The devil behind this horror story of a near travesty of justice is none other than Baltasar Garzón, the crusading Marxist-Leninist investigative judge, famed for his collection of anti-PP tattoos. Camps will no doubt find some solace in the fact that Garzón remains on trial himself, for having the temerity to investigate the deaths of a paltry 114,000 people during Spain's "long transition" (1939-1978). It's a shame that Mañuel Fraga didn't live to see the verdict delivered.

"Quin país de merda, tú!" - a traditional saying from Cerdanyola which roughly translates as "Freedom for Francisco Camps! Death to Garzón!".

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In a post entitled "IMMIGRANT INVASION AT THE KINGS' PROCESSION IN TORTOSA" (his caps), Casanova observes how yet another tradition has been ruined by immigrants. He writes:

INDIGNANT over what I saw at the Kings' procession in Tortosa. A swarm ['eixam' - I think 'swarm' is best, but you could almost use 'plague'] of immigrant children - mainly moros [Moroccans - kind of like saying 'Pakis' for Pakistanis in England] - interrupted the collection of sweets thrown from the kings' floats to the point of putting at risk our children's physical safety due to the savagery and brutality they displayed while trying to get all the sweets. What - if it can be known [sic] - are these moros doing to our traditions?

(My apologies for a slightly dodgy translation).

What follows is a charming discussion between Casanova and some of his acolytes. Among the first comments:

Raquel Iseres: Gum sweets are normally made with animal gelatin, often from pigs. We need to spread the word about this so they realise they've been eating pork without knowing it.

Mayka Miras González: What a shame they didn't die from eating so many sweets, the scum.

Now, I know it's easy to point out the failings of fascist diatribe, or the inanity of Facebook comments. But seeing Mayka Miras González saying she wished some little kids were dead, makes me really angry.

Happy new year to you, too. Let's support smashing the PxC in 2012.

__

*It is really a cruel twist of fate that a man named Casanova should be quite so... lacking when it comes to physical beauty. Kind of like Lord Adonis.

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Live updates below.

21:53 - With 67% of the vote counted, the PP has 187 seats for the PSOE's 109.
In Catalonia, CiU looks like it could beat the PSC.

20:28 - Andalucia is the most important victory for the PP. They've achieved more voted there than the PSOE for the first time ever. The PSOE has lost about 10 seats in Andalucia. This is one of the poorest regions in Spain and many PSOE voters feel they have been forgotten about by the Madrid government.

20:23 - The Socialist PSOE has dropped by 14 points in Spain ('2 million votes') whereas the PP has increased its share of the vote by only 3.5 points. The PP will govern not because they've been chosen by a plurality but because the Socialist vote has withered so seriously.

Today's elections in Spain will probably result in a significant PP victory. I'll be updating this post from time to time with tasty morsels of doom. I'll probably find some sort of widget to help me out too. My last blog post, about who will win Spain's elections, why, and what that means, can be read here.

20:00 - First exit poll results: The PP has a clear absolute majority in Spain's elections with up to 185 seats. The PSOE is down to 119.

In Catalonia: the PSC leads, followed by CiU and then the PP. The results here are not surprising: the PP has failed to overtake CiU or PSC. Iniciativa (Green/Communist) has done well. ERC maintains 3 seats. UPyD and fascist PxC have failed to win any seats.

19:44 - IMPORTANT: until 2000 (8 pm), the Spanish government prohibits actual results of the elections being reported. So we have to wait just over 15 minutes for first results.

19:30 - TV3 is also reporting that the cost of this year's elections is 6% below 2008's. Austerity in action.

19:00 - Catalonia 'leads the decline in turnout' according to TV3. They always find a way for Catalonia to be ahead of Spain.

18:30 - Voter turnout is down 3.3 points on 2008. This will likely benefit the right (PP).

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The prospect of seeing the PP in power again after 8 years is not a happy one. While I'm no fan of the PSOE (I think I called them 'the very worst party in Spain' at one point, though I can't find a link), my suspicion is that before long many who loathe the Socialists will remember how much more they loathed the PP last time they governed.

In Barcelona, the general mood seems to be one of totally ignoring these elections. After a swing to the right in recent Catalan and city hall elections, most people here seem to be trying to avoid thinking about having the PP in government. My prediction is that the turnout will be very low.

It is once the PP take over government (in a few weeks' time, according to Spanish electoral law) that the dread will really set in. This is a party running for office in a country on the verge of massive economic disaster which has failed to express any coherent economic policies whatsoever. Their posters include slogans like "Primero, el Empleo" (Jobs First) but their policies will doubtless be savage cuts and successive rounds of redundancies and privatisation.

At the same time, it looks increasingly possible that Spain could be forced into needing a bailout from the European Central Bank or the IMF. I say 'forced' because categorcially, this does not need to happen. The pressure being applied to successive European countries is organised, focused and has at its core the aim to destroy the Euro. Politically, I'm no great fan of the EU. But forcing Spain's exit from the Euro along with other countries in 2012 could threaten the very existence of the EU. I'd rather try to make it better for people.

In Catalonia, there are already some hints that the PP might try to buy an end to the Linguistic Immersion education policy with a fairer share of tax revenues. CiU, craven demagogues that they are, may well go for this. I worry too that fascist groups like 'Plataforma Per Catalunya' (Catalan fascists whose electoral pamphlets are seemingly only published in Castilian Spanish), may win a seat or two.

Finally, I expect this PP government to be faced with huge protests and strikes. One of the many problems with a PSOE government pushing through neo-liberal policies was the failure of the unions to properly challenge them. Now that the PP will be in government, there will be more inclination on the part of unions and workers to fight back. The Indignats (which inspired the Occupy movement in the USA) will also probably fight back harder: I'll bet that more than a few Indignats have voted PSOE in the past and will do again, but that basically none of them are PP supporters. Also, the harder left wing party Izquierda Unida might fare better at the polls this year than for the last decade or so: they may be able to use this to force a more left wing opposition.

So here we are on the edge of a precipice, you and me. We face the prospect of a government which will not have won on merit but by default, with no policies for saving Spain's economy, but hopefully with broad opposition from a curiously revitalised left. People might not be interested in these elections but the next four years will be anything but boring.

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He started changing his story last week, after he said there 'was a chance' he received several suits and other items as gifts from companies involved in a huge corruption racket with the Valencian Generalitat. Today it became clear that Camps would 'admit' the charges of illegal bribery and pay a €46,000 fine - but avoid a trial which could take place during national elections in Spain this autumn. At first it seemed that he might also try to hold onto his office but that seems to have been ruled out either in Valencia or in Madrid.

Three other accused PP officials will also apparently admit the charges.

Did Rajoy finally pull his finger out and take control of the situation? Does Camps have dirt on lots of other PP members (as we have suspected for years)? Only time will tell: it will take one hell of a scandal to stop the PP winning this autumn. Bring it on.

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The most complete video on YouTube (below) shows 'protesters' attempting to stir things up, then donning balaclava-style masks, before being escorted by police to safety, after they had been identified as troublemakers by other protesters. Equipped with hands-free devices, which might have been mobile phones or radios, the infiltrators seemed to be well organised.

This is, of course, an old tactic. Since time immemorial, police agents have attempted to trigger violence in otherwise peaceful protest movements in order to weaken popular support. With support from politicians and the media, it seems like the police have achieved their aim. The media, of course, is basically not reporting this news. The #15M movement insists that it does not support violent protest... indeed, in its Twitter feed yesterday, it pleaded with protesters to remain peaceful. A later protest at plaça Sant Jaume (seat of the Catalan government) proceeded entirely peacefully, which lends further credence to the protestors' claims. Meanwhile, the budget was approved without amendments, with some Catalan MPs forced to fly into the parliament with police and fire-rescue helicopters.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I think it's important that as many people as possible see this video... indeed, since last night, more than 100,000 people have watched it. Pass it on, as it's vital that popular support for the indignats isn't washed away on a lie.

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"Article is all wrong" - the Vietnam War remains a controversial topic for some, as this Wikipedia discussion illustrates

Babylon Falling - 60s counterculture, 90s hiphop, underground press - one of the best Tumblr sites I've seen in ages

Diaspora - this is the new Facebook, so they say. It's early days, and I have no friends on there, but it has potential

A Visit From The Goon Squad - Pulitzer prizewinner, entertaining novel by Jennifer Egan. It's about punk and time

Iran And The Bomb - by Seymour Hersh. The real enemy is Saudi Arabia

Menorca apartment reviews - summer vacation beckons

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I had the chance to spend a little time in the protest camp in Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona today. I'm no good at estimating the size of crowds but there were many more people around today than there were yesterday. Here are some snaps I took with my phone.

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With youth unemployment as high as 46% and the PSOE ('Socialist') government using the economic crisis as an excuse to force through radical changes to the country's social framework, why weren't Spanish youths protesting on the street? The clues to the answer lay in the failure of September's general strike. Young people weren't interested. This lack of interest in officially organised and accepted methods of protest (the strike was organised by major trade unions, generally seen to be partners of the PSOE) wasn't the same as apathy, though it did initially appear similar.

The events of the last couple of days in Madrid, then, are heartening. Thousands of young people, using Facebook and Twitter to organise, converged on the capital's iconic Puerta del Sol square and protested against the lack of real democracy, the spending cuts, the incredibly high youth unemployment (higher than in many of the north African countries where revolutions were fuelled by similar complaints), new copyright laws, and much more. Hundreds have also camped out in Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya, mingling with bemused tourists and surrounded by itchy-looking Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police with a reputation for enjoying beating-up students and anarchists). The protest camps are organised: popular commissions have been established to distribute information, food, blankets, legal advice.

The Spanish political establishment, focused only on this weekend's municipal elections, was taken by surprise. Its response has been telling: Barcelona city hall switched-off the city's webcam of Plaça Catalunya. Then the Junta Electoral, Spain's elections commission, noted that the protest camps would have to be cleared because they are in breach of Spain's electoral law. The PSOE (PSC in Catalonia) has tried to make it sound like they sympathise with the protestors, Barcelona's mayor bemoaning "international speculators and the damage they do" (the same speculators he sees it has his job to entice into our city). In Madrid, the police have moved to close access to the protest camp apparently in preparation to fulfill the Junta Electoral's controversial and unpopular judgement.

What will happen over the weekend remains unclear. It is likely that the police will attempt to clear both camps. If they only clear Madrid's, then Barcelona's might grow. Whatever happens, it would be wrong to continue to ask why Spain's youth has done nothing to oppose the country's corrupt politics. The kids are on the streets. And they want radical change.

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After declaring that "Yes", he has "'prejudices' against immigrants" ('nouvinguts' or 'newcomers' in Catalan, a word which sounds nicer but is generally used in the same reactionary arguments), Fernández went on to insist that "immigrants should comply with the law that we ourselves comply with". He also said that immigrants who need to apply for or renew their papers should have to go to the city hall and obatain a document to prove they "have no obstacles [sic] with anyone", and that immigrants "who come to Catalonia to commit crime should be expelled". Then he went on to claim that Barcelona has become "the capital of antisocial behaviour and crime" which should be dealt with via "a firm hand".

If you've been following the language of the PP in Catalonia, none of this should come as a surprise. But that doesn't make any of it less disgusting. Of course, we expect the hard right to be thoroughly unpleasant. And that's why they should be opposed. That said, the two quotes which most got my attention were the ones about complying with the law and coming here to commit crime.

When Fernández says that immigrants should comply with the law, same as anyone else, that isn't what he is saying. What he's saying is "immigrants commit loads of crimes and they get away scot free". I shouldn't need to point out that the Generalitat has already changed the law concerning petty crime to make it easier to convict bag thieves on the Metro and the Rambles. But how many immigrants are bag thieves anyway? How many steal copper? And is he really talking about immigrants? I'm an immigrant in Catalonia. There are lots of other UK, Italian, French, German and Dutch immigrants here. Does he include them when he says "immigrants", or does he just mean "immigrants from outside the EU".

If you read the Shite Press in BCN (pretty much the only press available here), you may have noticed a generally accepted dichotomy between 'comunitarios' ('EU citizens') and 'inmigrantes' ('immigrants'). What I've found hard to understand is that Romanians are often listed with the immigrants, even though they're EU citizens. Because if, as I suspect, Fernández is talking about non-EU citizens except Romanians, then I think we're on the verge of spotting where his real prejudice lies. But if, on the other hand, he means to include the French suspect in the Drassanes murder case then perhaps he means to include me in his use of 'immigrants'. Which he almost certainly is not doing.

As to the immigrants who come here to commit crime, well there probably are a few. There are probably also Spaniards from elsewhere in Spain who come here to commit crime, and Catalans who live here to commit crime. The problem is: how do you prove that someone has come here to commit crime? You obviously can't. The only thing he can mean is that immigrants who commit a crime should be expelled. And that leads us to the issue of definitions again.

If, as must happen, an immigrant commits a crime here without having come here with the express intention of committing that crime, that immigrant should not be expelled. Actually, Fernández didn't say this, and it's not logically safe to give him the benefit of the doubt here. No, he almost certainly means that any immigrant who commits any crime should be expelled.

And not once does he or that idiot Cuní state the percentage of crimes committed by immigrants, or the percentage of immigrants who commit crimes, or how those figures compare with people born here. So what we're left with is the clear implication that immigrants and crime are somehow inextricably linked and that the best thing for it is expulsion and special treatment.

Don't vote for the PP.

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So the era of bin Laden at #1 on the FBI's most wanted list (he was already there when the September 11th 2001 attacks happened), is over. I can't help but feel that it makes little difference now. Because America has already accepted mortal head wounds as 'justice', permanent internment camps as 'security', and permanent war as normality.

Adam Curtis's film "The Power of Nightmares" dealt with the twin forces of militant Islamism and neo-conservatism that ended up shaping much of the current geopolitical landscape. Together (and they must always be taken together, for they needed each other desperately), they succeeded in causing probably over a million deaths, most of which occurred in the middle-east. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend that you try to get hold of a copy. UPDATE: As Erik points out in the comments below, the film is available to watch or download for free at the Internet Archive.

If all this is making you nostalgic for the days of "Get this!" Iberian Notes, check out this online novel which features a familiar-sounding character. It's eerie.

More national policy soon. Until then, sleep well: they haven't invented their new nightmare yet.

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Actually, this is a topic I've been thinking about lots recently, thanks to the input of an uninterested friend who knows something about geopolitics in Europe. Indeed, it's one issue that I don't think I've ever seen answered by Catalan independentists. It comes down to a simple problem: would France ever allow an independent Catalan state to be declared on its border?

Before you start immediately by saying "I don't care, they'll just have to accept it", allow me to offer some thoughts. France is one of the two key powers in Europe. It's on the UN Security Council. It's a centre for international diplomacy. Isn't it likely that should France choose to block the establishment of a new state on its borders (and one which, let's face it, would likely have at least some parliamentarians dedicated to the restoration of Catalunya Nord to the Catalan state), is there anything Catalonia could really do? Not being recognised by Spain is of huge importance. Not being recognised by France might be difficult to overcome.

So the question is: What about France? Do you really think France would stand for what it might see as the first of several new states springing up on its borders? Doesn't this gravely affect the independence argument?

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The press was full of it: on the evening of December 3rd, the Spanish military 'took over' air traffic control towers across Spain at the request of the government. Air traffic controllers (ATCs) had, we were told, abandoned their duties en masse, calling in sick in a wildcat strike that brought the 'public infrastructure' of the airports to a grinding halt. But once again, the story we were being told was a narrow and distorted version of events. One that omitted key details intentionally. So it was little wonder that Spanish workers fel little solidarity for the ATCs.

The truth is that the air traffic controllers strike of December 2010 was precipitated intentionally by an agressive PSOE government, and then dealt with by that same government using the weapons of Franco's dictatorship.

Step one is always to demonise the strikers, removing the risk that solidarity poses.

• We were told that ATCs had an average state-funded salary of €370,000. LIE. ATC salaries are paid out of airport levies. Last available figures point to an average salary of €138,000. Which sounds like a lot, but bear in mind that ATCs are held criminally responsible for mistakes, and the awful stress that this must put on people. There are plenty of other people who earn a lot more than ATCs but few with such a horribly stressful and injurious type of work. Spanish ATCs are among the lowest-paid in Europe.
• We were told that ATCs phoned in sick, en masse, asking for more money. LIE. On December 3rd, the government announced plans to partially privatise Spain's airports (the 'public infrastructure' that the government fought so hard to protect the very next day). Simultaneously, AENA (Spanish airports management agency) had been engaged in a policy of cancelling vacations, demanding that people 'pay back' sick leave. AENA also intentionally named fewer personnel than were necessary for rotas that week, knowing that the puente weekend would see increased air traffic. AENA, without question, intentionally precipitated the situation.
• We were told that the ATCs operate a closed shop and keep numbers down in order to keep their pay up. LIE. AENA is responsible for all hiring. AENA has not announced public entrance procedures for four years.
• We were told that ATCs carried out a strike. LIE. After AENA deliberately sabotaged air traffic control, delays were always going to happen. But AENA publicly claimed that ATCs had walked out. These false accusations led to verbal and physical attacks on ATCs.

So the stage was set for interior minister Alfredo Rubalcaba to deal a vicious blow against the ATCs. And that he did. On December 4th, he declared a 'state of alert' (you could also use the term 'state of emergency' but that lacks something of the nuance of the various 'states' Spain can be in, like alerta, excepción, etc). It was the first time in Spain's current democracy that such a measure had been used. And unless you'd been here in the 60s and 70s, you might well think it was a pretty standard, if very grave, response to a crisis.

The truth is that the state of alert is a peculiar item of Spanish law that has its roots in Franco's fascist dictatorship. Throughout the 60s and 70s, Franco's government used the state of alert to smash strikes. It works by declaring all workers of a specific convenio (like metro drivers or, in this case, ATCs) as 'mobilised' military personnel. So you start the day an ATC and before you know it, you're a military ATC with orders from military staff to attend work as and when they demand it. It doesn't matter when your shift was supposed to start because the army can tell you to start when it wants you to. And if you fail to do so? Because you've just become a member of the military, failure to turn up for work on their command means that you are committing sedition. Mutiny. And anyone who does this is sent to court martial and can end up in a military prison for up to 7 years.

So the state of alert is a method controlling workers by bringing in the army. Thus, ATCs were forced to work at gunpoint in some Spanish airports.

The lessons here are clear. Firstly, whenever there's a labour dispute, the last people to trust are (a) the government, (b) the management, and (c) the media. This should have been clear before but it bears repeating. Secondly, the failure of the general strike on September 29th had one major effect: as we warned, the government felt it could move on and get away with anything. Thirdly, the PSOE has once again displayed a flagrant disregard for workers' rights. The state of alert has set a nasty new precedent. By breaking one of the last taboos of Spanish democracy (the army permitted to take command of civilian infrastructure and the militarisation of civilian staff), the PSOE has made Spain a less just, more dangerous country. Now the cat is out of the bag, we can only wait and see when the state of alert will next be used.

We've been warned by the PSOE not to undertake more strikes against its dismantling of Spain's social system and public infrastructure. Now is the time for another general strike. This time, lets make sure it works.

Reference links:

http://www.slideshare.net/jfsanchiz/desmontando-mentiras-sobres-controladores-areos

http://www.diariodemallorca.es/mallorca/2010/11/28/razones-atasco-acabado/623975.html

http://www.corrientemarxista.org/estado-espanol/9-estado-espanol/348-decretado-el-estado-de-alarma.html

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The first question is the shortest: Why exactly should Catalonia be independent?

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Current results (99% of votes counted):

CiU 62

PSC 28

PPC 18

ICV-EUiA 10

ERC 10

SI 4

C's 3

(PxC 0)

=====

The first results of today's Catalan elections are in. CiU have won a convincing majority, which was to be expected. The PP has replaced ERC as the third largest group in Catalonia. The PSC has lost 10% of its vote. Iniciativa has fared worse than the last polls suggested. Solidaritat Catalana ('SI', Joan Laporta's party) might get as many as 4 seats. Ciutadans have failed to do better than their previous successes.

CiU's probable 66 seats leaves the party just short of an absolute majority in the Catalan parliament, but Artur Mas will be the new president. The question now is whether CiU will attempt to govern as a minority government, or if they'll enter a coalition in order to guarantee the majority. Possible coalition partners would be the PP, ERC or even SI.

The PP would claim that they are the natural partners of CiU, and the two parties have been allied before. But the PP's politics have become significantly more anti-Catalanista since then. It might be difficult to convince CiU activists that such a colition was really in Catalonia's best interests.

Esquerra will obviously want to join a coalition. Their main political strategy recently has been to establish themselves as the kingmakers of Catalan politics. I get the impression that ERC might be a difficult sell too, though, as their support has dropped significantly in these elections. On the other hand, a weakened ERC might make a more attractive partner for CiU. It all comes down to whether CiU wants a Catalanist coalition, or would rather see ERC reduced to a minor force in Catalan politics. I suspect that they might prefer the latter option.

The wildcard here could be SI. Essentially a new party, they look like they could have the seats CiU needs, while also being small enough to be a pliable coalition partner. Personally, I see this as unlikely.

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