It's Autumn, but things are heating up in Cataluña (Es otoño, pero se está calentando en Cataluña)...

This last week or so a definite chill has crept into the morning and evening air - we’ve clearly left the summer behind us here in Barcelona.

But at the same time the air temperature has been dropping, the political temperature has been going in the opposite direction.

Always proudly Catalan, the Sagrada Familia is draped with the Catalan flag (la Senyera) for La Diada

To start with we celebrated La Diada – Cataluña’s “national” day – on September 11. I can’t quite believe it’s a whole year since I last wrote about it.

For the past five years, La Diada has shifted from a celebration of Catalan nationalism to a show of people-power for Catalan independence. Many Catalans who are not independistas say that it has been “hijacked” by the independence movement.

And perhaps they’re right. This year’s slogan was Via lliure a la Rebública Catalana (Road to the Catalan Republic). The word Lluire is quite significant here as although it doesn’t make it into the expression’s English translation, it means “Free”.

My local sign-up and information stall for La Diada and voting for Catalan independence

Once again an emblematic Barcelona street (this year Av. Meridiana) was the setting for the hundreds of thousands, all dressed in the year’s “uniform”, to take part in the choreographed spectacular, which I’m pretty sure is designed much more for the external (outside Cataluña) audience than the internal.

Crowds celebrating la Diada. Rather impressive, no?
Pic by Teresa Roca, Assemblea.com. Creative Commons license

La Diada 2015. I think the arrow being run up the street symbolises moving forward to a new future.
Pic by Jordi Ventura i Plans, Assemblea.cat. Creative Commons license

Can't get much more Catalan than this: Castellers at La Diada, 2015.
Pic by Assemblea.cat. Creative Commons license

I ventured down amongst the throngs for a little while and was struck by two things. First was the crescendo of Catalan. Barcelona is such a tourist city that walking around its streets is normally like a trip to the Tower of Babel. Not that day. The young, the old, the groups of friends, the parents calling their children to attention, the punters ordering cervezas in the bars - it was all being performed in Catalan.

I’ve yet to work out whether this was because I am just not used to being in such a mob of Catalans undiluted by the usual foreigners, whether it had to do with the “national” pride of the day lending more people to converse in their “national” tongue (rather than Spanish), or whether the types of Catalans who would make the effort to take part in the La Diada are those most likely to speak Catalan all the time anyway. I suspect it’s probably a mix of all three.

The other thing that stood out to me was the plethora of Blue Estelada flags – little ones on sticks clutched in children’s hands, large ones on poles slung over shoulders (of pedestrians and scooter riders alike) or, personally something I find quite distasteful, being worn like a cape (I loath it when I see it done with the Australian Flag on Australia day too).

I am really NOT a fan of flags being worn like capes. To me, no matter where I see it, it smacks of a rabid nationalism

The interesting thing about so many Esteladas is that it is not even the Catalan flag. It’s the flag for Catalan independence; perhaps another point for those who subscribe to the hijacked Diada thesis.

The Estalada being flown from the Arc de Triomf. 
I was surprised to see that as the Arc de Triomf is a city monument as the Estalada is not an official flag

This year’s Diada was a sort of unofficial campaign kick-off for the other reason the political temperature is souring – it’s election-day for the Catalan parliament today.

The pro-independence parties have billed these elections as a plebiscite on independence, so much so that the two main ones (polar opposites on just about every else else) have joined with pro-independence community groups to form a unified ticket, Junts Pel Sí (roughly, “Together for It”). 

And they've promised to start the process to achieve independence from Spain if they get a big enough result. 

The non-independence parties claim that the independistas are deliberately deceiving the electorate by calling this regional parliamentary election a plebiscite on independence - something that is illegal under Spain’s constitution anyway, they argue.

The last few sondeos (opinion polls) are calling an absolute majority for the independence parties in Cataluña’s Parliament, but only just (although that “just” does get a little chunkier with each poll).

But at the same time, it looks like the voter turnout is going to be historically high and traditionally a higher voter turnout augurs better for the non-independistas.

It's going to be a nail-biting count-night for both sides tonight.

As an extranjero, not only in Spain but also in Cataluña, (or should I say Catalunya) I’m not sure I have a right to an opinion - I’m sure I don’t understand all the social and historical intricacies of the arguments.

But if I were to venture an opinion, and this probably has a lot to do with my first seven years in Spain being spent in Madrid, I don’t really like the idea of a broken-up Spain.

Having said that though, since I moved to Barcelona I haven't quite felt that I was living in the same Spain anyway.

***

If you’re interested, here are a few links in English that offer some insight into just how complex the situation really is:

From an ex Spanish Prime Minister to the Catalan Premier:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/08/30/inenglish/1440940912_708978.html

The Catalan Premier’s response:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/09/07/inenglish/1441638834_017628.html

Another Catalan politician’s (nationalist, but not independista) response to the ex-Prime Minister’s letter:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/09/02/inenglish/1441191377_614823.html

To the Polls! (¡a las urnas!)...

This week Europeans are being called to the polls to elect a new European Parliament. It’s already started in some countries like the UK, Ireland and Holland. Spain’s turn is this Sunday, and I’ll definitely be off to place my vote.

I’m afraid I’m not going to be in the majority, however. Here they’re predicting a turnout of only about 40-45% (probably even less in Madrid where I suspect many will be too busy recovering from celebrating or commiserating the results of the other big thing happening in Europe this weekend - the final of the European Champions League - to get around to voting. You see, quite amazingly, it is being fought out by two Madrid teams: Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid).

Football aside, people either don’t understand how the European Parliament and Commission effects them (according to recent media reports, 7 out of 10 Spaniards can’t tell you who the President of the European Commission is), are too tired to be bothered after all these years of crisis, or just don’t have any faith in politicians any more. I imagine it’s probably it’s a mix of all three.

And it’d be no wonder if the Spanish don’t quite understand the importance of these elections - there has been very little about Europe in local campaigning at all, at least from the two main parties.

The Socialists have spent most of the time complaining about some (very) machista (chauvinistic) comments made by the head of the conservative ticket and the conservatives (the Partido Popular) have spent almost all of their time rattling on about the herencia recibida (the shocking state of the economy that they inherited from the Socialists at the last Spanish general election) two years ago!

"Change Europe, Stop Rajoy."
The Catalan Socialist's very local slogan (Rajoy is Spain´s Prime Minister). 

The polls suggest that the conservatives will win Europe again. This is pretty interesting as it goes against what has been happening in most of the general elections in member states over the last few years. Not in that the conservatives are going to win – much of Europe has gone to conservative parties in recent elections - but in the sense that in general elections during this long and crippling economic crisis, most incumbent governments have been kicked out. But in Europe the conservatives have been in power for the last ten years – throughout the entire length of the crisis.

"What's at risk is the future" from the Patrido Popular. In the context of their campaign,
a clear reference to the Socialist's performance in the previous Spanish government. 

Whoever wins Spain’s share of the 751 escaños (seats) in the European chamber, you can be guaranteed they’ll be pro-European. Despite the savagery of the government’s spending cuts, most of which have been dictated by Europe, Spain is still pro-Europe.

The same can’t be said for other countries in Europe. In the UK, Holland and France, the polls are predicting some big wins for anti immigration, anti-European, anti-just-about-everything parties who have hidden none of their desire to be in the European Parliament with the sole intention of destroying the EU from within.

I’m a huge fan of the European Union as an institution – although, I have to say, not the policies and direction that those currently in power are taking the continent (I’ve probably just given away who I’ll NOT be voting for this Sunday).

I’d be a massive hypocrite if I wasn’t pro EU. I’m living here thanks to it: my dad’s Italian citizenship gave me a European passport and hence the right to live and work in the UK and now here in Spain.

But for me it goes further than this selfish perspective. The European Union has brought together counties that only last century all but destroyed the continent TWICE through war, to work for a common good and a common goal and with that has come a peace not previously known here. To me, if you’ll allow me the indulgence, it’s an earth-bound uber-prelude to Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets.

That doesn’t mean that the EU is perfect, there is plenty wrong with it - you just have to look at its inept (and arguably quite undemocratic) response to the current financial crisis to see that. But I think it’s much better to have something there to improve than nothing at all (or something whittled down to irrelevance). That’s what makes the popularity of the anti-Europe parties such a worry to me. Not to mention their unconstrained nationalism and vitriolic rhetoric, which all feels very 1930s.

Three key faces from, in my opinion, the scary side of European politics:

(L to R) Marine Le Penn of France´s National Front, Nigel Farange of the UK Independence Party & Geert Wilders of Holland's Party for Freedom.

But now, to finish, back to selfish reasons for why I’m voting this year: I’m itching to play my part in the democratic process again. I haven’t been able to vote for a government in Australia for years now (I missed the deadline to re-register one year and that cost me my right to vote there until I return) and here in Spain, unlike in the UK, as an extranjero, I can’t vote in a general election. So voting in these, probably more important than ever, European elections is just the ticket. 

¡A las urnas!

The Madrid bombings, ten years on (Diez años despues del 11-M)...

This week, on the 11^th of March, we marked the 10^th anniversary of Spain’s worst-ever terrorist attack. On the eve of that anniversary, something happened that hasn’t been seen in this country since 2007: all the main Victims of Terrorism groups stood together in an act of remembrance of that terrible day.

It seems unbelievable that this could be the case; that such an atrocity didn’t unite the country as it did the United States after September 11. Of course, in the beginning it did, but it didn’t take long for politics to pollute things. 

On that crisp morning of March 11, 2004, fundamentalist Islamic terrorists left 13 backpacks chock-full of explosives on four of Madrid’s suburban trains (Cercanías). Using the clocks in mobile phones, the bombs were timed to go off within minutes of each other during the hora punta (rush hour). The result was 191 passengers killed and more than 1800 injured.

I wasn’t living in Madrid at the time, but I can understand the disbelief, pain and fear the Madrileños would have suffered that day. I was a London resident when, just a little over a year later, its transport system was attacked and its people killed.

The day after the attack, more than two million Madrileños braved the pouring rain to take to the streets in both homage to the victims and to furiously demand an end to terrorism in their country. Similar marches were held all over the country. The solidarity and dignity visible in the images of Madrid’s main thoroughfares filled to overflowing in a sea of umbrellas and banners are both impressive and very moving.

But the attacks took place just three days out from a general election. Up until 11-M, as the Spanish call both this day and the attacks, the incumbent government of the conservative Partido Popular (People’s Party - PP) was ahead of the opposition Socialist Party in almost all the polls.

The government’s immediate conclusion, and that of just about everyone else, put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Basque terrorist group ETA. It made sense; ETA terror had cost the lives of more than 800 people in Spain during their 30-odd years (at the time) of violent activity.

Very quickly however, literally in a matter of hours, doubts began to arise in the minds of police, security forces, terrorism experts and journalists - militant Islam started to look like a possible culprit. But the government steadfastly refused to accept that ETA was not the perpetrator and in press conference-after-press conference, press release-after-press release, it insisted ETA was to blame.

The opposition seized on this refusal in the face of the mounting evidence. Soon people were demonstrating in the streets demanding to know “¿Quien ha sido?” (“Who was it?”). And of course, the connection was made between the government’s (highly unpopular) robust support for the Iraq War and the attacks.

Whether it was the Iraq connection or the fact that the government’s belligerent denial of what was seemingly becoming undeniable led people to feel it was trying to hoodwink them, come election-day the Aznar government was swept from power.

The political lines had been drawn right through the middle of the atrocity. The Right accused the Left of using Iraq to blame the government for the terrorist attacks in order to win the election. The Left accused the Right of refusing to accept fundamentalist Islamic terrorism as the culprit because ETA was more politically advantageous. Even worse would come later.

Just over two weeks after the attacks, seven of the terrorists (all Islamists) blew themselves up in a flat in the south of Madrid when cornered by the police and security forces. Three years later, Spain's Audencia Nacional (National High Court) determined the attacks to be the work of fundamentalist Islamists and convicted 21 people. It found no evidence of the involvement of ETA or of other conspiracies.

But Aznar and some other members of the PP have never stopped insisting on ETA’s authorship of the attacks,that they had worked together with the Islamists. Another far more sinister conspiracy theory that emerged is that the attacks were in fact a Socialists coup aimed at winning the general election and that police, security forces, intelligence agencies, judges, prosecutors, witnesses and others were involved.

The attacks by the conservative media supporting these conspiracy theories were so voracious that they have been accused of costing lives. One was the wife of a local councillor who was involved in the collection of personal belongings from the train attacked in his district.

One of the backpacks collected actually contained an unexploded bomb from the attack - the phone inside of which would lead police straight to the terrorists in that flat in Madrid's south. His credibility was attacked with such viciousness that his wife committed suicide. Another was the owner of a bar who refused to put up a flyer supporting the ETA connection. He was shot dead by the person who had wanted to put up the flyer.

The politicisation of 11-M infected the different Victims of Terrorism groups, some siding with some level of conspiracy theory and others accepting the official findings. The sad result has been that over the last 10 years, on the anniversary of the attacks, separate memorials have been held by the different victims' groups, with members of the different political parties attending different memorials.

That is why those four ladies standing together at Monday’s memorial service was so significant. Perhaps it was a sign that, ten years on, the worst of politics is starting to retreat from the 11-M, giving some space for Madrid and Spain to grieve and heal in peace and dignity. I just find it a shame that it was those who have suffered the most who had to take the first steps.