As happens in many of the world's great cities, in Barcelona every fellow citizen considers himself the perfect mayoral candidateParadoxically, one year before the municipal elections and when the buzz of the polls should provoke a certain neuronal movement in the political formations of the city, it is ironic to see how the Barcelona mayoral candidates do not live in this category and almost all have announced their willingness to renew or achieve the mayoral throne rather with idleness and slowness. In short, the one who has ended up choosing the list leaders we will vote for in a year has been Mr. Pegasus: the scandal of theCatalangate, which has spread in Barcelona, has revived the figure of Ernest Maragall as a victim of the CNI's inquisitorial nose. The news, and the fact that Ernest clumsily involved Ada Colau in the crime, has caused the mayor to counter-program the minute of glory of the teteto announce that he will run for a third term on the throne of Sant Jaume.All of this is part of the world of politicking and is not of much interest, beyond confirming for the umpteenth time that Barcelona's political agenda is set for us beyond the Besòs and Llobregat. The essential thing here is to realize how the current decadence of the city has no project to amend it. After eight years, we can affirm that Colauism is a management philosophy that impoverishes Barcelona and castrates the cultural and economic initiative of its citizens. I consider Ada Colau one of the most sagacious and intelligent politicians in Europe (as I have written profusely, she is the only leader in the country who has a very clear notion of what power means), but her city of increasingly Hispanized losers has no interest, especially for the most unfortunate people. Republicanism has tried to oppose her with an almost octogenarian mayoral candidate who has the city's machinery in his head (in fact, he invented it) but who can only rely on the nostalgia of lineage.It is equally paradigmatic that the two major parties that alternated political hegemony in Catalonia have also renounced presenting a leadership in Barcelona. The foremen of the PSC are well aware that Jaume Collboni will never win the mayoral staff (the city's elites encourage Salvador Illa, personified glamour, to run for opos) while, as is news, Junts per Catalunya only uses Barcelona to burn its most useless straw men and women. Political projects are not exhausted in their mayoral candidates, it is true, but you will agree with me that it is frightening to go from a city that had provoked high-flying political struggles, like Maragall-Roca, to become the schoolyard of aspirants who want to command it, simply because they don't have too many alternatives left. You can choose any of the aspirants on the scene and you will see how their reason for persisting is intrauterine to their parties: the city is merely an excuse for them to save themselves.
It is frightening to go from a city that had provoked high-flying political struggles, like Maragall-Roca, to become the schoolyard of some aspirants who want to command it, simply because they don't have too many alternatives left.
The news diarrhea that Barcelonagate may provoke, along with the controversy over the Winter Olympics, are premonitions of a future campaign that, I insist, will have Spanish politics as its object and will play by ear most of the challenges of our city. Three years ago, our friend Jordi Graupera tried to counteract the first round of this municipalist cycle with an electoral campaign that was a complete recklessness, precisely because it was based on treating Barcelonians as intelligent beings and their city as one of the possible capitals of the world. Many considered that adventure, also another in the culturilla world that I had the privilege of starring in, as one of the failures of our generation. On the contrary, I would say that, without those initiatives, citizens would not be aware of the actual degradation of Barcelona nor of the authentically putrefied state of the Catalan political class and its pot of cynics.For the moment, and to be honest, I don't think the city (nor the country) can give us an alternative to the boredom of the current state of affairs. Barcelona will continue looking for a mayoral candidate in the next four years.In fact, it will be enough for us to find a single proud and Mediterranean Barcelonian, and we will already have part of the task well underway. But, for now, woe is me, here I only see state officials trying to collect their last little payment. And this, as you know, is what it is.
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