United by loathing
C's define themselves as liberal. However, no liberal would prohibit a referendum like Catalonia has proposed
The other day I heard some remarks by a prominent individual in Spain’s Partido Popular whose name escapes me. With the unique, specific arrogance that characterizes Hispanics --that is, using pedantry to insult your intelligence-- he claimed that the Partido Popular (PP) and Ciudadanos (C's) had started a long-term love story.
I don't know everything that these two parties have agreed upon. Eradicating corruption has turned out not to be instrumental to their pact. Merely adding and crossing out names from a list of corrupt individuals does not seem acceptable. The PP, in a corporate sense, as a political party, as a legal entity, is facing criminal charges. If anyone wants to guarantee the absence of corruption by those in office, they can never support the PP while its current leadership is in place. There is no alliance between the PP and a few corrupt individuals, no sir. Corruption is the PP itself.
Besides other more or less sufficient conditions, there are some that have shown themselves to be necessary for the PP and C’s to reach an agreement. Sine qua non conditions. And chiefly among them is the matter of Catalan sovereignty, and of how to exercise it. I've been thinking about how to best describe that which moves C's to act as they do --especially them, due to their origins, more than the PP. The word that best describes it is loathing. The Catalan elements of C's and of the PP loathe Catalonia. It's not that the nation makes them physically sick, don’t get me wrong. They're simply sick of Catalonia and everything that is Catalan. Being Catalan puts them off. To fully understand what I'm saying, you must listen to the La Camarga recording --you’ll find it online, if you look for it (1). You'll hear, from the horse’s mouth, the anguish that she exudes. The same internal revulsion shown by Fernández Díaz (2). It’s like a worm, always eating away at them.
C's define themselves as liberal. However, before having a liberal program, you need to have a liberal nature. No liberal would prohibit a referendum like Catalonia has proposed. What's more, liberals believe in the principle of equal opportunity from the starting gate. It is an exercise in cynicism to propose a trilingual school system after three hundred years of oppression --let me remind you that General Prim complained of not being allowed to send telegrams in Catalan to his tailor, who didn't understand Spanish. And even more so when our language is in a clear minority position --in Barcelona only 14 of the 46 TDT channels available are in Catalan; and, naturally, the companies who stream TV series prioritize exclusively the Spanish language for market reasons. We are, then, faced with an alliance of linguistic hate towards Catalan similar to that practiced by the PP in Valencia and the Balearic Islands. And —let’s be clear— the gentlemen of C's want to see the soul of Catalonia annihilated, destroyed in favor of a Spanish soul. They're not persecuting Catalanism, let's not fool ourselves. They are trying to destroy the Catalan identity, which is a very different thing. Catalonia itself, as understood by even those who are not pro-Catalonia. The Catalan elements of C's and the PP are staunch “botiflers" (3). And I hope that this doesn't shock anyone. I don't deny their identity as Catalans, perish the thought! To be a "botifler" one must be a Catalan by definition. A Tatar could never be a "botifler".
Now, let’s not panic. The number of representatives and ballots in the Spanish elections that the PP and C's together collected in Catalonia was around 23%. I mean, probably, the amount of support gained by this kind of people, who are disgusted by their own nation here in Catalonia, is probably no different from other places. It wouldn't surprise me if there were around 20% of anti-Germans, or anti-Italians, or anti-French people in each of those countries -- the French surprised themselves between 1940 and 1945, a fact that required a very serious case of amnesia after the fact. The exception, that which makes us different -- and which, therefore, means we have to push for a prompt decision in referendum--, is that those anti-nation elements in other countries do not rely on an external ally like the anti-Catalans have in certain Spanish sectors.
Those who are against a country --whether their own or another-- are usually bad people. That's why I don't trust the anti-Spanish elements, either. This alliance between the PP and C’s --which merely aims to rally their own voters-- shows clear and evil intentions towards our nation. Only an enormous resentment and deep loathing --the offspring of ignorance and bad faith-- could bring those Catalans who belong to these two parties to reach an agreement of this kind without feeling indignation and shame.
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(1) N.T. In July 2010 a private conversation between PP leader Alicia Sánchez Camacho and an informer was bugged in a Barcelona restaurant (La Camarga). When the tape was leaked a few years later, it led to a massive scandal of political espionage.
(2) N.T. Spain’s Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz was also taped plotting a smear campaign against pro-independence Catalan leaders.
(3) N.T. In the 18th century a “botifler” was a Catalan supporter of the Bourbon king whose army occupied Barcelona in 1714 after a long, bloody siege. It is a synonym of “traitor”.
