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 […]
Categoría: In English
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 […]
It is not a Clash of Two Nationalisms
Originally published in Spanish. “No son dos nacionalismos enfrentados”. Antonio Gª Maldonado. The Objective. Is there a Spanish nationalism? Absolutely yes. Forty years of Francoist dictatorship deeply embedded it as a latent threat with occasional outburst of brutality. And there remains ignominious symbols which offend to all democrats, as the fascist sanctuary at the Valle […]
The Fragility of Politics
Originally published in Spanish. «La fragilidad de la política». Máriam M-Bascuñán. El Pais. It happened, you already know it. The rhetoric that has dominated the public debate, full of mutual accusations, emphasized by the political subterfuge of blame, reached its climax. They have pretended a victory disguised as the impeccable, righteous defenders of goodness, escaping […]
Infantilism, Victimhood… Nationalism
Originally published in Spanish. » Infantilismo, victimismo…nacionalismo». Teodoro León Gross. El Pais. Few days ago, amid the flow of big shocking headlines about the Catalan process, a delicious episode appeared: Jordi Sánchez, the ANC leader, requested to be moved to another prison cell-block because an inmate shouted “Long Live Spain!” to him. The anecdote, elevated […]
Guilty Credulity
Originally published in Spanish. «Credulidad culpable» Manuel Cruz. El Pais. As it is usually said in these cases, “the images travelled around the world”. Reuters’ images that did so in the last weeks were that of the people gathered the October 10th in the Lluís Companys promenade, in front of the Ciudadela park in Barcelona, […]