Since my vacation, I have not been in the mood of writing anything. The result of the last Spanish elections was so disappointing that I felt like giving up my political blogging endeavor. After a couple of years of chaos in our infrastructures, a trimmed down "Estatut", the deployment of which never starts, continuous threats of boycott, captive airports, etc, etc. etc. and we go and vote for the Socialists. Unbelievable!. It's obvious that personally I have no future in the Catalan political landscape.
The last straw was the additional House representative that the Popular Party got in Barcelona thanks to the votes of overseas Catalans. I promise, I was not the one, I would not vote for the Popular Party in any circumstance because they are simply anti-Catalan, whereas the Socialist party is merely sloppy and incompetent.
You may want to know whom I voted for. I voted for CiU, just because it is the least of all evils. You know I lean towards the right, and that I am a Catalan nationalist, so despite the fact that I believe that CiU lead politicians and especially Duran-i-Lleida and Mas are a bunch of "botiflers" (traitors) and that the former is, in addition to that, corrupt, I decided to vote for the idealistic concept of a competent center-right Catalan nationalistic party, rather than giving my vote away to the enemies of my nation.
The debacle of ERC is also remarkable and shows two things, that the current leaders of ERC (Carod-Rovira, Puigcercos, etc.) are literally morons, not bad people, simply they have not been blessed with an IQ that would allow them to conduct a normal job, and therefore they had no option but to become politicians where no credentials are required and that people do not forgive their slave-like submission to the Socialist party.
If Catalonia does not get a solid, mainstream, serious left wing party, we will continue to be a scoff, an object of mockery and derision. When the PSC becomes the equivalent of the Catalan Popular Party, the party from the Spanish nationalist left wing minority in Catalonia and left wing Catalans vote massively for ERC, then we have a chance of success. But this will only be possible if ERC distances itself from anti-system positions, recruit high level politicians and becomes something similar to the British labor party.
Unfortunately the chances of that happening are slim, and I foresee a decade of flat ECG politicians in the Catalan landscape that will sink our country and make us the benchmark of mediocrity and idiocy.
I am suggesting to the Catalan political leaders to adopt other methods to, at least, keep the people awake until I return in 2017.
I enclose videoclips with the methods used by politicians in other geographies, some of those politicians as dull as ours. The first one is a debate between the Japanese politicians of the autonomous region of Hokkaido (*) (Kalod-Lovila, Puigzelkos and at, the end of the clip, Dulan-i-Yeida) and the other one is an Obama supporter trying to make us forget about his controversial priest (*).
- The most popular videos are here
(*) Totally invented statements
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13 comments:
Has posat la meva mateixa decepció en paraules, respecte de tots els partits i els resultats. Salutacions d´un altre Llorens
Ian: Personally I think the results were the best given the circumstances. I love the downward turn that the nationalist parties have taken and hope for the best: that PSC becomes a party able to do things. That means getting rid of politically correct nationalistic bullshit (including his incompetent partners) and working together with other territories, no matter where they are from. Today, the division is so great that autonomic governments have to focus more and more in establishing lobbies rather than working for the people they represent. It is the result of seeding hatred all over the place, and it can be seen all over Iberia.
Anyway, good luck in 2017. If things go well for you, you will be glad to know that I won't be able to vote in any Catalan elections, so luckily for you one vote less for your competitors (unless they were worst than you, a relatively high possibility given the path that Catalan politics is taking).
Garci,
In 9 years, you will be so impressed with my proposal, that you will rush to register for vote in Catalonia.
Ian:
Ja,ja! It will have to be really good, Ian! :)..
Of course catalans living abroad vote for the PP: They are living far away and feel truly safe. If you vote for the PP while living in Catalonia your car tires might get sweetly stabbed or your windscreen charmingly smashed. Maybe they are free from any oppression/intimidation?
Jack,
Cheap shot!
Let me answer with a couple of considerations and one recommendation:
- I have lived and/or worked in Singapur, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Mexico and USA. Only the latter can give us lessons on democracy.
- Maybe you will be so kind to reveal the perfect country from where you come from where there are no vandals. Unfortunately in Catalonia, as in many other places in the world there is a small minority who does not follow the rules of the game. Judging the whole nation based on a tiny minority is simply wrong.
The problem is that Spanish nationalists, whom you seem to support, use every opportunity to attack and discredit Catalonia and they think that everything is allowed to achieve their objectives, including gross exaggeration or flat out lies.
The fact that I want to support my nation, to preserve my language and culture, to create progress and welfare for my people, does not make me the enemy of anyone, even if people like you would like to fabricate this idea.
I also recommend that you make an experiment, get a sticker with the logo "Valencia is a part of the Catalan Countries" put it on a visible spot on your car, park it downtown Valencia, go shopping and come back after 3 hours. Alternatively you can park your car with a "Catalonia is not Spain" sticker in downtown Madrid and see what happens. Get a good car insurance before doing the experiment.
Nice, but your reply doesn't answer the question why catalan expats voted for the PP. I'll try to give a couple of possible explanations. I've listed them up in multiple choice form, since according to your opinion everything from the US is simply and only great - including, I assume, the democratic protection of native american cultures and languages (like you do). Hope it's easier for you this way:
a) Catalan nationalism sucks.
b) Franco is still alive and pursued catalan expats all over the world imitating a lidia bull.
c) FC Barcelona is playing horribly.
Jack,
The answer is:
d) Because they already forgot their roots or they never had them.
Regarding USA, my policy is not to criticize the country that has welcomed me and to adapt as much as possible to my adopted home, that's why I speak the language, I learned the history and I teach my kids to love America too.
And you still did not tell us the perfect country from where you come.
I'd comment your d) as follows:
Cultural heritage, language (and roots) are great, unless they aren't imposed by a regional government like a religion - just live it without pressure.
It's a choice based on freedom after all. Catalonia - country of the free, home of the brave.
Salut!
Jack,
your last answer reveals a lot:
"a regional government"
So it is ok for a "national" or "state" government to do it then?
The problem with the anti-Catalan lobby is that you guys have not got a problem with the Spanish state imposing Spanish language on all; but you get upset if the "regional" Catalan government seeks some kind of pseudolegal (below Spanish) status for Catalan.
I may remind you that, after all, Catalan is the language of Catalonia. If Catalonia was an independent state we would not be having this silly discussion.
I don't give a damn whether cat is independent or part of spain.
the question remains: why do catalan expats vote for a centralist, pro-spanish party like the pp?
maybe because outside catalonia they can vote without finding photographs of their faces with bullets in the forehead in their mailbox the next day.
Sorry, I was a couple of days in China and blogger is blocked there, so I could not reply back.
Jack.
I think you are in the wrong blog, talking about the wrong nation.
For the Zimbawe politician blog click this link Zimbawe Digest
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