So, as we wake up to another brightly dull day where
rain is threatening even if it is not actually falling, what have we achieved
in Catalonia after the referendum?
Most importantly, a clear indication of the signal
failure of Rajoy and his authoritarian government. They pledged to stop the referendum and it
took place. They used every trick in the
book short of sending in the army and it failed to stop 42% of the electorate
turning out for what Rajoy called an “illegal” vote. Given the obstacles put in the way of voting,
the fact that over two million people in Catalonia turned out to vote is a
triumph of the people over an uncaring repressive central authority.
The actions of the Spanish National Police that have
left at least 844 people injured, two seriously, will haunt the popular
imagination for years to come. When you
see pictures of armoured baton-wielding policemen laying into young and old
alike; women being pulled by the hair along the streets; people thrown down
stairs; voters being kicked and thumped, the adjectives to describe such scenes
that come to mind are not those used by our ridiculous President of “firmness
and serenity”.
Rajoy must resign at once.
He won’t of course because he and his corrupt party
feel themselves to be above the law and indeed they create their own
reality. Rajoy spoke to the nation and
explained that, “there had been no referendum today”. Rajoy is a master of Political Photoshop
where uncomfortable reality can be rejigged through his own weasel words into
something more in keeping with his distorted world view.
I have just been informed that an older man who had
heart failure in the disturbances caused by the Spanish National Police has now
died. While he was being given resuscitation
the voters who had formed a protective ring around those giving assistance were
attacked by an armoured police officer who smashed his way into the cordon and people
fell on the injured man. All of this was
captured on film and it joins a series of unacceptable views of violence. Perhaps more significantly, I can find
nothing on television to suggest that this story (found on Twitter) is actually
correct. The violence towards the man
has been captured on film and I have seen it, but the death is perhaps one of
those rumours that we are going to have to get used to during the next few days
and weeks as what is a volatile political situation feeds on the truth and half truth that has the potential to
rip Spain apart.
If you have not seen what violence Rajoy and his PP
government encouraged against peaceful voters then check the link below, and
then write to your MP demanding that they condemn the behaviour of a WESTERN
EUROPEAN NATION, a member of the EU and UNO, against its own citizens!
