Antoni Bassas’ analysis: “before democrats, first they’re Spanish”

Today I spent a while studying a photograph that captured a particular moment during this week’s debate in the Catalan parliament. Just as MPs prepare to press a button and cast their vote, the picture shows us the Ciudadanos lawmakers waving their hands in the air to prove that they have opted not to vote at all. They refused to cast a ballot on the motions demanding an independence referendum in Catalonia.

Of course, their gesture aimed to provide a photo opportunity and, indeed, the picture shows them for what they are. As if you were being examined by your eye doctor, I ask you: what can you see, here? Some of you might answer: “several MPs who do not vote because they do not wish to break the law” or “I see a number of people who wish to highlight their innocence”.

Myself, I see it differently. To me the picture shows the tantrum that a sore loser throws. They know that they are about to lose a vote and so they say “I ain’t playing”. The fear of debate, the fear of democracy. Rather than acknowledge that they are in minority position, they taint the legitimate position of their opponents as if they didn’t want to make their own hands dirty. Before being democrats, first they are Spanish.

Last Thursday in the Catalan parliament, the Partido Popular, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and Ciudadanos refused to vote the motions filed jointly by pro-independence groups Junts pel Sí and the CUP on an independence referendum for Catalonia. As it turns out, the PP, the PSC and Ciudadanos combined only account for 38 per cent of all seats in the Catalan chamber, whereas in the Spanish parliament they represent 72 per cent. 38 here versus 72 over there. When there is something they dislike over here, they pretend to represent 72 per cent of the electorate.

In the attitude and demeanour of the MPs in the picture I see a neglect of their duty to represent those who elected them. A failure to tackle an issue politically, rather than hide behind the umpire. This is the result of the time-honoured inability of Spanish politics to address Catalonia’s demands. It is a continuation, through political posturing, of what the State did on Thursday: Spain’s Constitutional Court is pressing criminal charges against Carme Forcadell, the Speaker of the House, for allowing a vote in the Catalan parliament, while the Supreme Court has requested permission from Madrid’s parliament to indict former Catalan minister Francesc Homs. All this on the same day as a majority of MPs in the Catalan parliament approved two proposals for an independence referendum, one of which with the support of Catalunya Sí que es Pot. The State’s answer was a general warning. Yesterday it was former president Artur Mas, today it is Forcadell, tomorrow whomever, and so on and so forth until everyone is disqualified for merely demanding a chance to vote.

I suppose that, by now, anyone who says that the trouble with our parliament is that it keeps voting in illegal stuff or issues that do not interest the Catalan public, they must be well aware that the Catalan government has no power to pass legislation on bullfighting, gender equality, energy poverty or bring in a new tax on vacant flats.

Madrid is cooking on gas but the Catalan government and parliament are keeping up, so a head-on clash is approaching. Not only does this make little sense, but it is embarrassing. Nowhere in the free world would anyone approve of sending out police and judges in response to a demand supported by over half the population, such as going to the polls. Wherever there is any intelligent life, problems like this are not allowed to become so thorny. In our case, they allow them to because they think they are stronger and they believe that we are not prepared to sacrifice any of our comforts; they believe that we won’t move past staging a colourful performance on September 11, Catalonia’s National Day; that, if provoked, we might actually be tempted to shatter a window. If the Spanish state refuses to sit down and discuss the future of Catalonia, it’ll soon be time to show that this is a matter of dignity.