The Catalan guerrilla that defends traditions and fights the rise of 'Panxut vermell'

GironaChristmas is a time for family and traditions. to shit the tio with blows from a cane It is the most typical and traditional, but, little by little, other customs of foreign origin have been gaining prominence in Catalan homes, such as Santa Claus, originating from northern Europe and the United States. Faced with the growing presence of Santa Claus symbolism in Christmas celebrations, the Komando Tió spontaneously emerged in 2009: a group that arose in La Bisbal d'Empordà and, with humor and parody, imitated the aesthetics of a terrorist group, incited the Catalan people to embrace the "red-bellied imperialism" of Santa Claus. Wearing balaclavas, plaid shirts, and traditional Catalan caps, with distorted voices, epic messages, and bombastic rhetoric, they plastered vines throughout the town's streets and took down inflatable Santa Clauses from public spaces, publicizing their actions on Facebook. The initiative, with its joking tone but powerful underlying message, generated a large following, and several "guerrilla" groups from across the Catalan Countries joined the campaign. In 2016, however, they withdrew and called a truce, until this year, when they returned to the fray, once again from... Bisbal, with a forceful statement on Instagram. "We have seen how Santa Claus, general of the consumerist army, has once again infiltrated the balconies and streets of our country with his parasitic residue, laden with marketing and globalization. That is why Komando Tió officially declares the truce broken," five masked members of the Komando stated before the camera. They added: "We return to symbolic actions of high risk and low logistics to fill Bisbal with grapevines, barretinas (traditional Catalan caps), and our dignity."

"Every blow is a sign of imperialism"

Those responsible for the resurgence are about twenty young people from Bisbal, some of whom were involved in the original struggle—now with children in the family—and others, newcomers. They maintain their anonymity to play up the image of an armed group (in this case, a harmless one) and thus generate greater interest, although in a small municipality like the capital of the Baix Empordà region, given that they hang banners and figures in public without permission, they prefer to keep their name quiet.

"We understand the Tió as an ancient, anti-capitalist and anti-globalization resistance, with deep roots, that speaks our language, so every blow with the stick is a self-inflicted wound to imperialism and to..." background tourism "That destroys the regions," the Komando spokesperson declared in ARA, remaining steadfast throughout in his portrayal of the character.

The resurgence of Komando Tió began to heat up exactly a year ago, when the Fetus group, also from La Bisbal d'Empordà and implicated in the downfall of the pro-independence left-wing group Nexo Nacional, made a video on social media that went viral, in which they reproduced that same inflammatory and bombastic speech.

Catalan traditions in danger

According to the Komando's pamphlet-like arguments, feeding the vines with tangerine peels or nuts and then making them defecate by beating them with a stick while singing songs is an act of resistance against capitalist society, which, in their view, embodies the figure of Santa Claus: "He's dressed in the colors of Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola."

Since the Christmas lights were switched on, in La Bisbal they have already carried out "symbolic actions of high risk and low logistics," such as hanging banners with the slogan "Out with the red belly" on the bridge—removed by the local police because they were not authorized—or scattering tions in the streets. They are also preparing something more forceful. Day or night, the neighbors who hook them caught in the act They often laugh or egg them on, while the children don't quite understand. "We're addressing the adults: the children aren't responsible. It's about families infusing their homes with the spirit of the Tió and rejecting the colonizing red-bellied figure," the spokesperson reiterates.

Behind all this crazy and almost theatrical paraphernalia, however, lies a staunch defense of Catalan traditions. Without ridiculing domestic folklore. Specifically regarding the Tió, which is unique in the world, but also applicable to other celebrations like the Castañada, increasingly swallowed up by Halloween. "Catalan traditions are in danger. If we don't defend them, no one will. Little by little, we're losing ground, everything is becoming folklorized, and it seems that, since we live in a globalized world, things have to be swallowed up. But Catalan is spoken here, whether we like it or not. And we want to recover the ancestral essence that perfects our own."

For the moment, no new guerrilla groups have officially emerged across Catalonia, but they have already received expressions of interest from towns like Sant Cugat and Palafrugell. "We are calling for people to join the cause." tionist", The Komando concludes.