Let's start with the big headlines that the latest barometer of the Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió of the Generalitat, which confirms already known trends in our political landscape. Aliança Catalana positions itself as the third force – in a technical tie with the second, ERC – in the Parliament, thanks to votes that leave Junts per Catalunya, which shows unexpected weakness. Meanwhile, the PSC, despite accumulating a great deal of power, not only does not advance, but recedes. All of this coincides, for example, with the survey published by this newspaper last May, although Sílvia Orriols' rise was not as pronounced then as it is now.Before continuing, it is worth pointing out that polls are only a snapshot, the reflection of a specific moment in a reality – in this case, political reality – that is constantly evolving. Shortly after the photograph was taken, the situation has already changed and is different. In this regard, it should be remembered that we are in July 2026 and the Catalan elections will be held, if they are not brought forward, in the spring of 2028. There is a long time to go. Many things, foreseen and unforeseen, have to happen between now and then. For example, it is very possible that next year we will have a PP-Vox government in Madrid, and we also have to expect that the amnesty will have been fully effective and Carles Puigdemont will have returned to Catalonia. However, polls serve to help us understand and better grasp the situation we are in.The main protagonists today are, without a doubt, Sílvia Orriols and her party. Never before, since the recovery of democracy, has such a rapid and resounding rise been seen. Aliança is receiving support from many people who had voted for Junts. It is also taking voters from Vox. It is very clear that Orriols's main appeal is the call against immigration, especially against Muslim immigration. This fact should serve for everyone to realize that the migratory issue must be addressed, whether one likes it or not. It cannot be allowed to be taken over and capitalized on by either Aliança or Vox. The fact that these two parties have an estimated voting intention of practically 25% indicates that immigration – in the volume that Catalonia has received it – is perceived as a problem by many citizens. It is an important concern. If we do not want the dehumanizing and often impossible recipes of the far-right to continue advancing, the rest of the forces must face the phenomenon head-on, they must foster an honest debate and they must make realistic – autonomies have few competences in this matter – and sensible proposals. Hiding our heads in the sand and pretending that nothing is happening leads us to a disastrous scenario.

Recently, I have had the pleasure of adding a new hero to my shelf. I am happy because, as you will understand, it is not easy to find people worthy of this recognition. These heroes of mine serve me to be able to mirror myself and take example. Also, and this point is fundamental, to feed confidence in the species. The man I am talking about is a normal and ordinary individual. Juan Carlos Nieto, a civil servant of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE), is someone with enough criteria and convictions to swim against the current. In a way, he is a revolutionary capable of contradicting the rules of a system that runs the risk of becoming demented.Juan Carlos Nieto has been a public official for 37 years. Currently, and for the past fifteen years, he has been working at the SEPE in Mérida. Juan Carlos has had a disciplinary file opened against him for attending to some citizens who presented themselves at the office without a prior appointment. He, when he had no one in line, would answer their queries and facilitate the corresponding procedures, such as issuing them a certificate. He is accused of not obeying the office director and of having possibly discriminated against users who did have appointments. “I never stopped attending someone with an appointment to attend to another person who didn't have one. When there was capacity and someone arrived with an urgent need and there was an opening, I tried to help, but not out of charity, simply because it is my job,” he explained to Eldiario.es. The prior appointment, a mechanism massively implemented during the pandemic, has become the usual and sometimes only access route to public services. Although it can improve organization, it ends up marginalizing certain groups, because not everyone has access to a computer or the training to carry out the often complicated procedures digitally. This is notably happening with people of a certain age. Juan Carlos Nieto has insisted that he did not intend to cause any controversy, but he has expressed his gratitude to the many citizens who have demonstrated in front of his office to support him.In the world of public administration, and sometimes equally in private enterprise, the system invites people to do nothing that goes a millimeter beyond what is absolutely essential. No one is rewarded for transcending, even slightly, the boundaries of what are supposed to be their strict obligations. Over time, the worker's reaction is logically to limit themselves to doing what is required. To cling to established procedures. Often because they don't want to do more than they should, for which they are supposedly paid. But many other times also because they know from experience that having their own ideas or wanting to move forward with some initiative ends up costing them.

That Gabriel Rufián and Sílvia Orriols are the two most popular politicians in Catalonia reflects quite severely the situation of our politics and, by extension, the state of mind, the spiritual state, if you prefer, of the country. I will not dwell on qualifications regarding their methods or discourse, neither the spokesperson for the Esquerra group in Congress nor the mayor – mayoress, she says – of Ripoll. It is enough to remember that they are two populist and polarizing styles. By this I do not mean, in any way, that they are equal or comparable (Rufián does not use Orriols' Islamophobia), but simply that I do not find them to be examples of good politics, nor commendable figures. It is also significant that neither Rufián nor Orriols are national politicians, even though Orriols has a seat in Parliament. The popularity we spoke of they have achieved outside of national politics, understood as that which has Catalonia as its scope and object. Rufián has been in Madrid for ages. Orriols has his epicenter in the city of Ripoll. Where are the national politicians? Well, all of them below Rufián and Orriols, as indicated by the latest poll published by ARA. The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, occupies third place. And Carles Puigdemont, ninth (second to last). Oriol Junqueras appears in a not-so-bad fourth position. Furthermore, his party, which wins many votes, seems to be recovering from the dismal last electoral cycle. The problem here is another: Rufián is more popular than Junqueras both among the electorate in general and among Republican voters in particular. An insolent question for the leadership of ERC: in view of this, should the party strive to be more like Rufián or vice versa: should Rufián try to be more like the party? Let's add some other element. The capital change that is taking place in Catalonia is the meteoric rise of Aliança Catalana, Orriols' formation. This can change almost everything. One of the consequences of this growth, regarding the combination of forces, is that it will absolutely prevent a new pro-independence government in Catalonia. Whoever still has this dream should let it go. Forget about it for a long time. If it was already very complicated before, it will now become impossible. Neither the PSC, nor the PP, nor Vox will have achieved it. The voters of a party that, what a paradox, calls itself and wants to be more Catalan and more pro-independence than anyone else will have achieved it: Aliança Catalana. As can be seen, the general landscape drawn by the ARA poll – which agrees with other previous opinion studies – is between strange and bleak. And no, it is no consolation that in other places, near or far, they are worse off than us.

Lately, Salvador Illa can't stop stumbling. We have reached a point where, in this country, everything seems on the verge of overflow and collapse. Regarding the government partners, the transfer of IRPF, for the moment, remains stalled, which led ERC to reject the budgets. As if that were not enough, the desire to have a say and vote on El Prat airport (named Josep Tarradellas from Madrid) seems increasingly unlikely. At least if we judge by the intransigent attitude of Maurici Lucena, president of Aena.Lucena has repeated on several occasions that “it cannot be and, moreover, it is impossible”. He is acting exactly like that sergeant in the chickpea joke, who explained to the recruits that the bombs, if they didn't fall by gravity, would eventually fall “por su propio peso”. A militant of the PSC and former spokesperson for that group in Parliament, Lucena repeated on Thursday, the 16th, that what Catalonia is demanding is not feasible and would be —attention— unconstitutional. “There is only room —he emphasized— to deepen coordination with the territories”, which means that, if anything can be decided, nothing at all. And so that no one could get their hopes up, he concluded: “The rest is outside the legal and constitutional framework”. Lucena, as you can see, presents himself as an expert in constitutional law. On the legal-legal issue, you can read the article written in this same newspaper by Professor Joan Ridao. As Ridao concludes, and contrary to what the socialist preaches, we are facing a strictly political issue.. As Ridao concludes, and contrary to what the socialist preaches, we are facing a strictly political issue.

My friend, a veteran writer who has won a handful of awards, pauses and concludes: "The independence movement responds to the anguish of a people who know that their identity, starting with their language, is going to waste. It was the last gasp, the final throes." At first, I found his statement strange, shocking, and I filed it away in a drawer of my memory. The conversation I'm referring to took place after October 1st, when the protagonists of the independence attempt were in prison or had fled. However, some time later, I've given considerable thought to my friend's words—who today considers the battle for language completely lost—and I've wondered about the degree of truth they contain. Note that accepting what he says requires acknowledging that what we call the people, the nation, or society possesses some kind of collective unconscious, something shared that motivates action.

The Spanish political system is weighed down by lead. It faces a very serious threat. It's not the first time this has happened, but now it presents a more menacing potential. During the Transition, the heirs of Francoism and the representatives of the democratic forces worked side by side to build a model that favored alternation between two major parties. This model, reminiscent of the 19th-century system of alternating power, sought to preserve stability, the primary concern in those uncertain years. There would be, they planned, a major center-right option and a major center-left option. The first party ended up being the current PP—after the UCD imploded—; the second, the PSOE. For this reason, in the eyes of some, the Transition culminated precisely with Felipe González's victory in 1982. This system has been called "imperfect bipartisanship."

Sonia is at Tarragona station, desperate. The train she was supposed to send hasn't arrived, and she has a job interview. After passing two rounds of selection, today is the day of truth. Her future boss is waiting for her. Sonia won't make it because her train will ultimately be canceled. Stories like this have been repeated countless times during the railway (and AP-7) debacle. People have been unable to get to the doctor, to university—it's exam time—to work, to the airport, to their parents' house, and so on.

A segment of Catalan nationalism desires, or aspires to, the independence of Catalonia. However, after October 2017, the real possibilities of achieving this goal in the short or medium term appear very slim, if not nonexistent, at least in the eyes of the vast majority. Only a dreamer or a delusional person would now repeat the phrase "it's just around the corner." As is well known, history favors the strong, not those who defend, or are convinced they are defending, a just cause. In the current context, in which Catalonia remains a part of Spain, and a very significant part at that, and more than eight years after that failed declaration of independence, it is appropriate, even necessary, to consider what stance should be taken regarding the relationship between the independence movement and the future of the Spanish state, or Spain.

Jordi Pujol was one of the first targets of Operation Catalonia, launched by Jorge Fernández Díaz's Ministry of the Interior to wage a dirty war against the then-emerging Catalan independence movement. Pujol and his family were prioritized even though the president had long since left power, was not a key figure in what later became known as the Process of Catalan Independence, and had not declared himself in favor of independence. In its efforts to seize the Pujol family's accounts in Andorra, Operation Catalonia allegedly committed various crimes and destroyed two banks: Banca Privada de Andorra and its Spanish subsidiary, Banco de Madrid.

The birth was so complicated that the doctors feared for my mother's life, and for mine as well. Having survived that ordeal without too many lasting effects, and while I was still very little, bad luck struck when I contracted a serious lung disease. That time, too, I was saved by the skin of my teeth because my mother summoned the doctor, who was at home in his dressing gown and slippers, on a Sunday night. That scare turned me into a pale, scrawny, and listless child. I would only eat if I was told a story while I ate. My mother took care of both with biblical patience. The situation dragged on for so long that she ended up recording cassette tapes with stories she told herself—many of them her own creations—so that, whenever it was time for a meal, my mother could use a cassette player we had, a big, black one with keys like a player piano, and give me the story along with the spoonfuls of food.

When Artur Mas achieved the necessary majority in Parliament to become president, a leitmotif became fashionable, spread by the Convergent world, according to which this new government—after the two tripartite governments, riddled with facets and scandals—would be the "government of the best." With this, Mas and his followers intended to emphasize, I believe, that, unlike in recent years, what would prevail when composing the executive would be the abilities and merits of those who formed part of it. From the first to the last. There would be no room for mediocre people chosen solely for being part of the party. Needless to say, this announcement of a "government of the best" was the object of ridicule, criticism, and contempt from the opposition. The truth is, however, that Mas took seriously his duty to choose, within his means, the best-prepared candidates for his government, which, unfortunately for the president, was immediately confronted with the economic collapse produced by the Great Depression, which, having begun in 2008, would last for many years.

In politics, being right doesn't guarantee winning a battle. The independence movement bitterly realized this at the time. It was a case of naiveté. In the case of the new financing, it confirms, as has been confirmed time and again, that being right, defending a just cause, has little impact on the final outcome, since opponents aren't willing to take it into consideration. Quite the opposite: it often compels them to fight the claim even more vigorously.

When a living being is corrupted, what it does is undergo a transformation. It remains what it is, but in a deteriorated, degenerated form. Corruption, from the Latin corruption-ōnis, is a degradation of what is considered the ordinary or "normal" state, a lower state toward which any living being is exposed to transition. In the case of people, the meaning is not only biological, but also moral and, by extension, often legal. In the latter cases, we refer to the transgression of a code that the man or woman had agreed to respect. Political corruption has different expressions and dimensions, as many as the norms that can be violated, often more than one at a time. Economic corruption, therefore, constitutes only one of the possible forms of political corruption, although it is one of the most common and the one that generates the most rejection in society. It occurs when someone takes advantage of their political power to illegitimately obtain a private benefit. Often, it involves money, but by no means exclusively.

Alicia Framis was interviewed a few days ago on the radio. Specifically, on the program The supplement from Catalonia Radio. Framis is a Catalan artist who has married with a hologram powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI). He says the idea came to him three years ago when he was going through a very lonely time. It is not entirely clear to what extent this project he has embarked on is an artistic project or an emotional and personal commitment – "I felt very alone, and I thought I would like to have an AI that would ask me how I was when I got home" – or both. The artist and his husbandAILex, married in Holland, and form a "hybrid" human-robot couple. Alicia appears to be the first human paired with a robot. She's, if you will, a pioneer.

Silvia Orriols has become an agonizing nightmare for Junts per Catalunya. The following year, Pere Aragonès would call early elections. The Catalan elections were held on May 12, 2024. A little less than a year after the municipal elections, she ran with her aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric and won two seats in the People's Party and her own party.

Ann Telnaes was one of the star cartoonists of the Washington Post. One day in early January, the Pulitzer Prize-winning ninotaire saw one of her drawings rejected. It featured a handful of billionaires kneeling, reverenced by a giant statue of Donald Trump, then president-elect. They included Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg; Sam Altman of OpenAI; Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of Los Angeles Times, and Mickey Mouse, the emblem of Walt Disney. And also Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and –this is the most relevant– of Washington Post Telnaes knew that her cartoon would upset the newspaper's editors and probably wanted to see if the freedom of expression—of opinion—she had enjoyed since its debut in the newspaper's pages in 2008 remained the same or had diminished. The editor in charge of the newspaper's opinion pages, David Shipley, returned the cartoon. And she responded by folding it and recounting what had happened in a text on the Substack network. He spoke of a "tipping point" and warned that what's happening is dangerous.

Justice is the last ratio, the last argument, of the democratic system. It is the place where citizens, companies or other agents turn when they feel mistreated or are victims of abuse or aggression. We expect reparation from justice and, also, punishment for the guilty. Justice is fundamental to give the system meaning. If there is no justice, there is no democracy. And if it works poorly or defectively, it is the whole that is irremediably delegitimized. It is democracy that is devalued in the eyes of the people. It is precisely for this reason, because of the fundamental importance that, in democratic terms, but also moral, justice has, that I have never understood the blatant abandonment to which Spain has been subjected.