Spanish censorship alive and well (II)

Well, one things we know for sure: we cannot say that Spanish/Catalan politics are boring. Definitely not boring.

Yesterday, the Catalan chairman of the PP (Josep Piqué) and secretary (Francesc Vendrell) resigned. Huge coverage in the press:
Avui (Catalan)
Vilaweb (Catalan, with links to other media)
El Periodico (Catalan, Spanish)
El País (Spanish)
El Punt (Catalan)
Resignation letter from Piqué (Spanish)
For your translations, you can use the on-line translator in the Generalitat website or Translendium.

This event has huge significance for Catalan and Spanish politics as it signals a radicalisation (yes, I know, even more than until now…) of the discourse of the Partido Popular. This could have disastrous consequences for the party in Catalonia, where it is already a marginal force. They may attract a sector of the electorate which feels alienated by the “moderation” of the recently deposed leadership, but the new extremist line will alienate the most moderate sector of their electorate which will go, undoubtably, to CiU or to a lesser extent to the PSC-PSOE.

But just as we were coming to terms with the internal coup in the Partido Popular in Catalonia (the hardliners in Madrid are now in charge), another massive story breaks out: a judge in Madrid has decreed a prohibition order (secuestration) on satirical magazine El Jueves. The media is full of this, it is a massive story. It is unbelievable, an episode of Francoist censorship in the 21st century, but then again, this is Spain! As regular reader Roger wrote a few days ago, Spain is more like Turkey and less like a Western democracy.

A judge in Madrid has decreed, following a request from the Prosecution Service, that the latest edition of satirical magazine El Jueves contains a cartoon that is defamatory and libelious towards the Príncipe Felipe and his wife and the Monarchy. The official document is available in Vilaweb, via this link (PDF file in Spanish). Believe or not, this action has been instigated by the Prosecution Service (Fiscalía) and Judge del Olmo, known for his Spanish nationalism, has followed the Fiscal instructions without hesitation. Freedom of expression? This is Spain my friend!

A satirical magazine (similar to Viz in the UK), which has published hundreds of cartoons about the Monarchy before, gets a sequestration order, with Spanish Police raiding newsagents and bookshops. Yet, media outlets which promulgate hatred and bile everyday, like radio network Cadena COPE and Libertad Digital are allowed to regurgitate their anti-Catalan, anti-Basque extremism, their fascist message of hatred against anyone who does not agree with them, and get away scot-free.

As I have mentioned several times (one, two, three and four) in this blog, in Spain you can be an extremist and enjoy freedom of expression to the limit –as long as you are on the side of the Spanish State. In practice it means that Batasuna are banned but all the openly fascist parties like Falange, Democracia Nacional, are allowed.

I wonder how long it will take the international press to report on this shocking event. Spanish democracy? Don’t make me laugh! (and five) .

Updated:
Well, the BBC has been first! (Friday night)
The Times and The Guardian has been second (Saturday editions)
Other media: France 24, and International Herald Tribune. (By the way, according to the IHT, Franco was still in power in 1977....)

The cartoon is available below; the text goes something like this and it follows the Government's announcement of granting a benefit of €2,500 for every new child:

While shagging Letizia from behind, Príncipe Felipe says:
- “Do you realise? If you fall pregnant… this is going to be the most similar thing to a full day’s work I have done in my life!!”

There must be a better translation, it does not read well in English, does it?

If you want to see the cartoon, several websites have started scanning and uploading the whole magazine into the Web, before the Spanish State makes it an illegal publication. There are rumours that some people are already selling it on eBay.

Here is my contribution to freedom of expression...