Jimmy Burns's Blog, page 4
December 23, 2017
Duelists in El Clasico
If there was an enduring image of today’s El Clasico it is that of Lionel Messi celebrating his penalty. He spreads out his legs, pumps his chest out and raises head and arms to the fans like Moses displaying the most important commandment.
That the stadium, happened to be Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu and the fans in teir vast majority home-grown and visceral tribal opponents of FC Barcelona made the gesture defiant in itself. What made it cheeky was that it broke with Messi’s usually more modest grsture to his late granny in heaven and instead caricatured Cristiano Ronaldo’s favourite goal scoring pose, designed to draw attention to himself.
Lest we forget there has been a lot of goal scoring between the two players over time, quite unprecedented in fact. Its taken years of rivalry for the two not only to be on another planet when it comes to goal scoring in all competitions, but also to break practically every statistic known, but in doing so, to converge in their self-belief.
Prior to today’s encounter, Ronaldo trained alone for two days just to get fit-so much did he care about it. But if he had just equalled Messi in numbers of Golden Balls won- five each now- Messi was damned if that was going to leave him trailing , not least when it came to an El Clasico performance in enemy territory.
Thus a strange osmosis took place in this game of two halves. Ronaldo was the key danger man in the first half, running poor Sergio Roberto ragged trying several shots at goal in the first forty-five minutes..
As for the first goal of the match,, it was the kind that a motivated FC Barcelona should and did take, emulating the hosts, with a lightening counter-attack started with Busquets passing to Rakitic who sprinted into space in the middle of the pitch. He then beat Modric and then just as Varane tried to close him now , leaving Suarez unmarked, Rakituc passed to the Uruguayan who slammed it into the net from 12 yards. The goal seemed made to look so simple by a Real Madrid that looked ludicrously exposed.
The third goal in extra time should never have been allowed. A repay showed the ball and Messi across the right hand touchline.
But it was game over by then , well won by a Barca team that while still far from the brilliance of the Guardiola years had Iniesta ceacelessy marshalling the troops and Messi running around ,in selfless support, and a permanent threat to the men in white.
It’s rare to see Ronaldo and Messi in direct physical contact with each other. But Ronaldo stole the ball from Messi’s feet just in front of the Real Madrid goal, and from the same position headed off a Messi corner . On a third occasion Ronaldo blocked a pass from Messi that had it reached its destination might have opened up another opportunity at goal.
This was a game with several chances missed by both sides with one each by Ronaldo and Messi saved by some brilliant goalkeeping by ter Stegen and Navas respectively.
Not the greatest or most passionate of Clasicos with Real Madrid fans abandoning the stadium before the end so as not delay their lunch much longer (kick-off was I pm local time in order to placate those wanting to watch the game in Asia, gamblers many of them I presume ).
It was a game that nonetheless showed elements of a duel between the two best football players on earth and that, I guess, in itself may have satisfied part but not all of the estimated half billion global audience.
Given that this was a Clasico played just two days after the politically highly charged Catalan elections, it was a football match strangely showing little evident signs of its politics. There were very flags of any description, and whistles and boos for the visitors and Viva Espanas diminished as the game wore on.
There were no huge bust up with the referee, or between the players. In the end of wasn’t Ronaldo who threw a hissy fit, but Isco who was evidently furious with Zidane for leaving him on the bench and bringing on Bale , along with Asencio and Nacho,instead.
By contrast Barca’s achievement seemed all the greater given that it had nowhere near Real Madrid’s strength in depth- but it not a memorable performance by either team.
It was as if the players deep down were looking forward to their two weeks Christmas break, and didn’t want to spoil the season of good will by turning the match into a battle zone. Even Real Madrid’s Carvajal’s red card for handling Barca’s Paulinho’s shot at goal seemed paradoxically gifted- for it led to Messi’s penalty.
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December 22, 2017
Tomorrow’s unmissable El Clasico
Doubt it not – tomorrow Saturday’s El Clasico – Real Madrid ‘s Spanish league encounter with FC Barcelona is already much more than a football game. With the star studded teams in two of the best clubs led by the two best players in the world-Messi and Ronaldo- and followed by billions of viewers around the world , this is anticipated as one of the great unmissable sporting spectacles of the year.
But this historically politically charged occasion between two great rivals is likely to be played with added drama and tension, coming in the midst of Spain’s biggest political crisis in its 40 years of democratic rule.
The disputed results of local elections in Catalonia last Thursday night have left Catalan society deeply polarised between parties wanting independence from Spain led by the outlawed former president of the Catalan regional government Carlos Puigdemont , and those who defend the unity of Spain led by the charismatic and youthful young woman leader of the centrist Ciutadans ,(Citizens Party) , Ines Arramidas.
Visitors FC Barcelona face a hostile reception in the Spanish capital from local fans when players step out into Real Madrid’s impressive Bernabeu stadium at one o’oclock pm local Spanish time, the start hour picked so as to attract a maximum TV and internet Asian audience.
Both teams have everything to play for with fans focused on the most spectacular rivalry between two players in the history of footbal.l Both FC Barcelona Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo have been breaking all time goal records over the last decade, and have each won five world player of the year awards known as the golden boot.
FC Barcelona are anxious to make up for the humiliation of last season when Real Madrid won both the Spanish League and the European Champions league. But Real Madid are currently trailing FC Barcelona in the Spanish League by 12 points and both teams are in the last sixteen of this year’s Champions League.
Bad blood has already been spilt with FC Barcelona announcing a few days ago that it will not line up –as tradition demands- and applause its rival for winning the recent World club competition organized in the Midde East, on on the rather spurious grounds that is it is not a competition that FC Barcelona played in this season.
As always Real Madrid fans and newspaper have accused FC Barcelona of playing Catalan politics against the Spanish government in Madrid. Barca, as it is popularly known, has for much of its modern history been more than just one of the world’s leading football clubs. It is a social, cultural and political phenomenon — mes que un club, as its motto goes — and its sense of identity is framed by Catalan nationalism. Now the polarization in Catalan society and Spain as a whole over the issue of independence is threatening to throw the club into disarray.
The club has come a long way since its foundation in 1899 by a group of foreign expatriates living in Barcelona. Anti-Madrid sentiment flared in the year of the club’s foundation when the Spanish empire lost the last of its colonies in the Caribbean. And its early years coincided with the first great surge of political Catalan nationalism as the region began to agitate for greater autonomy.
In later years, FC Barcelona became known as a Catalan team — and suffered the consequences whenever the Spanish state moved to suppress the rights of the Catalan people.
During the Spanish Civil War, the pro-independence deputy of the Catalan regional parliament, Josep Sunyol — then Barca’s president — was executed by General Francisco Franco’s forces near Madrid, and many of the club’s members were politically persecuted by the Francoist regime that ruled between 1939-1975.
Many Barca fans are overwhelmingly pro-independence — as is evident by the Catalan flags they wave and their chants during home matches at Camp Nou stadium but many also voted for Ciutadans, considering themselves Catalan and Spanish and huge supporters of the Spanish national team as well as of their local club.
The transition to democratic rule recharged Catalan nationalist aspirations and, for the club, an era of football excellence associated with the Dutch-born player (and later coach) Johan Cruyff. His arrival in Barcelona in 1974 was a defining moment that cemented the club’s political and cultural trajectory. In those years, Barca became a universally respected sporting institution at a hugely significant moment in Spanish history.
During Cruyff’s first season, Barca played football not only with an enormous self-confidence but also with particular vengeance against the one opponent that had always mattered, beating Real Madrid in its own Bernabeu stadium 5-0 in 1974.
Cruyff’s contribution to Real Madrid’s defeat, as the New York Times’ correspondent wrote in its aftermath, did more for the spirit of the Catalan nation in 90 minutes than many politicians had achieved in years of stifled nationalist struggle. Indeed, Cruyff — nicknamed El Salvador — was never just a footballer.
At a time when Spain was still ruled by a repressive dictatorship, Cruyff brought much needed social and cultural fresh air from his native Netherlands. His defiance of the Franco regime’s prohibitive laws on the use of the Catalan language — he registered his son with the Catalan name Jordi — came to symbolize the sense of imminent liberation that democratic Spaniards were feelings in the dying days of the old dictator.
The late Johan Cruyff both played for and managed FC Barcelona | Shaun Botterill/Allsport via Getty Images
As a player, Cruyff went on to give fans like myself many more hours of sheer delight, as a new, post-Franco Spain took its place among the democratic nations of Europe. But it was his second coming to FC Barcelona as coach that would prove more successful and far-reaching in sporting terms.
If Cruyff had done nothing else, Barca’s victory in the European Cup final at Wembley in the summer of 1992 would have earned him a significant place in the club’s official history. Thanks to “dream team” that Cruyff cpached and Dutch footballer Roland Koeman’s winning goal Roland Koeman’s winning goal, Barca became European champions for the first time — and the first Spanish champions since Real Madrid won the title more than a quarter of a century before.
It would take several more years for Barca to catch up with Real Madrid in terms of national and international achievement, but it entered a new golden period under Pep Guardiola, a Catalan player-turned-coach who took his inspiration from Cruyff. Guardiola — who, after his successful time at Barca, moved to Bayern Munich and is now at Manchester City — is one of several celebrated Catalan nationalists associated with Barca that supported theOctiber 1 referndum and independence outlawed by Madrid.
Barca player and Spanish national Gerard Pique— also known as the husband of pop star Shakira — is also among the most well-known supporters of the Catalan cause, and is booed and whistled at by Spanish unionists whenever he plays for Spain.
Many Barca fans, too, are overwhelmingly pro-independence — as is evident by the Catalan flags they wave and their chants during home matches at Camp Nou stadium. They call for independence on the 17-minute mark of each half of a match to symbolically mark the year 1714, a key year in Catalan nationalist mythology in which Catalonia lost its autonomy to Spain in the War of the Succession.
The club as an institution has a fan base that extends across borders, but its location in Barcelona makes its susceptible to local politics. Last month it was among at least 4,000 signatories of the National Agreement for the Referendum, a group comprising political parties and civil society organizations in favor of the Catalan independence vote.
It has never shied away from flying its nationalist colors, but speculation that Barca might quit or be forced out of the hugely popular Spanish Football League is unlikely — at least not immediately.
For all its Catalan identity, FC Barcelona has become a major global business venture, its sponsorship and marketing revenue boosted by its rivalry with Real Madrid, both within the Spanish League and the Champions League. The popularity of star players like Lionel Messi and Andrés Iniesta — who are non-political but who command high salaries and fuel huge broadcast fees thanks to this kind of exposure — also make it unlikely the club could lose its position.
Neither would it leave of its own volition. Playing in a minor Catalan league means players of Messi’s caliber would flee the big club, and those losses would have a severe knock-on effect, diminishing the club’s interest and value.
About 70 percent of Spanish club football’s commercial value is tied up in the enduring rivalry between these two super clubs and their non-Catalan superstars.
Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu told the club’s recent annual general meeting that he wants to stay in La Liga: “We will never put the club nor its presence in any competition at risk. That’s why, to all the socios [members], I say that we want to continue playing in La Liga and, as of today, our participation is guaranteed,” he said, adding it was “mutually beneficial” for both the league and Barca to continue to maintain their link.
For now, with the outcome of the Catalan crisis remaining uncertain in the after math of the December 21 regional elections,, there is no strong pressure for FC Barcelona to leave the Spanish League.
Most football analysts note that neither Real Madrid nor FC Barcelona want the Catalan club expelled from La Liga, as about 70 percent of Spanish club football’s commercial value is tied up in the enduring rivalry between these two super clubs and their non-Catalan superstars. No matter what happens politically, it’s likely Madrid and Barcelona won’t score an own-goal by severing their ties. (This is an updated version of an article that appeared last month in Politico. )
Jimmy Burns is a journalist and author of three best-selling football books, “Hand of God;” “Barca: A People’s Passion;” and “La Roja.” His dual biography of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will be published next year.
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Catalonia’s Democratic Deficit
Nothing quite like a Catalan regional election to show the world what a huge democratic deficit prevails in that part of Spain.
High on my list of failed characters is Carlos Puigdemont, a man who would have been disciplined and almost certainly sacked as a senior executive of any transparent business or the leader of any truly democratic party, but resurrects because he stands for a movement that believes only in its own narrow nationalist interests and has projected himself, quiet falsely, as the martyr of a noble cause.
He did not win the Catalan elections. The most voted leader in Catalonia was Ines Arrimadas whose Ciutadans party was the only one to see its electorate support increase substantially from the last election . Puigdemont’s claim to power, made in a ‘victory’ speech lacking any semblance of statesmanship, rests simply on opportunity and self-interest that ignores the votes of the majority party.
But worse is Puigdemont’s utter lack of remorse or contrition for having contributed to the absolute mess Catalonia is in socially and economically- a society utterly divided, and a huge fall off in investment and companies operating in Catalonia-the consequence of his decision to defy Spain laws and declare independence unilaterally, something no reasonable Scott or Basque Nationalist , let alone true anti-Brexit European would ever dream of.
By declaring last night that the “The Republic of Catalunya has won”, Puigdemont seems to expect that Spain’s justice system will simply accept that as a fact and allow him back into Spain free of charges of sedition and be crowned President again. His premise is false so that such an outcome may be unreal. For the courts to declare him innocent would be for them to accept he has been a victim of political persecution by the ‘ illegal’ state of Spain-unless he admits his was an illegal act originally.
The fact remains however that Puigdemont has found the victim card a political gift that has historically played well within Catalan nationalism. He now claims that of course Arrimadas only won what she won because it wasn’t a level playing field, when he knows that had he and other politicians not been prosecuted, they may have well have lost their majority of deputies , as well as votes.
Meanwhile the great loser of the Catalan elections is the Spanish prime-minister Mariano Rajoy who took the gamble of calling the Catalan elections, and can now claim zero credit. His Partido Popular sank to a derisory minimalist vote, just above the animals rights movement, not because many supporters voted tactically for Arrimadas, although some may have done so , but because an overwhelming majority of Catalans-right, left and centre- feel unrepresented by Mr Rajoy’s PP and because Ines Arrimadas , a young face, without a past, and with a fresh message capable of reaching beyond partisan or nationalist interests, represents to many the only voice of reason and compassion capable of countering the demagoguery of Puigdemont and partners.
Last night’s result gave a signal that Mr Rajoy has no legitimacy to lead, let alone broker any kind of a deal in Catalonia that can serve the interests of the whole of Spain, and Europe.
For now we have the spectacle of both My Puigdemont and Ms Arrimadas claiming they have won, despite each knowing that it is only half the truth.
Apart from claiming rhetorically that they speak for the interests of all Catalans, they have inhabited different ideological and political planets . Arramidas is as viscerally opposed to Catalan nationhood as Puigdemont is to having Catalonia part of the Spain as defined by the current constitution. They need to develop a shared space station. Politics is the art of the possible.
In the cold light of this morning I am struggling to see the Catalan election result as anything but a disaster for Catalonia and for Spain. The priority must be to avert the situation from spiralling into confrontation. There is a need for soft diplomacy and statesmanship which have been lacking until now. Puigdemont and Arrimadas need to defuse and dialogue, while in Madrid the PP should call for an extraordinary party conference to elect a new leader capable of helping forge a new consensual policy towards Catalonia that is in the best interests of Catalonia and Spain.
My lament is that the Catalan election campaign failed to produce the equivalent of Gordon Brown’s speech on the eve of the Scottish referendum when he appealed to the common good.
As the son of a Scot and a Castilian who has visited and lived in Catalonia childhood and counts Catalans among my many Spanish frends, the other night I dreamt I was on platform with Ines Arrimadas as she was making a speech passionately along these paraphrased lines. I wasn’t and she didn’t but there is still time.
“This is our Catalunya. Catalunya does not belong to the No campaign. Catalunya does not belong to the Yes campaign,” he said. “This is not their flag, their country, their culture, their streets.”
“There is not a cemetery in Spain that does not have Catalans, along with Castilians, Basques, Aragonese, Andaluzes, Gallegos,Asturians, and Cantabrians side by side. Our parents and grandparents suffered in one way or the other and made sacrifices but they and us built the peace and prosperity of modern Catalonia in Spain, in Europe together. What we have built together by sacrificing and sharing, let no narrow nationalism split asunder ever.”
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October 27, 2017
The Catalan Tragedy
The Catalonian UDI declared by pro-independence members of the Catalan parliament who command a slim majority of regional deputies, would be a farce if it were not so tragic.
Don’t be taken in by anti-system youths euphorically waving Catalan Independence flags and emotional memories of Franco’s repression and comments about this ‘day of liberation.’
Spain has had forty years of democracy. It is not run by a dictatorship. It believes in the rule of law and has every right to defend it.
The UDI was declared with scant regard for the opinion of over 50 per cent of the Catalan population who did not vote in the referendum on October Ist because it was unlawful and because they do not want to separate from Spain.
The UDI is a violation of parliamentary legality and Catalonia’s own statute of autonomy.
The UDI is in defiance not just of the democratically elected government of Spain but of all the major opposition parties represented in the democratically elected Spanish parliament.
The UDI has no political credibility let alone legality within the European Union.
THE UDI counts on the support of much less than half the voting population in Catalonia who voted in an unlawful and politically manipulated referendum.
The UDI as democratic as a Latin American military coup , a populist fascist or communist uprising, an African bogus election, or a fundamentalist breakaway Islamic state.
The UDI reeks of the kind of intolerant fanatical nationalisms and anarchy that in the past provoked wars.
It is also a monstrous act of self-delusion given that Catalonia has neither the currency, business support nor security apparatus, let alone international complicity, to self-govern as an outlawed state.Only Putin and the next active cell of Islamist terrorists must be relishing this moment of apparent disintegration.
Catalonia’s UDI is act of folly carried out by a cabal of utterly irresponsible self-serving power intoxicated and in some cases corrupt politicians, driven by their agitprop supporters who vote with their feet, and think that politics is resolved by pulling down a flag and putting up another one or by the numbers of militants you can mobilise on the streets.
My heart goes out to my Catalan friends who are against Independence but must now fear their world will fall apart as they are caught in the cross-fire of those who ignored them for too long both in Barcelona and Madrid. They are watching the attempted destruction of the multinational pluralistic, tolerant outward creative society that was once Catalonia. What a terrible tragedy for Catalonia, and Spain.
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October 21, 2017
Modern Spain’s Unchartered Territory
The phrase Direct Rule has a certain resonance for a British and US media sensitised by the not so distant memories of Northern Ireland where the British government sent in the army to try and maintain law and order at the height of the Troubles.
Its use to describe the next stage of the Catalan crisis may be convenient short hand but it is not a phrase that the jurisprudential Spanish prime-minister Mariano Rajoy has opted to use. Instead the phrase has been Article 155, as incomprehensible on a first hearing, as Article 150 was when British MP’s finally sat down to discuss Brexit.
Article 155 which gives the Spanish government the right to take unspecified measures to restore an autonomous government to lawful conduct not only has never been used before, but it is also so broadly framed as to give the central government considerable flexibility to go in as hard or as soft as it chooses.
Nevertheless beyond dark memories of the lead up to the Spanish Civil War, there is no case history to draw on, and the government is entering unchartered territory which, quite apart from the legal challenges it might throw up, is a potential political minefield.
One of the ironies of the current crisis -not always explained by those in the international media too easily seduced by in the emotionally-charged rhetoric of the Catalan separatists – is that Catalans , far from the being repressed people controlled from the centre, are part of a virtual federal system with more than 90 per cent of its administration in the hands of the Catalan regional and even more devolved layers of local government, greater selfgovernment than most other regions enjoy in Europe
Catalonia’s autonomy may be a source of grievance for radical pro-independents, but as it stands it has been secured over years of skilful wheeling and dealing with Madrid by less radical Catalan nationalist politicians, with today only nine of cent of Catalan public sector workers employed by central government.
Autonomous rule extends across the health service, education, local media including the well funded and Catalan nationalist TV3, and the police force where the Catalan Mossos de Escuadra have grown from 15,300 in 2009 to 17,000, compared to the national police and civil guard local presence which fell from 6,500 to 5,900 during this period and just over 2,000 army personnel currently.
While in Northern Ireland direct rule was imposed drawing on a highly organised military contingency, on a province with far less locally administered resources than Catalonia, it was also done in the midst of a violent sectarian terrorist campaign.
Spain’s pro-independence campaign has been largely peaceful until now, but Catalan Nationalism remains a highly volatile issue, and Mr Rajoy is caught between rock and hard place as to how to deliver Article 155.
While’s Catalonia’s current autonomous status is enshrined in the Spanish Constitution , any move by Madrid to replace management levels of the regional administration with officials designated by Madrid, will be seen by many Catalans as an attack on their democratic institutions and way of life, and risk boosting the pro-independence campaign if nothing else out of a sense of self-preservation.
This risk is recognised by the opposition party the PSOE which, while in favour of Article 155 , is strongly of the view that it should be limited in its scope and be focused on organising new elections as soon as possible in the hope that a new more pragmatic, less radical Catalan autonomous government can be formed.
In recent weeks the Spanish media has been filled with memories of the early 1930’s when an autonomous Catalan government briefly declared a unilateral independent Republican state of Catalunya only to be intervened militarily by a democratically elected government. The president of that government , the Spanish Republican Manuel Azaña later blamed Catalan separatists for dividing Spain and fuelling the later Spanish Civil War.
Much as some journalists have a tendency to see Spain thhough the prism of the Spanish Civi War , history has moved on. These days, Mr Rajoy -no dictator if not a great statesman either- is under pressure from hardline right wingers within his own party and the leader of the centre right opposition grouping Cuidadanos to ‘punish’ the current Catalan government for its ‘rebellion’ against the Spanish state, and do whatever it takes to impose its authority, abiding by the Constitution, democratically approved in the 1970’s by a clear majority of Spaniards.
To some extent Mr Rajoy already has an important foot in the door. While Catalan companies continue to exit the region in increasing numbers and local hotel receipts plunge because of the political instability , Madrid is fully in control of the main purse strings, including payments such as salaries of public sector workers and subsidies for local special projects in addition to the powers of taxation it already had.
By contrast Catalonia has been in political free-fall for months, if not years, , is heavily in debt, has no currency of its own, and no Central Bank, and its access to credit is via Madrid. The region is today a shell of an autonomous state and the nationalism of its many citizens remains a live wire and wont easily be defused.
It is far from clear how the Mossos de Escuadra will react to being intervened, since their rank and file is divided about where the allegiance should lie, in the heart of Catalan nationalism or under orders from Madrid. As it is the extra 6,000 police dispatched to Catalonia to reinforce security, still leaves Spanish police outnumbered by Catalan police.
As for the army, Spanish voters are hugely sensitive about the involvement of armed forces publically, given that the depoliticisation of the military was one of the key policies of the post-Franco’s transition to democracy.
The security organisation in Catalonia, part of Spain which is not part of the EU but also a highly valued NATO member, so controversial on the day of the ‘illegal’ Referendum on October 1ts, may once again be challenged by a growing campaign of civil disobedience, including street demonstrations and lock-ins . God forbd there is no further Islamist terrorist outrage.
Rajoy and the King of Spain, are not alone in believing the fate of Spanish and European democracy is being played out in the streets of Barcelona and Catalan separatism cannot, must not be allowed to pursue its relentless anti-system unilateralist strategy. But Mr Rajoy will be well advised to act in way that is seen measured and proportionate , or seen that way by the civilised world inside and outside Spain.
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October 11, 2017
The Catalan Show
Last night’s prime time show in the Catalan parliament served as a reminder of the seemingly dangerously uncompromising nature of the current Spanish crisis, even if it seems to have temporarily pulled back from the brink.
If there were highlights from recent episodes of this seemingly enduring melodrama to be drawn from previous episodes I would identify the following:
The unnerving site in early September of a small majority –less than the two-thirds required by the Catalan Statutes of Autonomy- of pro-independence deputies in the Catalan parliament bulldozing through their unilateral plans for a referendum in which the result would be binding with a simple majority and without requiring a minimum turn out . The referendum was illegal according to the Statutes of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution..
The large numbers of Catalans who turned up and voted for the referendum on October Ist, despite it being in clear breach of Spanish constitutional law, the Statutes of Autonomy and the guidelines of the Council of Europe for any referendum in a EU member state.
An objective reading of the turn out and the result would suggest a large number of Catalans who do not want to be part of Spain, but well short of a clear legitimate mandate for independence, with Catalans showing their opposition to it by voting against and a majority staying away.
I am not alone in this interpretation. Quite apart from the views of the elected Spanish government and majority of the Spanish parliament, Mr Puigdemont’s has failed to secure any international support for the idea of a unilateral declaration of independence based on his referendum or its result.
Last Sunday’s demonstration in Barcelona by those who want Catalonia to remain part of Spain showed the growing strength of feeling of many Catalans who feel unpresented by Mr Puigdemont and other pro-inpendence politicians.
While Catalonia is seemingly polarised between those who want Independence and those who don’t want it , there is I believe an important constituency of voters across Spain that would welcome a new constitutional pact that would keep Catalonia within Spain.
In his speech to the Catalan parliament , Mr Puigdemont last night described the October 1 referendum as a defining moment in Catalan history and said he assumed the responsibility of his offuce as President of the Catalan government by presenting the ‘mandate’ that Catalonia become an independent state.
He went on to say that he would suspend implementing a Unilateral Declaration of Independence to give time for a dialogue towards an agreement that would take into account the results of the referendum . This was enough to have his more radical supporters feeling betrayed and abandoning their rally outside the parliament building in protest.
But the apparent false hood of his opening premise of political legitimacy to go ahead with independence sooner or later on the basis of the referendum result also unsurprisingly failed to convince all those opposed to the very idea- a majority in the Spanish parliament.
Puigdemont thus emerged from the evening, more demonised than ever by his opponents, and losing the support of some of his supporters whose hopes he had raised of an immediate UDI . He is tainted now potentially as Catalonia’s equivalent of the Grand Old Duke of York who as the old nursery rhyme goes, marched his men all the way to the top of the hill only to have them march down again.
Like a Netflix series, this saga may be far from over. But last night the tide seemed to be turning against Catalonia becoming independent any time soon and with growing calls for election to reestablish a lawful vote as an essential instrument of any serious democracy.
Without dialogue or votes, Catalonia may be condemned to fighting out its future in the streets- a scenario that would be truly tragic.The show is over.
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October 6, 2017
The centre cannot hold
REVIEW IN THIS WEEK’S THE TABLET BOOKS
Books > The centre cannot hold
THE CENTRE CANNOT HOLD
05 October 2017 | by Jimmy Burns
The centre cannot hold
The Struggle for Catalonia: Rebel Politics in Spain
Raphael Minder
(Hurst, 344 PP, £15.99)
Tablet Bookshop price £14.40 • Tel 01420 592974
Few local festival rituals in Catalonia are as popular as the castell, the human tower. A large group of male and female volunteers – from a minimum of 60 to maximum of 600 – link arms to create the pinya or base; others clamber on to their shoulders, creating diminishing layers, until only children can climb on top; once one child has reached the apex, he or she steadies himself or herself upright, and raises a hand, steady and defiant, a signal that the castell is complete – before it is carefully dismantled to avoid anyone falling. As Raphael Minder notes in his incisive, highly readable and timely account of Catalan political culture, the castell took an increasingly symbolic significance in the weeks leading up to last weekend’s referendum, with a growing number of Catalans believing their grass-roots separatist movement could draw on the values of the castells – “força, equilibri, valor i seny” (strength, balance, courage and common sense) – to create an independent state.
Minder, a Swiss-born former Financial Times correspondent who now covers Spain for The New York Times, brings years of objective reporting to inform a thoughtful, balanced analysis of an extraordinarily complex issue. He draws on scrupulously non-partisan historical research and hundreds of interviews across the political and social spectrum to leave the reader in no doubt of the dangerously widening gulf between the ruling centre-right Government in Madrid and the radicalised Catalan nationalists.
Writing before the dramatic events of 1 October, Minder concludes that while the creation of an independent Catalan state may not be a pipe dream, neither is it inevitable, “particularly since Catalan society has often shown itself be more inclined towards pragmatism rather than hothead idealism”. 11 September 1714, celebrated by millions of Catalans as their national day, marked a crushing defeat rather than a successful revolution. Troops in Barcelona under the control of the Archduke Charles of Austria fell to the besieging army of Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain. Yet the importance of 1714 resides as much in the 14 months Barcelona held out under siege, as in the repression that followed under the Bourbon monarch, ancestor to the current king of Spain. As Minder points out, heroic resistance is as much part of the Catalan mystique as suffering and endurance.
Politics in Catalonia in recent decades had been on a far less extreme level than in the Basque country, where more than 800 people were killed in the separatist campaign waged by Eta which only finally ended in 2011. By contrast, an incipient violent Catalan separatist group underpinned by a Marxist-Leninist ideology called Terra Lliure failed to generate popular support. Since its campaign petered out in the early 1990s, Catalan nationalism has expressed itself in peaceful civic protest, an increasingly restless elected majority in the regional government and the growing politicisation of such assertions of cultural identity as the castells and support for FC Barcelona. Local politics draws on a mythologised history, from the popular movements that flourished in the fifteenth century to the worker militias memorably evoked by George Orwell in Homage to Catalonia. The scars of the Spanish Civil War in a region that was the last to surrender to Franco – despite the support he enjoyed among many Catalans, not least Catholics – remain deep.
Minder shows how the post-Franco settlement allowing the Catalans limited autonomy gradually fell apart, with the king and the Catholic Church declining in influence and separatists and hard-line centrist politicians in Madrid mirroring each other in their inability to dialogue and make concessions. The mounting confrontation was fuelled by the inability of a majority of Spaniards to agree on how much control over its affairs should be devolved to its economically strongest region. Minder quotes with approval the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, who in 1932 argued that Catalonia “is a problem that cannot be resolved, but can only be steered”.
As Minder illustrates, Catalonia has shown itself capable of peaceable accommodation with the rest of Spain at the same time as proudly preserving its individual language and culture, not least the one-off wonder of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and the enduring religious iconography of Montserrat. The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona are still remembered as the best-organised and most popular in the history of the Games, and the iconic photograph taken at the time of Catalan nationalist and Spanish politicians in a rowing boat together represented a high point of democratic solidarity in the post-Franco years. Since then, there have been several shipwrecks, not least the the Spanish Government’s use of the courts and the paramilitary Civil Guard to try to prevent the referendum vote taking place, which has stirred emotional memories of past repression.
A crisis that could have cataclysmic consequences not just for Spain but for Europe has been allowed to fester because of insufficient political will over several years to defuse tensions, and a failure to seek compromise and the common good. Minder is unsure whether the fragile castell of Catalan rebel politics will disintegrate in tears. This is a cautionary tale about the consequences of bloody-mindedness and intolerance that should be required reading for anyone interested in the future not only of Spain, but of Europe.
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October 5, 2017
Puede Catalunya aprender algo de Escocia?
Vengo de visitar la capital escocesa de Edimburgo, una ciudad elegante, relajada y acogedora del patrimonio mundial, que me ha dejado impresionado por la tranquilidad y el civismo del proceso politico de Escocia en comparación con el desastre que ha llegado a caracterizar la cuestión catalana en España.
En el impresionante e histórico castillo de Edimburgo, una de las atracciones turísticas más populares de Escocia, perdura una sensación de identidad cultural que es británica y escocesa.
Visitándolo recordé el lema “Mejor juntos”, que los unionistas usaron con éxito para ganar el “no” en el último referéndum legal sobre la independencia escocesa.
Nuevas tensiones entre el partido nacionalista escocés gobernante en la región y el gobierno conservador en Londres han sido sembradas por el voto mayoritario del Reino Unido a favor de Brexit.
Pero las demandas nacionalistas escocesas se mantienen dentro de la ley y se canalizan a través del discurso político y la negociación, y no se caracterizan por la desobediencia civil, el unilateralismo y la represión.
Mientras que las figuras de dos de los héroes nacionalistas escoceses más famosos l de William Wallace y Robert Bruce, están en la entrada del castillo de Edimburgo (aunque ninguno de ellos haya vivido alli), también se da una enorme reverencia en el mismo lugar a la más reciente memoria de Soldados escoceses en regimientos de la Casa Real que murieron por el rey y la patria en dos guerras mundiales.
Una vez más no pude dejar de reflexionar sobre cómo la raíz de los problemas catalanes y españoles es la ausencia de una narrativa histórica consensual, compartida y vinculante, y cuán distantes parecen las guerras de Escocia con Inglaterra en comparación con la apertura en Cataluña de viejas heridas y prejuicios de la Guerra civil española y el franquismo ..
En Edimburgo, nuestro guía hablaba inglés con un acento escocés distintivo (en Escocia, a diferencia de Cataluña, donde la mayoría habla catalán, sólo una pequeña minoría de escoceses, menos del 2 por ciento de la población habla gaélico).
Sin embargo,el guía mostró sus distintas raíces escocesas vestido con un faldón y mostrando un brillo travieso en su ojo al contarnos con detalle la violencia escocesa usada contra el inglés y viceversa en las batallas pasadas para conquistar el castillo que data de la época medieval. .
La actual realidad política sigue siendo definida por el “no” , resultado de un referéndum sobre la independencia, cuyos términos fueron discutidos democráticamente y pacíficamente por el primer ministro británico David Cameron y el líder del SNP y el líder del partido nacionalista escocés Alex Salmond.
Los escoceses, que votaron por mayoría para permanecer dentro de la UE, ahora están incómodos con Brexit pero no están presionando para otro referéndum de la independencia todavía y tampoco Londres tiene prisa para concederles el privilegio.Mientras tanto, una narrativa histórica consensual se encuentra en el Palacio Real dentro del Castillo de Edimburgo donde esta la Piedra del Destino. Para que no nos olvidemos, antes de que la mítica piedra regresara a su lugar de descanso natural, este antiguo símbolo de la identidad nacional escocesa fue robada por el rey Eduardo Ist de Inglaterra para reforzar su propio trono, provocando la furia de los escoceses. A partir de entonces se utilizó en las ceremonias de coronación de los monarcas de Inglaterra y Gran Bretaña. Pero en 1996 la reina Isabel, en un acto de reconciliación, accedió a que la Piedra regresara a Escocia, con el acuerdo de que se devolvería temporalmente a Londres para ser usada cuando coronaran a su sucesor.Por ahora la reina Isabel, gracias a este y otros gestos de amistad, sigue siendo una figura muy respetada en Escocia por un amplio espectro de opinión política como en Inglaterra, en contraste con el desafío que el rey Felipe de España enfrenta al ganar el respeto y la lealtad de los pro –independientes y catalanes republicanos que no quieren nada que ver con una monarquía borbónica.Hay que señalar que los escoceses tuvieron que ser seducidos de cierto modo para llegar aun acuerdo el estado británico. En l coronación en 1952, había escoceses que se opusieron a ella porque era coronada Elizabeth 11 a pesar de ninguna Elizabeth antes ella había gobernado como reina de los escoceses. Vale la pena recordar aquí que James VI de Escocia, se convirtió en James I de Inglaterra en la unión 1603 de las coronas. Cuando su línea de herencia fue sustituida por Guillermo de Orange, este fue visto por muchos escoceses protestantes, aunque con menos entiasmo por los católicos.De hecho, William nunca visitó Escocia, ni su sucesora la reina Ana, durahtecuyo reinato se llego la unión de los parlamentos inglés y escocés en 1707. El rey George 1V visitó Escocia 1822 más de cien años después del Acta de Unión entre las dos monarquías.El rey George era impopular en Londres. Pero su visita a Escocia, organizada por el muy admirado romántico poeta escocés y novelista histórico Sir Walter Scott, fue un gran éxito. Mientras se encontraba en la terraza del castillo de Edimburgo, el rey dijo: “Debo alegrar a mi pueblo”. El historiador Sir John Plumb comentó más tarde que el rey Hanoveriano George mostró la forma en que la monarquía debe seguir para sobrevivir en una era democrática. Fue la reina Victoria quien durante su largo reinado imperial, construyó un vínculo especial con los escoceses. Le encantaba Balmoral, el castillo escocés comprado para ella por su esposo el príncipe Alberto y disfrutado por sus sucesores. Una vez viuda, escandalizó parte de la sociedad londinense desarrollando una estrecha amistad romántica con su acompañante personal, un montañés escocés llamado John Brown, historia inmortalizado en la película Mrs. Brown.Entre los hijos de la reina Elizabeth, es la princesa Anne que es identificada lo más a menudo posible con Escocia. Una visitante regular y entusiástica y patrona de los deportes y artes escoceses, es bien conocida por su apoyo al equipo escocés de rugby y felizmente canta el himno nacional escocés cuando asiste a los juegos internacionales. Ella apela a los escoceses comunes como la más normal y corriente de los Royals, una candidata para el título oficioso de princesa de los escoceses.Si muchos escoceses mantienen cierta ambivalencia hacia la monarquía británica, no se han rebelado contra ella ni tienen planes de declarar ninguna declaración unilateral de independencia. La monarquía no era un problema en el referéndum legítimo de Escocia, a pesar de que el Partido Nacionalista Escocés (SNP) tenía muchos partidarios a favor de una República particularmente entre los católicos de clase trabajadora.Si muchos escoceses mantienen cierta ambivalencia hacia la monarquía británica, no se han rebelado contra ella ni tienen planes de declarar ninguna declaración unilateral de independencia. La monarquía no era un problema en el referéndum legítimo de Escocia, a pesar de que el Partido Nacionalista Escocés (SNP) tenía muchos partidarios a favor de una República particularmente entre los católicos de clase trabajadora.La política actual del SNP es que la reina seguiría siendo jefa de estado en una Escocia independiente, aunque probablemente sería llamada Reina de los Escoceses para subrayar la idea de que la soberanía pertenece al pueblo escocés. Significativamente el canto del poeta Robert Burns a la hermandad contó con el acuerdo de la Reina, y fue cantado en su inauguración del Parlamento escocés en 1999. Aunque hay republicanos en el SNP, y de hecho no hace mucho tiempo desde que el partido favoreció la idea de una república escocesa, la política actual es que la reina permanecería jefa de estado en una Escocia independiente. (Probablemente sería renombrada Reina de Escocia para reflejar la visión nacionalista de que la soberanía pertenece al “pueblo escocés”). “Lo bueno de no tener una constitución escrita es que nos confundimos, nos comprometemos y nos adaptamos”, dijo un amigo de Escocia, el periodista Robert Powell. En otras palabras, el dar y recibir en lo político y los estadísticassx son lo que importa en una democracia decente.Robert y yo visitamos juntos el nuevo edificio del parlamento escocés. Fue diseñado como un “espacio democrático abierto a las ideas y que crece fuera de la tierra”, por el catalán Enric Miralles, quien murió de un tumor cerebral en 2000 cuatro años antes de la inauguración de su obra maestra. Construido a partir de una mezcla de acero, roble y granito, y inspirado en el paisaje local y los barcos levantados de la costa de Escocia, el complejo edificio fue aclamado en la apertura como uno de los diseños más innovadores en Gran Bretaña.A pesar de que la amenaza del terrorismo ha significado desde entonces un aumento de la seguridad, es más accesible al público que las tradicionales Cámaras del Parlamento en Westminster, sus miembros menos abarrotados.
El parlamento escocés estaba medio vacío y sumergido en un debate relativamente incontrovertible sobre una cuestión de igualdad de remuneración cuando la visitamos, en marcado contraste con la atmósfera volátil que ha caracterizado al parlamento catalán últimamente, donde los partidos independentistas en el gobierno regional han abiertamente desafiado la Constitución española.
A los escoceses les gusta verse a sí mismos como más igualitarios que los ingleses y los nacionalistas creen que podrían construir una sociedad mejor y más justa si fueran independientes. Pero no hay indicios de insurrección contra el Estado británico, como lo demuestran algunos de los elementos más radicales de Cataluña en su confrontación con Madrid.
El parlamento escocés descentralizado se encuentra al final de la avenida conocida como la Royal Mile y junto al Palacio de Holyrood donde la Reina se instala cada año, organizando cenas y una fiesta en el jardín como una forma de mantener un contacto más cercano con todos sus temas . También pasa sus vacaciones en el castillo de Balmoral, la casa escocesa de la familia real desde que fue comprado para la reina Victoria por el príncipe Albert en 1852.
Una gran cantidad de pompa y circunstancia rodea la presencia real en Escocia desde los regimientos militares hasta la Compañía de Arqueros (el guardaespaldas oficial de la Reina en Escocia), pero lo importante es que la familia real británica en su fase moderna ha desarrollado una importante actividad política, cultural y el compromiso social con el pueblo escocés que parece haber neutralizado los antagonismos históricos entre Londres y una de sus regiones en lugar de inflamarlos. Por su parte los nacionalista escocéses y el gobierno británico se han comportado con un ethos democrático que está luchando para prevalecer en Cataluña.
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Can Catalonia learn something from Scotland?
I was in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, an elegant, relaxed , welcoming world heritage city, earlier this week and was struck by the peacefulness and civility of Scotland’s devolutionary process compared to the shambles that has come to characterize the Catalan issue in Spain.
In the impressively located and historic Edinburgh Castle, one of Scotland’s most popular tourist attractions, there endures a sense of cultural identity that is both British and Scot.
Visiting it I was reminded of the “Better together”, slogan which unionists used successfully to win the ‘no’ vote in the last legal referendum on Scottish independence .
Fresh tensions between the regional governing Scottish national party and the central government’s ruling British Conservative have been sown by the UK’s majority vote in favor of Brexit.
But Scottish nationalistic demands remain conducted within the law and channeled through political discourse and negotiation , and not characterized by civil disobedience, unilateralism and repression..
While the figures of two of Scotland’s most famous national heroes and once outlawed rebels ,William Wallace and Robert Bruce, straddle the entrance to Edinburgh Castle,(even though neither actually ever lived there), huge reverence is also given to the more recent memory of Scottish soldiers in Royal regiments who died for King and country in two World Wars.
Again I couldn’t help reflecting on how at the root of Catalan and Spain’s problems is the absence of a consensual, shared and binding historical narrative and how distant seem Scotland’s wars with England compared to the opening in Catalonia of old wounds and prejudices from the Spanish Civil war and Francoism..
In Edinburgh , our guide spoke English with a distinctive Scottish accent ( in Scotland unlike Catalonia where a majority speak Catalan, only a small minority of Scots –less than 2 per cent of the population speak Gaelic. ) .
He was nonetheless showing his distinct Scottish roots dressed in a kilt and showing a mischievous glint in his eye as he gave us graphic accounts of the violence Scots used on the English and vice-versa in past battles for the Castle dating back to medieval times. .
Present date political reality remains defined by the ‘no’ result of a referendum on independence, the terms of which were democratically and peacefully discussed and agreed to by the British prim-minister David Cameron and the SNP leader and Scottish nationalist party leader Alex Salmond.
The Scots , who voted by a majority to remain inside the EU, now are uneasy with Brexit but they are not pushing for another independence referendum as yet nor is London in a hurry to grant them the privilege.
Meanwhile a consensual historical narrative is to be found in the Royal Palace within Edinburgh Castle where lies there the Stone of Destiny . Lest we forget, before the mythical stone’s return to its natural resting place, this ancient symbol of Scottish national identity was taken by King Edward Ist of England and built into his own throne, much to the fury of Scots.
From then onwards it was used in the coronation ceremonies for the monarchs of England and Great Britain. But in 1996 Queen Elizabeth , as an act of reconciliation, agreed to have the Stone returned to Scotland, with the agreement that it be temporarily returned to London to be used when crowning her successor..
For now Queen Elizabeth , thanks to this and other gestures of friendship, remains a highly respected figure in Scotland across a broad spectrum of political opinion as in England, in contrast to the challenge Spain’s King Felipe is facing in winning the respect and loyalty of pro-independence Republican Catalans who want nothing to do with a Bourbon monarchy.
Not to say that the Scots have not had to be won over to their current accommodation with the British state . On her coronation in 1952, there were Scots who objected to her being crowned Elizabeth 11nd as no Elizabeth before her had ruled as Queen of the Scots. Worth here recollecting that James VI of Scotland , became James I of England in the 1603 union of the crowns. When his Stuart line was thrown out by William of Orange, the incomer was welcomed by many Protestant Scots, although less so by Catholics.
In fact William never visited Scotland , nor did his successor Queen Anne, who saw through the union of the English and Scottish parliaments in 1707. King George 1V visited Scotland n 1822 more than one hundred years after the Act of Union between the two monarchies.
King George was unpopular in London. But his visit to Scotland, organized by the much admired romantic Scottish poet and historical novelist Sir Walter Scott , was a huge success. As he stood on the terrace of Edinburgh Castle the King said, “I must cheer my people.” The historian Sir John Plumb later commented that the Hanoverian King George showed the way the monarchy must follow if it was to survive in a democratic age.
It was Queen Victoria that during her long imperial reign, built up a special bond with the Scots. She loved Balmoral, the Scottish castle bought for her by her husband Prince Albert and enjoyed by her successors. Once a widow, she scandalized part of London society by developing a close romantic friendship with her personal attendant ,a Scottish highlander called John Brown as immortalized in the film Mrs Brown.
Among the current Queen’s children, it is Princess Anne who is most often identified with Scotland. A regular and enthusiastic visitor and patron of Scottish sports and arts, she is well known for her support of the Scottish national rugby team and happily sings the Scottish national anthem when attending international games. She appeals to ordinary Scots as the most down to earth of the Royals, a popular choice for the unofficial title of Princess of the Scots.
If many Scots retain a certain ambivalence towards the British monarchy , they have not rebelled against it nor do they have any plans to declare any unilateral declaration of independence. The monarchy was not an issue in Scotland’s lawful referendum despite the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) having many supporters in favor of a Republic particularly among working class Catholics.
The SNP’s current policy is that the Queen would remain head of state in an independent Scotland although she would be probably be called Queen of the Scots to underline the idea that sovereignty belongs to the Scottish people. . Significantly the singing of the poet Robert Burns ode to brotherhood counted on the agreement of the Queen , and was sung at her inauguration of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 .
Though there are republicans in the SNP, and indeed it is not long ago since the party favored the idea of a Scottish republic, the present policy is that the Queen would remain head of state in an independent Scotland. (She would probably be re-styled Queen of Scots to reflect the nationalist view that sovereignty belongs to “the Scottish people”.)
“The great thing about not having a written constitution is that we muddle along, we compromise and adapt,” a friend in Scotland, the journalist Robert Powell told me. In other words political give and take and statesmanship are what matters in a decent democracy.
Together Robert and I visited the new Scottish parliament building . It was designed as a democratic “space open to ideas and growing out of the land “ , by the Catalan Enric Miralles who died of a brain tumor in 2000 for years before the inauguration of his masterpiece.
Constructed from a mixture of steel, oak, and granite, and drawing its inspiration from the local landscape and upturned boats of Scotland’s coastline, the complex building was hailed on opening as one of the most innovative designs in Britain.
Although the threat of terrorism has since meant security being stepped up, it is more accessible to the public than the traditional Houses of Parliament in Westminster , its members less stuffy.
The Scottish parliament was half empty and immersed in a relatively uncontroversial debate over an issue of equal pay when we visited it, in stark contrast to the volatile atmosphere that has characterized the Catalan parliament of late, where pro-independence parties in the regional government have openly defied the Spanish Constitution. The Scots like to see themselves as more egalitarian than the English and nationalists believe they could build a better and more just society were they to become independent.
But there is no hint of insurrection against the British state as some of the more radical elements in Catalonia are demonstrating in their confrontation with Madrid.
The devolved Scottish parliament is located at the end of the avenue known as the Royal Mile and next to The Palace of Holyrood where the Queen takes up residence every year, hosting dinners and a garden party as a way of maintaining closer contact with all her subjects.
She also spends holidays at Balmoral Castle, the Scottish home of the Royal Family since it was purchased for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852.
Quite a lot of pomp and circumstance surrounds Scotland’s Royal presence from kilted military regiments to the Company of Archers (the Queen’s official bodyguard in Scotland,) but the important point is that the British Royal family in its modern phase has developed an important political, cultural and social engagement with the Scottish people which seems to have defused historic antagonisms between London and one of its regions rather than inflaming them. For its part Scottish nationalist and the UK government have behaved with a democratic ethos which is struggling to prevail in Catalonia.
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October 1, 2017
The Spanish Government’s Own Goal
Few images circulating globally from earlier yesterday (October 1) seemed to risk being more damaging to the Spanish government’s attempts to woo over a majority of Catalans to its concept of a lawful constitutional democracy than that of helmeted Civil Guard officers using a hammer to break a window and a lock cutter to break open a door at a sports centre near Gerona.
Tougher tactics have been used before by British and other European police including Catalonia’s own force the Mossos D’Escuadra to deal with violent protestors, criminals, and terrorists.
But this was a non-Catalan police force ordered by Madrid to act against a peaceful civil protest expressed by Catalans claiming to exercise their right to vote for or against independence. The action, followed by other examples of heavy-handed tactics by the Spanish national police, and magnified by wide coverage in the international media, has played into Catalan nationalism’s historic sense of victimisation at the hands of Madrid.
In the town of Sitges,just south of Barcelona, yesterday morning the majority pro-independence local town council gave the green light to activate various voting centres around town. I watched hundreds of civilians, growing in number in response to the news coming in from Gerona, lining up to vote in various polling stations, with the only security presence that of two Mossos d’Esquadra assigned to each. During the day I interviewed Catalans who were voting yes; Catalans who were voting no; and Catalans who were not voting because they thought the referendum a sham. and did not agree with the way the Catalan government was radicalising politics.
Looking and acting very much in the style of the traditional community based English village ‘bobby’, the most senior of the two Mossos d’Escuadra read out an official order declaring the referendum unlawful before asking everyone to abandon the vote and to be allowed in the premise to withdrawal of the ballot boxes This was rejected by the crowd, and the peaceful voting was allowed to go on.
A similar pattern was repeated in other voting locations around Catalonia in what the Mossos claimed was proportionate policing as compared to the tougher tactics used by other forces.
When the Mossos did put on their riot gear and adopted a less passive attitude was when they moved in to separate a group of extreme right Spanish nationalists who had briefly clashed violently with pro-independence radicals and anarchists in Barcelona’s iconic popular square,the Plaza de Catalunya, itself another disturbing image of how emotionally charged the Catalan issue has become.
Later the Madrid headquartered Spanish Federation refused a request from FC Barcelona that a League match scheduled for the afternoon be cancelled in solidarity with the injured victims of the police violence used against Catalan voters. Instead the match against Las Palmas was played bending closed doors.The club denied reports that the main reason was because of security concerns that the match might be disrupted by angry pro-independence fans .
It was surreal to be among a few dozen journalists allowed to watch the match live. A heavy sense of mourning as well as defiance seemed to hang about some of the players as they pursued a 3-0 victory amidst the cavernous silence of the 98,000 seated Camp Nou .
Fourty years ago I sat in the same stadium and watched the stadium filled with Catalan and Basque flags for the first time since the Spanish Civil War as Johan Cruyff led out Barca and Iribar, Athletic Bilbao. Catalonia’s exiled regional president Josep Tarradellas was on his way back to Spain after striking a pact with Spanish prime-minister Adolfo Suarez . Spain’s transition to democracy twould include a new constitution giving Catalonia and other regions of Spain autonomous powers under the unified nation state headed by the Spanish Crown.
Fourty years on, the empty Camp Nou stadium testified the extent to which many Catalans feel that Spanish democracy, as interpreted by the current centre-right Popular Party government in Madrid, has failed them.
After the match against Las Palmas , the Catalan nationalist player who plays in the Spanish national squad Gerard Pique made an emotional statement in support of the people of Catalonia and in denunciation of police tactics. Yes, FC Barcelona has a civic conscience. Barca es Mes que un Club.
So where does this leave Catalan politics?
In desperate need of statesmanship in Madrid, moderation and pragmatism in Barcelona, and the kick-start of serious political dialogue that a majority of Spaniards can support and which can connect with Catalans who have a strong sense of their cultural identity but do not necessarily want to be independent from Spain.
The current polarisation between the Spanish right and Catalan nationalists will only lead to increasing violence. Pehaps its time for an external mediation to identify Spain’s common good lies in dealing with Catalans with more respect , and that includes engaging with those who did not vote today because they thought it unlawful and those who voted because they thought it their right.
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