expansive, restless, dreamy society; tenacious, fighting, hard-working people. Here we look with reverence at the sky that covers us and the seas that bathe us, the snow of our mountains and the golden hues of our deserts; the forests and marshes; the truth of our fields and the vitality of our cities. Andalusia is its languages, its customs, its memories. Andalusia is the determination to never give up. Andalusia is the one demanding its place in a Spain of equals, without privileges or disparities. Andalusia is also the one that suffers, the one that needs to be improved and cared for. Andalusians are capable of great efforts and festive joys. We are what we have done together and what we will do among us. We are the Southern Europe calling for lucidity, common sense, sensitivity, moderation, civilization, humanity from the world.
Andalusia is a pot of mint and a center of artificial intelligence; a copper mine and a generator of renewable energies; a flamenco dance and a global technological hub; the verse of a poet and a spearhead of digitalization; an art museum and a cybersecurity center; a bed of ashes and green hydrogen. Without losing its essences, Andalusia rediscovers itself daily, advances, faces new challenges, because the future does not wait for those who sleep in a past embellished by memories; not even for those who wait for the new to appear, because in those cases what usually arrives is only decadence or fatality. The future belongs to those who seek it with determination. And in that search, under a white and green flag that sews our firmest principles and our most upright values, is today’s Andalusia paving the way.
Today we celebrate what we were, what we are, and what we are going to be. Today, on a new February 28th, we honor the memory with more future options. Today, in this infinite territory of the heart that is the feeling of Andalusia, all Andalusians, from everywhere, come together to proclaim to the world to look towards the South, this South, which is a cry for freedom, justice, and equality, a place where dreaming is possible, where there is always a greater hope, and where believing in oneself is a basic condition for the pursuit of happiness.
For a better Andalusia. For all that remains to be done. For dreams fulfilled and those we are going to fulfill. For believing, for dreaming, for speaking, for working, for sharing, for understanding, for thinking, for advancing, for returning, for coming. For the effort of all. For making Andalusia much more than a place.
Happy February 28th. Happy Andalusia Day.