dilluns, 3 de desembre del 2012

Avalon - Roxy Music #Catalonia #PartyNotOver

Passat una setmana, poca cosa puc afegir als analisi de tothom dels resultats de les eleccions, però intentaré explicar els numeros en l’apartat en anglès pel public no-català. Només diré aquí que queda més que clar que hi ha una majoria clarissima de diputats que voldrien fer el referendum, i una majoria clar, però no tan, de diputats a favor de l’independencia. I si comptem vots, també sembla clarissim que es miri com es miri un 60% dels votants podrien votar per l’independencia.

I aixì és com es mira des de fora – o sigui, “a que espereu?”. Clar, això és facil de dir només mirant els numeros, i si no has llegit Homenatge a Catalunya de George Orwell. Des de fora, crec, que és dificil entendre les peleas menors entre partits, i el temps que s’està perdent. Clar que hi ha altres temes importants que aclarir, però el tema de l’independencia és el Number One, i és la que o s’agafa ara o no l’agafarem en una generació. Oblidem-nos d’altres temes unos mesos (6), posem mans a l’obra i ja vereu com una majoria encara més gran veurà al final que l’unic futur per Catalunya és per aquest camí.

....

Dust settled on the Catalan elections, but not on the post-electoral bickering and whining and arguing and back-stabbing. The Catalan Parliament is a very different from the UK one, with many parties often leading to coalition governments. This time the votes went as follows:

CiU – centre-right Catalanist party = 50 MPs (down from 62)

ERC – left wing Catalanist party = 21 (up from 10)

PSC – socialists, favour a federal Spain = 20 (28)

PP – right-wing conservative “unionists” = 19 (18)

ICV – left wing Catalan ecologists = 13 (10)

Ciutadans – undefinable gang of unionists, I think = 9 (3)

CUP – left-wing alternative Catalanists = 3 (0)

And SI, another Catalanist group, lost their 3 seats.

Given the 135 seats in Parliament, 68 give a majority. Hence it’s clear that CiU+ERC+ICV+CUP = 87 MPs in favour of holding a referendum. ICV aren’t too sure how they’d vote in this referendum, but there would still be 74 MPs clearly in favour of independence, plus som ICV and a couple of PSC too apparently. Votes-wise, a similar situation – about 2/3 of votes went to pro-referendum parties, with only a 1/3 going to those against. So, what are we waiting for? Well, you obviously don’t know the workings of the minds of Catalan politicians, and perhaps a read of Orwell’s Homage To Catalonia would help out first. To cut a long story short, no one trusts the other party, or wants to miss a gear in the race to gain power. Instead of putting aside differences (albeit important ones) in the search for the greater good, they spend all their time – usually – bickering over the details. All very nice, and pure, but not very pragmatic. Yes, there are other problems, especially economic ones, but surely minimum agreements could be reached while the referendum process could go full speed ahead? In my opinion, they should accelerate the push for independence, as it’s the only thing which will allow for real solutions for the economic problems, as well as cultural and language-related ones. Now is not the time for dithering!

Luckily, it looks like the two leaders of CiU and ERC may have reached the same conclusion, but it’s still touch and go ... watch this space for further developments!







7 comentaris:

  1. I hope too that they find a way to join together and get the referendum process rolling, while allowing for other obvious differences in the wider world of politics. It should be possible - if led by someone with some original and intelligent ideas. But I notice that people are feeling a bit depressed at the outcome of the election - it's hard to see the way ahead very clearly.

    ResponElimina
  2. Mítica cançó. No només pel títol, el nom i el que significa (Avalon, regne de les fades en la mitologia celta), sinó pels mateixos Roxy Music.

    ResponElimina
  3. Catalanway; the depression I think is down to an excessive pre-election euphoria when Mas led us all to believe that he would smash all electoral records, on his own. For better or for worse, his "objectives" have done this but not in the way he imagined, spreading the pro-referendum vote out. Second reason to be depressed - the track record on political parties reaching long-standing agreements here, or putting their country and people before their party. Still, Junqueras and Bosch are the new guys in town, so maybe they'll offer a new focus and attitude ....

    i; Per que anar a Itaca, si Avalon està més a prop .... ;)

    ResponElimina
  4. I am woefully ignorant. Off to get Orwell’s 'Homage To Catalonia' for my Kindle...

    ResponElimina
  5. You won't regret it ! A fascinating read. Orwell volunteered to fight on the republican side (i..e democratically elected govt) in the Spanish Civil War (more accurate description would be - drawn out coup d'etât). He had to withdraw to Barcelona after being wounded, and saw at first hand the in-fighting between all the factions on the republican side, whilst Franco walked into town.
    Maybe the comparison is a bit exaggerated but when I see there are 6 pro-independence parties and an infinite amount of left-wing groups, who couldn't agree on the price of a bottle of milk .....

    ResponElimina
  6. Later: I bought 'Homage...' for my partner for Christmas and he said he'd read it at university in '71... but he gallantly said he was delighted to have a copy and would read it again...
    Still haven't got one for me tho'.

    ResponElimina
  7. Good for him! And what a memory - remembering what you read in 1971 !!

    ResponElimina