1. It's understandable that, to prevent Catalonia from leaving Spain, the Popular Party government did everything it could to prevent it. If theoretical separatism gives them hives, the thought that we were on the verge of becoming a new European state made them deploy every mechanism at their disposal: legal, illegal, and unconstitutional. Under Rajoy, the PP activated Article 155, unleashed its judicial tentacles, hatched all kinds of schemes with reserved funds, spurred on the coups, forged complicities with the major Spanish media groups—who were happy to contribute to the cause—and seduced Europe with old-fashioned diplomacy. Less political, they did everything they could to stop what they considered a coup d'état, which, in reality, was merely a coup d'état. I suppose the independence movement already expected the response would be disproportionate, even if it was with the lily in one hand and the Estelada in the other. What is most difficult to understand is that, now, seven years after October 1st, the Popular Party itself, which is growing a beard in opposition, publicly explains that it has pulled as many strings as it could in Europe to ensure that Catalan, Galician, and Basque are not official languages in the EU.
2. The loud confession they have called upon the governments of the other 26 member states to seek a vote against admitting the three languages is politically absurd, socially inconceivable, and linguistically criminal. Instead of being proud that Spain is a state with three co-official languages, which also deserve to be official languages of the European Union with all their rights, they are putting as many spokes in the wheel as they can. And on top of that, they boast. And what hurts doubly is that Santi Rodríguez, of the PP (People's Party) from Urgell Street, says it in Catalan. It is his language, and that of Dolors Montserrat, and they mount a battle against Catalan and explain it as if it were nothing. Not even a surreal Monty Python sketch would underline how grotesque this paradox is. Linguistic self-hatred is not a political strategy to overthrow Pedro Sánchez; it is a textbook pathology, a true scientific aberration. And we won't forget this low-level move. If the PP in Catalonia has the worst results in the entire country, actions like this will push it even further into the margins.
3. Nothing new, however, with Catalanophobia. The PP's petition against the "imposition" of Catalan has been going on for nearly twenty years. Now, in the time of a disoriented Galician like Núñez Feijóo, they continue to spread the word that Castilian is persecuted in Catalonia. Whoever maintains this either hasn't spent a day of their life in the Principality, or is making it up halfway, or has believed it in good faith because they look at the fabrics they see, listen to the radio stations they listen to, and read the tweets they read. And while in Mallorca and Valencia the PP is strangling Catalan to save its neck, here we remain trapped in the perverse machinery of constructing biased realities. Or downright false ones.
4. And the PSOE? Every day passes, the legislature advances. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares says he's working hard to convince countries that they don't want to be reasoned with or lectured. It won't work, but he's buying time. That's the tactic. Make us believe they're working for Catalan in Europe, make us believe that a transfer of commuter trains is underway, or trick us with a unique funding scheme that we can already see coming, but that won't happen, no matter how much Salvador Illa shouts it from the rooftops. All of this is a revolt. No language, no trains, no money, no effective amnesty. October 1, 2027, is only two years away. Long enough to build a stimulating, well-coordinated social movement with politicians up to the task, that will do more than just fill the balconies with flags. A possible name? "Good morning, Catalonia."
