Glottopolitics of Prophecy Lengua o muerte and the Contested Futures of the New Normal

This article examines the secular use of prophecy and its appearances in Spain during the 2020 pandemic. It argues that prophecy functions as a cultural and political gesture with prescriptive potential over the future. As a glottopolitical tool (i.e., one that imbricates language and politics), it is contested between elites and subalterns articulating class warfare. Here, prophecy from above is analyzed through the concept of the “new normal,” which allowed Spanish politicians to predefine immediate future and safeguard the integrity of the capitalist system. As an example of prophecy from below, the article analyzes Lengua o muerte, a poetic text by Dani Zelko and the Movimiento por la lengua, which denounces the death of Mohammed Hossein during the pandemic as a case of linguistic discrimination. The author concludes that the discursive undertaking deployed in the book involves prophecy as a strategy of resistance against dispossession and projects a future of inclusion and emancipation.