Photo by Björn Simon on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. ‘¿Qué deben hacer los demás?’ Xavier Vidal-Folch. El País. 14th May 2018 What should constitutionalist forces do? As advocates for the law, their first obligation is to follow it. Thus, just as soon as there is a Catalan government, they must follow what was laid out in the decree […]
Categoría: In English
Chapter Two: «How to Design a Revolution»
Excerpts from “El golpe posmoderno. 15 lecciones para el futuro de la democracia”, a book by Daniel Gascón, 20018, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial. The Catalan process is a designer coup. Among its most admirable features are its propagandistic intensity and efficiency. It contrasted with the sluggishness of the Spanish government, which seemed to think that […]
The nine articles by Quim Torra that are being read all over Europe
Photo by specphotops on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. “Los nueve artículos de Torra que se leen en toda Europa”. Manel Manchón. Crónica Global. 17th May 2018 Professors at several Catalan universities, jurists, journalists, legal professionals in anti-secessionist groups, many of them anonymous and participating spontaneously, have selected up to nine articles by Quim Torra, […]
The Return of Pre-Politics
Photo by Rémi Jacquaint on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. ´El retorno de lo Pre-político´. Jorge del palacio. El Mundo. 15th May 2018 The Catalan process has served to many to discover Quim Torra. He is a politician who feels comfortable in a discursive register that seems to draw on Gobineau, the notorious author of An Essay on the […]
Estat Català: the sewer
Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. ´Estat català: la alcantarilla´. Xavier Vidal-Folch. El País. 14th May 2018 The candidate to become Catalan president, Quim Torra, is an admirer of the leaders of Estat Català and he attends their homages: the Badia brothers are “the best examples of independentism”, he said in 2011. In 2014 he […]
The bifurcation strategy
Photo by Tim Scharner on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. ‘La estrategia de la bifurcación’. Lola García. La Vanguardia. 13th May 2018 Apparently, Quim Torra’s speech as aspiring Catalan president presages a bigger clash with the central government, following the wake set by Carles Puigdemont from abroad. Also, in theory, Rajoy’s cabinet, spurred by competition from Ciudadanos, won’t […]
Puigdemont, 130.5th President of Catalonia
Photo by Paweł Furman on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. ´Cataluña 130,5º ‘president’ Puigdemont´ J. Ignacio Torreblanca. El País. 25th Jan 2018 Incisive though her questions were, professor Marlene Wind could have asked her interlocutor about the title (130th president of the Government of Catalonia) used by the Department of Political Science of the University of Copenhagen to introduce […]
Can the use of article 155 be extended?
Photo by Giammarco Boscaro on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. ´¿Puede prorrogarse la aplicación del 155?´ Javier García Fernández. El País. 14th May 2018 It’s legally not possible to extend the legal situation in Catalonia, much as we may suspect they’re back to the secessionist adventures. After listening to Torra and the secessionist speakers, many people believe that the […]
The decadent ventriloquist in Berlin
Photo by Jose Francisco Morales on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. ‘El decadente ventrílocuo de Berlín’ Javier Ayuso. El País. 15th May 2018 Carles Puigdemont is wrong if he believes he’s always going to be able to pull the strings on Quim Torra, the new Catalan president. The scene that will unfold today in Berlin (with […]
Either racists or Europeans
Photo by Evelyn Bertrand on Unsplash Originally published in Spanish. “O racistas o europeos”. Carlos Yárnoz. El País. 18th May 2018 The election of a racist president makes the Catalan regional government the antithesis of the values held by the EU, that club that was to welcome the illusory republic with open arms according to […]