Politics | Barcelona & Catalonia blog

29Jul/106

thebadPoll: Is Bullfighting a vital part of Spanish culture?

Before I go to Menorca [which, according to my own rules, I should be calling 'Minorca', damn it!], there's just time for a new badPoll. Today's poll is a really special one, because it's presented in partnership with a very special guest:

Yes, that's right: thebadrash.com is very pleased to announce that this badPoll is sponsored by none other than 'Uncle' Mariano 'Wild Eyes' Rajoy!

And it gets better! Uncle Mariano has agreed to abide by the results of this badPoll, meaning that your votes could make the difference between Una, Grande y Libre and the kind of namby-pamby commie, animal husbanding Catalan-loving hellhole that ZP, the judiciary (some of the time) and their Barça-supporting cronies want.

The question is really simple: Is Bullfighting a vital part of Spanish culture? You might rephrase it by asking: is Catalonia's decision to ban bullfighting 'an act of genocide' (thanks, Jorge 'morro' Moragas!)? Or can Spain live without this barbarity celebration of torture killing a cow in public?

As always, you can vote in the sidebar over there >>>

Filed under: PP, Politics, Spain 6 Comments

28Jul/1018

UPDATED: Banning the bullfights has nothing to do with l'Estatut

UPDATE: The Catalan parliament has voted in support of removing the exception permitted to bullfighting from its animal cruelty law. Bullfighting has been outlawed here!

Catalonia's parliament will likely vote today to finally ban bullfighting within Catalonia. This is a decision that has been approached in a very stop-start manner, and which has been under debate for quite some time. I think I've made my feelings quite clear about the barbarity that is La Corrida, and I welcome the ban, and hope that it's eventually extended throughout Spain.

Various parties seem to be trying to make this a question of revenge for Spain's constitutional court rejecting passages of Catalonia's statute of autonomy recently. It has nothing to do with that whatsoever. This is about banning a vile celebration of animal torture. Just as the Canary Islands did in 1991, Catalonia will freely make the right decision today.

Incidentally, right-wing PP leader, Mariano Rajoy's un-rousing speech yesterday, where he said "Just as you can't force someone to go to a bullfight, so you can't prohibit them from doing so!" - is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. And I moved here when Aznar was still in power. That statement in particular, could be applied to any activity you like. Try it with "a walk in the park", "a bank robbery", "have a carajillo in the morning and then drive your police motorbike", "spout shite". These are some of my favourites, but I'm sure you'll find your own. Bon dia.

Filed under: Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain 18 Comments

10Jul/1012

Utter nonsense/Why I'm not walking down Passeig de Gràcia

Utter nonsense: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/10/AR2010071001224.html

A good example of how shoddy journalism sucks. Yawnville style.

Why I'm not walking down Passeig de Gràcia: I won't march when the PSOE/PSC/José Montilla lead the demonstration. They are the problem. Not the solution.

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics 12 Comments

4Jul/1038

thebadPoll: Catalonia's 'Estatut' in Madrid's court

It's a long time since I ran a poll on this blog. Hell, it's a long time since I did anything on this blog.

This week, the question is simpler than it sounds: do you think Spain's constitutional court was right in cutting various passages from Catalonia's new statute of autonomy, approved by referendum some years ago?

VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, as usual.

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics 38 Comments

12Jun/105

Lleida and its racist ban on the burqa

A couple of weeks ago, the Catalan town of Lleida became the first municipality in Spain to introduce a ban on the full Islamic veil, or burqa and niqab. The veils are now prohibited in municipal buildings.

Lleida's Socialist party mayor, Àngel Ros, claims that the ban is a strike in favour of equality. The ban was backed by the Catholic Catalan conservatives, CiU. And now they and the PSC are planning introduce a similar ban in Tarragona. The truth is that Lleida's city hall has been involved in a protracted battle with a Muslim community it does not want. Indeed, the PSC is just applying policies called for by none other than arch racist, Josep Anglada, leader of the utterly mental Plataforma Per Catalunya fascist party.

Times of financial hardship always breed racist reactions. I'm not in the least bit surprised that the PSC, a party of hopeless twats to a man (or woman), would stoop this low to try and shore up their position in Catalonia. If the party was serious about gender equality, it would ban the huge brothels that line the carreteras here, packed with thousands of young African and eastern European women. It won't, because for the PSC, 'equality' is just a useful excuse for pandering to nasty provincial racism.

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics 5 Comments

11Jun/1046

Some Questions for a Catalan Independentist

In just over a week, many Catalan towns will hold 'consultaions' about Catalan independence. These consultations (consultes) take the form of a mock referendum. They're not legally binding in any way, and voting in them is so open that even I can join in! The thing about these consultations is that they do make it feel (however superficially) like Catalonia is starting to seriously consider its status as part of Spain. The organisers and political groups involved are certainly keen to make it look like that, at any rate.

On this blog, I've been careful to avoid a categorical endorsement of Catalan independence for many reasons. So I decided to ask some open questions to anyone interested in answering them. And you don't have to be in favour of Catalan independence to take part: if you think you've got a point to make, make it. I plan to do something similar directed at opponents of independence over the next few days. Feel free to answer whichever of the questions you like.

Some questions:

Why should Catalonia be independent?
What exactly do you think will be gained if Catalonia becomes independent?
What model do you see an independent Catalonia adopting? Some sort of republic? How would it be organised?
Do you think that the current crisis is a good time to decide something like this? Why?
What damage do you think this would do to Spain? Do you worry about that?
Is an independent Catalonia an economically viable state?
What should the process be in the result of a vote in favour of independence?
What should be the status of Spanish citizens in Catalonia? Would dual citizenship be allowed?
What about immigrants? Would they become citizens? What would the immigration policy be?
Would you expect all the political parties in Catalonia to break ties with their Spanish equivalents?
What would happen if the EU had trouble accepting Catalonia as a member?
What would happen to Catalan government agencies aimed at trade and business? Would they be absorbed by embassies?
Who would be the head of state? Would you deny Juan Carlos's claim to sovereignty?
Would the Catalan constitution guarantee the right to receive state services in Castilian Spanish?
How would you deal with people potentially wanting to leave for Spain proper?
What flag would you have? Senyera or Estelada?
What would happen to utilities like the phone/data system?
What sort of rights would be included in the constitution anyway?
How would you deal with other parts of the 'Catalan Countries'? Would you seek their absorption?
How important would the status of FC Barcelona be? Do you think the Spanish league would still have them?
Would you bother with armed forces? If so, how?
What would happen if there was a Spanish boycott of independent Catalonia?
What would happen if there was a Spanish military response?
Can a constituent part of an EU and NATO member even declare independence?
Would you demand that companies trading in Catalonia establish separate entities in Catalonia? How?

And that's enough for now. I know that I've asked a lot of questions. But these are just some of the questions that will be asked should Catalonia approach a genuine referendum.

So, what do you say?

Filed under: Catalonia, Politics, Spain 46 Comments

5Jun/100

thebadUpdate – Gaza and blogging

Hello you!

This is about the 6th update I've written in the last few weeks, and I haven't published any of them. I'm determined to post this one.

I've been very busy over the last few months. That's always a terrible excuse for a blogger. Almost as bad as admitting that he's been busy on Twitter.

Among the many topics that I've written bad and unpublished posts about include Catalan corruption, PP corruption, Catalan racism (yeah, the veil in Lleida), the Spanish economy... and the Gaza siege. This last item is something I've not written about on this blog, though I've talked about some of the language connected with it. So, forgive the non-Spain-related post, but:

Israel has no right, either legal or moral to blockade the Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip. Israel was in breach of UN resolutions referring to the status of Gaza long before it acted against the 'Freedom Flotilla' earlier this week. This seems to be a country dangerously close to believing not just its own propaganda but the extremist, fatalist, racist and blind ideology of its far right wing. Israel is sometimes held up as a model democracy in the middle east (and it's obviously not Saudi Arabia), but the influence held by a radical minority over the entire Palestine issue (borders, settlements, constant IDF incursions) seems to prove that it is drifting towards a even more terrible form of state ethnic-religious absolutism maintained by apparent parliamentary democracy.

This is not a breed of fascism as experienced in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. But it is of the same genus.

Therefore, I believe that we ought to boycott anti-Palestine Israel and its economy in any way possible, until Israel withdraws the blockade against Palestine.

Filed under: Politics No Comments

3May/107

Should this be my last UK election?

This week's general election in the UK has, according to most sources, turned out to be more interesting than was expected. The arrival of live televised debates (coming something like 50 years after the USA started with them), while rightly criticised for increasing the presidential X-Factor feel of the whole thing, has catapulted the Liberal Democrats into a likely 'kingmaker' role. Nick Clegg, a man for whom I have very little time, seems to have won over a large number of voters by pretending that his party is somehow offering 'real change' as opposed to the 'change to old times' of the Tories and the 'perpetual change' of Labour.

And the truth is that as something of a politics junkie, I've been interested to see just how this electoral race will pan out. But I'm simultaneously conscious of one glaring fact: despite still being English, I've been living away from the UK for nearly eight years. I visit the place, but should I really still be entitled to vote there? I reckon that as long as the next British government lasts for a couple of years, I'll probably be a Spanish citizen by the time the next election takes place. And then, however much I'll remain English and a citizen of the UK, I'll have formally accepted that Spain and Catalonia are now my home and perhaps I ought to forfeit my right to vote in the country where I grew up.

This time, I will vote. I've asked my proxy (my beloved mother) to vote Labour for me - though as it will be cast in the South West Devon constituency, the vote itself is more of a gesture than anything else. I enjoy taking part in the democratic process and I genuinely long to be able to do so in Catalan and Spanish elections.

My hope is that should a socialist revolution fail to occur in the UK, a Lib-Lab coalition can be elected to reform Britain's electoral system and the House of Lords, while trying to protect public services. Get that done and I may even vote again...

Filed under: Politics, UK 7 Comments

27Apr/101

The PP's racism in Badalona is no surprise

So the PP has been forced to apologise for its revoltingly racist campaign material which included suggestive messages like "We don't want Romanians". The PPC's leadership has exclaimed that it doesn't support this kind of filth, stating "crime doesn't have a nationality".

Well, yeah, but it can't have come as a surprise that the PP in Badalona would try to run this as their main campaign point. They're after the seething racist vote which is a vote you've really got to go out and fight for. Anyway, they were getting in trouble for this kind of thing a year ago.

Same old PP.

[Note: other parties are capable of this kind of crap. But the PP seem to be linked to it a lot more than anyone else]

Filed under: Catalonia, PP, Politics, Spain 1 Comment

17Apr/102

David Cameron met 'a black man'

...in Plymouth, too. Seriously, what decade does Cameron think we're living in? Apart from that, it appears that said 'black man' joined the navy aged 10. Possible, I suppose. I've seen Master And Commander.

Filed under: Politics, UK 2 Comments

14Apr/102

A judge indicted – I support Baltasar Garzón

I've been away from blogging for a while. I've not lost interest but I do feel like it's never the right time, or I never have the right time, to express myself properly. This post, being written on Tuesday night, should appear on the site at 1000 Wednesday, in association with other blog posts defending Spanish judge Balatasar Garzón who is about to face prosecution for knowingly undertaking investigations outside of his jurisdiction.

I'll start off with two frank admissions. Firstly, I'm no legal expert. Like many others, I do my best to understand and follow the intricacies of various aspects of law connected with my work and with subjects that interest me. This case obviously falls into the latter category. Secondly, I wouldn't call myself Garzón's number one fan. The man strikes me as something of a pompous ass so I'm not writing to try to defend his character. That's OK, though, because a question of law shouldn't be framed as a question of debating a man's politics or hairstyle.

Baltasar Garzón is a prosecuting judge in Spain's top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional. He's world famous for his - sometimes successful - attempts to bring dictators and agents of dictatorship to justice for their crimes against humanity. I first heard about him when his court issued an arrest warrant for General Pinochet, leading to that man's arrest in England. Pinochet was later released because of 'medical conditions' he later seemed to recover from. Margaret Thatcher made a big show of having him over for tea, proving a disdain for democracy and decency some had only guessed at.

Garzón also investigated multiple cases in Spain, including the PSOE government's GAL 'contra' group in the '80s and corruption in the huge BBVA bank.

More recently, Garzón turned his attention to the various crimes committed by Spain's fascists during the civil war and the dictatorship that followed. He announced that he considered the 'disappearance' of well over 100,000 republicans to be officially crimes against humanity. It is this legal position that has resulted in Garzón being indicted for exceeding his jurisdiction. The events he wanted to investigate are covered by a 1977 act of amnesty, a legal instrument that was enacted as Spain took its first steps towards democracy - under the constant threat of yet another fascist coup.

It is important to note here that this is not a case brought by the judiciary itself, or by the police. Rather, it is more like an English private prosecution, brought by the far-right wing 'trade union' Manos Limpias - essentially a fascist defence group which has attempted such action against Garzón around twenty times before (according to Wikipedia).

The reason I support Garzón in this case is simple: I don't accept that the 1977 amnesty should be legally binding for crimes against humanity or genocide. I don't accept that it should apply to any crimes, especially not after the end of the Spanish civil war. My understanding is that there is a significant opinion in Spain's legal community that international law can - and must - supercede local laws when dealing with what are considered to be international crimes. This is what has happened in other countries: it would be madness to allow anything else to happen.

It is my belief that the charges levied at Garzón in this and in two other lawsuits are entirely politically motivated. I don't think that Garzón is a saint, or that he's incapable of doing wrong. I do, however, fear for Spain's democratic future if this right-wing attack on justice is allowed to succeed. Spain's history needs to be investigated and until another judge comes along who has the courage to do it, Garzón is our only hope.

Filed under: PP, Politics, Spain 2 Comments

20Feb/1011

Why are PP members so effin' rude?

The other day, our esteemed former Presidente del Gobierno - and honorary president of the PP, José María Aznar, visited the university of Oviedo in order to sell some of his FAES stuff. The students of said academy responded to the man's visit by waving banners and calling him a war criminal. Señor Aznar's response was that employed by all gentlemen of the world: he gave them the finger ('the bird', as our American friends would have it).

Aznar salutes the students of Oviedo

Now, if you've ever read this blog before, you may have determined that there's very little love lost between your humble host and that twat, Aznar. In case you need convincing, here's my analysis of the man: He's a slimy, post-fascist scumbag who did nothing for Spain other than bring about our current economic situation; a small, disgustingly self-important, right-wing tosser with a shit-eating grin and a ridiculous moustache.

But this isn't just about Aznar. It does seem that Spain's right wing are just generally rude. Look at the 'king', with his "Why don't you shut up?" diplomatic manoeuvre. Then there's Esperanza Aguirre and Ignacio Gonzalez, a right pair of hijoputas. What's wrong with these people? It all lends support to my theory that the most impolite people you'll generally encounter in life are right-wingers. We on the left generally opt for more intelligent criticism.

Filed under: PP, Politics, Spain 11 Comments

19Dec/093

Adam Curtis: It Felt Like A Kiss

I'll be writing a post soon about the last ten years and the effect they've had on me. One of the very many things I have to be grateful for during this decade is discovering the films of Adam Curtis.

Curtis's documentaries focus on the political and social history of the 20th century, criticising much of the psychological methods of power employed during those years. In The Power of Nightmares, Curtis illustrated how governments learned that the best way they could explain their worth to us in a post-cold war world was by building a new culture of fear directed at enemies which could never be defeated. The Trap investigates the various definitions of freedom and how these contrary views impacted on societies.

It Felt Like A Kiss is instantly recognisable as a Curtis film (the Helvetica typeface, the often shocking archive footage, the powerful soundtrack). But it is significantly different to those I mentioned above. Detailing "how power really works in the world", IFLAK eschews any narration beyond occasional visual prompts. The film is instead a tapestry of powerful images played over a soundtrack of some fantastic music from the 50s through to the 90s. Like some kind of amazing, extra-long pop video.

And in It Felt Like A Kiss, it's the music that I most adore. Ranging from Roy Orbison to the Velvet Underground to the Phil Spector-produced title song, Curtis selects a phenomenal playlist of well known and more obscure pieces. The soundtrack reminded me of how much I loved some long-neglected albums, and finally got me to listen to a ton of 'Wall of Sound' records, many of which are of unimpeachable quality and beauty, however mad their producer is.

The film cannot currently be obtained legally, so you'll have to download it. I'm hoping that Curtis will release his documentaries on DVD some time soon (a box set of those would be fantastic). If you'd rather not download a film illegally, you can listen to much of the soundtrack on this Spotify playlist.

Filed under: Film, Language, Politics 3 Comments

17Dec/092

Is Israel exempt from international law?

This week has seen a startling series of events redefine the way the UK acts on international law, and the way British governments understand the power of the courts. Under the principal of Universal Jurisdiction, an arrest warrant was issued by Westminster magistrates court for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, accused of war crimes during the most recent invasion of Gaza. As soon as this information reached the Israel, its government reacted furiously (which was to be expected). Israel's ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, said in a statement:

"The current situation is absurd and unacceptable in equal measure. Israelis cannot continually be held hostage by fringe groups of anti-Israel extremists, preventing politicians, businessmen and officers from visiting the UK."

While Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu described the situation as an "absurdity".

What happened next was that the British government leaped into action, apologising to Israel and promising to better control the way international law is applied to Israeli officials in Britain. Gordon Brown and David Miliband both rushed to condemn the warrant, assuring Israel that it'll never happen again.

So why is it that a senior Israeli politician can't be arrested in the UK for alleged war crimes? The answer, as usual, is that British government ministers have acted entirely out of personal self interest. The precedent that would be set by arresting Livni would make it far more likely that British officials could be arrested for their own war crimes. And that just wouldn't do.

The way international law is applied currently suggests that the only people who can ever face it are either (a) a few of the operators in the Yugoslavian war of the 90s and (b) Africans. Israeli and British and other 'western' government officers are effectively exempt not because of any weakness in the law, but because every single time an arrest warrant is issued, or an arrest is attempted, the move will be swiftly quashed by politicians. Who aren't supposed to have that much sway when it comes to the courts.

One of Livni's statements was particularly telling:

"I have no problem with the world wanting to judge Israel. A problem arises the moment [Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers are compared to terrorists."

By 'terrorists', she's obviously referring to Hamas (the political organisation of which, the UK does not designate to be a terrorist group). Well I don't have such a problem with that comparison, Ms. Livni. But it seems that as ever, uniformed soldiers are seen by Britain as being naturally better than rag-tag freedom fighters. Unless they're our rag-tag freedom fighters, of course.

Filed under: Politics 2 Comments

16Dec/096

Are the Brits the most racist Catalans?

"Most of the genuine Catalan people I know ( real ones – not the ones who are called Jordi Gárcia Sánchez et al)"

You won't hear many Catalans spouting this kind of crap (though I know 'charnego' still gets chucked about sometimes by the knuckle-draggers and mouth-breathers). So why would a dodgy English blogger from a two-donkey village outside Barcelona* try to get away with it?

Note also the smooth practice of closing comments on a post when you've been proven wrong continues as if it'll never go out of fashion.

__
*No relation.

Filed under: Catalonia, Internet computer, Language, Politics 6 Comments

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