It's not just the sun and the beach. Nor the gastronomy. Nor Gaudí. Barcelona is now also showing its magnetism to representatives of world progressivism. Pedro Sánchez has summoned them, and one cannot deny him either cunning or the gift of timing, making the aura of an international anti-Trump leader eclipse his domestic version, which is much grayer and more questioned. If the game board is the world, I am with Sánchez and against Trump, for the record. I am with him completely (the choice is not that difficult). But the view from within is different. Sánchez reminds me of Gorbachev during perestroika, acclaimed in the West, unpopular in Russia. Sánchez can play with better cards than old Gorby, who managed a ruined empire; but he has justice breathing down his neck, and the PP-Vox duo lurking him in the polls. It is understandable that he prefers to exploit his statesman profile. With what ease he acts as spokesman for world pacifism, and installs himself on the “right side of History” with Xi Jinping (Thursday) and Lula (Friday). Meanwhile, in the domestic sphere, the right grows on the shoulders of the ultras, the true left becomes smaller and smaller, despite Rufián's efforts, and the center does not exist. A Russian roulette scenario.If nothing else, the Catalan issue (which occupied the headlines last decade) is no longer causing problems. The proof: This weekend of progressive tourism in Barcelona. Because Barcelona, like Catalonia, has outsourced the management of its brand and its role in the world. The Spanish government now takes care of it, while Illa and Collboni act as cheerleaders. For Sánchez, being seen in Barcelona is very useful, not only to show that we have returned to the fold, but also because ours is a much more left-wing city than Madrid (and than Spain as a whole). Barcelona is the great refuge of the PSOE, which appropriates it, uproots it, isolates it from its hinterland, and turns it into an alternative capital. Of Spain, of course. A more plural Spain than that of the PP? Undoubtedly! But let's not kid ourselves: This weekend's spectacle is designed from Madrid to project the PSOE's Spain around the world. Primarily from the Latin American world. This is why all these summits use Spanish orally and in writing, ignoring the native language and the lingua franca. Barcelona, needless to say, looks divine, but it is only a backdrop. And the Generalitat, a silent guest. Did you know, by the way, that the Generalitat has a Ministry of Foreign Relations?Readers of a certain age may recall, although it may seem incredible now, when King Juan Carlos I entered the Olympic stadium to inaugurate the 1992 Games while Els segadors was playing over the loudspeakers. Internal balancing acts were being performed in those days. Olympic diplomacy emerged from a creative tension between the city council and the governments. Independence was an abstraction, almost like now, but we were playing at appearing to be a country, and Barcelona could act as the capital of Catalonia, and the capital of the Catalan language, because for many of us it was much more than a backdrop. This weekend, Catalans find themselves at the epicenter of world politics, but we have been reserved the role of butlers and ushers.I imagine that to the more cosmopolitan readers this kind of complaint will seem unbearably provincial. I apologize. With a final plea: Next week, let us at least enjoy Sant Jordi in peace. We already know that all over the world April 23rd is Book Day, plain and simple. But it turns out that in Catalonia – only in Catalonia – we call this day Sant Jordi, and it is also the day when Barcelona and Catalonia, hand in hand, project themselves to the world. It is only one day; we will see to it that it passes quickly.

Pío Cabanillas' outburst is often cited, who in the years of the Transition, leaving a stormy UCD congress, said “We have won, but we don't know who”. Something similar happens to current Catalan politics when talking about unity. We want unity, but we don't know whose. We know we have to unite, but we don't know what or whom we are referring to when we talk about us.Unity is one of those big words that, like progress or freedom, become empty concepts when they are mishandled by the political class. In general, when a leader advocates for union, they conceive of it as a concentration of forces around themselves. And that, of course, has little to do with authentic unity, which implies mutual approach, concession.I am one of those who think that unity is a false dogma that is often contrasted with division, when its opposite, in fact, is plurality. And in democracy, plurality is necessary. It is the inevitable starting point for reaching consensus, broad majorities: another type of unity, which does not imply uniformism and does not generate vetoes.In Catalonia, this kind of unity based on pluralism is necessary. Because the country has very serious problems and demands far-reaching reforms, which are impossible with a too atomized Parliament, and with a growing presence of the far-right. And this implies forming transversal majorities, which overflow the boundaries between left and right, and between sovereigntism and Spanish nationalism. I will be more precise: there are a series of issues (language, health, education, infrastructure) that should be based on a strategic agreement between the PSC, Junts, ERC, and Comuns. They are the formations that can guarantee an operational parliamentary majority.

The recent visit of the Roja to Catalonia was not a publicity success, to put it mildly. Despite the efforts of the Catalan and Spanish governments, the federative world, and the platforms of Spanish activism, the very sad exhibition of fascist and xenophobic nationalism in the stands of the Cornellà stadium made it clear that the Spanish team, in Catalonia, runs the serious risk of being turned into an icon of the far-right. From a marketing point of view, it is a defeat for the reencuentro that the PSOE and PSC represent. They had a fabulous toy in their hands: a young, talented team full of Catalans sheltered by common symbolism and without competition (because the law prohibits Catalonia from competing officially, and Catalan athletes risk severe sanctions if they refuse to represent the Spanish team). But now, the Roja can go from being a symbol of cool Spanish nationalism to a refuge for torrentismo.States with conflicting identities have understood the usefulness of sport. The efforts that Spain dedicates to it, as a safe haven for patriotism, demonstrate that in Madrid they know that real power does not consist only of money, army, and Penal Code; it is also expressed in visibility and sentiment. In Catalonia, surprisingly, no Catalan party has the issue of sports teams at the top of its priority list, which is perhaps the only loophole that can allow us to exist nationally and be recognized internationally, basic conditions for everything else to come. Instead, we have to settle for playing a friendly against Palestine, with a spotless atmosphere, that's true; but without competitive value, without our stars on the field, and with the suspicion of the stagnant Catalan federative world.While Junts and ERC have the power to influence the socialists, they should play this card strongly, which is the authentic burden of proof of the State's plurality. Sharing competencies and resources is very well, but the true answer to identity diversity is to share, also, symbolic presence. It is very difficult, from the outset, for the PSOE to accept this (as much as amnesty, perhaps). But I would say that Pedro Sánchez is glimpsing that his survival against the PP-Vox bloc depends on a lasting understanding with the defenders of plurinationality.There are ways to tackle the issue avoiding fractures or impossible dilemmas: to begin with, for example, Catalonia could compete in European championships, and integrate into the Spanish team in world or Olympic competitions. Or it could have its own teams in sports with more roots and tradition, such as rugby, hockey, and water polo. I'm just speculating; I don't know enough to say which is the best solution. But I believe that if politicians intend to represent the broad majority of the Catalan population, a hybrid solution of this kind must be reached.We are a country that, despite the recent emergence of the homegrown far-right, has shown great generosity and great flexibility in managing its own diversity. Therefore, those of us who feel nationally Catalan deserve to exist politically – and, therefore, sportingly –. We think that in the next football World Cup, if Spain wins, there will be people celebrating in the streets of Barcelona... but there will also be people celebrating if Argentina wins, or Morocco wins. And the world won't end, because diverse Catalonia is that. But, if it turns out that in Catalonia everyone celebrates their goals except the Catalans, what the hell kind of diversity is that?

In the nineties, Jordi Pujol was asked in an interview about the validity of Torras i Bages' quote (“Catalonia will be Christian or it will not be”). “What can be affirmed is that Catalonia will be Catalan or it will not be – he replied–. It will be something else, but it will not be Catalonia”. Three decades later, we must ask ourselves if the terms Catalonia and Catalan have the same meaning, and if we are on our way to being that “something else”.What characterizes a national community? There are basic conditions – a population with group consciousness, and a more or less stable territory – that Catalonia has met for more or less a millennium. But its territory has stretched and shrunk, and its population has undergone continuous mutations due to migratory flows (from Occitania, from the Peninsula, from the rest of the world). If the country has survived, until the 18th century, it is thanks to the integrating factor of its own language and government institutions. And in recent centuries, quite the contrary, it has been the absence of political structures that has given a new spirit to Catalan identity, a profoundly apolitical and even antipolitical spirit – which is expressed in a community and entrepreneurial spirit, but also in cyclical revolts and the inability to understand the modern sense of the exercise of power. In these thousand years, there has been a dynamic, changing, porous Catalan people, rooted enough to absorb new contingents of population; but from the 20th century onwards, demographic weakness, combined with high economic development and the lack of a protective political framework, has caused this precarious balance to break, Catalan to lose its hegemony, and identities to separate or overlap. At the turn of the 21st century, new waves from all corners of the world have complicated this trend, which, if it is already a trial by fire for any national community, is even more so for a small nation, which not only does not have its own state, but is in constant conflict with a state of homogenizing tendencies. Catalonia has overcome crises, revolts, wars and, since 1714, a denationalizing offensive on all fronts. If this is the case, why shouldn't it survive the current circumstances? Well, because they are unprecedented circumstances. Until now, we said that the Catalan people have survived oppression without governing tools, but what is now in question is, on the contrary, whether these same tools can survive without a Catalan people behind them, as we have understood it in recent centuries. Catalan people has survived oppression without governing tools, but what is now in question is, on the contrary, whether these same tools can survive without a Catalan people behind them, as we have understood it in recent centuries. Demographics are cold and relentless, and no matter how many political tools we have, people are people, with their extraordinarily diverse origins. Faced with this reality, we will only be able to continue affirming, with Pujol, that “Catalonia will be Catalan or it will not be” if we are capable of refounding our collective being, preserving our roots, incorporating new blood, and providing ourselves with values and a project that strengthens and incorporates. But this is such a huge, so titanic, undertaking that we cannot do it with one hand tied behind our backs: we need a state that gives us a frame of reference, resources, and authority to manage inevitable social and demographic changes at the right pace. The first step to get there is the strategic unity of all democrats who consider that Catalonia must continue to exist as a nation. Without sectarianism and without reproaches. Otherwise, our shipwreck in the face of the globalizing wave is guaranteed. It is no longer a question of being a better country, as we said ten years ago. It is a question of being:Catalonia will be sovereign... or perhaps it will not be. It will, in effect, be something else.

Perhaps the worst move by the Isla administration so far is the phantom agreement reached with the teachers' unions. This agreement, which only involved the minority unions in the sector—UGT and Comisiones Obreras—was nevertheless announced with great fanfare, hailed as "historic," and given extraordinary publicity. This left teachers feeling not only neglected but also mocked, thrown to the wolves by a public opinion all too receptive to the caricature of the teacher who takes two months of vacation and then complains. It was a tactically disastrous move because it left the major unions no option but to demonstrate their strength in the streets, in the most forceful way possible.

The Italian satirical journalist Michele Serra has made a name for himself with this quip: "Americans are very lucky: whenever they go to export freedom to a country, they always find oil." The phrase leaves us with a wistful smile, because it masks a cruel description of a decadent and criminal power. Trump's USA, in coalition with the militaristic government of Israel, and the vassalage of its far-right satellites in Europe and Latin America, has become a global threat. And since they are the most powerful country in what we still call Western civilization, they leave us all, as Catalans and Europeans, in a state of helplessness and bewilderment, observing a geopolitical battlefield where ideas and principles are no longer the focus, but rather a group of unscrupulous old men vying for influence over petty squabbles.

Shortly after the 2023-24 election cycle, which granted regional and municipal power to the PSC, I wrote in this newspaper that the Socialists would occupy the center of the Catalan political chessboard for a long time, and that their rivals should concentrate on replacing fragmentation with regrouping, at least from a tactical point of view. I even wondered if Catalan sovereignty had already reached its Alamo. That is, at the point where the only option is to close ranks and dig in against a stronger enemy. At that moment, it seemed to me that this desperate solution was premature, because it meant abandoning decades of inclusive Catalanism with a desire for hegemony.

When the coup of February 23rd took place, I was a young boy in high school. At home, we heard President Pujol's speech on the radio, and my father's comment—"Just like Companys in 1936!"—didn't help to calm the family atmosphere. Then the king spoke, and we understood that the tried It had failed. But the truth, with all its twists and turns, has gradually come to light as the key figures of that era have given their accounts. Books and documentaries have added—or removed—layers of mystery. And this week, ironically coinciding with Tejero's death, that chapter of historical memory has been officially closed with the declassification of official documents. As Javier Cercas predicted, there has been no sensational revelation. Perhaps because many documents were destroyed; perhaps because many things, who knows if the most important ones, were never written down.

The fact that Barcelona is hosting the Goya Awards ceremony shortly after the recent Gaudí Awards gala is yet another episode in the culture war between two visions of Barcelona and its role in Spain. This battle, on a political level, can be likened to that between sovereigntists and federalists. The former want Barcelona to act as the capital of Catalonia and the Catalan language; that is, to be the capital of the region. as if it were capital of a state, to guarantee the survival of the national identity. The latter group intends for Barcelona to embrace its share of Spanish capital status without reservation, in order to maximize its potential and contribute to a more pluralistic understanding of the Iberian Peninsula.

We've read very different versions of the true meaning behind the maneuvers of Gabriel Rufián, the voice of ERC in Madrid, who has managed, through his own merits, to place himself in the Spanish media spotlight. He himself maintains that his is an honest effort to stop the foreseeable rise to power of Vox and the PP with an alliance of Sumar, Podemos, and the plurinational left. Period. Some believe that Rufián is acting independently, without the support of his party, and that his real objective is to ensure he remains the lead candidate, in contrast to those sectors that consider him a "soft" separatist, whose mission—or assignment—is to dilute the party's maximalist discourse. There are also those who claim that Oriol Junqueras is delighted that Rufián "complements" the official ERC discourse with a narrative more palatable to the non-separatist sectors that until now voted for the PSC or Comuns. And finally, there are the suspicious ones who believe that Rufián is preparing his political future outside the ERC party to become one of the leaders of the new Spanish left, which is in yet another process of reconfiguration.

An old adage advises joining the enemy if you cannot beat them. In terms of compolIf the enemy's values ​​are better than yours, get closer. And if your own values ​​bother you, apply them to the enemy. Thus, the classical right has sidelined its key concepts—order, property, family, etc.—in order to appropriate the term freedomAlthough for two centuries this magic word has guided all revolutions against the old regime. First, it was appropriated by the liberals, in the name of laissez faire economic. And now they're doing it. libertarians, Trump's followers, who obviously have nothing to do with old libertarian anarchism, but with hatred of the state in the face of the market, erected as guarantor of the rights of individuals.

Spain remains at a crossroads when debating the Civil War. Arturo Pérez-Reverte has organized a series of debates in Seville with the less-than-ideal title 1936: The war we all lost (In the end, they put the slogan in question marks to soften the blow of criticism.) The writer David Uclés, who had committed to attending, withdrew upon learning that José María Aznar and Iván Espinosa de los Monteros would be participating. And the inevitable backlash on social media, including threats of boycott, precipitated the cancellation of the conference. Pérez-Reverte lamented the lost opportunity for the "reconciliation" of Spaniards. But the best way to come to terms with the past is to accept it, and accepting the Civil War means admitting that there were victors and vanquished, and that the victors behaved as such long after the guns fell silent.

This week horribilis For the railway system and for the mobility of Catalans, everyone is digging through the archives to confirm the circular, Sisyphean dynamic of Catalan politics. In 2007, soon to be twenty years ago, a massive demonstration (the first with a profusion of Catalan independence flags) denounced the infrastructure deficit. In the same year, the economic elite held a major event at IESE Business School to demand the transfer of management of El Prat Airport to the Catalan government. Clear symptoms of the storm that was beginning to brew. We know that history never repeats itself, but we also know that there are some constants in our timeline that are difficult to deny. We could almost quote Francesc Cambó, who proclaimed in the Republican Cortes: "This Parliament will pass, regimes will fall, parties will disappear, but the living fact of Catalonia will endure." The question is to determine what this "living fact" consists of. made alive.

One of the first times I was able to vote was in the NATO referendum in 1986. A brief synopsis for younger readers: Spain joined the Atlantic Alliance in 1981, driven by the dying government of Calvo-Sotelo. It was one of the many concessions paid to the military and the Spanish establishment after the partial failure of the 23-F coup attempt. Felipe González promised to put the issue to a referendum if he came to power. The Catalan and Spanish left had a certain anti-American and anti-militarist bias, a product of the country's recent history: for Western Europe, the Americans were the ones who had defeated Hitler, but in Spain, they were the ones who had protected Franco in exchange for the installation of military bases. The polls indicated that, if a vote were held, the rejection of NATO would prevail. In 1982, the PSOE won with an absolute majority, initiating a rapid shift towards Atlanticism because—as we were told—without NATO, there would be no entry into the European Union. When González finally, dragging his feet, called the referendum, the PSOE defended the affirmative vote. Remaining in NATO won by a narrow margin throughout Spain, although the no vote won in Catalonia, as well as in the Basque Country and Navarre.the same old mapI was twenty years old and I felt my blood boiling, as Serrat sang, and I thought that a great opportunity had been lost to screw over President Reagan, who was a thousand men, and to crack the blog politics.

The regional financing agreement was signed by the PSOE, a party in crisis, and ERC, a party recovering (at least). Interestingly, sometimes a sum of weaknesses yields better results than a sum of strengths. It is not generosity, but necessity, that has allowed them to agree on a series of things that, just a year ago, Minister Montero considered impossible and unconstitutional. Ordinality ad hoc For Catalonia, the extra contribution from the State so that what some gain doesn't cost others, the oxymoron of plural singularity... and what ERC still hopes to obtain: comprehensive management of personal income tax and an investment consortium that retains in Catalonia all the funds not spent in the budget. It's a promising list, but it falls short of what the PSC agreed to in order to secure the votes to invest Isla, and furthermore, the path now beginning will be a true ordeal: Pedro Sánchez will have to defend that agreement against Junts, perhaps against Podemos, against the PP and Vox, against his own party. malesAnd it will do so without María Jesús Montero, offered up as a sacrifice on the altar of the Andalusian elections. We'll see what's left of it all. The clock is ticking.

With the new year, everything evolves, but real politics, the management of public affairs, remains mired in chaos because at the territorial levels that concern us (Barcelona, ​​Catalonia, Spain), governing bodies lack both the strength and the will to think broadly, with a long-term vision; they are prisoners of tactical maneuvering and fragmentation, two great sins of democracy that, a century ago, ignited the flames of fascism. We are falling into the same errors of the past and into familiar traps, while fascists forge their own path by blending into trends, technology, and a kind of counterfactual modernity.

of heart and of skull.

The situation of the hundreds of people evicted from Badalona is terrible. Terrible for them, uprooted and homeless in the dead of winter, condemned to the underworld of crime and addiction, with a future as black as soot. But they are not the only ones who demand our attention: their presence is a headache for the residents of Badalona who arrived before them, who mostly live a precarious daily life, with inadequate public services, and who now only need to encounter bewildered and/or violent newcomers, who are of other races. This challenges some of us who try to subjugate them, and which the right and far right try to bring to the surface to become an ideology, a worldview and a vision of people.

So, will Pedro Sánchez's government finally fall? The circumstances are dire, but they can create illusions for those who act swiftly. Although it seems the ground is crumbling beneath his feet, Sánchez is a born survivor, and fear of the far right remains a driving force for votes. What is undeniable is that the Spanish government is weaker than ever, more dependent than ever on the votes of Catalan and Basque nationalists—among others—and that this dependence may no longer be merely tactical: some voices on the Spanish left are beginning to understand that there is no middle ground between the authoritarian right and the plurinational left. Iván Redondo has written that "amnesty, if it becomes a plurinational driving force, is the only instrument that could stop the authoritarian element in Spain that seeks to capture our democracy." Words words, Yes, but it's also a symptom. Some sectors of the Spanish left may have understood that it's time to take risks that years ago seemed unthinkable. Perhaps we're not yet ready for self-determination, nor for confederation, ultimate goals that the pro-independence movement shouldn't abandon. A constitutional reform isn't even advisable with the current balance of power in Congress. But we can take a leap forward in the national recognition of Catalonia and confront traditional taboos, such as its international presence (sports teams), its own tax system, or the preeminence of the Catalan language through an organic law that defuses the periodic attacks from the judiciary. If all this is done properly, it will be irreversible, even for a future PP government, and we'll be a few steps closer to the finish line.

There are Barcelonans who speak of the city as their homeland, and it makes sense, because civic nationalism gets better press than national nationalism. A Barcelonan can complain that foreigners predominate on their street without fear of being labeled racist. They can publicly harass tourists, who are, for the most part, middle-class people who enjoy traveling as much as we do... Another reason for being a Barcelonan nationalist is to bypass the conflict between Catalan and Spanish identity. A kind of third way: urban, global, and Mediterranean. This third way, however, tends to use Spanish and see Catalan identity as a constraint. But there are also Barcelonans who are proud of their city precisely because it is the capital of Catalonia, something so objective that, by ignoring it, we fail to explain what that city is, what makes it different.