A political trial - Suso de Toro

The Supreme Court. Photograph by F.D.V.

A political trial, by Suso de Toro

The Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Span is to judge a group of men and women who have neither robbed nor hurt nor killed anyone. They are all peaceful persons; yet the Spanish Justice detained, handcuffed and put them away in cells, where they have been kept for over a year. The actions they are to be tried for are related to their exercising political freedoms and their freedom of expression. They are all outstanding community representatives and leaders, democratically-elected by the Catalan voters. For the same reason, the Justice system tried to arrest other Catalan politicians abroad.

There is no doubt this is a political issue and it is therefore a political hearing. The charges are extremely serious. It is a very serious political trial. As political trials go, this one is the elephant in the room.

The ultimate goal for this situation to occur is a plan: to put an end to Catalan nationalism. However, its inevitable outcome is the self-portrait the Spanish State painted of itself, appearing on the world stage as a State that persecutes democratic freedoms, as the successor of the Francoist regime.

No, it is not true that Catalan nationalism has awakened Francoist nationalism; Catalans are not to blame. No, it is not true that the dreadful current image of Spain in the world is the fault of those treacherous Catalans. What was known as "sociological Francoism" had political ingredients: all it was needed was for someone to decide to stir the pot and take the lead.

Specifically, the conflict began when M. Rajoy’s People’s Party gathered 4.2 million signatures against the Catalans’ Statute and the appeal lodged before the Constitutional Court against it. The central government and the State’s institutions have wielded maximum power in such a conflict, as they’ve shown in spades, and were mainly responsible for taking an artificially-created political conflict to the current situation. It is the State and the economic powers who have chosen to have these persons treated in such a way. Humiliation, the sadism of power.

Because this State’s policy of refusing to engage in a dialogue, so as to corner the opposition and persecute them harshly, has involved either actively or passively every Spanish political party and every state institution, starting with the King. It is this policy that lays the charges against and keeps these persons in jail. The nature of this post-Francoist State is unabashedly apparent, and it is expressed through the indictment: the national Prosecutor’s Office, the State’s Legal Counsel and Vox. The ideological elements of the charges are very obvious, as is the ideology of the Deep State.

What is frightful is not that the State behaves as per its nature, but that there is no democratic response from the population. It is probably too late.

The original text in Spanish can be found here.

A deep social problem

Photograph by Albert galiza

A translated excerpt from an interview with Galizian writer Suso de Toro:

Question: A recent survey shows that 35% of Spaniards never read or almost never read. To what extent is this something to be concerned about? Does it explain the country’s situation?

Response: "I think it explains the flaws of Spanish society at large rather than the current juncture. As a country Spain never had an industrial revolution, nor did it experience the appearance of those social layers supposed to be enlightened, which can produce the leaders who govern a complex and modern state. That did not happen. As a matter of fact, in my view, it only happened in Catalonia, the difference being that they were cadres not for ruling over a state but oriented towards industry-creation and the arts. This is a deep social problem; at the time of the Transition, critiques and self-criticisms from the Francoist times were fully aware that this was a culturally backward, impoverished society lacking guidance… The difference is that from the 1980s, after the PSOE’s electoral win, a new phase begins. It is then assumed that Spain is no longer a sheep-like society but a modern, groovy, cool European country, that the whole world looks up to Spain and wants to learn from us. That’s absolute nonsense. More than nonsense: it is utter idiocy, rather than a lie. Upon such an idiocy was built a paternalist discourse: we started saying ‘we’ve got the best generation in the world’, and such things; a populism that flattered the populace. Suddenly we were all European, modern and educated. It is a lie: Spanish society is one of TV viewers. The reality is that this is a culturally backward society, and the worst thing is that it’s been overwhelmed by an absurd, false self-image; populists politicians are selling the idea that we’re the envy of the world.”

The rest of the interview (in Spanish) is available here.