Spanish magistrate* Baltasar Garzón was today found guilty in an illegal wiretap trial, one of three cases currently open against him. The Supreme Court has banned him from working as a judge for eleven years, effectively ending his career as a famed 'crusader for justice'.
The sentence leaves Garzón the only significant loser in the Gürtel corruption case which he was prosecuting. The case involves businessman Francisco Correa and numerous members of the ruling Popular Party. Valencian PP leader Francisco Camps was acquitted on corruption charges a few days ago.
The reason all this is so awful is that no one has any real doubt that Camps, Correa et al are guilty as hell. The evidence is there. Garzón's defence (and I admit only a very shaky understanding of the law here) is that the wiretaps, which listened in on conversations between indicted suspects and their lawyers, were justified on the basis that the lawyers themselves were managing money-laundering operations for their clients. But again, that's not even what's wrong.
What's wrong in Spain is a determination in a large part of the ruling class to stop anyone from challenging their corrupt way of running the country. The PP and the PSOE have both been accused of significant political corruption (though I think it's fair to say that the most shockingly extravagant cases usually involve the PP). The courts are highly politicised and have accepted private prosecutions against Garzón (a poppinjay and ass as ever there was) which would have been dismissed without a thought in most countries.
But of course, Spain is not most countries. Just a few years ago, foreign journalists were impressed by the forward-looking example that Spain was setting for Europe. Garzón, social legislation, a seemingly stable economy with impressively low deficits... it almost seemed as if Spain had managed to get something right.
All this has been a great lesson for me... perhaps one of the most important I needed to learn in my journey towards becoming a Spaniard. This is not a country with a great history of democracy or getting things right. And the left here is generally even more inept than the right. And I love this country more every day, even though I know it's a tough place which will displease me endlessly with its stubborn refusal to get things right. And I'm sticking by it. And I'll do something to try to make it better: however Sisyphean a life's task that might be.
==
*Via email, the troublesome nomenclature of magistrate/judge/prosecutor has been pointed out. For the purposes of a nicer text, I'm going to stick with what I've already got. But yeah, he's a judge.
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Spain election result: The right wing PP (Partido Popular) has won a massive victory in Spain's general elections today. They have achieved an absolute majority, as well as controlling all of the regions of Spain except Catalonia and Euskadi (Basque Country).
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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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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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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As part of my apparently ongoing series of Questions for a Catalan Independentist, this post poses a question that wasn't in my original post.
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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If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I went to the doctor the other day. Apart from very occasional trips to get the baixa/alta when I had flu, and once when I broke a rib, I generally avoid doctors. In fact, this was the first scheduled appointment I've ever had in Spain... the first, certainly, for more than 10 years.
The reason for my appointment was simple enough: my ears are blocked up, to the point where I've lost quite a lot of hearing in one of them. Having assumed that this issue would fix itself, in the way the body generally seems to, I arrived at the point where I could hear nothing in my right ear when I got up in the morning. Not good. So I went online and booked an appointment. Everything was going very smoothly.
Until, that is, the nurse called me in to answer some questions about my health and lifestyle. Physical dimensions baffle me: I never remember how tall I am or how much I weigh. Similarly, I've no idea when I last had a tetanus shot. I told the truth about how much wine and beer I drink, and how many cigarettes I smoke (about 5 or 6 a day, to which the response was "well what's the point, then?"). Then she said she'd take my blood pressure. Ah....
The truth is, I was pretty sure I had high blood pressure anyway. I'd probably been avoiding medical checkups partly because I suspected I'd be told something like this. So, yes, she took my blood pressure and frowned. "Have you had your blood pressure read recently?", she asked. "Not for ten years or so," I replied, "Why? Is it very high?". "Not very. But it's high". She took it again to confirm the first reading. It was the same (I'm so bad at this kind of thing, I have no idea what the reading was). The upshot is that I have to go next week and the week after, to properly confirm the result... not that there's probably any need.
The funny thing is that this coincides with a general feeling since I turned 30 that I probably ought to be taking better care of myself. A tasty sandwich every morning, as much coffee as I could stomach, bread and salt as staples... I knew I'd have to knock all of this on the head sometime. But I hadn't really bothered to do anything until the nurse told me what I already knew. So here's my resolution: less salt and bread, more exercise, healthy cereal or yoghurt for breakfast, bacon and eggs (and any type of fast food) only an occasional treat, pâte, foie and embotits in minuscule quantities, decaff when possible, tea without milk in the morning, etc etc.
My ears can be cured with boric acid and some other drops (and yet another visit to the nurse and her pliers). My blood pressure is something I accept that I should manage better now, rather than suffer from later on. My youth, an age of carelessness, is replaced by a bit of responsibility. The worrying thing is: I'm quite happy about it. There must be something wrong with me.
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I've not written anything about WikiLeaks recently because I've found the whole circus surrounding Julian Assange rather dizzying. Reading the commentariat on Guardian Cif has hardly helped my feverish state of mind over the last few days and I must admit that I found myself beginning to loathe my fellow man for a moment. That moment has passed, I'm glad to say.
Suffice to say, I do think that Julian Assange should probably answer these charges in Sweden, but I also have the feeling that this is indeed part of an obvious and concerted campaign to 'get him'. None of this dizziness, however, takes away from the fact that WikiLeaks has been serving up some interesting, if hardly surprising, morsels in the diplomatic cables episode [this blog referenced WikiLeaks a couple of years back regarding the leaked BNP membership list - much more exciting]. Hearing that China isn't a monolithically stupid country convinced that the People's Democratic Republic of Korea is a bastion of like-minded souls against the world didn't take my breath away. Nor did the revelation that Putin's as corrupt as the Church, or that pressure was brought to bear on Spain regarding the Jose Couso case. Sadly, these are slightly depressing truths that we all kind of knew already, just confirmed in dull, bureaucratic language.
To cheer myself up, I've been thinking of some things WikiLeaks could reveal in the future. Here are mine. You can share yours in the comments...
- Memos that prove me right about there being little or no evidence of WMDs in Iraq prior to the war, and that Blair misled parliament.
- Stuff about the banks and how they're all bastards. Ideally some memos proving that they laugh at the rest of us for funding their rescue. Because I'm sure they do.
- Something about alien life. I'm not a conspiracy nut, but after the important-but-nowhere-near-as-exciting-as-it-might-have-been NASA announcement last week, it would be great to read.
- Categorical confirmation that Aznar and the PP intentionally misled the country over 11M.
- Anything that makes Dick Cheney look even madder than he already does (like, he picked out crowns for himself and Bush or something).
- Clear evidence of corruption in FIFA, UEFA and European leagues.
- Anything they have on Dr. David Kelly. I more or less accept the suicide story but the whole case stinks.
- Proof that 9/11 'truthers' are led by a 7-foot lizard.
- Material covering the huge increase in opium crop since the beginning of the Afghanistan war, which companies are profiting and by how much.
- Anything at all to do with Catalan politics. Just so we can see how special they feel.
How about you? What would you like to see revealed by WikiLeaks?
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[I intended to write this sooner but I've been rather knocked out with flu since Saturday.]
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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Many of the pundits and newsreaders who refer to the current economic malaise threatening Europe use one term more than any other: contagion.
The suggestion is that the troubles that have afflicted Greece and now Ireland are a sort of water-borne disease, transmitted through the sewage-laden streams of international finance. And all we want to know is: how do we protect ourselves against this nasty infection? How do we beat the contagion?
The problem is that the crisis affecting Europe isn't bacterial or viral at all. As Portugal, then Spain, Italy and France stand like dominoes waiting to be toppled, economic ministers (who often know nothing of economics) flail around looking for a vaccine. They don't seem to realise that the contagion isn't contagious at all. It's a cancer.
The cancer of neoliberal capitalism has metastacised in multiple countries. It sucks the marrow from the bone and leeches the oxygen from the blood. The only way to get rid of it is surgically. By removing the financial sector from the centre of our national economies, we free ourselves from the carcinogenic effects of its vapours. We might be weakened after the operation but we'll come back stronger.
If there is a spectre haunting Europe at the end of this miserable decade, it is the spectre of neoliberalism. And socialism is the doctor we need. Or the ghostbuster, or something.
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Following on from June's 'Some Questions for a Catalan Independentist' , here are some questions I'd like to pose to those of you who are opposed to the idea of Catalonia becoming independent. These have been harder to for me to formulate for one simple reason: in a debate such as this one, the onus is really on those proposing change (in this case, the independentists) to explain why the rest of us should go along with their proposal. That said, I do feel that there are some questions which do deserve to be asked of those who oppose independence. From my experience in the real world, their arguments against independence often seem to be the most fallacious of all.
- If a suitable majority supported it, why shouldn't Catalonia be independent?
- How would you describe your stance against Catalan nationalism?
- Are you aware of the independentists' historical claims? Do you think they are inaccurate, or irrelevant?
- Do you think its possible that your position is the result of political media campaigns against independence?
- Do you oppose the independence of all 'nation' states, or is your opposition selective?
- Even though you oppose it, do you feel any empathy for those who genuinely believe that their country isn't 'free' unless it's an independent state?
- What action would you take should Catalonia become independent?
- What action should Spain take to prevent Catalonia declaring independence?
- Do you think that Kosovo's independence from Serbia sets a legal precedent?
- Are there any conditions under which you'd accept Catalan independence (e.g. constitutional protection of Spanish speakers)?
- Should Catalonia become independent, would you insist that FC Barcelona be excluded from the LFP?
- Have you ever found yourself chuckling at the epithet 'Cataloonies' while strumming away to the old Iberian Notes blog? (You don't have to answer this one if you really don't want to).
And that's it for the moment. Let me know if you think I've missed out something really glaring. And do feel free to answer some or all of the questions for an independentist too.
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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?
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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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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
...a blog by Tom Clarke in Barcelona, Catalonia, covering politics, culture and society