Originally published in Spanish: “La democracia española en perspectiva comparada”. Pau Marí-Klose. Agenda Pública. 5 Nov 2017 For sometime now, the Spanish state has been sharply criticized for government and court actions related to the Catalonian question. One of the most widely held views, spouted to all and sundry by secessionists, Podemos and the “Comunes” […]
Mes: noviembre 2017
Looking into the independence movement
Originally published in Spanish: «Indagación de lo indepe”. Ernesto Hernández Busto. Letras Libres. This is not the first time that backwardness wears the well-tailored suit of collective illusion. I think it was Juan Benet who mocked years ago the implicit redundancy of the phrase “progressive politics”. In Spain, not even the most conservative politicians dare […]
L’échec du nationalisme catalan
Publié à l’origine en espagnol: “El fracaso del nacionalismo catalán” José Ignacio Torreblanca. El País. Les Espagnols ont subi trois types de nationalismes. Deux d’entre eux, le castillan et le basque, ont déjà échoué. Le troisième, le catalan, est en train de le faire aussi, à la vue de tout le monde. Bien que leurs […]
The Sedition will be Televised
Originally published in Spanish: «La sedición será televisada» Roger Senserrich. El País. Over the last few months, the members of the Generalitat government have been committing crimes. They have worked to build parallel state infrastructures. They have openly and vocally infringed court orders. They have promoted laws, decrees and agreements that have been rejected as […]
Provocation and Disloyalty
Originally published in Spanish (2015): «Provocación y deslealtad». Ignacio Martín Blanco. El País. I’m breaking a confidentiality agreement about pro-independence movement’s real plans. I do it because of a moral obligation. Why should I keep loyalty to someone that is behaving with such disloyalty to their fellow citizens? On October 27th, 2015, Junts pel Sí and CUP […]
My Mother at the Societat Civil Catalana’s Demonstration
Originally published in Spanish. “Mi madre en la manifestación de Societat Civil Catalana”. Laura Fàbregas. The Objective. One of the most significant “successes” of the independence process has been to watch people as my mother at the Societat Civil Catalana’s demonstration. You will never see my mother with a rag, neither Catalan nor Spanish; not […]
Historic Ridiculous
Originally published in Spanish. “Un ridículo histórico”. Joaquim Coll. Crónica Global. Distracted with the little details of current affairs, we are in risk of not being aware of the huge dimension of what has happened in Catalonia in the last few weeks. Separatism not only has failed in its political goals, but also it has […]
Imperfect, as all others
Originally published in Spanish. Argelia Queralt. Agenda Pública. I write these lines after Puigdemont and part of his Government fled to Brussels to evade the Spanish justice, after the investigating judge decreed provisional prison without bail for 8 former regional ministers of the Catalan government (an order which was executed) and after the appeal from […]
Catalonia in Two Halves
Originally published in Spanish. “Cataluña en dos mitades”. Manuel Jabois. El País. To notice that Catalonia was becoming independent, you had to turn up the volume. It happened in a bar close to the Sant Jaume square, where TV was showing the Catalan Parliament’s plenary session on mute. “What are they voting now? Bring the […]
Wir vergessen die Gewalt
Ursprünglich auf Spanisch veröffentlicht. Jorge Galindo. El País. Das Gleichgewicht kann nur gegeben sein, wenn der Staat neutral bleibt und nicht in Frage gestellt wird Wir haben uns daran gewöhnt, dass der politische Kampf lediglich dialektischer Natur ist. Das ist in Wahrheit eine großartige Nachricht. Das bedeutet, dass eine der Grundprämissen einer stabilen Demokratie zumindest […]