A simple question to ChatGPT (“What is the approximate number of unfavorable rulings against the Catalan language that have occurred during the democratic period?”) gives us a rather long and, above all, disheartening answer. The AI does not dare to give a specific number, but it distinguishes: if we stick to rulings that have limited Catalan normalization policies, especially in the educational and administrative spheres, the figure ranges between twenty and thirty rulings against the Catalan language. However, if we broaden the focus (which must be broadened) to interlocutory orders and resolutions considered minor (precautionary measures, enforcement of judgments, etc.), the figure easily rises to “diverse dozens” of judicial decisions against Catalan issued during the democratic period, that is, from 1978 onwards. The areas affected by rulings that limit the use of Catalan are, for the most part, the educational system, followed by regional linguistic regulations, linguistic requirements for civil servants, institutional use, and signage. In summary, a sustained judicial effort over time to minimize or erase the presence of the Catalan language from public spaces, especially in schools. That linguistic diversity be politically attacked, vilified in the media, and pursued judicially and even policed almost as if it were a crime, is an unacceptable situation for anyone with a minimum of democratic sensibility and common sense. It is, plain and simple, a disgrace.Judges are people who have been able to win the competitive examinations to become judges, and therefore are perfectly capable of understanding that Catalan is the language of Catalonia, with all that this entails. It is another matter that they decide not to accept it. The fallacious reasoning that attempts to present Spanish as if it were a language in danger due to linguistic immersion in Catalan is exactly the same (equally unacceptable) as those that say that feminist demands are a danger to men, or that the integration of immigrants endangers the continuity of Western cultures and societies. They are expressions of supremacism, and this is what the judges who issue jurisprudence against an official language, as fully deserving of respect as any other, do: spit supremacism with a stroke of the pen. To use justice and place it at the service of a political ideology, in this case that of state Spanish nationalism.

At the time of writing this article, and in what we have of the year 2026, fourteen women have been counted as murdered due to gender-based violence in Spain. In one of the cases, the victim's 12-year-old daughter was also murdered. In another, as the aggressor set fire to the building where the victim lived, it also caused the death of two more women, the victim's mother and a neighbor. With these fourteen cases, the number of women murdered in Spain due to gender-based violence rises to 1,357 since 2003, which is the year the count began. For those who like data, in three of these fourteen cases the victim and the murderer were partners; in the other eleven crimes, they were ex-partners or partners who were separating. Also, in only three cases, both the victim and the murderer were foreigners; in the other eleven, both were Spanish nationals. By autonomous communities, three crimes were committed in Andalusia, two in the Valencian Community, two in Aragon, one in Madrid, one in Castile and León, one in Navarre, one in Cantabria, one in Extremadura, one in the Canary Islands, and one in Galicia. Before anyone claims victory, the fact that there are none in our home doesn't mean anything: Catalonia is one of the communities with the most victims, and the Balearic Islands is one of those with the highest percentage of femicides in relation to the population. What I've just written has become routine information in the news bulletins, repeated every time a new murder is added to the list. 1,357 since 2003; 14 confirmed as of March 23rd, a week ago. Often, to avoid the coldness of bare numbers a little, femicides are compared to other famous massacres, such as victims of terrorism. It is a way of lamenting the scarce sensitivity —or denialism or demagoguery— with which many sectors of society, and some political parties (especially the far-right and similar ones), take this tragedy.There is another more direct comparison: what would many of those who deny the seriousness of the issue say if the tables were turned and we were talking about men murdered by women? How would they see it if instead of feminicides —women murdered precisely because they are women— we were talking about masculinicides? It would be about men murdered for being men: for wanting to separate from their wives or girlfriends, for going with another woman, for too often meeting friends to watch football at the bar.If this happened (it has never happened habitually, as the inverse) the social alarm would be so enormous, the wave of whinging and victimhood would be so strident and overacted (especially on the part of the city's most macho men) that it would become unbearable. Let's imagine it for a moment: 1,357 guys murdered since 2003 by their wives. With blows, with knives, with hammers, set on fire, thrown from the balcony, with shotgun shots, run over with the car. Extremely violent deaths, committed with premeditation and cruelty. How would you see it?

"If you want proof that Iran endangers the entire world [...], it has attacked a civilian area with weapons capable of mass murder." This was said by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Bibi Netanyahu, standing in front of a residential area in the Israeli city of Arad, which suffered an Iranian missile attack. This isn't about painting any Manichean picture in which the ayatollahs' regime appears "good," because it's a group of vicious beasts who mix ultranationalism and religious fundamentalism with unbridled and pathological greed: in this sense, it's no different from the governments they preside over. Someone will object that there is a fundamental difference, and that is that the Trump and Netanyahu governments are democratic, while the government now led by Mukhta Khamenei is a dictatorship. True, and this is precisely the tragedy: that certain rulers use democracy, and the legitimacy of the ballot box, to act like the most indecent dictatorship.

Antoni Marí, a powerful figure in Catalan literature, a penetrating and refined writer of both verse and prose, has died. Born in Ibiza and a Barcelonan by choice and conviction, Marí always gloriously followed his own path, dedicated to the task of deeply understanding the ideas that have allowed for the construction of modern Europe and verifying their validity in the ongoing construction of today's Europe. He had more dealings with abstract thought, and far more fruitful ones, than many of those who today sign their names and proclaim themselves philosophers with ridiculous shamelessness.

"Teaming up with Gabriel [Rufián] seems like a great idea to me," Irene Montero said a few days ago, in a significant change of attitude. In Sumar, Montero's most hated enemy, Yolanda Díaz, has withdrawn from the front lines, making it clear that she will finish her current term as Vice President of the Spanish government, but will no longer run as a Sumar candidate. It was also a few days ago that Yolanda Díaz made clear her willingness to consider the possibility of uniting (or subsuming) Sumar into a broader project of the left—to the left of the PSOE—to run in the general elections, as proposed by the ERC spokesperson in Congress, the aforementioned Gabriel Rufián, now the white mermaid ( white blackbird(You'll have to excuse me) of the left, of what Salvador Espriu called the bull's hide. That is to say: Catalan, Galician, Basque, and Spanish leftists, pro-independence and pro-union leftists, united to stop the shift to the right and the far right. This was largely the subject of some of Espriu's major works, such as the play Esther's First Story or the poems of The bull's hideWe are in the vicinity of Iberianism, the idea of ​​an Iberian Peninsula formed by a set of cultures and languages ​​(Portuguese, Castilian, Basque, Galician, and Catalan, which includes Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands) that should coexist in peace, respect, and mutual understanding. This is an idea that Espriu took up from Joan Maragall and that has been defended by other intellectuals: more recently, the Portuguese José Saramago and the Asturian Xuan Bello.

As the writer Joan Lluís Lluís has stated on social media, the fact that the Elna Maternity Hospital is under the control of the fascists of Reagrupament Nacional is repugnant. It is also painful, due to its powerful symbolic significance. For those unfamiliar with the case, the Elna Maternity Hospital was a healthcare institution founded in 1939 by the Swiss educator and philanthropist Elisabeth Eidenbenz (also known as the Swiss Maternity Hospital) in the town of Elna, in the Roussillon de Argelès region. Its purpose was to house and assist pregnant women forced into exile by the Spanish Civil War. It operated until 1944, when the Nazis closed it during the occupation of France, and its memory was not recovered until the early 2000s. At that time, the Elna City Council acquired the building to convert it into a memorial. To learn about its history, the books by historian Assumpta Montellà on Eidenbenz and the Elna Maternity Hospital are recommended, as well as the documentary – co-produced by TV3 – The Light of Elna, directed by Silvia Quer.

"I can do whatever I want with Cuba," Donald Trump says in a slurred murmur, after half-strung together a few almost disjointed sentences ("I think I'll have... the honor of taking Cuba... whether it's liberating it, taking it... to tell you the truth, I think I can do whatever I want with Cuba"). He said this sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, which, along with Air Force One, the presidential plane, is one of the orange pachyderm's favorite locations for his staged performances. It's worth remembering that Trump honed his public image by making trashy television for many years and that he continues to apply the same formula to a T. The quality of the messages is another matter: unfinished sentences, pointless pauses, repetitions. "I think we could bomb Kharg Island again for fun." These are messages that aim to be threatening, intimidating, but they also give the impression of being uttered by someone who's not quite himself.

The Senate has approved the law on repeat offenders, championed by Junts and adopted by the PSOE government. This law, which had already been passed in the Congress (it will now need to return for final approval), is proudly presented by Junts as a major achievement of the current legislature. It is framed as a tool to combat petty crime, understood as a phenomenon closely linked to immigration. Therefore, it includes a significant tightening of immigration law, with new requirements for obtaining a residence permit, as well as the typical increase in penalties, such as three years in prison for petty theft, etc.

For several years, Spanish state nationalism breathed a sigh of relief: it had found in Felipe VI a king even more suitable and more devoted to the unyielding principles of Spain's sacred unity than his father, Juan Carlos, who was too frivolous and too fond of money, women, and the high life. More austere and more preparedAs they often repeated (nationalisms always tend to thrive on believing their own lies), Felipe VI ascended to the throne in 2014, precisely as a consequence of a scandal involving skirts, elephants, and money starring his father, and had his baptism of fire—perhaps it would be more accurate to call it that—in 2017, when he delivered an infamous speech criminalizing Catalan independence just after the equally infamous police actions of October 1st. It was, as it has been called countless times, one How scary! pronounced by the head of Spain, which kicked off the judicial and police persecution, and the media and social breakdown of Catalan separatism, which has taken place during the following years (and to which a part of the separatists themselves have collaborated, with idiotic fervor).

Laporta's Trump-esque dance celebrating victory, and Víctor Font's grimace feigning defeat, remind us that the world of top-level football is populated by individuals who know neither how to win nor how to lose. Speaking of Trumpism, the photo from a few days ago of Leo Messi smiling alongside Donald Trump says it all about the values ​​football is supposed to embody. The most trollish elements of the Catalan right delude themselves into thinking they've won something and erupt in tavern chants, because their weakness only allows them to project their insecurities onto the pitch of a stadium.

It's not too late to talk about it because what it is and what it represents is important: we're talking about the Taller de Músics, one of the most interesting and successful ventures in Barcelona's cultural life of recent decades. Specifically, the Taller de Músics has turned forty-five, and to celebrate, it has held a program of events that culminated last December, accompanied by the publication of a commemorative book that is a true gem, both in its production and content, as well as significant organizational changes.

The war in the Middle East is a senseless act that only two leaders like Trump and Netanyahu could have orchestrated, leaders far more desperate than some would have us believe. Desperate to evade the consequences of their own (allegedly) criminal behavior: Netanyahu's presidency, including the genocide in Gaza, is a continuous flight forward to avoid facing trial for various charges, primarily corruption at multiple levels. For his part, Trump has truly succeeded in creating a distraction from the Epstein papers and his involvement in the pedophilia ring of the powerful in the West. The only Atlanticism Trump has ever known was the kind that brought together extremely wealthy pedophiles from both sides of the Atlantic on Little Saint James, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the pimp Epstein and his friends, guests, clients, and victims (often all four at once) committed their crimes. Just days before the Israeli-American attack, media outlets worldwide were reporting on a global earthquake in politics and high finance that had already led to the arrest, and a degree of public disgrace, of a Windsor, Prince Andrew. From February 28th onward, the date of the first US-Israeli attack on Iran, the trail of Epstein and his empire of depravity goes cold.

If the PP leaders are bothered by being labeled the ideological heirs of Francoism, they'd better get used to it. They will be considered as such, and more than deservedly so, as long as they make such government decisions.anti-democratic, vengeful, and painfullike the one that prevailed, with the votes of Vox and the PP itself, in the plenary session of the Catalan Parliament on Tuesday, March 10.democratic memory lawThe law, finally repealed in this session after several back-and-forths of low-level political maneuvering, was not a law against anyone, but a reparations law that offered, after more than eighty years of pain and oblivion, recognition to the victims of Francoism and their families. Destroying this law and trying to justify it with subterfuge (for example, that it wasn't necessary because a state law already exists on the same matter, an absurd way of trying to evade the issue) fails to conceal the reality: the victims of Francoism are being attacked again out of pure vengeance. The People's Party (PP) may not be willing to say it this way, but the Vox deputies are making it perfectly clear with their interventions and actions in the Catalan Parliament. The erratic interventions of spokesperson Sergio Rodríguez, or the fits of rage from President Gabriel Le Senne, are unacceptable mockery in the seat of sovereignty of a people who believe in democracy and want to live in it. Fascism is never compatible with democracy: it parasitizes it and exploits its very nature (democracy cannot deny anyone freedom of expression or the right to vote) to destroy it from within and spread its message of hatred and revenge. The Spanish nationalist right already won the Civil War and is eager to win it again: the spirit guiding the dismantling of the Memory Law is nothing other than a poorly disguised, if not entirely disguised, civil war mentality.

“Not a single tear should be shed for the Iranian regime,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She continued: “[The Iranian regime] has inflicted death and imposed repression on its own people, causing devastation throughout the region.” Listening to her, it was hard not to think of the furious harangue a few days earlier by the Trump administration’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who, with a grimace and wild eyes, promised that “death and destruction will rain down from the sky” on Iran until the US and Israel consider it necessary. Perhaps President von der Leyen considers the destruction and death raining down from the sky by American and Israeli attacks preferable to the death, repression, and devastation imposed by the ayatollahs. For the Iranian people, whom she invokes, it seems they must be equally undesirable.

The former secretary general of the PP youth wing, a young man named Carlo G. Angrisano, has left the New Generations. peperas to switch to Vox, how can one read in this newspaperDon't think that Angrisano, a young man with the ruddy complexion typical of certain conservative youth, made this decision out of self-interest. On the contrary: he is driven by the disappointment he feels with the party he belonged to until the end of last week: "I was one of many Spaniards convinced that the People's Party should protect the best of our country," he laments in a highly sentimental message posted on social media. Now, however, he sees that the PP has ceased to represent the values ​​for which he joined the party, namely: "Love for Spain, for its identity, its history, its freedom, and the dignity of our people." And he perceives, instead, that Vox does represent all these ideals, which, according to Angrisano, are now "trampled on by separatism" (he hasn't realized that separatism is dedicated to trampling on itself). The now-former secretary general of the PP's youth wing sees "firm ideas" and "unwavering principles" in Vox, which, incidentally, is the party for which his uncle, Juan Carlos Girauta, is currently a Member of the European Parliament. Girauta had previously been a member of the PP and Ciutadans, and, in his youth, of the PSC. Following the family tradition of political opportunism, and as self-serving Catalans, perhaps once they're done with Vox they can join Aliança Catalana together.

António Lobo Antunes, the Portuguese writer, has died at the age of eighty-three. I think he was no longer in vogue (I don't know if he ever was), but we have a number of his novels translated into Catalan: The Inquisitors' Manual (Ediciones 62, translation by Xavier Pàmies), The Splendor of Portugal, Exhortation to the Crocodiles and Don't rush into this dark night (Proa Editions, translated by Joan Casas) and I didn't see you in Babylon yesterday (El Gall Editor, also translated by Joan Casas). It is highly recommended reading.

The Valencian Academy of Language (AVL) issued a ruling a few days ago in which – as could not be otherwise – it rejected the Valencia City Council's intention to use two forms of the city's name from now on: one in Castilian (Valencia) and another invented one (Valencia, with an acute accent on the andThis spelling, according to the governing coalition—comprised of the PP and Vox parties—best reflects how Valencians pronounce the name of the capital of the Valencian Community. The Valencian Language Academy (AVL) presents all the relevant philological arguments to conclude that Valencia only has one name: it is in Valencian (that is, Catalan) and is written with an open accent, not a closed one. There is absolutely no need or justification for using a Castilian version of the city's name. And even less so for circulating this monstrosity, "Valencia," which is simply a serious spelling mistake and a gratuitous display of the rudeness and anti-Catalan fanaticism of the PP and Vox leaders. Because it is common knowledge that the aim of these two ultranationalist parties is not to write "how Valencians speak" (there is no language in the world that is written "how its speakers speak"; if you'd like to learn more philological information, I recommend reading the AVL's opinion), but rather to practice secessionism. that there is a distinct "Valencian language" separate from the Catalan language. Why? Because they think that by doing so they are acting against Catalonia and in favor of Spain. The reasoning is completely delusional, and simply transcribing it is embarrassing, but it is what Spanish ultranationalism has always defended and proclaimed. They are deniers and enemies of science, culture, and knowledge in all areas, but in this one (regarding the Catalan language and the hatred they harbor for it) more than any other, because they believe that the existence and vitality of Catalan are incompatible with the existence and vitality of Spain.

Of course, Pedro Sánchez's statement in response to Trump's threats had a very clear "political agenda" and was designed to further his own interests: no politician does anything without political motivation and self-interest in mind, and Sánchez is not only no exception to this rule, but is currently one of the leading figures. Perhaps not because he is particularly brilliant, but because everything around him is so murky.

Something interesting to follow are the –strong– internal disagreements dividing the MAGA movement regarding the Iran-Contra affair. “Another absurd war abroad that we’re waging in the name of Israel,” complains Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Republican congresswoman from Georgia and old-school MAGA member, who is currently estranged from Trumpist orthodoxy. It’s not that Taylor Greene is a pacifist activist: years ago, she became infamous for her videos with racist comments against Black and Hispanic people, and for a meme in which she appeared armed with an assault rifle, ready to shoot at photographs of Democratic leaders. She subscribed to anti-vaccine theories and the QAnon movement’s stories about the so-called Pizzagate And the existence of an international alliance of powerful people who kidnapped children to use them in orgies and satanic rituals that included cannibalism (all of this has been reinforced now with the declassification of part of Epstein's files). Well, Marjorie Taylor Greene is back in the news for her clash with a current rising star of Trumpism, a far-right activist who has a direct line to Trump and who congratulates herself on having killed "one of the most evil Islamic terrorists in the world," referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Taylor Greene calls Laura Loomer a "meuca," and Loomer retaliates by calling Taylor Greene a "traitor," etc.

The prose of war is written in numbers. 555 deaths in two and a half days of attacks on Iran by Israel and the US, according to Red Crescent data. Among this trail of corpses are Ayatollah Khamenei (a tyrant who deserved his end) and a good portion of his regime's leadership, but the majority are civilians, including a large number of children, such as the 85 girls who died when a primary school in the city of Minab was bombed. "People die in wars. These things happen," Trump asserted, while broadcasting his propaganda messages for Operation Epic Fury (the names of American military interventions in other countries are always as pompous as they are ridiculous, and could fill an anthology). It's the same thing he said when he received the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: "These things happen," Trump remarked.