FT: PP still has Francoist roots

The FT has published an editorial on the Spanish elections. The PP don't come out very well.

I copy and paste the full text:

Spain’s choice
Published: March 2 2008 18:43 Last updated: March 2 2008 18:43

Spain’s general election campaign, now reaching its climax, has been a dispiriting spectacle. Against the background of an economy weakened by the end of cheap credit and a sharp property market correction, the contenders seem to be trying to bribe or frighten Spanish voters.

That is odd. Spain in the past three decades has become a confident and prosperous democracy. For the first time, wealth has spread throughout what for centuries had been an unevenly developed country, where it had developed at all. If all you did was listen to Spanish politicians, you probably would not guess that.

Spain’s public life has become very polarised. The rightwing opposition Partido Popular, in power for eight years after a 14-year Socialist reign, remains unreconciled to losing the past election, in the wake of the March 2004 Madrid train bombings by north African jihadis.

Instead of acting as a parliamentary opposition, the PP has tried to impugn constitutionally major initiatives of the Socialists, in an effort to paralyse government. Mariano Rajoy, its lacklustre leader, has failed to emerge from the shadow of José María Aznar, the former prime minister, and has colluded in a hysterical campaign by the Catholic hierarchy that calls into question the legitimacy of the government.

José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the prime minister, has been uninspiring. His social policy has aimed at creating a tolerant and decent society. He managed the macroeconomy competently but did little to address structural weaknesses such as low productivity growth, a weak technology base and a huge current account deficit. He has been self-congratulatory on economic prospects, just as he was overconfident about reaching a peace settlement with the Basque separatists of Eta.

The PP has used these negotiations as a stick to beat the government, part of an attempt to conjure up a caricature of a Spain disintegrating as Basques and Catalans demand ever more devolved power.

Mr Aznar also negotiated with Eta, and allied with regional forces, just like the Socialists – as whoever wins next Sunday may well have to do. The PP’s problem is that its current leaders have not completed their journey from Francoist roots to a modern centre-right.

Revealingly, the PP is placing its hopes of victory on Socialist voters staying home; Mr Aznar’s attempt to paint the 2004 Madrid bombings as the work of Eta, despite evidence it was carried out by jihadis, was worth 3m extra votes to Mr Zapatero. It is equally revealing that the Socialists do not appear confident they still have them.


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That's what I call a severe corrective:

"The PP’s problem is that its current leaders have not completed their journey from Francoist roots to a modern centre-right."

It is interesting to note that the expats anti-Catalan and rabid cheerleaders of the PP have kept quiet about this one...

Democracy in action: self-determination

There is plenty of media coverage about the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo.

It is not surprising how Spain has aligned itself with those models of democracy: Russia and Serbia.

Spanish politicians are at pains to stress that Catalonia and the Basque Country are different cases and that Kosovo is a one off. I am old enough to remember that the same people said exactly the same after the independence of the Baltic Republics or the new Balkan states.

Independence is won by exercising the democratic right self-determination. Apart from the former Czechoslovakia, I cannot think of any stateless nation that won independence by mutual agreement. According to some, self-determination is the prerogative of the occupying or master power. Their lack of democratic credentials is obvious for all to see.

Kosovo, like Croatia or Lithuania or Latvia won their independence status by exercising their democratic right of self-determination: democracy in action.

Let’s hope that Catalonia will one day join the community of nations and become another state within the European Union, by exercising the right of self-determination in a free and democratic manner and without Spanish anti-democratic interference.

Urgent: tickets needed for Celtic - Barça game

Necessito urgentment una entrada per al partit de demá entre el Celtic i el Barça. Jo vaig aconseguir una a través del club, peró no vull anar al partit sense la meva xicota!

Si algú té previst de venir a Glasgow a veure el partit i pot aconseguir-me una entrada, li agrairia eternament! Pintes a dojo garantitzades!

Salut i Força Barça!!
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Actualització divendres 22 Marc: voldria donar les gràcies a en Ferran, a qui vaig tenir la gran sort de trobar al Sports Bar a Sauchiehall St a Glasgow.
Quan torni a Barcelona de vacances penso trucar-te per pagar-te la ronda que vaig prometre.

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Well, I only got one ticket from the club for the Celtic – Barça game on Wednesday 20 February. Apparently security will be tight for this game.

I urgently need another ticket for my gorgeous girlfriend!

Whoever provides a ticket will have a generous supply of pints before and after the game in Glasgow’s finest drinking dens.

Leave a comment with your email address and I will get in contact, or send me an email.

another borrowed article - change

This is another of Josep Vergés articles in el Racó Catala.

I am happy to correct any mistakes. Original article (Catalan and English).
As ever, I don’t entirely agree with Senyor Vergés, but his views are a refreshing change from the pro-Spanish establishment media opposed to Catalan independence.


Notary of Change
"I consider myself Spanish" affirms for starters notary Lopez Burniol of Ciutadans pel Canvi, Pasqual Maragall's almost-party who can spoil, if he stands, the elections of the presumed minister Duran Lleida and the presumed president Zapatero. Born at the mouth of the Ebro, in Alcanar, he grew up in Ripoll and in Calella, following his Spanish father who was a village notary. He discovered Catalonia in a Calella hairdresser which offered Destino, my father's liberal magazine, where he read Josep Pla. "A country with barbers who provide Destino is a civilized country."

Today the notary gives witness to a change which has him greatly worried: "Either Spain federalizes or Catalonia will become independent."

Those of us who feel Catalan in Catalonia think the same. In the last three years -there are no reliable figures before that- those who feel exclusively Spanish have fallen by half a million to 4% of the population while the sentiment of being Catalan has grown by five points. Today half a million more Catalans want a State, federated or independent. In total four million want it, one more than have enough with the autonomy of PSC-PSOE or the 390,000 who want the fascist region of the PP. A referendum on a Catalan State, associated or independent, would win by 55% of the vote, the same percentage Europe demanded of Montenegro to be independent of the equally intolerant Serbia.

Why is Catalan nationhood growing so fast? Because of the lying incompetence of Zapatero and the rabid anti-Catalanism of Rajoy, the leaders of the two centralist parties. Pro-independence Joan Puigcercos of Esquerra explains: "Zapatero cannot be bothered at all about Catalan commuter trains. He doesn't care that at the moment there are obsolete trains all over Catalonia and the railways are so disastrous that many trains are stranded daily. In 1992 independence was a proscribed idea, absolutely marginal as something impossible or illegal, while today it has been taken over by 20% of the population."

20% may seem little, but it translates to one and a half million Catalans, more than the total Basque population which has spilt so much ink, and gunpowder. Madrid ignores Catalans at a great peril for centralism. There is still time to offer federalism but in a decade Catalan public opinion will have gone much beyond. Why doesn't Spain federalize, the manifesto with which PSOE won the elections? It doesn't federalize because of a macro-capital just as South American as Caracas. Madrid has feet of clay. It has large companies but except El Corte Ingles, all are disgusting monopolies like Renfe or former monopolies privatized Russian style like Telefonica or Mafiosi public contractors. Madrid does not know what an entrepreneur is. It has great motorways, a galactic airport, meters of metros, all paid from the public purse.

Catalonia leads decentralization, but behind follow all the other autonomies. Madrid battles Catalonia because every time it gives way, and not a year passes that it does not give up something, all the others want the same. The State of the Autonomies is the mortal enemy of Madrid, because in the long run Madrid will be nothing. This is what centralists who identify Madrid with Spain do not want but in fact Madrid lives against Spain. It can build as many high speed lines to the centre as it wants, that these can just as easily attract capital as decentralize. Iberia centralized like today Renfe is doing and has been expelled by competition from Barcelona airport and is for sale like Alitalia, whom nobody wants either.

Catalan parties will not pact with centralists without real measures. The PP may threaten and PSOE may lie, but neither threats nor lies permit the formation of a majority in Congress.
Lopez Burniol ends by asking: "Why don't we do like Canada?"
I answer: "So that civil servants in all of Spain know Catalan?"
The notary of change concludes giving witness, like a good notary: "Impossible! Independence is all that's left."

Josep C. Vergés

The more the merrier

First, a Happy New Year to all readers.

I have to apologise because I have not been posting much recently. In fact, I have been rather busy the last few months. My parents came over for Hogmanay, and today my gorgeous girlfriend and I put down a reserve payment towards the purchase of our new home.

Over the last few weeks I have not posted much, but I have discovered a handful of blogs in English about Catalan/Spanish politics.

http://soscatalonia.blogspot.com/ - does not post very regularly but it explains the issues clearly and in a combative language.

http://independentcatalonia.blogspot.com/ - an excellent list of reasons why Catalonia will be better off as an independent state rather than being part of Spain.

http://georgebcn.blogspot.com/ - a new blogger, George blogs from Barcelona in English and also in Catalan.

http://aclearcutcase.blogspot.com/ - also a new blogger, Josep has many other blogs in Catalan, available from his profile page.

http://waytoownstate.blogspot.com/ - also a new blogger in English, Xavier Mir has been an active participant in the Catalan blogosphere (Catosphere) for many years.

Then, we have Ian Llorens’ revamped blog: http://catalonianpolitician.blogspot.com/ -probably the best blog in English about Catalonia.

We still have the reliable The Badrash, Although Tom probably is very much on my left, metaphorically speaking, I do enjoy his posts and lateral thinking.

Mathew Tree is another Englishman who has made Catalonia his home. He even publishes books in Catalan.

Finally, Ramon Tremosa is a Professor of Economics at the Universitat de Barcelona. He has some publications in English in his personal page. I very much like his paper on the fiscal deficit in Catalonia and how it affects growth and economic development.


All in all, everyone of the above blogs helps to internationalise the issue of Catalan independence and explain why remaining part of Spain will result in economic, cultural and political decline for Catalonia.

There are many voices in Catalonia, native and adopted Catalans, who are determined not to be silenced by the rhetoric of the Spanish State. Against those failed expats who have not adapted to Catalonia, refusing to accept Catalan culture and language as a mainstream component of life in Catalonia, and adopting the language of anti-Catalan Spanish Nationalists, people like Tom, George or Matthew provide us with positive examples of integration.

If I have missed any other blogs, please let me know and I will add them to the post.

For those who borrow from Libertad Digital: enjoy the list above!

How to kill off a language

It has happened. As I predicted in this post, the process is inevitable and probably irreversible as both PSOE and PP agree on the ultimate goal: making sure that Valencian (the name Catalan language receives in the Valencia region) language dies quietly.

The Valencian government, ruled by the Spanish Conservatives (Partido Popular) has been busy closing down the transmitters that broadcast the signal of TV3 and Canal 33 in the Valencia region. Old habits die hard in the Spanish Right: censorship is still the preferred method of implementing policy.

These transmitters are being closed down only for political reasons: TV3 is a Catalan TV station, and the Spanish Right dislikes anything that threatens their concept of the Spanish nation-state (in Spanish language only), specially something like a TV station broadcasting in Catalan.

These transmitters were set up and maintained by ACPV, a Valencian cultural association. There is no cost to the taxpayer whatsoever. The Spanish Government (PSOE) could resolve this situation overnight if it wished to do so, as it has reserved powers in broadcasting issues, but has declined to intervene.

The (temporary) good news is that yesterday a Judge in Castelló halted the closure of the local transmitter pending an appeal logged in the Valencian High Court. Yet, I am not an optimist.

Of all the posts in this blog, I am particularly proud of the one linked above and Fading Nation. Sadly, time is proving me right in both.

I remember fondly my childhood spending summers in La Pobla de Vallbona, (Wiki) where my father was working in the construction of what would become an IBM factory. The local kids would mock my accent and there was good banter, but there was not ill-feeling, and most importantly, we knew we were speaking the same language with different accents. TV3 had been broadcasting for a few years and soon after the reinstatement of democracy and the PSOE electoral win in 1982, the language was being revived and saved from extinction.

It is a different picture now. For years, the Spanish Right has funded an array of media outlets, particularly in Valencia, whose only purpose is the dissemination of hatred against anything Catalan. When the PSOE-PSPV lost the regional government to the PP, the fate of Valencia was sealed. With control of the regional broadcaster, Canal 9, probably the most manipulative and biased TV station in Spain, dissenting views were silenced and dozens of Valencian intellectuals and journalists seeked refuge in the Universities or moved north to Barcelona for work. The Catalan media based in Barcelona is full of exiled Valencians who day-in day-out witness how their old country is fading out, how the language we share is being driven to extinction by the regional government, and how violent far-right groups operate with impunity, using violence against anyone who still has the energy and courage to fight for a seemingly lost cause: the survival of Valencian language.

The below links provide examples of how the Spanish Nationalists use violence to threated the good Valencians who still care about their cultural heritage.

A local councillor attacked by Spanish Nationalists: http://www.racocatala.cat/articles/15069

Two months later, a local female activist of the same party, Bloc, was attacked by far-right thugs: Levante-EMV
This is on top of the attacks that the premises of cultural organisations like ACPV suffer on a regular basis across some towns in Valencia. Or the impunity in which the Spanish Far Right organises violent demonstrations in some suburbs in Valencia, as denounced by ACPV.

As ever, you can translate from Catalan/Valencia into Spanish/English or French using this translator.

Time is a scarce resource

Regular readers will have noticed that I have been not very active of late. There are a variety of reasons:

+ Work: the credit liquidity squeeze and the return of volatility have resulted in longer hours at work.
+ Studies: the MBA thesis on credit default swaps is also taking longer that expected. Final deadline (I have already had a couple of extensions…) is 7 December 2007, so not a lot of time left.
+ Commuting: normally I drive from the outskirts of Glasgow to Edinburgh. This month, however I am trying to commute by train. Next year, if/when I have more time, I will write about public transport provision in the UK.
+ Too much to write about: frankly, there is too much happening. I feel overwhelmed with developments in Scottish/British politics and Catalan/Spanish politics. Where should I start. Thus, I feel easier to reply to other people’s blogs, even if they are slightly bonkers. Hello John and Trevor.

If all that was not enough, to be brutally honest, the few spare hours I have I’d rather spend them with my gorgeous, lovely, pretty and extremely patient girlfriend.

It has been a few interesting weeks. I have been accused of being both “obviously right-wing” and a “far-leftist” by Iberian Notes because of this post. Iberian Notes is a blog by a north American expat living in Barcelona which regurgitates the same bile and hatred towards Catalonia and its sense of nationhood and cultural, social and political identity as the most vicious and aggressive Spanish nationalist portals like Libertad Digital. Well it seems the guy used to work for them so no surprises there.

What I did not expect when I set up this blog (in September 2003 no less) is that I would be quoted out of context by El País newspaper:

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cataluna/Independentismo/elpepuespcat/20071107elpcat_15/Tes (Spanish)

The post the article is referring is this one: It’s time. I notice the journalist cites the comment left by Ox, but not my reply with web links, or Ox’s lack of counter-reply. I will dedicate another post to this article next week.

In any case, for the benefit of Mr Delclós and Ox, I did not equate political independence to a complete assurance of improving life expectancy; rather, the crux of the post, for anyone that wants to read it properly, is that +50 years of Labour rule in Glasgow has failed to address this and many other social issues, that a change in policy is required and that only the SNP can provide the cathartic change Scotland so much needs.

Can anyone argue back that keeping Labour in power will resolve the many social issues we face in the west of Scotland when they have proved to be incapable of doing so in +50 years?

PSC has alzheimer - a borrowed post

Regular readers will have noticed the absence of new posts.

The credit liquidity squeeze and the increased volatility in financial markets have resulted in longer hours spent in the office. Not to mention a certain master’s degree thesis in credit default swaps that is taking a bit longer that anticipated…..

Until normal services are resumed, I copy and paste another article from from Josep C. Vergés, a regular columnist in the Diari de Girona. The issue I have with the post is that according to a poll published today, PSC-PSOE and Ciudadanos would not lose representation in the Catalan Parliament. I don’t trust any polls, let alone one published by La Vanguardia but if you are interested, you can read about it in Racó Català. In summary, not much change. However, Spanish elections are to be held in March and that could be a different ball game....

The post is taken from the Racó Català, a Catalan portal.

PSC Has Alzheimer

Former PSC member and founder Pasqual Maragall, the Catalan president overthrown by Zapatero, who had made Zapatero PSOE president against the wishes of Jose Montilla, has announced he has the initial stages of Alzheimer, a slow degenerative disease which ultimately paralyzes the entire brain. The PSC is already in an advanced stage of Alzheimer, declared when it fearfully integrated with the PSOE Parliamentary group in Congress after the coup d'Etat of the King's preceptor General Armada in 1981. Last year the PSC gave up Catalan nationalism by accepting the barrio Jacobin Montilla instead of Maragall. The excuse was that with the new Statute of Autonomy there was no further need to defend Catalonia and it was time to "manage" what citizens really wanted. For example, airports. Well, better another. Electricity. No good. Freeways. None there. Well then trains. Oops what a disaster!

The PSC has undergone a full lobotomy, left without a voice in Madrid, without Catalan nationalism and without managerial ability.The worst president in democracy, quite something, before betraying Maragall threw out Carod. A costly mistake because Esquerra renewed the pact with PSC after the early Catalan elections while Zapatero has been left in a lonely minority and done nothing since a year and a half. Impossible to do any worse. Or maybe it is as the worst minister in history shows, Andalusian Magdalena Alvarez, with her Catalan airport, road and train chaos. She promised that after the 11th September Catalonia would go on wheels. She has certainly kept her word because Madrid monopoly Renfe has abandoned train services forcing all of us to take the car. To doubly guarantee this, Madrid monopoly Adif has collapsed a Catalan Railways tunnel, forcing cancellation of their services so that Madrid has no bothersome train competition.

PSOE has caught the Alzheimer infection from PSC. PSOE has also lost the majority in the Senate with the added setback that the PSC is grouped with Esquerra there, not with the Jacobins. They can vote against PSOE, which is not possible in Congress. This explains why minority leader Zapatero has sent to the Senate anaesthetist Joan Clos, who has no responsibilities in transport with the hope that PSC will show compassion with the grey "Catalan minister" and PSC member.

The disapproval which cannot be ducked by socialists is that of the voters. The broken down services managed by the Madrid monopolies affect directly towns with the heaviest socialist vote. Zapatero's betrayal of Maragall already lost the socialists the Catalan nationalist vote. The latest betrayal by Magdalena Alvarez has now lost them the immigrant vote. Winston Churchill said governments lose elections, not opposition parties win them. The PSOE will emerge further weakened from the elections. PSC governs tied hand and feet by Esquerra, not the other way round as Jacobins would want. PSOE will be equally tied down after the elections in March, because the PP troglodytes will be unable to govern with no Catalan party willing to ally themselves to the anti-Catalan racists.

Minority ruler Zapatero has still time to halt the slide as I proposed in Diari de Girona (26th August) by naming Joaquim Nadal Public Works Minister:

"Perhaps it is impossible for Zapatero to stop his talante and start
telling the truth, but if he fires his minister for centralism who visits
Catalonia like an Andalusian grandee in her estate, we shall see a hard
working Catalan in Madrid's Public Works Ministry and celebrate Christmas in
the height of summer."

Nadal will have the credibility to transfer Renfe to Catalonia and the responsibility to do a good job, so that he can become the natural replacement for burnt out Montilla, a bad manager and mediocre president. A shock cure for socialist Alzheimer in both federated parties, PSC and PSOE, with no idea where they are or where they are heading in an advanced stage of the degenerative disease of lost votes.

Josep C. Vergés