“Before Spain, Catalonia will break up.” José María Aznar's lapidary phrase regarding the independence challenge of 2017 now sounds like a preface to a political soap opera that is on its way to surpassing the series Cuéntame in seasons. What's more, the latest twist in the script suggests that it is Madrid that will break before Catalonia, with all those burned containers... poor things. The joke is already circulating in Barcelona that there will be families not speaking to each other, companies fleeing, tourists withdrawing and everything else.
It is not up to the police to control unconstitutionalists, separatists and terrorists who threaten the unity of Spain. Those who make the urban furniture shake in the plateau capital are the ultras of the right, of both rights, encouraged by that “he who can contribute, let him contribute” that the eternal Aznar issued. An all for the country that in political terms means let's make an electoral change.
The number of injuries on Tuesday night informs the violent nature of the protesters: of 35, 29 are police officers. From which it can be deduced that either the security forces like them and do not apply the necessary heavy hand, which is unlikely, or that the violent ones are organized and well prepared. Who knows if in this aftermath of the process the police will break before Madrid.
Some expert advice? The secret that prevented the blood from reaching the river in Catalonia is that it has more of a sense of humor than a sense of ridicule. And she has little faith in herself when it comes to winning political battles against the central power.
But that does not seem to be a mood shared by the young people – and not so young – who storm Madrid these nights. They are not motivated by social discontent with the powerful, but by an unaffordable loss of power. The smell of their atavistic reasons does not go unnoticed among the aroma of democracy of the 21st century. And in the absence of a proactive plan, its fuel is the same as always: Spanishist lament. It used to work when there were shots and bombs exploding on the separatist periphery. Bombs like that Catalan declaration of independence that did not last a minute and that six years later returns us to both Spains.
