Mariano Rajoy's PP will win tomorrow's general elections in Spain. The size of the majority it achieves will shape Spanish and Catalan politics for the next few years.
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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Numerous pieces of evidence have surfaced that seem to prove that the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's autonomous police force, used agents provocateurs during yesterday's #15M movement protests outside the Catalan parliament. The protesters had gathered in the parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona in an attempt to prevent MPs from accessing the parliament, where they were scheduled to vote in a raft of austerity measures and tax cuts.
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.
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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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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Many people who live in Spain, as well as lots of observers outside the country, have been asking the same question for the last few months: where are the young people?
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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This morning on Els Matins, Barcelona mayoral candidate for the PPC (Catalan PP), Alberto Fernández, made it clear that his party is committed to the xenophobic campaign line it has been pursuing for some time here.
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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The latest issue of Monocle magazine includes a report on work hours around the world. It starts off by interviewing one Nuria Chinchilla of IESE Barcelona (where I get sent for re-education from time to time). The segment includes this line (written by the author, Sophie Grove, not la Chinchilla):
It's 15.00 in Barcelona, the time when every shady bench is taken up by snoozing Catalans.
Upon reading this, my immediate response was: "Well this is utter bollocks, no one in Barcelona still works those hours. So how can I believe Grove when she writes about South Korea?".
But then I thought to myself: before I write a letter to the editor of Monocle stating the above, maybe I should check with the half-dozen miscreants who prowl these pages looking for a fight. Maybe I'm lucky: I work for a fairly forward-thinking Catalan company which has never had a policy supporting 2 or 3 hour lunchbreaks. But perhaps I'm in the minority. So the question is:
In your Barcelona-based job, are you expected to take a lunch break of more than 1 hour a day?
Additional points awarded to anyone who agrees with me that rather than the hackneyed siesta/lazy Spaniard theme, Grove might have done better to cover the jornada intensiva, which lets me work an extra 45 mins Monday through Thursday so that I can leave at 15.00 on Friday. Comments in general about work hours here, in Catalonia and Spain are always welcome.
As usual, you can vote over there to the right of this post >>>>>
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MGMT - Congratulations
Following their hit debut, Oracular Spectacular, was always going to be difficult. And lots of people seemed to find Congratulations a let down. True, it's lighter on obvious hits than the last disc. But this album makes up for that by being an unabashed bit of hero worship. Every song is packed with musical and lyrical references to MGMT's influences, sometimes making it seem more like a covers album than anything else. But the more subdued songwriting and an over all more melancholy sound (notwithstanding some outstanding chorus explosions) led me to love Congratulations even more than Oracular Spectacular. And live, it was even better.
Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)
Janelle Monáe is really cool. Originally given the nod by Sean Combs because her MySpace videos showed no flesh, and because she 'sounded different', her music is a combination of soul, funk and hip-hop and it's 100% pop. She might be the new David Bowie. The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) is effectively two EPs on one album, both smoothly combined as single compostions and packing an incredible number of great tunes, inventive rhythms and intriguing android-themed lyrics. The album is produced by Big Boi and there is definitely a pretty clear Outkast influence on its sound... with is always a good thing. She's playing live in Barcelona next February.
Wavves - King of the Beach
I don't know much about these guys but I gather they've divided opinion among their target hipster audience. King of the Beach is just a great collection of surf rock songs played in a psychedelic mode. The album is essentially about being a lazy bum who smokes weed at the beach all summer. If that sounds obnoxious and sad, you won't like this album. If, on the other hand, you think it reminds you of good times, and you like the idea of Beach Boys riffs played at quadruple speed with a ton of fuzz, you will like this album. The band is constantly shedding members (they had a disastrous on-stage meltdown in Barcelona in 2009), so I've no idea what they sound like currently. Either way, the record is cool. I might sneak a few tracks onto the New Year's Eve playlist.
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One of the most frustrating debates I have with other expats (never Spaniards) in Barcelona is the one about Catalan school teaching. I know various Poles, Brits and Germans who bang on about Catalan being a stupid/dead/useless language and how they'd rather have their (real or imagined) kids educated in Castilian Spanish. Not one of these people speaks any Catalan. And they've been here for years.*
Of course, that's each individual's prerogative. Speak whatever language you like. But if you've been here for a few years and you don't speak a word of it, something's wrong. You know why? It's not that hard.
If you speak Spanish, Italian or French, you should be able to pick up some Catalan in weeks. I'm not talking about nivell C, but you should be able to understand a school teacher if you've been here for a few years. You just should. If you don't, you're either incapable or unwilling. What's it to be?
I'm happy to talk about language policy etc, with someone who can speak Catalan (like Trevor at kalebeul). But if you've made no effort to learn it - and it's just NOT THAT DIFFICULT - then your opinion means nothing to me. Make the effort, then you're entitled to your opinion.
==
*It is surely a coincidence that many of these people are given to a weird sort of anti-immigrant casual racism which is as unpleasant as it is illogical. Guys, you are immigrants. So am I. Do you lack all self knowledge?!
/rant
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It's that time of year again! As Barcelona's winter continues to fling a surprising array of nastiness at us, we're already getting the occasional day that lets us dream of spring. And spring in Barcelona means one thing: the Primavera Sound festival. This year's festival takes place from the 27th to the 29th of May, at the Parc del Fòrum.
This is the line up so far. It's pretty much final, though a few more acts will likely be named. The big names so far appear to be The Charlatans, The Fall, Gary Numan, Orbital, Pet Shop Boys, Pixies, Wilco and Wire.
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
Apse
Atlas Sound
Beach House
Beak>
Ben Frost
Best Coast
Bigott
Bis
Biscuit
Black Lips
Black Math Horseman
Boy 8-Bit
Broken Social Scene
Built To Spill
Camaron, La Leyenda Del Tiempo
Circulatory System
CocoRosie
Cohete
Cold Cave
Condo Fucks
Crocodiles
Delorean
Diplo
Dr. Dog
Dum Dum Girls
Emilio José
Endless Boogie
Fake Blood
Florence + The Machine
Fuck Buttons
Ganglians
Gary Numan
Grizzly Bear
Half Foot Outside
HEALTH
Here We Go Magic
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Japandroids
Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
Joker featuring Nomad
Junip
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Les Savy Fav
Lidia Damunt
Liquid Liquid
Low performing "The Great Destroyer"
Major Lazer
Marc Almond
Matt & Kim
Mission Of Burma
Moderat
Monotonix
Mujeres
Nana Grizol
No Age
Nueva Vulcano
ODDSAC
Orbital
Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy)
Panda Bear
Pavement
Pet Shop Boys
Pixies
Polvo
Real Estate
Roddy Frame
Scout Niblett
Seefeel
Shellac
Sian Alice Group
Sic Alps
Sleigh Bells
Spoon
Standstill
Sunny Day Real Estate
Superchunk
Surfer Blood
The Almighty Defenders
The Antlers
The Big Pink
The Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77
The Books
The Bundles
The Charlatans performing "Some Friendly"
The Clean
The Drums
The Fall
The Field
The King Khan & BBQ Show
The New Pornographers
The Psychic Paramount
The Slits
The Smith Westerns
The Wave Pictures
The XX
Thee Oh Sees
Titus Andronicus
Tortoise
Ui
Wilco
Wild Beasts
Wild Honey
Wire
Yeasayer
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Yesterday was Gemma's birthday, which we celebrated with tapas, cake, cava and beer at Glaçiar in Plaça Reial. We left at about 2am, and headed through the passage way back onto the Rambla dels Caputxins, emerging onto that stretch with a taxi rank between Ferran and Escudellers, also known as pickpocket central. Here is the basic info you need to know about the 'drunk girl trafficked' scam:
People involved: At least 3 people take part. Firstly, a young blonde woman who appears to be drunk - she's eating a kebab and with her podgy body and blonde hair could have been English... from her accent we think she was more likely from he former Soviet Union; secondly, one Latin-American man with a mobile phone, and a Spanish-looking man with a pony tail.
What happens: blonde girl approaches from the centre of the Ramblas. Apparently drunk, she collapses and nearly drops her kebab in front of bemused locals/marks who tut and then try to help her out of the road. Meanwhile, two men apparently unknown to each other join the melée, eventually making it appear that they're both tying to take the girl away. Ideally, civic attitudes and 'having heard of people trafficking' kick in, making the marks attempt to ascertain whether the 'victim' really knows her new friends. Of course she does, but not it's not how it looks!
At this point, the girl dropped her kebab. Looking back, this could either have been a genuinely convincing piece of acting, or it was a signal to move on to phase 3.
While Gemma's aunt continued trying to establish if the girl was OK, one of the guys managed to move behind me. As he made a grab for my wallet, he nudged me - certainly accidentally - and alerted me to their intentions. I barked "We're going!" in Catalan to Gemma's aunt, and dragged her into the waiting cab. We got away safely and without anything missing.
In all, this little piece of street theatre took about one minute to unfold. It must have been carefully planned and although I think I've heard of something similar, I can't find any references to the scam at the excellent Kovaks PI website. This, like all the most pernicious scams, is based on manipulating a person's built-in civism (rather than, say, their greed or lust, when in my opinion the mark gets all he deserves). As soon as the girl fell over, we were probably at risk of losing our bags/wallets. The fact that my man with the ponytail messed up his move on my wallet suggests that either this particular iteration of the scam is new, or the guy was new to it. It might well be that they thought they'd practice the scam on Saturday night because from today until next weekend, BCN will be rammed with sales executives packing expensive mobile phones and American-style wallets full of cash.
The thing to do, of course, when a girl falls over in the street, is call for the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police force). Likewise, if two men seem to be fighting over a drunk girl who doesn't know either of them, the thing to do is call for the Mossos. Shouting "Mossos! Policia!" might make you look like a berk but there are lots of cops around there and they'll turn up in no time.
Some useful info for visitors to Barcelona:
Catalan police phone number: 088
General emergency number: 112
Police officers on Les Rambles will always be in uniform and will always have an ID card (and normally a gun!)
Kovaks P.I. - the #1 resource for Barcelona street scam stories. Worth a read even if you're not coming to Barcelona
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One of Spain's greatest and oldest cultural traditions is in danger of dying out completely because of EU legislation. The European laws, designed to protect citizens' 'liberty' were introduced without a moment's thought about the impact they'd have on this crucial feature of Spanish culture. I am, of course, talking about Spain's true Fiesta Nacional.
Ever since the 1st century BCE, Spaniards have enjoyed the spectacle of gladiators locked in combat, fighting until one (or ideally all) of them dies a heroic death. Indeed, recent evidence proves that a Spaniard was himself the very bravest of Rome's gladiators - he killed a nasty emperor and temporarily saved the empire from something.
But all this is now under threat - because of a bunch of killjoy lawmakers obsessed by destroying Spanish culture. EU legislators introduced so called 'human rights legislation' many years ago, but it is these laws that might now be used to stop us from enjoying one of the great cultural pursuits this country has to offer. And the sad thing is that this could all be prevented if the do-gooders understood that live gladiator fights aren't really about men killing each other for the enjoyment of a crowd of baying monsters. You see, gladiator fighting is about so much more than that.
For those who haven't yet had a chance to enjoy the spectacle of a gladiator fight, I'm going to explain a little of what makes it so special. First of all, there's the amphitheatre it's held in: these grand stadia have their roots in Roman architecture and are designed so that wherever a viewer sits, they can see the action. Amphitheatres used to litter Spanish cities like discarded sunflower seed shells, but now only a few remain. It's worth remembering that Barcelona had loads of the places, while Madrid (which didn't exist when the Romans occupied Spain) had none. Why that's worth remembering, I'm not sure... but remember it, OK?
Next up is the sense of ceremony that surrounds the whole event. The gladiators are held in a sort of pen just before they're released into the arena, and when they appear in their beautiful costumes, you can almost believe you're watching ballet rather than deadly combat. Actually, I'm not sure about that: ballet exists as a way of interpreting violence, passion and the human experience by way of dance. Gladiatorial combat interprets violence by way of goading men to murder each other. But it's still quite full of movement, I suppose.
The deaths, while certainly not the focus of gladiatorial combat, are really cool! Some of the best gladiators can make a rival's suffering defence last for up to an hour, drawing the process of killing their opponent (which is not the main focus of the fight at all) into what seems like a true fight between equals. Of course, the truth is that the professional gladiators always win because their competitors, dumb and useless beasts that they are, are often drugged, underfed and tortured prior to the main event. Well, you wouldn't want the star to die, would you?! Anyway, the death isn't even the most important bit.
The most important bit is... everything. Of course, everything is geared in a way that it climaxes in the death... but that doesn't mean it's just about killing. You can buy an ice cream from the little man who sells them... and if he stands in the way of a good killing, just tell him to get the fuck out of the way. Because the death, while not the most important bit, is a moment so wholly Spanish - so ancient and lovely - that you really shouldn't miss it. Yes, the death is not the most important part of the gladiator fight. It's the killing.
Oh and, before you bring it up, no we really don't see the killing as cruel. I mean, most of these guys are losers and criminals anyway. Sure, they're doomed to die terrified but imagine how they'd feel if they caught lung cancer from second hand smoke. That'd be a much worse way to go... so you see, they're really the lucky ones.
Can we really afford to lose this ancient, lovely and cool spectacle? To me, it seems self-evident that gladiatorial combat is above silly modern notions like 'humanity' or 'law'. Clearly, amendments should be made to this legislation to ensure that future generations can enjoy the killing with their own eyes? As has been pointed out, these fights exist: it's up to the opponents of gladiators killing each other to prove why it's suddenly wrong.
So, dear reader, I call on you to join with me in defence of this noble pursuit. Together, we can preserve barbarity in these perplexing times.
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This new poll is borne from a post I read today at Jeremy Holland's From Barcelona blog. But it's also, I must admit, something I've probably grumbled about before.
Among the people writing about Catalonia in English, there seems to be little consensus as to what we call the place. I always use the English form 'Catalonia', Jeremy uses the Catalan 'Catalunya', Graeme at South of Watford uses the Spanish 'Cataluña'... doubtless someone out there (Trevor?) uses the archaic 'Cathalunya'.
My reasons for using the English form are fairly simple: firstly, consistency. In my guise as a sort-of-managing-editor, I spend plenty of time making sure that everyone writing for our website writes as consistently as possible. That is, we have a house style which should always be applied. So we write in American English, generally try to avoid jargon - sometimes a difficult task when writing about technology, and use the same naming conventions when referring to organisations, places or people. The idea of consistency in such writing is that a reader should never have to trouble themselves as to why we're suddenly using a different word to describe something. I use 'Catalonia', 'Spain' and 'Seville' because I'm attempting to maintain some sense of consistency in the way I write (though a quick search shows that I have used 'Sevilla' a few times!). I feel that the majority of news organisations and works of reference would agree with me when I say that as a rule, toponyms ought to be written in the same language as the rest of the article.
The second reason I prefer the English form of the name is that when I'm writing in English, I'll use an English word wherever possible. This has nothing to do with any kind of linguistic conservatism: though my 'trade' involves the constant use of English, I'm the first to proclaim that one of its great strengths is the lack of an Academy that protects it from foreign influence. I do, however, broadly agree with George Orwell's Six Rules for clear political writing. As far as I'm concerned, 'Catalonia' is a perfectly decent English word that has been in use for hundreds of years and, like 'Spain' does the job admirably well. So why opt for the Catalan version? To me, it sounds like an affectation, particularly when this exception - this break in consistency - is applied only to 'Catalunya', and not to 'Spain'.
Jeremy makes a couple of points when explaining why he prefers the Catalan form. He's right to say that using 'Catalunya' hardly makes a piece of writing harder to understand. Pretty much anyone reading either of our blogs would be perfectly comfortable with the Catalan toponym. He also talks about the fluidity of English and its willingness to absorb words from other languages and cultures - something I mentioned above. But he does rather cloud the issue I thought we were talking about: whether there's a correct way to name the place in English. He also introduces something of a red herring: street names and people's names. To me, calling Joan, 'John' is incorrect... and calling the Plaça de Catalunya 'Catalonia Square' just aren't the same thing as calling Catalunya, Catalonia.
But I may be wrong. Jeremy has promised that he'll change and start using the English form if that's what most Catalans say they prefer. I'm not going to change the naming conventions I use, no matter what you say. But I am interested in hearing what you think. So the question is: when writing in English, what's the correct way to refer to the place? Catalonia, Catalunya, Cataluña, or something else entirely? As always, vote early & often to the right >>>
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TV3 is reporting that of the 700,000 people eligible to vote in today's referendum/consultations, 200,000 voted. If that number is correct, the turnout stands at just under 30%.
What does this mean for Catalonia? There are several points to take into consideration (which affect any interpretation of events in various ways):
- The consultations were non-official and therefore certainly not taken as seriously as an official referendum would be. This means that the approx. 30% who did take part probably come from more politicised parts of Catalan society. I suspect that pro-independence elements will have voted more strongly (based on the fact that only the pro-independence movements seemed to be drumming up any support for the ballots). The other 70% of the population would likely include far more anti-independence voters than today's result will indicate.
- The consultations were carried out in largely rural towns and villages, which traditionally demonstrate a much stronger level of support for Catalan independence. Barcelona and its suburbs, along with Tarragona and environs have large numbers of voters, including many with a more Spain-centric (and sometimes right-wing nationalist) point of view than will likely be seen in today's results.
- The consultations seemed to go without mention at all on TVE 1 this morning. For an official referendum, we can imagine that their coverage would have been different.
- The consultations allowed votes from anyone over 16 and registered in the municipality concerned. An official referendum would likely follow Spanish/European electoral law and limit the electorate to Spanish citizens aged over 18. I'll add that I'd like it if 16-18 year olds, and non-Spanish citizens were allowed to vote in elections. But they're not.
- The consultations have happened at a time when general support for Spanish PM Zapatero is very low (as was possibly intended). A PM from the Partido Popular would likely increase the pro-independence vote. A more popular Zapatero (or alternative) might well reduce it.
It remains to be seen what effect these consultations in the form of a referendum will have on Catalonia's political future. My bet is that whatever the result, ERC, CUP and the CdC will claim it as a vote in favour for an official referendum within the next two or three years.
Barcelona, if it ever manages to hold a similar consultation, will always be the decider.
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This weekend, 700,000 people in Catalonia are eligible to vote in the region's first ever referendum on independence from Spain.
Or at least, that's how the BBC has it. Tomorrow will be interesting because the turnout will give everyone an idea of how far CUP, ERC and even CiU can run with independence as a vote winner. But Barcelona and the more 'Spanish' suburbs (like Cerdanyola) aren't taking part. As I've pointed out elsewhere: we all know that if it were up to Vic, Catalonia would have declared independence years ago.
I'll be watching tomorrow's results with some interest. But I'd rather they had a proper vote, and we could all be done with it.
tombcn.com - my blog posts about travel, books, food and music
It's not clear whether the Guardia's elite Jazz Investigation Unit was sent out to Sigüenza or if they simply consulted its Contemporary Arts Bureau.
For what it's worth, I don't like genre labels as they always end up being exclusive rather than inclusive. Here's hoping that the Anti-Folk Brigade don't get called out to tonight's Jeffrey Lewis gig in Barcelona.
tombcn.com - my blog posts about travel, books, food and music
...a blog by Tom Clarke in Barcelona, Catalonia, covering politics, culture and society