Spain's second-deputy prime minister Pablo Iglesias says that Spain is not a full democracy and they all jump on him, ranging from the side of the government that is not Unidas Podemos, that is, the Socialist side, to the entire right of the Spanish parliament, and on the way, the irredeemable press of the Spanish capital that evolved technologically, but stopped dead in ideologically terms back in the years of reactionary thought, with the sacrosanct unity of Spain, reds and Judeo-Masonic conspiracies. It happens, however, that Iglesias is not on a talk show, nor writing an op-ed piece, but rather is in a place - the Spanish cabinet - where things are decided, laws are passed, pardons are granted or blocked... And this is ultimately more important than talking on the radio or TV. And Iglesias is correct in saying that Spain is not a full democracy, as the whole of the Catalan independence movement knows well enough, and it will not be one for as long as the reactionary core that controls the true power of the state does not become deactivated, and until its laws - and above all their application - acquire a democratic outlook instead of being retrograde and repressive.
The arrest this Tuesday of the rapper Pablo Hasél by order of the National Audience judges and his immediate imprisonment after being convicted for the lyrics of his songs is not only a monumental scandal but is another example of the deficits in the quality of Spanish democracy. The left will race in - or at least, will seem to do so - to decriminalize this and other offences related to free speech in the framework of a broader reform of the Penal Code. But it has very little legitimacy for these proposals when in the time it has been in charge of the Spanish government it has done very little in this direction. Just remember that Valtònyc went to Belgium in spring 2018 to avoid a three-year prison sentence which was also for some song lyrics, and there he continues.
Spain is in many respects unreformable and governments arrive from both sides of the spectrum yet some things remain untouchable. The colloquial expression "con la justicia hemos topado" - we have collided with justice - does nothing but hide the evidence that in reality there are too many things to be reformed in this establishment, a key to any state. Although it is no longer a novelty for Spain to appear in the international press for news related to the lack of freedoms, its intolerant position, the far right's freedom to act with impunity and the repression of pro-independence activists, on Tuesday it managed to make headlines around the world. But even last week it was the EU foreign affairs chief and former Spanish minister, Josep Borrell, who appeared on front pages all over the continent thanks to his clash with the Moscow authorities over the Catalan prisoners. And last Saturday in central Madrid, in a tribute to Franco's World War Two unit the Blue Division, there were anti-Semitic statements and insults made as though they were absolutely normal, in an authorized demonstration of fascists at the cemetery of the Almudena. The Russian embassy in Spain responded that it was unacceptable.
I'm not sure how long Spain will be able to continue beating this path with such clumsiness, international disrepute and indiscriminate repression of its citizens. But the script itself seems written to never be changed and leave everything as it is. When, this Tuesday, the first deputy PM Carmen Calvo was asked after the cabinet meeting about the fact that in Catalonia the pro-independence support had surpassed 50% of votes in last Sunday's elections, her answer, although expected, was nevertheless disappointing: "It's an irrelevant fact, the percentage doesn't matter because nothing will change." And thus, any dialogue or solution is impossible.