Re: <nettime> Catalonia and mainstream opinion

[chml <chml@autistici.org>]

(excuse my english) and the long mail

Hello...I'm ussually a lurker of this mail list, but as I live in spain 
(bot I'm not spanish, born in southamerica) it's my intention to add 
some ideas to the debate not to start a flame! :)

read this as you read an skeptical opinion and lot of this are in the 
news...spanish or international

Reading international press, apart from few exceptions, it's like 
reading Spanish press. Bullshit. But also there's a situation in wich 
"nobody knows what is going to happend". Regarding this I would like to 
tell some things that there's no present in the mainstream media. I will 
split it in points to organize it better and try to avoid argumentative 
chaos)

*) Both governments, Central and Catalonian, are deeply corrupt:

a) Central government is the most corrupt party in all Europe (sic). And 
still in government (that tells you a few things about the conservative 
mind en Spain, but more on this later). And as in Spain there's not 
extreme-right significantly parties, so PP involves a lot of right-wing 
voters with different approaches (catholics, ultra-catholics and 
spanish-nationalist, liberals and ultraliberals and mostly but not all 
of Franco's nostalgics) that are separated in another countries, so 
their representation and weight in politics is different (not less, 
different). Also, due to the spanish transition those who holds the 
power, symbolic capital and in a good proportion economic power are 
mostly the same than in Franco's era.

b) Regarding Catalonian government two things:

    b.1) At least one of the parties that run the government coalition 
(Junts pel Si) is deeply flawed in corruption. At the point that the 
need to refund the political party (with the same corrupts inside, of 
course). This party was in government almost times since Franco and 
represented, and still represents, the right capitalist entrepreneurship 
bourgeois of Catalonia (you can take a look at the Pujol family). This 
party never want the independence, but they used that idea to exchange 
political stances, mainly with right-wing governments. So they were 
always "moderate catalanist". (I'm going to resume, excuse me)

This starts to change with Artur Mas government in the generalitat. When 
he arrive imposes a lot of cuts and drastic measures due to the economic 
crisis, this led them to several riots (in one of them the mossos, 
catalonian police, took the eye of a woman with a gum bullet (again, 
sorry for my english :)...

    b.2) due to the first independence referendum and the political 
crisis, in the next election according to the pools there were going to 
loss the government. So they stated this joint venture (Junts pel Si) 
with the support of ERC (Left republicans of catalonia) and, outside the 
platform, CUP, anti-capitalist...you can imagine that. So the only 
program was independance. It's important to know, regarding this, that 
according to pools never in the history of Catalonia, not once until 
now, the "yes" would be a winning option.

*) In this situation, Independence was a weapon, for both governments, 
to still alive at the end of the day. Puijdemont asking for things and 
exacerbating the situation (it was his mandate, obvious). And on the 
other hand, for Rajoy's government two observations.

a) Regarding the spanish electoral system, there's a prevalence for 
votes outside of big cities, so voting in Madrid, Barcelona or Bilbao 
worth much less than voting in Segovia, for example. If we take in 
consideration this and that in Spain there's a bunch (but a bunch) of 
older people you see that PP voters are: old people (+65 precisely) and 
not for the main capital cities (except Madrid province, not the city). 
So Rajoy's voters don't want to know nothing about and is in Rajoy's 
interest to present himself like the "spanish value holder" because that 
gives him votes (a lot) and almost guarantee their government stability.

b) (this argument is on the news) The right in spain...and I'm tempted 
to say that also the left, the don't know about wining...when you win 
you give something to the other part. They only know to beat, to destroy 
the other. In this sense the catalan government did know that the 
referendum was going to be a fail but hey use it as a negotiation weapon 
(this, I think, it's deeply irresponsible). This is not a matter of 
referendum yes or no, I will you there soon. Is a matter of a government 
using people's belif to exchange favors (Artur Mas itself admitted this, 
with other words of course). Right now, today, the central government 
pass a new law so companies can get out of catalonia real quick...so 
well see what happends

So...let's say, this is like House of Cards, but real. It's disgusting, 
but it is like this. This situation led to an unprecedented polarization 
in wich (like in many other historical events) those who are in the 
middle get punch for both sides

With all this, I will focus more on your email between lines.


El 06/10/17 a las 13:24, Patrice Riemens escribió:
> Reading stuff in newspapers and others the last few days I am getting increasingly shocked -
> and worried, about what appears to be mainstream (media & politics) opinion wrt the 'events'
> in Catalonia.
What do you expect? They are media conglomerates! ;)
> It boils down to something like 'Catalonians are nationalistic fools, what they do is ramp illegal,
> Spain's unity should be upheld and respected, Rajoy and state forces act fully inside the
> constitution and legality' etc.
The second part it's true, Rajoy and friends are acting inside the 
constitution and the law. And that's the problem, that he is ONLY acting 
inside the law and constitution when the situation and, most of all, his 
position demands that he do politics. But again, the way of doing 
politics for Rajoy is via the judges...because that's what is keeping 
him in "alive".

And the media...well, they are in most cases following the trends.
> EU stands aside, while European leaders fall over each other to support the Rajoy regime -
> with sole exception Belgium's Michel, who's probably got 'his ears cleaned out' (Dutch loc)
> by now ...
Obvious...the EU condems the police brutality but says that is an 
internal problem and should be solved with the constitutional law...IF 
the EU gets involved, think what would happend with Córcega, Euskadi, 
Baviera, Belgium (that why Michel talks!, Scotland again...and the ones 
I', forgetting).So...personally, I hope they get involved, because I 
think that the EU is a fail like this, Spain needs a new constitution 
that leaves behind Franco a all the dictatorship past and catalonian 
people deserve to vote a referendum. But again...at least if in Spain we 
don't have an old people gonocide, i doubt this would happen. Also, hope 
I'm wrong
> The insane brutality of the Spanish police is papered over, just as is the political
> steering of the 'independent' justice, but far worse, 3 centuries of oppression, culminating
> in 40 years of ultra-Castillian Franquist oppression, which almost wipped out above ground
> Catalan language and culture, and finds its thinly veiled admirators in Rajoy's Partido
> Popular, are all completely forgotten.
Yes, but not only catalan! Basque people, Murcian people...in Spain 
there's a lot more than the "catalan-radicals" wich, under my humble 
opinion they are not the "most" rebel in spain, sorry. In Murcia for 
example the PP governs, but those people have a long anarchist 
tradition. Franco¡'s regime not only wiped out catalanist...they wiped 
out half spain and in concrete parts, more (in Euskadi, but also in 
Madrid and Galicia). So for internal distribution that makes less 
difference that outside perhaps. With this I'm not saying that there's 
no catalan singularity, I'm saying that there's not the only one for sure.
> And never mind millions of Catalans braving extreme odds to exercise what is the most
> fundamental democratic right: to vote and be counted. But does the mainstream care for
> democracy any longer?
Yes and this is another lesson that we have learned I think. In first 
place the most iconic moment for democracy is voting and the media don't 
cover that well. That's (in my view) because we are not in democracies 
anymore since long time ago. And on the other hand, honestly, this 
referendum idea was not executed in good ways. finnally, voting for what 
you want, when you want and wathever you want is not a democratic right 
in contemporary democracies...I don't now none that says that ;)
> With a mainstream like that, who needs extremists and terrorists for the descent into the
> unknown? And if Madrid indeed pulls out the 'nuclear option', Article 155 of the Spanish
> Constitution: total take over over Catalonia - and Madrid is on the verge of doing so, I´d
> say: pack up for the beach - or Barcelona.
Please, don't say Madrid...there a bunch of people in Madrid who fight 
with catalonian people, wants changes and support the referendum!


Finally...if you reach that point I would ask a question:

Don't you miss, in all this, material politics? let's say...instead of 
"transversal", "cultural" and "indentitarian" politics. Some really left 
and material politics to improve people lives and wealth?. Because I can 
tell you that this is a "must" not only in Catalonia, and if they get 
their independence in this way, they are going to be (unfortunately) 
economically really fucked up.
> Cheers all the same from Christiania, bit of a weird place in this context.
Cheers from a Madrid citizen staying in Ankara!
and yes...would love to be there!


> p+2D!
>
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