Whilst the foreign press continues to report with a mix of worry, surprise and alarm on the Catalan political prisoners and the hunger strike that four of them (Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Quim Forn, the first three of whom are deputies in the Parliament of Catalonia) have started in Lledoners prison, a good portion of the Spanish political class and media (some Catalans have to be included in this attitude too) have opted for scorning the information or even for ridiculing it. And that as two of them, Sànchez and Turull, finish their ninth day and their strength starts to dwindle as the minister explains in his daily updates to El Nacional.
Regardless that it's an anomaly in democratic Europe and that (to quote the latest media outlet which has referred to them) Denmark's Jyllands-Posten has entitled its report "Spain's political prisoners are Europe's true democrats". Commonly abbreviated to JP, the Jyllands-Posten is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Denmark. It tilts ideologically between the conservatives and the centre right. As regards its independence and its defence of freedom of expression, it's enough to remember the satirical caricatures of the prophet Muhammad it published in 2005 which caused a great debate, threats towards the newspaper and solidarity from the international community.
Mireia Boya said this Sunday that it should be highlighted more the way the Spanish state, the Constitutional Court and the parties of the regime care very little about the hunger strike. And the former CUP deputy is not wrong to see things like that. Spanish politics and media always act the same: they disrespect and discredit at the same time and meanwhile the problem grows under their very noses. Confucius said that when the wise man points at the moon, the fool looks at his finger.
The hunger strikes are again marking Spain out as an intolerant, little democratic state before the international community and, internally, are giving strength to the fuse which has already lit for the institutional and public responses to the Spanish cabinet meeting to be held on 21st December in Barcelona. A day marked on the pro-independence calendar and on which, by the way, it's still unknown where the Spanish government is going to meet.