The mote and the beam

Josep Ramoneda
1 min

A group of some fifty intellectuals, led by Mario Vargas Llosa, have published an anti-nationalist manifesto that urges President Rajoy not to negotiate with President Mas. The arguments are well known, and the signers themselves: Boadella, Azúa, Redondo Terreros and Fidalgo, among others. As always, it’s obvious that it is much easier to see the mote in the eye of your brother than to see the beam in your own eye. “Spain is today a sleepy nation in which tactics and resignation prevail among the elites”. The manifesto, therefore, is a wake-up call to the Spanish nation. And it’s unashamed: it calls for the application of “all the law, and a clear warning of the consequences of violating the law” because “no misdeed can go unpunished”. I suppose it is this punitive radicalism and the hands of FAES handling the text, that caused some former anarchist souls not to sign the text.

In any case, simple intellectual honesty should require one to call it a “manifesto of Spanish nationalism against Catalan nationalism”. But for the signatories, Spanish nationalism doesn’t exist. Nationalism ceases to exist when it has the coercive power needed to impose itself: a state. That is, those behind the anti-nationalist manifesto are merely confirming the demands of the nationalists who want their own state. When they have it, they will stop being nationalists, even if they make speeches as vehemently nationalistic as this manifesto. If you have a state, everything that now causes anti-nationalist indignation will become normal. What the manifesto does, in essence, is support the cause of those it criticizes. Why do they want their own state? To be treated like everyone else-- it’s that simple.

stats