Elisenda Carrera will cease to be a councilor for Ara Vic. This was announced this Tuesday by Xavier Farrés, the other councilor of the Viga formation of the extinct PDECat, at a press conference at the town hall accompanied by other members of the party's executive. Her departure comes in response to rumors, as the ARA advanced, that place her as the possible candidate of Aliança Catalana in Vic in the next municipal elections. "Our patience has run out," says Farrés in conversation with the ARA.

It was Saturday at eleven in the morning when a man repeatedly stabbed a woman in the back. Then he cut her throat. The Mossos investigation has not been able to determine that they knew each other: everything indicates that she was a victim chosen at random who had the worst of luck.

It is quite likely that the rise of Aliança Catalana reflected in mea culpa, more than one party and union will assume at least part of the responsibility. The most significant element of the shift we are discussing is, therefore, that a part of the pro-independence electorate has stopped prioritizing the national issue almost exclusively to begin emphasizing the issues listed before: immigration (perceived as excessive), security (repeat criminal offenses, etc.), or the preservation of ways of being and existing (the clothing of some Muslim women, etc.). According to CEO data the number of responses reinforcing the impression that there are more immigrants in Catalonia than actually live there has doubled... in just one year! We are therefore not facing a percentage anecdote, but a real change of direction. These perceptions –not necessarily correlatable with objective data– are the perfect fuel for any political formation that decides to articulate discontent in terms of cultural protection and defense of the territory.

The poll we published in ARA this weekend dared to put numbers on the political reality, which, no matter how much scientific basis the work has, always ends up causing an endless discussion. Especially when there are still more than two years to go until the parliamentary elections, if the Illa government manages to complete the legislature, because the political, economic, and social situation is only getting more tangled.This is the first observation: the growing discontent would not be directed against the PSC, nor against Esquerra or Comuns, who support it, but would take the form of a historic shift of a large part of the country's electorate towards the far-right, curiously not large enough to force a change of government but sufficient to send Junts from second to fifth position.The growth of Alianza Catalana and Vox is more than probable (we'll see if in these proportions), and it's noticeable as soon as you step outside. The protest vote against everything, especially with the extraordinary increase in immigration that Catalonia has experienced, would take the form of the far-right, exactly as happens in all democracies. But the case of Catalonia, with its own political system and the strong influence of the Spanish political system, would present some elements to consider.The idea that ““és català tot aquell que viu i treballa a Catalunya (i ho vol ser)”” has been blown to pieces. A good part of the Catalanist voter doubts the strength that that powerful machine for “fer catalans”, which were the street, the school, the economy, the television, and the income difference with Spain, could now have, which without having its own state yielded extraordinary results. They doubt because countries with their own states like France and the United Kingdom have many problems, and because the mix of an immigrant influx, a digital cultural bubble, religious differences, and the marginalization of Catalan in schools and the legal inferiority of the language seems like a perfect storm for Catalan identity. And however aggressive Aliança Catalana's expressions towards Muslims may be, a sense of urgency prevails. In the case of Vox, the growth factors would be the Spanish nationalist reaction to immigration, to separatism, and to Pedro Sánchez's government, which is dragging on for them. Economic problems for many families, uncertainty for young people, an inaccessible housing market, bleak prospects in the labor market, artificial intelligence... The punishment vote, on the contrary, is served.It is not so strange that Orriols and Rufián are the best-rated politicians. To be rated, you first have to be known, and Rufián's star has not stopped growing, especially in Spain, and from this Spanish circuit, he grows in Catalonia. And Orriols, although less known, is on everyone's lips. However, personal rating and votes do not always go together. History is full of highly rated but poorly voted politicians.Good morning.

There are definitions that allow us to approach the concept of the far-right. For example, a study by the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) considers it "the most illiberal form a right-wing party can take" and highlights several characteristics, such as hostility towards liberal democracy, nativism, authoritarianism, and populism in its proposals. When, moreover, it contemplates the use of violence, we speak of the far-right. Dutch political scientist Cas Mudde explains that today nativism (the xenophobic way of understanding nationalism that adopts slogans in the style of "Home first") is the main trait that unites the global far-right. But, of course, how is the degree of nativism measured, taking into account, moreover, that there are traditional parties that apply similar policies? Or the degree of populism or hostility towards liberal democracy? Abstract concepts lead to subjective assessments and, in the case of Catalonia, where two parties commonly considered to be of the far-right coexist, we have a clear example.

The results shown by the survey published today by ARA, with all the precautions that a poll taken when no election is in sight entails, depict a profound and very worrying alteration of the Catalan party map. Basically, what is seen is a strong setback for the traditional centre-right parties, Junts and PP, who are overtaken by more radical and openly Islamophobic parties such as Aliança Catalana and Vox. The result is a much more polarized country with less room for broad consensus, and politically much more difficult to govern.

The results shown by the survey published today by ARA, with all the reservations that a poll conducted when no election is in sight entails, outline a profound alteration of the Catalan party map in a very worrying sense. Basically, what is seen is a sharp decline of the traditional centre-right parties, Junts and PP, which are surpassed by more radical and openly Islamophobic parties such as Aliança Catalana and Vox. The result is a much more polarized country with less space for broad consensus, and politically much more difficult to govern.

When Jordi Pujol created CDC in 1974, he was not only founding a party, but also articulating an entire social sector, caricatured by his adversaries as the shopkeeper, but which encompassed everyone from the middle and artisan classes to small business owners and the self-employed, as well as farmers and skilled workers. Pujol also endowed Convergència, and by extension CiU, with a political identity that pivoted on two key points: an unshakeable commitment to Catalonia, on the one hand, and a certain ideological flexibility and preference for pacts, on the other. This space evolved from a pragmatic nationalism, in favor of the peix al cove (fish in the basket), to independentism with Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont. But it has remained, in its main coordinates, grouped around Junts. This political space is now in danger with the emergence of Aliança Catalana, which represents, from the far right, an amendment in its entirety to the Pujolista DNA.

It hasn't even been two years since Salvador Illa became president of the Generalitat, and the oasis of tranquility he enjoyed in his first months is beginning to look more and more like a mirage. For a long time now, protests in the streets have been added to the difficulties of governing in minority, with teachers being one of the most demanding groups. The ARA survey, conducted by YouGov, detects some electoral wear and tear for the PSC, but, despite everything, the socialists would consolidate their first position today if the elections were brought forward. There is no forecast of this happening, even though negotiations for the budget with ERC are still open, which adds a point of unpredictability to the calendar. The PSC would obtain between 36 and 42 seats and would see the second party in the Parlament no longer be Junts, the main victim in case of elections, but Esquerra (27-30).

Opinion polls are the political translation of public opinion's mood at a given moment, and the snapshot that emerges from the poll we published these days in ARA is that of a restless society. It could be described as frustrated. The fact is that the symptoms it presents are those of a fearful society that reacts by turning to the most irate. Polls mark social trends, and in the YouGov poll, we see a government with a president who doesn't excite, but maintains, albeit slightly down, the expectations for the PSC, a Republican Left that would have hit rock bottom and would be on the rise, and a far-right that is soaring. Catalan Alliance places third in voting intention, Vox continues to advance, and both threaten Junts. The Junts supporters are immersed in a serious project crisis and would lose votes on the right and left.Clearly, the moment in which the fieldwork was done can always influence the responses, and in this case, it coincided with the presentation of Gabriel Rufián's personal project, which has leveraged social media communication and effective populism, whether in the Congress tribune or in videos with activist Vito Quiles. The result is that it boosts ERC and keeps it in second place.

Killing children is not easy; one must know how. In abstract terms, extermination proclamations of an entire people can be made, as Netanyahu or other genocidal leaders do, but the truth is that this job –annihilating creatures– cannot be done by just anyone. Who will go door to door, when the extermination of an entire race is decreed, to finish off all the children living there? Who will be able to pull the trigger or drop a bomb, who will aim with a squinted eye directly at the head of a child who barely stands a few feet tall? Who will plunge a knife into tender flesh and endure the sharp, horrifying screams? Very few people, in fact, could carry out the worst of acts, the most fatal and terrible: ending the life of a defenseless sprout. That is why soldiers must be trained to dehumanize the other in a process that is two-way. Because it is impossible to see “the enemy” in a creature if one has not suffered a significant erosion of one’s own humanity.

Hundreds of militants and sympathizers of Aliança Catalana filled the Fossar de les Moreres on the eve of the Diada to lay a floral tribute to the fallen of 1714. This is the image that Arran wants to prevent from happening again. Last year, about forty Arran members could not access the emblematic space because the Mossos d'Esquadra prevented them from doing so. The Catalan police sought to prevent the incidents of the previous year from recurring, and the youth of the CUP had to limit themselves to displaying a banner on the passeig del Born that read "In the Fossar de les Moreres we bury the traitors, we overthrow the extreme right", while the event proceeded with complete normality.

The PSC has had two mayors in Ripoll since the recovery of democratic municipalities. Pere Jordi Piella was the first mayor after Franco and held the position from 1979 to 1993. Jaume Camps took over from 1993 to 1995. Neither of them, however, is currently a member of the PSC. The first left in 2017, not because of the Procés, but in disagreement with the PSOE's decision to abstain to allow Mariano Rajoy to be invested as president in 2016. The second has now resigned after the forced departure of the two socialist councilors who also abstained, but in this case so that the mayoress, Sílvia Orriols, could approve the budgets and not have to revive a vote of confidence doomed to failure.

"Today Lithuania, tomorrow Catalonia". Paintings with this slogan appeared all over Catalonia Aliança Catalana now introduces a new player: Rhodesia. What is now Zimbabwe was an unrecognized state, governed by a white minority, which emerged when it unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965 to avoid a black majority government, with the end of colonization. The independence, which was effective from 1965 to 1979, aimed to perpetuate the power of the 240,000 white people who lived there versus the 4.5 million Africans, who did not have the right to vote and from whom they took their land, which caused a bloody conflict that lasted a decade.

Junts has been marking a tough stance against immigration for some time. They feel the breath of Aliança Catalana and Vox on their necks and believe the best strategy is to copy their discourse. I speak with the taxi driver and the doorman, the waiter and the shop assistant, and we all share the same feeling of weariness with a political class that seems to live light-years away from people's real lives. They play a game that isn't ours, even if they do it with our money and our lives. Now they're bringing up the burqa issue in Congress, knowing it's useless. Why are they doing it? Why are they throwing hours and public resources into the trash? To spread propaganda, of course, now that the one from Ripoll is chasing them. Catalan right-wing, like all Western right-wings, has completely renounced classical liberalism which spoke of good sense and order (that hypocrisy sustained on the violent exploitation of the working class) and is embracing cruelty organized and inspired by Trump. It is the perversion of stoking the hatred of the poor (even if they consider themselves middle class) against the poor who are a little poorer and already come from home with eroded humanity because they have had the whim to be born in another country. 

Beyond the very short-term vision that usually dominates political parties and this Wednesday's discussion in Parliament (surprise: the one who got more wet, or who spread more butter, was Orriols), the Ripoll episode, in which the municipal budgets presented by a fascist and racist party like Alianza Catalana were approved with the votes of two PSC councilors, points to the questions of a not-so-distant future. Questions like these: What policy will Catalan parties follow regarding AC, the day after the next municipal elections? Will they make a deal with it? Will they not make a deal but "consent" to receive its "external" support to invest mayors and government teams? And a little later, to approve budgets? Or will they follow (as should undoubtedly be done with fascist and/or far-right formations) a cordon sanitaire policy? The two socialist councilors have been dismissed for having contravened their party's position on this matter, and that is correct (if we're asking for things, this same speed would be appreciated, in all parties, in other internal matters, such as those affecting corruption or sexual harassment). But the reasonable doubt persists: in the next municipal elections, scheduled for 2027, all surveys and polls predict an exponential increase in votes and representation for AC, in line with the rise experienced by far-right and racist formations throughout the West (it is true that the first signs of a certain deflation are beginning to be perceived, such as Orbán's defeat in Hungary, Donald Trump's low popularity in the US, the small but significant changes of course by the opportunistic Meloni in Italy, but of course all this, as of today, means nothing concrete: talking about trend changes is premature and illusory).

The two councilors of the PSC of Ripoll who allowed Sílvia Orriols to approve the budgets thanks to their abstention were leaving office on Monday amid reproaches and with a clear warning to the party. "We want to state that the local branch does not share this decision in any case; what's more, it is in absolute disagreement. There is no member of the list who has shown any predisposition to take over from our councilors. This is a decision made unilaterally by the national leadership of the PSC," stated Enric Pérez and Anna Belén Avilés in a joint statement. In summary, the two councilors warned that no one from the candidacy would take over from them. Orriols resorted to irony in Wednesday's control session in the Parliament, thanking the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, for what the socialists are doing in Ripoll: "Thank you for the budgets, but above all for having dismantled the PSC, which has been a masterstroke," he snapped.

With the municipal elections of 2027 on the horizon, Alianza Catalana has been activating its machinery for months to find candidates, including a takeover bid for Junts officials and from the convergent space with the aim of incorporating them into their lists. But amidst meetings and calls left and right, there was an operation that was cooked up last year that aimed to take away the mayor of an entire county capital. As ARA has been able to learn, Alianza Catalana tried to sign the mayor of Figueres, Jordi Masquef, without success. An intermediary, Miquel, a grassroots militant of the far-right party in Empordà, got in touch with the Junts mayor, with whom they already knew each other. The mayor responded to his messages in November, stalled him, and finally rejected the offer, according to knowledgeable sources.

Ripoll's politics has acquired national relevance, with media overexposure of its councilors due to the arrival of Aliança Catalana. This week, the municipal spokesperson for the PSC, Enric Pérez (Ripoll, 1980), has experienced this. After his group abstained and allowed Silvia Orriols' budget approval, the indignant socialist leadership summoned the two councilors, and they put their positions at the party's disposal.