The “little performance” and the ex-president’s mother

Spain’s Justice minister’s ability to understand the situation remained level with that of our extraterrestrial, describing a demonstration of thousands of people as a “little performance”.

Esther Vera
1 min
Rigau, Mas i Ortega, saludant a les portes del TSJC, abans d’entrar a declarar al judici per la consulta.

One day more defined by epic adjectives and one day fewer on the countdown to the date for the referendum announced by the Catalan president.

The political acceleration that this country has seen in five years is extraordinary. A Martian wouldn’t understand a thing. Accompanied by his mother —with her impeccably coiffured hair–, ex-president Artur Mas (an alumnus of a prestigious private school), ex-minister for Education Irene Rigau and former vicepresident Joana Ortega sat before a court of law.

All of them (except the former president’s mother) are facing bans from politics and fines they would have to pay out of their own pocket. Their crime? Providing ballot boxes and trusting that the crowd they attracted would turn an uncertain consultation into an act of popular sovereignty, impressive because of its magnitude and civil nature.

Spain’s Justice minister’s ability to understand the situation remained level with that of our extraterrestrial, describing a demonstration of thousands of people as a “little performance”.

Surveys show that Catalan society is almost structurally split on the subject of independence. But support for an independence referendum is massive and cross-party. When you see dangerous radicals like ex-president Mas, Rigau and Ortega singing the Catalan anthem in Fossar de les Moreres [1] and heading in to be tried by the Catalan Supreme Court, you know that there’s no turning back and that an intelligent, negotiated political strategy is needed.

That is, unless you have got green skin and came on a flying saucer; or you are part of the Spanish political establishment.

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Translator’s notes:

[1] A square in Barcelona city. It contains a memorial to the memory to the dead of the Siege of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession, making it an important location for Catalan nationalists.

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