Read in Catalan

The grimmest part of the situation seen this Tuesday with the arrests by the Civil Guard of members of the Committees for Defence of the Republic (CDR) was the appearance of the accusation of terrorism. After the false narrative of rebellion, now it seems it's the turn of the false narrative of terrorism. And that's a great misfortune. Not because it's not terrorism, which it isn't, but for the memory of those who have paid with their lives following a terrorist attack. Sadly, Spain knows a lot about terrorism. Too much. And it had to live alongside it from the terrorist group ETA during several decades. It had to get used to the attacks, to the victims, to the murders. In memory of those who died in Hipercor or in Vic due to the outrage of a bunch of criminals that accusation shouldn't be made in vain or, even worse, for a handful of votes. Or, for example, more recently, Barcelona has cried, very few months ago, for the jihadist terrorism on the Rambla. The memory of Ernest Lluch1 doesn't deserve what was his party, PSOE, taking part in this nonsense, as could easily come to the defenders of the unity of Spain.

The trivialisation of terrorism is a serious mistake. A very serious mistake. The state shouldn't play around with it. Can you have an accusation of terrorism without terrorism? Where does the Spanish state want to go in its crusade against the independence movement? Many believe that we're facing a great provocation given the need to support their narrative, which has already been stretched to its limits, with imaginary violence and they recommend, above all, calm, great calm. It has to be like that. Blocking a road cannot be terrorism, everyone knows that. It's not that the large majority of Catalan society sees it like that, but that the topic found itself almost unwillingly in the European Commission's press room in Brussels, a spokesperson having to answer up to four questions without managing to give the slightest answer.

Catalonia is a land of peace. It's always shown it. Likewise in its large-scale, constant rejection of any act of violence, however small it may be.

In recent days it seems that the Spanish state and its leaders are subject to two serious problems of different kinds. On the one hand, Europe invalidates or questions the extradition warrants for members of the Catalan government from Spanish judges. This causes great tension and a clear feeling of defeat. Spain initially confronts Germany to later pull back as it sees its strategy greatly bothering the Germans, little willing to face lectures and insults. On the other hand, "mastergate" in the autonomous community of Madrid is growing ever larger. Its president is more out than in and one of PP's youngsters, Pablo Casado, also finds himself affected by a false CV. Too many problem, maybe the beginning of the end of Rajoy. Who knows, although he has shown he has many lives.

In this context, accusations of terrorism emerge and the news wakes up every day stained by the supposed Catalan violence. Fake news which urgently needs the word "terrorism".

 

Translator's notes:

Title - "No fotem" roughly translates here to "let's not mess around", or something slightly stronger.

1. Ernest Lluch, a professor of Economics, had been Spanish health minister from 1982 to 1986. Retired from politics, he was assassinated by ETA in Barcelona in 2000.