I was initially pretty neutral on Catalonia, as I am very skeptical about all the dogmatism, emotivism and virtue-signalling around complex geopolitical disputes.
But I think the grey area is being swallowed up by the brutality of Madrid and the police.
Anyone else feeling the same?
If you start treating unarmed, peaceful protesters as though they were Antifa or White Nationalists, you begin to lose all credibility.
Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com had these chilling words to offer:
The current trend to find “fascists” under every bed in America may have obscured our ability to detect them where they really live – in Madrid, where the federal authorities are threatening to arrest Catalonian politicians who advocate independence.
Radical left-of-liberal magazine Counterpunch also alluded to this spook from the past. Gripping headline!
When Fascism Won’t Die: Why We Need to Support Catalonia
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/29/when-fascism-wont-die-why-we-need-to-support-catalonia/
Hennessey even goes so far as to say:
It is impossible to ignore the fascist bedrock upon which modern Spain is founded, or to ignore the reality that this foundation has to do with the way Spain treats Catalonia.
The website OpEdNews has a lot of interesting grassroots blogs; check out my articles if you have time!
Unsurprisingly, some people think the Catalans and the Kurds have something in common.
But others, on Alternet, draw an analogy between the Catalans and the Scots.
https://www.alternet.org/world/how-independence-can-be-feast-or-famine-breakaway-countries
A few threads seem to be shared in common here.
First of all, many indiemedia/alt-media sites are very strongly critical of the Spanish government. There is some real side-taking going on here. Just have a look at Twitter, and you can see some horrific videos too.
Secondly, a lot of the criticism is fairly clear-cut. Many journalists are nottreating this merely like a gray-area dispute.
Thirdly, many people are looking back in time for historical parallels. Historical contextualisation is always useful, of course. Some people have invoked the ghost of the fascist dictator, Franco.
Fourthly, people are not only travelling time, but also space. People think the struggle of the Catalan nationalists is analogous to those of many other people around the world.
So, what do you think?
Do you agree with some of the articles above?
Or do you believe there is a case against Catalan independence that is simply not being heard?
Image attribution:
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=42939&picture=map-of-spain-and-flag