In the last two five-year periods, Barcelona has hosted some of the most massive popular demonstrations on the planet. With the process dormant and Catalonia slowly and forcibly returning to autonomism, the city has kept the protest meter low and the containers have been limited to serving as homes for neighbors' trash. But last Thursday, the civic platform Barcelona és imparable once again filled Plaça Sant Jaume with a crowd worthy of a castellera evening. One of the most tedious things about demonstrations are the expert analysts of demonstrations, a phenomenon consubstantial with the masses that leads to endless discussions about the number of demonstrators per square meter in this or that place, about the real or hidden intentions of organizers... and a lot of Byzantine digressions that, by nature, do not usually hit the nail on the head.
If we analyze things with a certain objectivity, we face two fundamental questions. For the first time in six years of Colau's administration in the City Council, it seems that there is a significant portion of citizens who associate the degradation of the city (and this ranges from the presence of noisy and urinating tourists we suffer in Ciutat Vella to the anti-business climate of the communal administration) directly and solely with the figure of the mayor. Although the organizers of the demonstration did not plot it with the aim of retiring Ada, in Sant Jaume there was an ill-concealed atmosphere of "Colau out." Parallel to this, those of us who have been shaving for a long time know that civic platforms, no matter how much they hide behind representatives of the Unió de Federacions Esportives de Catalunya or under the Guild of Tennis Racket Manufacturers, always tend to be born from the most traditional party system.
If we delve into these two argumentative axes, disregarding the political pretensions of each, it results in two equally unequivocal conclusions. First, that, for now, Colau has survived any plebiscite on her figure with a marble electoral base (the best thing that can happen to a figure who has more charisma than management capacity, as we know, is to provoke opponents the more radicalized the better). It matters not whether Colau needed the help of Manuel Valls "The Brief" or the Holy Spirit in person; the important thing is that she has solidly maintained her throne and no rival has made her waver. In fact, it is easily verifiable how "colauismo" has governed since 2015 with an unprecedented feeling of lack of opposition, a fact in which a Barcelona sovereigntist movement led by pre-retired politicians or those who rest their rear ends in the city council because working in the Gene is too much trouble has collaborated.
In the last municipal elections, my good friend Jordi Graupera (founder of a political movement that did overcome the mental framework of the "procesista" parties) already reminded the people of Barcelona that the city would only save its decline with the invention of a new political force that emanated directly from the citizenry and saved the dynamics that have turned national partitocracy into a quagmire of mediocrity. He also pointed out something as simple as that, if sovereigntism wanted the capital (understanding wanting not only to command it, but to apply a project of Mediterranean state capital without subsidiarity from Madrid), this new political unit was the best way to ensure a victory and to reconnect the unstoppable ambition of the people of Barcelona to their administration. Graupera, in short, proposed an intelligent and brave gamble, and we already know how these things end in Catalonia…
Through its potential mayoral candidate, Gerard Esteva, Barcelona és imparable has presented itself by denouncing more than relevant elements of concern, such as the fact that one out of three Barcelonians could be a victim of a crime before the end of the year, the presence of more than 5,000 empty premises, or an endemic 35% youth unemployment rate in our capital. No Barcelonian can feel alien to these concerns, but when this same citizen looks for the existence of an alternative project to Colauism or to the existential nullity of the customary parties... the answer is a practically monastic silence. In the same way that kicking out Colau is not a project in itself, denouncing disorder in the neighborhoods and repeating a hundred thousand times that we are in decline (or that, with a little effort, we could be amazing) solves absolutely nothing. Barcelona must think beyond Colau, just as it had to do twenty years ago beyond Maragall.
Barcelona must think beyond Colau, just as it had to do twenty years ago beyond MaragallOur colleague Francesc Soler expressed it very well right here in our beloved The New Barcelona Post:Barcelona is not as wonderful and idyllic as it appears in Instagram snapshots, nor as unsafe and dirty as Twitter's motivated users paint it. Be that as it may, and our publication is a good example, lthe country's capital continues to absorb talent from all over the world at a scientific, technical, and humanistic level and is the headquarters of business initiatives that make it a pioneer in the framework of the southern Mediterranean. But this effort of the citizenry, this is a clear reality, is not matched by any minimally stimulating project (or any candidate). For too long, Catalan parties have used Barcelona to dump the leftovers of the power they reserved for the Govern, and now we reap the fruits of so much indifference and recklessness.The state of Barcelona goes beyond Colau, and the orphanhood of a political project for the city is already sufficient cause for alarm.And this is not cured with anydemonstration
El presidente de la República, Gabriel Boric, se refirió este lunes a la conmemoración de los 50 años del golpe de Estado, que se cumple el próximo 11 de septiembre, y a la polémica que se ha generado en torno a la fecha.
En ese contexto, el Mandatario hizo un llamado a “no empatar las responsabilidades” entre quienes “quebrantaron la democracia” y quienes “la defendieron”.
“No es aceptable, no es aceptable, que se relativice o se justifique el golpe de Estado. No es aceptable que se relativice o se justifique la violación a los derechos humanos”, dijo Boric en un punto de prensa en el Palacio de La Moneda.
El jefe de Estado enfatizó que “no hay dos bandos, no hay dos bandos, no hay dos bandos. Hay quienes defendieron la democracia y quienes la quebrantaron”.
“Y eso es algo que tenemos que tener muy claro, muy claro, muy claro. Y no podemos empatar las responsabilidades”, añadió.
Boric también se refirió a la propuesta de la oposición de firmar una declaración conjunta en la que se condene el golpe de Estado y se defienda la democracia.
“Nosotros estamos disponibles a firmar una declaración conjunta, pero no a cualquier precio. No a cualquier precio”, sostuvo.
El Presidente explicó que “no vamos a firmar una declaración que relativice o justifique el golpe de Estado. No vamos a firmar una declaración que relativice o justifique la violación a los derechos humanos”.
“Nosotros estamos por la verdad, la justicia, la reparación y las garantías de no repetición. Y eso es algo que no vamos a transar”, sentenció.
Las declaraciones de Boric se dan en medio de la polémica que se ha generado en torno a la conmemoración de los 50 años del golpe de Estado, que ha generado un fuerte debate entre el oficialismo y la oposición.
La derecha ha criticado al Gobierno por lo que considera una “instrumentalización” de la fecha, mientras que el oficialismo ha acusado a la oposición de “negacionismo” y de “justificar” el golpe de Estado.
En este escenario, el Presidente Boric ha buscado marcar una postura clara y firme en defensa de la democracia y los derechos humanos, en un intento por cerrar las filas de su sector y evitar que la polémica escale aún más.