They don't like it up 'em!

Things have been very quiet on thebadrash recently, mainly because I've been pretty busy with my actual job. Also, I spent most of March having interesting conversations (putting the world to rights) with my mate Chris, who was visiting us. We disagree on some pretty important issues like the Iraq war, but could at least agree on a sense of disgust with the tenets of post-modernism. It's good having someone to talk to at some length on these issues, though, because they can help one to establish just what it is that one believes in and holds to be important, especially in the sphere of political philosophy.

While all this high falutin chinwagging has been going on, I've taken my eye off the ball of Spanish news for a fulll six weeks. Quite enjoyable it was, too. And yet, this has been an interesting time for events and news. About six weeks ago, we saw yet another anti-government demonstration masquerading as having something to do with victims of terrorism. I've spent more than enough of my time dismissing these spectacles (and besides, there are people who write on the subject far more eloquently and accurately than I could), but it was the words of Spanish media tycoon, Jesus de Polanco which seem to have caused the biggest impact linked to these protest marches. De Polanco, owner of the Prisa group (which includes the pro-Socialist El País newspaper and Cadena Ser radio station) said after the demo that we had just witnessed a demonstration which consisted of "pure, hard Francoism". The PP have since refused to have any contact with any outlets of the Prisa empire, until de Polanco apologises for this insult.

Clearly recognising that this was just the latest episode in the continuing saga of the radicalisation, PP deputy Joaquín Calomarde wrote an article in El País which not only went against his party's boycott of the paper but also heavily criticised its obvious lurch to the right wing, away from the centrist position he believes it should have adopted. The same day this article was published, Calomarde was sacked from his committee jobs as a PP spokesman (ostensibly to help him deal with the hepatitis he's been suffering from for years).

Just as in any other democracy, it's normal to see different opinions on key matters in Spanish and Catalan political parties: defence minister José Bono resigned from his ministry when the PSOE gave backing to the Catalan statute of autonomy. A Spanish nationalist, he felt he couldn't remain a part of a government committed first to democracy and second to the nation state. Similarly, parties like ERC, CiU and other nationalist/regional blocs spend nearly all their time embroiled in tortuous debates over what exactly they stand for. With the PP, the debate over which direction the party should take seems to have taken over any actual idea of developing policy. The division between centrist-conservatism and post-Francoist rightism starts right at the top of the party, with the far right seeming to control that party's public image at the moment. Deputies like Calomarde are not seen as helpful and are punished for speaking out, even though they're very much in touch with current concerns over just what the PP is up to.

A lot more has happened over the last few weeks, and I'll try to catch up on some of it over this holiday weekend. In the meantime, it's worth taking some time to consider how it is that we get two days off every year to mark the alleged execution and resurrection of a fictionalised prophet some two thousand years ago. Weird, huh?

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April 8, 2007 | Filed Under Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain 

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