When in doubt lie.
While this is not really a
commendable philosophy, it does appear to be the only one available to the
government of Spain as they attempt to deal with the totally negative fallout
from the vicious repression of peaceful voters by the Spanish national police. Voters were kicked, punched, baton whipped,
dragged by the hair, jumped on, fired at with rubber bullets, charged into by
riot police in full body armour armed and with riot shields. Or not, according
to the people who ordered the police into the field
.
At the end of the voting period
for the referendum there were almost 900 voters who had been injured. Members of the public, unarmed, trying
peaceably to do something that, for the last 40 years in Spain had been
considered a right since the end of the dictatorship: casting a free vote
without state intimidation.
Well Monday showed that the
youthful democracy of Spain was only paper thin and vulnerable to a government
which, through complacency and political ineptitude decided to use force rather
than negotiation and fairness to resolve problems.
We have been told by our reticent
President that his government has the monopoly of ‘democracy’, ‘legitimacy’ ‘justice’
and ‘liberty’ words which are tarnished when they are uttered by the corrupt
members of a minority right wing government that has told us that the brutality
of the Spanish National police was ‘proportionate’ and ‘serene’.
The violence of the National
Police has been explained away by various PP politicians who have also
rubbished the reported numbers of voters injured. They have dismissed the fact of over two
million Catalans voting as a ‘farce’ and asserted that PP are the protectors of
democracy in Spain.
This evening we had an address to
the nation by the king who, until today, has kept a very low profile in the
controversy over the referendum. Among
the platitudes that one would expect at a time of national crisis there was a
clear indication to the disobedient people of Catalonia that he was dedicated
to a united Spain and one that was not going to tolerate any sort of separation
Interestingly people have started
to comment more closely on the painting, a fraction of which was visible behind
the king as he gave his talk. It turns
out that this is a portrait of Carlos III – not the famous one by Goya where he
is pictured with a gun and his recumbent dog, but an altogether more
militaristic one with the king in armour holding a baton not unlike the ones
used by the Guardia Civil to attack voters in the referendum. It is also significant that, apart from the one
truly well-known fact about the reign of Carlos III that he instituted the
National Lottery, he is known for his suppression of the Catalan language in
favour of Spanish.
The present king did not choose
this portrait specially as a background for the broadcast, it is one that he
chose some time ago to hang on the wall behind his desk in his royal office. What is interesting is that given the sensitivity
of the present situation in Catalonia with international condemnation of
violence from the Spanish national police and an immanent proclamation of
unilateral independence that the king should choose to have this painting as an
almost subliminal subtext to his talk.
Or not, of course.
Today, Tuesday, a General Strike
was called to protest about the violence shown to voters by the Spanish
national police. Throughout Catalonia
there have been demonstrations in all parts of the country. Here in Castelldefels there was a
demonstration in front of the city hall.
We were there being counted!
The political situation seems
intractable with both sides firmly entrenched and disinclined to give an inch.
The Catalan government said,
before the referendum, that if there were to be a majority in favour of
independence then a declaration of independence would be made within 48 hours
of the result, irrespective of the numbers taking part in the ballot. 90% of those who voted, voted for an
Independent Republic of Catalonia. 48
hours will be up at 8.00 pm on Wednesday – or perhaps a few hours later if you
take the time of the last results to comes through.
This is an exciting and uncertain
time to be living in Catalonia.
