Due to social media, the mainstream media can no longer hide what happens. But they can attempt to frame our perceptions of it. What happened yesterday in Catalonia is that paramilitary forces attacked voters who were trying to vote. The mainstream media has universally decided to call the voters “protestors” rather than voters. So next time you go to your polling station, apparently what you are doing is protesting. This kind of distortion through misuse of language is absolutely deliberate by professional mainstream journalists. In a situation where thousands of peaceful voters were brutalised, can anybody find a single headline in the mainstream media which attributes responsibility for the violence correctly?
This was a headline on the Guardian front page at 10.29am today. The people who wrote it are highly educated media professionals. The misleading impression a natural reading gives is absolutely deliberate.
Maintaining the Establishment line in face of reality has been a particular problem for picture editors. The Daily Telegraph has produced a whole series of photos whose captions test the “big lie” technique to its limits.
Note the caption specifically puts the agency for the “clash” on the people. “People clash with Spanish Guardia Civila…”. But the picture shows something very different, a voter being manhandled away from the polling station.
Actually what they are doing is preventing voters from entering a polling station, not preventing a riot from attacking a school, which is the natural reading of the caption.
In fact the firemen are trying to shield people walking to vote from the paramilitaries. The firemen were attacked by the Guardia Civilia shortly after that.
Sky News every half hour is repeating the mantra that the Catalan government claims a mandate for Independence “after a referendum marred by violence”, again without stating what caused the violence. In general however Sky’s coverage has been a great deal better than the BBC; Al Jazeera has been excellent.
I strongly suspect that were it not for social media, UK mainstream media would have told us very little at all. This is an object lesson in how the mainstream media still seek to continue to push fake news on us in the age of citizen journalism. They no longer have a monopoly on the flow of raw information; what they can do is to attempt to distort perceptions of what people are seeing.
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I continue urgently to need contributions to my defence in the libel action against me by Jake Wallis Simons, Associate Editor of Daily Mail online. You can see the court documents outlining the case here. I am threatened with bankruptcy and the end of this blog (not to mention a terrible effect on my young family). Support is greatly appreciated. An astonishing 4,000 people have now contributed a total of over £75,000. But that is still only halfway towards the £140,000 target. I realise it is astonishing that so much money can be needed, but that is the pernicious effect of England’s draconian libel laws, as explained here.
On a practical point, a number of people have said they are not members of Paypal so could not donate. After clicking on “Donate”, just below and left of the “Log In” button is a small “continue” link which enables you to donate by card without logging in.
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Slightly off topic, but as you are resident in Scotland, should not any defamation case be heard in a Scottish court? English libel tourism is an internationally renowned disgrace, but the pursuit usually follows the defender.
Fearchar it is over a broadcast on Sky which is an English based station. I accept that jurisdiction. But they have also asked for an order restraining my blog, on which I shall challenge jurisdiction.
Craig, your use of the word voter gives an equivalence with people voting in a legal election. The Catalans were fully awre that the referendum was illegal under both regional and Spanish law. In view of this the term protestor is valid.
Not only valid, but more accurate. As Russia said about the USUKIS proxy Islamists, ‘ If it looks like a terrorist and behaves like a terrorist, it is a terrorist’, even if Basil Fox sorry Boris Johnson has given it permission to do it.
So, Busted Flush, do you feel the Spanish police were justified in their actions and that the ‘voters’ deserved to get beaten up? Fuck me, I must remember not to doublepark in Spain.
@ JOML October 2, 2017 at 17:46
Better still, go to Portugal instead.
Apparently Chomsky is given to asking where the partei armies are if modern times resemble the time of overt fascism in the 20s and 30s. Here’s his answer, along with the news that the tory fascists are planning to give powers of arrest to G4S etc boot boys….
You would be well advised not to irritate the police in Spain for any reason, otherwise they may well give you a good kicking.
I recall watching them beat up a man in the throes of some form of mental collapse. When they finished with him they turned on a number of passers by who had had the temerity to record the initial beating.
No-one is saying that this kind of behavior is justified. They are saying that it is a well known practice and is not confined to Catalan independence protesters. Every single one of those protesters would have been well aware that the police would beat them up. A fact that they seem not too keen to mention to the international media.
”A fact that they seem not too keen to mention to the international media.”
Possibly because its such a pathetic viewpoint to take. ‘She was asking to be raped wearing that’ equivalence. Well done you.
Unaccountable, state funded (and endorsed) punishment beatings is a more compelling reason for self determination than any economic one to any rational being. The fact that this state brutality is accepted as the norm in spain right now by some will never make it a legitimate way to govern a society.
You really should sort your head out chap, lamenting the poor downtrodden and oppressed around the world on a previous thread, justifying the oppression on this one. Pathetic to witness.
Is English a language that you are comfortable with?
No-one is justifying the behavior of Spanish police, rather they are simply stating what it is. Observing that Nazi Germany operated a network of concentration camps is NOT a justification for the existence of those camps.
Spanish police are Spanish police – their activities are not limited to Catalonia as otherwise they would be Catalan police.
What does it mean to be accepted as the norm? It is accepted as a fact. Look at Rotherham in the UK. Is it reasonable to conclude that the British except widespread child abuse as the norm, or is it more reasonable to accept it as a fact. How can any situation be remedied if you refuse to accept that the situation actually exists?
I went to Spain in my early 20s for a holiday. Early one night I was out with my two friends walking in a quiet street, minding our own business when two Spanish cops passed by us, one of them drew their baton as we passed and just whacked me on the back of my legs to try and get a reaction. When I looked round, he was grinning from ear to ear. I said nothing and walked on. These fuckers were carrying guns.
That’s not what he said, in a blog post on the importance of word choice you could at least respect that. I in no way condone the actions of the Spanish government but the referendum was illegal and therefore a (legitimate) protest.
Well according Theresa May, in this clip, it’s always a good idea to give people the opportunity to vote.
Unless of course it’s Scotland calling for a second indy vote.
Then the reply from Theresa May is now is not the time.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-accidental-truth/
People who voted “no”…were they protesters as well?
Your point is rooted in semantics. The media outlets that used the word “protesters” chose to do so because it provided a specific context with the intention of setting a perspective. There may be a technical justification for the choice of language, but being able to get away with it is evidence of a pernicious impartiality rather than linguistic propriety. In other words, they knew damn fine what they were doing.
I don’t pity those who cannot distinguish between legality and morality. They have made our lives miserable for millennia.
I absolutely agree, it must be sheer misery to see free will and determination, when all one is used to is duffing one’s cap to self anointed crooks.
The EU press release on the Catalan independence vote, apart from the usual bromide about the need for dialogue, is as clear a statement in support of the Rajoy government as can be, stressing that it is an internal matter for Spain, and that any actual moves towards independence on the part of the Catalans would also mean severing EU membership.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-17-3626_en.htm
Sweet music in the ears of pro EU ScotNats I’m sure !
Delicious.
What? you tried Bromide then. By the looks of it they dispense it in the EU canteen as well as in the best restaurants of Strasbourg.
The EU has backed a strongman who is going through a financial irregularity crisis similar to that the cheating CFonservatives went through here, he might have to face an election before the year is out.
The Catalans will still be united and determined when Rajoy is long gone. The EU will have to realise that many people are dissatisfied with their rules and unambiguous appointed and undemocratic commissioners, currently trying to keep the 27 countries in line with their industrial friends agenda.
What if Cornwall,Norfolk, or Yorkshire declared UDI?
Old Mark.
Bromide indeed, Scots were told the same shit, leave the UK and you’re out of the EU, now Brexit has raised its ugly head EU officials are falling over themselves to hint (without offending Westminster) that Scotland would be most welcome, when it becomes independent.
The sheer irony of the whole affair is that Scots were warned if you vote to leave the UK, then you’re also out of the EU. Fast forward to last year and Westminster is dragging Scotland out of the EU.
I predict a independent Catalonia gaining access to the EU. If Madrid doesn’t send in the tanks and slaughter the Catalans.
If that happens, the shame will also cast a huge ugly shadow over Europe.
“The sheer irony of the whole affair is that Scots were warned if you vote to leave the UK, then you’re also out of the EU. Fast forward to last year and Westminster is dragging Scotland out of the EU.”
And the people making all the noise about it are the ones who tried to vote Scotland out of the EU in 2014.
That’s simply not true. This is one of those fingers-in-the-ears arguments beloved of No voters. I voted Yes to get independence from the UK, but in the hope Scotland would be able to remain within the EU.
There was no hope Scotland would be able to remain in the EU and the SNP knew it, they lied. Then they lied again when they said they had legal advice saying Scotland would be able to remain in the EU. Then they wasted £20,000 of tax payers money in legal fees trying to avoid having to admit that they lied.
Fred there’s tone deaf and just plain deaf.
What I see in the last photo is the policeman on the left is very happy that the professional firefighters are preventing him from having to hurt civilians; the firefighters very happy to be protecting the civilians, and the voters protesting about the enforcement of the state law.
Of course Craig is going to try to suggest a parallel with Scotland. that’s why Scots voted for remaining in the Union, because nationalists, like religious fundamentalists, always argue that the rightness of their cause supercedes the law. Most people do not wish to transgress the law and they don’t respect politicians or religious leaders who urge them to transgress the law. What is the point of law if you just bin it when it’s convenient to do so.
I totally agree with Craig about the criminality of the UK government’s foreign and domestic policies, But breaking the law where it suits you is exactly what the UK government is doing. To win you have to prove that you are better than the status quo in order to win the hearts and minds of the people. Without hearts and minds you are dogma against dogma, or dog eat dog, as they say.
@ giyane October 2, 2017 at 17:39
That is the whole point of Craigs post – that it is glossing over the brutality and misinterpreting the available information, and deliberately avoiding to show the reality of the brutality.
That picture is a perfect example; all hunky dory – yet this is the reality: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-independence-referendum-vote-protests-barcelona-madrid-police-guardia-civil-a7976556.html
independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-referendum-firefighters-spanish-police-beaten-attacked-independence-human-shield-barcelona-a7976766.html
No pictures of people being thrown on the ground, pushed or pulled downstairs, beaten around the head with truncheons.
Have you seen anything about this on the MSM:
https://mobile.twitter.com/DaniMateoAgain/status/914467943966236673
https://mobile.twitter.com/LaBaroneta/status/914519351696482305/video/ 1
And Rajoy praises their actions.
Seems a link got scrambled: here it is again:
https://mobile.twitter.com/laPocasolte/status/914519351696482305/video/1
Adfi’ bi ma ahsan.. Defend your truth with what is excellent. Qur’an.
@ giyane October 2, 2017 at 17:44
‘..And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free..’ John 8:32
The bigger picture of yesterday’s events, from the perspective of RobG
http://www.spiderbomb.com/blog/?p=4311
Reporting in german mainstream-media was as mixed as the situation deserves: The fine line between the “voters”(those who went to vote on the referendum) and the “separationists” (those who called for the referendum, which was unanimously ruled as illegal by both Spanish and European courts. That the aggression was started by Rajoy ordering his police-force to block the voting-stations is made clear. He is almost unanimously condemned for his mishandling of the situation. Still, there is also discussion on how to properly resolve this situation with democratic means within the regulations of both Spain and the EU.
While I very often share your views on how the media warps and suppresses information and tries to shape views, we should not forget, that this is a very complex and difficult situation and I find it hard to get a proper view onto the situation from afar.
In a democracy the police beat you up. In a dictatorship they shoot you.
@ Iain Stewart October 2, 2017 at 18:15
And in the ‘Land of the Great Satan’ they do both.
So the UK was a dictatorship throughout the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s. Good to know.
There has never been a democratically elected British government.
Irish Government will not recognise the outcome of the referendum on Catalan independence.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/varadkar-says-ireland-will-not-recognise-catalan-poll-1.3241007
Hungary, respects the will of the Catalan people, Orban could be the first to recognise a Catalan state, and start the ball rolling.
http://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-to-respect-will-of-people-in-catalonia-vote/
Now the Basque region has fire in its belly as well.
“The Catalan crisis has nonetheless pushed the regional leader of the Basque Country, Inigo Urkullu, to become more vocal. He urged Madrid last week to allow independence referendums and recognise Catalonia and the Basque Country as “nations”.
https://www.expatica.com/es/news/Spain-Catalonia-referendum-Basques_1398107.html
“Mr Varadkar said history had shown “violence does not work and simply causes further division and radicalisation”
Painfully uninformed about history, even that of his own country.
Seems quite well informed to me in supporting Rajoy as his party,Fine Gael, was strengthened by the absorption of O’Duffy’s Blue Shirts , nearly 1000 of whom went off to fight for Franco .
No every politician in Ireland agrees with Varadkar.
http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/46110
Fair article. But you are missing exactly what both social media and the mainstream press (both in their sensationalist rush for online hits) are missing: context.
I live in Spain and have friends in Catalonia. This has been simmering for a few years. Yes, the police here are way out of control and I would never condone their violent actions, but what led to this was a mix of the machinations of the spin-savvy ex-journo leader of the Catalan Independence Party and the utter ineptness of the Spanish central government. The vote was blatantly illegal in that it went clearly against constitutional law, a constitution overwhelmingly ratified no less than 3 times by elected Catalonian politicians, not to mention the regional Estatut (ratified twice), which both prohibit secessionist activities. The Catalan public voted for this already and have proudly defended it in their majority for 4 almost 4 decades.
Puigdemont knew exactly what would happened and played his followers into it. The incompetent central government of Rajoy acted (and failed to act earlier on) right into Puigdemont’s hands. Now, after the inevitable violence that everyone in this country has been predicting for weeks, the “oppression” is an easy win.
There was no referendum. There have been multiple cases of multiple vote casting, ballot boxes filled to the brim before Sunday, aggressive intimidation and pro-Spanish voters being turned away from the voting stations. This was never going to be a valid election by anyone’s standards.
But, that doesn’t matter to the transient international bystander sucked in by surface imagery from the Internet, all too ready to change their social network profile picture to some sort of “J’Suis Charlie Catalan” flag.
Puigdemont wins. But no one seems to be reading history or questioning his actions or intentions.
thanks for the context of your perspective, truly. You might be right but just as easily you might be wrong. Fact remains, there was no excuse for what happened nor the way it was reported against the facts we can all view for ourselves.
It was appalling to watch people with their hands in the air being beaten I was in tears how any one can try and justify what we were seeing is beyond me ,it was vote, let them vote ignore the result ,we are not prisoners on this planet to be beaten into line .
Catalonia Leaders Seek to Make Independence Referendum Binding …
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/…/catalonia-spain-independence-referendum.html
BARCELONA, Spain — The leader of Catalonia insisted on Monday that Sunday’s independence referendum, though marred by clashes and …Una opinión de Martín Caparrós: “El mayor efecto de la patria es aplastar las diferencias, los matices: hace que cualquier consideración desaparezca ante la fuerza de esa banda de –supuestos– iguales. Frente al aumento de la desigualdad en la sociedad catalana –como en el resto de la sociedad española– en los últimos años por la concentración de la riqueza y la pérdida de empleo y los errores económicos, lo más fácil para muchos catalanes es decir ‘Espanya ens roba’ (España nos roba). Es lo mismo que hicieron los británicos que votaron el brexit, los estadounidenses que votaron a Trump, y siguen los éxitos”.
Opinión | Cataluña: el viejo truco de la patria
nytimes.com
AQUÍ QUEDA MÁS CLARO EL
POR QUÉ TANTO INTERÉS DE ROMPER CUANTO ANTES CON ESPAÑA
Difundidlo que todo el mundo lo sepa, el transfondo es económico y no politico.
1. La verdadera razón por la que la antigua CiU tiene tanta prisa por la independencia es porque con el final del secreto bancario de Andorra se reportará a partir de 2018 todos los datos fiscales a los gobiernos de países de la UE, con lo que saldrá a la luz la ingente cantidad de dinero que la oligarquía catalana ha robado durante más de 30 años (lo que ha salido de Pujol es solo un aperitivo). Constituyendo un país propio huirían de la justicia española.
2. En los últimos meses la Generalitat ha ingresado en bancos suizos 33.000 millones de euros para el mantenimiento de una república catalana durante los próximos 3 años.
@ Manolo I. Segovia October 2, 2017 at 20:39
What do you make of this:
‘Spanish anti-separatists in Madrid protest with fascist arm salutes while singing far-right song’:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-independence- referendum-polls-open-vote-protests-barcelona-madrid-police-guardia-ci vil-a7976791.html ?
Manolo – You are correct. Much is still hidden but some things are known.
https://preview.ibb.co/irNDvb/fotonoticia_20170112130949_800.jpg
Imagine just how far ahead Catalonia will be if only a small fraction of the truth is ever revealed
The violence was planned and ordered by Spanish unionists.
The violence was carried out by Spanish unionists.
The autocratic denial of the right of self determination was by Spanish unionists.
Complex situation where it’s hard to distinguish who’s in the right? Bullshit.
It is certainly a complex situation when you are determined to repeatedly lie.
The police presence was mandated by the courts. It turned violent because that is just what Spanish police do. Every single protester would have been fully aware of Spanish police brutality.
There is no autocratic denial of the right to self determination. There is a legal requirement that Catalonia abides by the law. If there is any autocratic element then it is from the Catalan authorities who are seeking to put their interests ahead of the other 16 autonomous communities in Spain.
I actually agree with you here for once loonie. I’ve been to Spain enough times working to know the Garda are fuckers, Jesus they hassled me and asked for my passport just for apparently staring at them when I was looking for a cash point machine.
Someone high up in the indie camp decided that violence was called for to gain sympathy for the movement. And those that went out to vote knew what to expect and they went.
I do not condone or condem. It’s not my country and I don’t understand the grievances.
I am afraid I’ve begun to feel that Craig’s treatment by Blair and the Establishment has led him to this notion that he’s somehow a Scot and He to get away from the British state and take Scotland with him almost like some kind of PTSD. Which considering is mostly run by unionist Scots is going to be pretty impossible.
Anyway nationalism ALWAYS ends in violence. And if the EU collapses it will be into violence – 1000+ years of history say so.
You seemed to overlook the institutional violence that the EU exists to perpetrate. Notice its collaboration with the US-Ukronazi putsh regime in Kiev? Notice the collaboration (against its own laws) with the US-Xiofascist regime occupying Palestine? Notice the collaboration with the gang rape of the Greek working class?
The constitution. The Police. The courts. These things should only be respected to the extent that they respect people.
@ Loony October 2, 2017 at 23:05
‘…It turned violent because that is just what Spanish police do. Every single protester would have been fully aware of Spanish police brutality….’
So, just accept the brutality of the police? What kind of Government is it Europe that does not address that brutality? Are there no laws that Spanish Police have to abide by? Then how come Spain is accepted in the EU? Surely there are EU laws which ban such brutality.
And Rajoy commended the National Police and Guardia Civil for their actions.
And do you also find the following OK, because ‘everyone knows what Spanish Fascists are like’:
Madrid’s Fascists strut their stuff:
‘Cara al Sol y saludos fascistas en la concentración “unionista” de Madrid’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POd8w4WrSqM
‘Cara al Sol’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cara_al_Sol
‘Spanish anti-separatists in Madrid protest with fascist arm salutes while singing far-right song’:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-independence- referendum-polls-open-vote-protests-barcelona-madrid-police-guardia-ci vil-a7976791.html
It depends what you mean by the phrase “just accept the brutality of the police”
Yes it needs accepting that this is the situation. Just likes it needs accepting that Peter Sutcliffe has a penchant for murdering women. After all if you do not accept this then there is no reason to keep him in prison and no need for you not to invite him around for tea with your Mother/Wife/Daughter.
A refusal to accept reality can lead to tragic consequences – consequences that a reasonable person could easily foresee.
This type of acceptance is vastly different from offering active support to current practices. However those practices need to be understood in their proper social and historical consequence. In the US the police shoot vastly more people than all of European police forces combined. This is a consequence of a different culture – principally the culture of gun ownership.
You are correct to ask how come the EU has nothing to say about such a violent police force in one of its member states. The answer is that the EU does not care about the average person at all – they are obsessed with their own status and tax free shopping opportunities. This is one small example that shows up the nefarious nature of the EU and why the British were absolutely correct in their decision to exit this farce.
As for Spanish fascists – sure there are a lot of them, certainly by comparison to the number of fascists in the UK. Why would there not be? Spain was a fascist dictatorship for almost 40 years. It leaves a legacy – the British have a different legacy. There are far more people in the UK that hate Catholics than there are people in Spain that hate Catholics. Different history, and different culture.
I see we are dividing into stereotypical goodies and baddies, yet again. Ignoring the obvious similarities between Catalonia and Scotland ( what are they? Um.) the Spanish case is clear:
The doomsday scenario would be Spain waking up with a debt equal to 124% of its GDP and growing, due to the 6.7% deficit, which would take another 4-5 years to be contained. The EU’s response to the possibility of Spanish bankruptcy would be predictable: more austerity. It is important to note that while Spain has been growing for the past two years and unemployment is also decreasing, the recipe chosen by the Spanish government, flexibility of the labour market in the form of temporary jobs, has exacerbated income inequality: as the OECD points out that temporary jobs are low-productivity and thus earn low wages; the precariousness of the job prevents improvements in productivity, thus improvement in wages. The poor remains poor, while the rich gets richer and the gap widens.4)
Boosting GDP and employment statistics with mini-jobs is thus masquerading an issue common to other Western countries: the collapse of the middle class.
Catalan independence could prove to be the last nail in the coffin: either Spain goes bankrupt or is forced to implement even more austerity at the risk of facing a revolution from the economically displaced.
And the EU has stated that a referendum successfully held under the Spanish constitution would exclude Catalonia from the EU…yes, there’s one similarity, after all. Both Scotland and Catalonia want to have their cake and eat it too.
Right-on source. Russophiles should approve, in spite of the writer having apparently seen the odd balance sheet in his time:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-02/eu-washes-its-hands-catalonia-puigdemont-calls-spanish-police-withdraw
As always, follow the money.
…follow the money…
And Manolo Segovia and Loony did just that:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/10/gross-dishonesty-mainstream-media-catalonia/comment-page-2/#comment-699171
Thanks.
By this analysis, If Independent seeking Catalans go on strike, Spain will have to be bailed out by the EU.
If nothing else, Rajoy has now demonstrated that he’s prepared to consider a strong crackdown. And the Catalans would have to keep that strike up for rather a long time before the effect became undeniable by Madrid. During which long time, things like eating and paying rent might become problematic for them. While the EU would become more overtly supportive of Madrid, as, although its backers can eventually screw a profit even from a debt-saddled, broken country, it doesn’t do much for the EU as a whole to let the situation arise at all.
One thing seems clear from the EU’s statement. While Spain would attract EU support in the event of disaster, Catalonia, unless it had seceded within the terms of the Spanish constitution, would not even be eligible to join the EU in its own right. Perhaps the dramatic gestures should be discarded, in favour of some serious negotiation.
How do you feel about Prussian independence, anyway?
Prussian Independence? Do you mean the nostalgia of all things East German/DDR, which seemed to have played a large part in the AfD’s success. I have not heard of any Prussian Independence movement but there is a bit of a toss up in Bavaria, they seem to think that they are different.
“they seem to think that they are different.”
Whereas?
Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont says ‘The Scottish way is the way we want to follow’:
‘Spain’s Rajoy sets the stage for a bigger battle over Catalonia’:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/10/02/spains-rajoy-sets-the-stage-for-a-bigger-battle-over-catalonia/?
‘On Sunday, Catalonia’s controversial independence referendum was marred by violence as national police clashed with voters defending their polling stations. In Barcelona, security forces sent by Madrid fired rubber bullets and used truncheons to break up protesters blocking their path, the vast majority of whom did not fight back. The brutality on show, while somewhat effective in disrupting the referendum, turned into a public relations disaster for Madrid and may deepen Spain’s own political polarization….’
‘…But the chaos on Sunday has presented a dramatic new moment of rupture. “The unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence of the Spanish state today has not only failed to stop Catalans’ desire to vote … but has helped to clarify all the doubts we had to resolve today,” Puigdemont told reporters on Sunday. Later that evening, he insisted that, on a “day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to have an independent state in the form of a republic.”….’
‘….In an interview with me earlier this year, Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont said Catalonia simply wanted the same right of self-determination as that enjoyed by Scotland — which voted against independence from Britain in 2014.
“The Scottish way is the way we want to follow,” he said in March…..’
There is a National Strike in Catalonia tomorrow, and a Solidarity Demo outside the Spanish Embassy in Chesham Gardens (near Victoria Station) from 17:30 to 19:00 tomorrow, Weds. 3rd.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Solidarity Demo is now to be in Downing Street opposite No 10 at 18:00 – 19:00; venue and time was changed as it came to the organisers notice that Catalans in London where holding one in Downing Street, so it would be better to join them.
I started a thread on MoneySavingExpert on 20/09/17. It dragged along slowly, then in the last twenty four hours just took off. You can access if you log in (it’s a members only section) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5714917
Amazing what effect a few cracked heads on a TV screen has…_
The corporate media and the BBC in particular, are at it. No doubt in my mind.
The Propaganda Model and Sociology: Understanding the Media and Society
This article unpacks reasons why the Propaganda Model represents a critical sociological approach to understanding media and society, explores the model’s potential within the sociological field, and considers the trajectory of its reputational reception to date. The article also introduces the three central hypotheses and five operative principles of the Propaganda Model and suggests that the model complements other (competing) approaches that explore the relationship between ideological and institutional power and discursive phenomena
http://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=soci_faculty
I thought The Firemen were Brilliant. The Times (well it was free) at the airport not a total disgrace, because they did actually report some of the events in Barcelona truthfully. However, their commentary from the Leader of The Times? was a complete disgrace oozing with Neocon Fascism in support of The Madrid Thugs. All they wanted to do was vote and They Did. The people from Catalonia are very Brave. What they did in support of Democracy was Awesome. It was an example to.the world of how to defeat the evil Fascist Bstards currently in control.
Tony
Gross dishonesty on everything, I’m afraid. We no longer have a mainstream ‘media’ in the West, it’s been replaced by oligarch propaganda. It’s better to ignore them, because being annoyed just gives them attention. Google’s manipulation of search results, and Facebook’s generally creepiness are quite something, too.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just cancel my internet. Back to reading books, and actually learning stuff.
@ Hieroglyph October 3, 2017 at 00:57
That would just be like burying your head in the sand. You need to know what is going on.
Otherwise the first thing you’ll know anything is up is while you are dreamily reading your books, the door gets kicked in and your hauled off to the Gulag. Or else there is a huge flash and you are incinerated in WWIII.
At least, be prepared, as the Scouts (and possibly the Scots) would say.
I note that those who claim Catalonia is attempting to secede because it is more prosperous (in other words greed) haven’t asked themselves the next question, why it is more prosperous. Anyone have any ideas?
Unethical media practice promotes the neo-liberal/neo-conservative project, simples.
Neoliberalism: a Foucauldian Perspective
Abstract:
The contemporary investigations on power, politics, government and knowledge are profoundly influenced by Foucault’s work. Governmentality, as a specific way of seeing the connections between the formation of subjectivities and population politics, has been used extensively in anthropology as neoliberal governmentalities have been spreading after the 1990s all over the world. A return to Foucault can help to clarify some overtly ideological uses of ‘neoliberalism’ in nowadays social sciences.
http://www.irsr.eu/issue02/07_Cotoi_p109-124.pdf
The culture and subjectivity of neo-liberal governmentality
Abstract
This article forms part of an ongoing investigation into and research on the dynamics, culture and forms of subjectivity of neo-liberalism. Seen through the lens of French philosopher Michel Foucault’s analyses of neo-liberalism as a form of governmentality, neo-liberalism emerges as a political programme intent on subjecting the political sphere – along with every other dimension of contemporary existence – to an economic rationality. The focus of this article is on the impact on conditions of work and subjectivity of an economic rationality that has become the dominant political programme. In other words, Foucault’s analyses of neo-liberalism as a particular historical form of power called “governmentality” facilitate a critical understanding of the post-industrial culture of work and the concomitant mechanisms of subject-formation in the contemporary West.
http://www.bendahofmeyr.com/download/texts/CultureSub%20NL%20Gov_Phronimon.pdf
Subjectivity as a site of struggle: refusing neoliberalism?
This paper extends the author’s previous enquiries and discussions of governmentality and neoliberal policy technologies in a number of ways. The paper explores the specificity and generality of performativity as a particular contemporary mode of power relations. It addresses our own imbrication in the politics of performative truths, through our ordinary everyday life and work. The paper is about the here and now, us, you and me, and who we are in neoliberal education. It draws upon and considers a set of ongoing email exchanges with a small group of teachers who are struggling with performativity. It enters the ‘theoretical silence’ of governmentality studies around the issues of resistance and contestation. Above all, the paper attempts to articulate the risks of refusal through Foucault’s notion of fearless speech or truth-telling (parrhesia).
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=british-journal-of-sociology-of-education-ball-2.pdf&site=41
Craig, this right to self-determination issue is not so straightforward. The EU countries are understandably afraid that if secession is made too easy, other regions, such as Flanders and northern Italy, will feel emboldened . What qualifies a region as having a right to secede? Is it not the case that were Flanders to secede from Belgium, part of northern Italy from Italy, and Catalonia from Spain, these relatively rich regions would be depriving the countries they are leaving much needed tax revenues? The last thing we want is more bankrupt states in our midst. What would happen if London decided to secede from Britain, because it wanted to stay in the EU? Referendums are expensive and secession is an enormous upheaval. Having said that, I think the Spanish government have behaved very foolishly over a number of years. Let’s hope they recognize their mistakes and give Catalonia what it wants without all the palaver and upheaval of secession.
James,
Indeed. The UN Charter proscribes the right of self determination to “peoples”. There is no argument that the citizens of London are a separate “people”. Nor the inhabitants of Northern Italy. But the Catalans plainly are. They have the right of self-determination. The Flemish/Walloons probably do too, of the examples you cite. And why not?
There is the issue of Sudtirol which would seem to have as much of a right to self-determination as Catalonia, if not more so given that over 60% of Sudtirol speak German and are culturally more akin to their cousins across the border in Austria than too other northern Italians.
How would an Austrian/Independent Tirol get along with the Longobards of the Northern League who recently had their coffers plundered by the man in charge?
Tirol would do better to simply amalgamate with the Northern League and do a Catalonia together. Curiously, Lombardy contributes a similar percentage of GDP to the Italian economy (~20%) to Catalonia’s contribution to Spain’s. But let’s not stop there. Let’s give all these former principalities and little kingdoms back their borders, and return to pre-Napoleonic politics and before. Within the EU, of course…
I like your jostling, Germany at that time had 300 principalities and little kingdoms, Why not go back to the Neanderthals…:)
Do the Catalans in Southern France have the same right? Canigou is in France and they dance the Sardana in Ceret and Perpignan – so there is little doubt where they belong culturally. And of course until French colonisation much of Southern France spoke Oc.
To whom do Luxembourg and Alsace belong? Is Monmouthshire England or Wales? Kaliningrad or Konigsberg? Wroclaw or Breslau? What about the lovely town of Gengenbach in the Black Forest that used to be an independent state?
I am sure that there are a lot more cans of worms for nationalists to open throughout Europe – I am just not sure that it makes sense to open that particular Pandora’s box.
.
Whilst I have sympathy with the concept of self-determination. The reality of Catalonian Independence – is the replacement of rule by the Madrid 1% by a more local set of oligarchs. Is that real independence for working people? Not for me, it isn’t.
One irony of the whole affair is that Catalan Constitution would ban other regions of Catalonia from being able to seek their independence.via means of a referendum. Oh, the joys of plebiscite!
As for the EU their rank hypocrisy on the right of self-determination knows no bounds. Kosovo Ok Catalonia Not. I wonder why?
Maybe a free and independent Catalonia outside the EU, because that’s where it would be if it ever happened, can do a trade deal with a UK out of the EU.
British nationalism and Spanish nationalism. The nationalisms that are so benign and unquestionably natural. They’re so benign that they can do naughty stuff like drop bombs on civilians and beat them up and they still remain benign nationalisms because God ordained it.
There is a combined Catalan and Student Solidarity Demo today (3rd. October) in Downing Street (opposite No. 10) at 18:00 – 19:00 in solidarity with the Catalonians and their National Strike.
https://www.facebook.com/events/511440999191638/?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A%22%5B%7B%5C%22surface%5C%22%3A%5C%22page%5C%22%2C%5C%22mechanism%5C%22%3A%5C%22page_upcoming_events_card%5C%22%2C%5C%22extra_data%5C%22%3A%5B%5D%7D%5D%22%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D
A great effort on getting people to the polls in Catalonia, 75 regions with more than 100% of the population voting and some achieving over 300%.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLNSISVXUAAIPI6.jpg:large
That list doesn’t show who compiled it.
That that table of results is credited in this Vozpopuli (itself credible) piece to Sociedad Civil Catalana, an anti-independence party. Sooner or later a nationalist will notice this, and I’m happy to forestall him/her.
http://www.vozpopuli.com/espana/estos-municipios-en-los-que-el-si-obtuvo-mas-100-censo_0_1068793599.html
But, talking of gross dishonesty etc, this picture, posted by the head of SCC, Mariona Goma, is worth the regulation thousand words…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIO5gDpWsAAofsk.jpg
The article I read in the Guardian newspaper this morning (pg 16) makes it abundantly clear that it was the police who were responsible for the violence. Subsequent articles and opinion pieces on the website do like wise. Perhaps Craig’s hatred of the Guardian means that he is unable to read past the headlines. Or perhaps anyone who doesn’t support his position on UDI for Scotland and now Catalonia is automatically classified as the enemy.
It’s the Madrid government who are really responsible for the violence. It didn’t happen without their green light.
@ Resident Dissident October 3, 2017 at 13:29
At the time Craig wrote that, no MSM was giving anything like honest reports. Belatedly, the Guardian and others start coming out of their foxholes and ivory towers with their hands in the air, and their tails between their legs, and print some half-decent reports, as so many people already know what went on from alternative sources (though the Independent was out pretty quick with a good truthful article).
There is no such thing as an illegal referendum. To even try and state it as such is pure fascism. Everyone has the right to express an opinion be that verbally, online or in a ballot box. Whether those actions become legally binding is another matter all together. The Spanish response to this is overkill on a vast scale, unfortunately they have just opened up the Pandora’s box of problems. I cant see this going away now. Even those inclined to vote to remain in Spain must now be questioning that choice.
If the ScotNats held a referendum tomorrow no one would try and stop it, Westminster would just say that its not legally binding and so recognise the result… then ignore it. There would be claims of foul play, but if its not a recognised ballot then in reality only the hard core will come out and vote. Spain should have done what the UK did. Let them have the vote, but have a debate about it first. Give people the information to make a choice. The danger then of course is that it becomes a legit referendum and cant be ignored !
Those crying about it being illegal and they got what they deserved are really nasty people – Full on fascists ! Just because a Government says its illegal to express your view doesn’t make it right in any way. You cant silence the entire population with laws that discriminate against them – Not without trouble anyway. Its a credit to the people that they didn’t lynch the Gardia Civil. If Spain continues down this path they are risking civil war.
I saw the photograph of the shielding people here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-independence-referendum-vote-protests-barcelona-madrid-police-guardia-civil-a7976556.html. The headline was accurate. The overall point of the article is, to me, obviously true, but more care needs to be taken in selecting examples. A lot of people liked that photo of the firemen, and a lot of people read an accurate caption.
@ Rick Harsch October 3, 2017 at 13:56
Yes, sure, the caption accurately portrays what is going on; but then what happened? It is like taking a picture of the calm before the storm, and portraying that in the aftermath of the storm to demonstrate the context of the storm. Like taking a picture of a man and woman taking a drink together in the context of a subsequent rape – ooh, look, he couldn’t possibly have raped her, look how friendly they are!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-independence-referendum-vote-protests-barcelona-madrid-police-guardia-civil-a7976556.html
independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-referendum-firefighters-spanish-police-beaten-attacked-independence-human-shield-barcelona-a7976766.html
No pictures of people being thrown on the ground, pushed or pulled downstairs, beaten around the head with truncheons.
Have you seen anything about this on the MSM:
https://mobile.twitter.com/DaniMateoAgain/status/914467943966236673
https://mobile.twitter.com/LaBaroneta/status/914519351696482305/video/1
Have you seen anything of these, or read about them in the MSM?
Do the pictures from this blog post by Craig show any semblence to the brutality that was very shortly to follow? And of course, these stories and pictures were put in the newspapers AFTER the brutality started.
THAT is where the ‘careful selection’ of material comes in, to distort the reality of the brutality.
Might just as well show a picture of an armed robber, innocently standing in line at the bank, and ignore him when he gets to the counter and pulls a sawn-off shotgun out of his coat.