Puigdemont, Telegram and ‘Islamophobia’
Puigdemont returns
WELL, the worst kept secret in Spanish/Catalan politics is out and Carles Puigdemont plans to return to Catalonia to contest the upcoming Catalan Election in May. In the years he has been away, Puigdemont has been elevated to an almost mythical figure among his supporters, while seeking to make the election in to a de facto referendum on independence.
However, current polling has the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE, who are polling poorly nationally) as the first party in Catalonia. Its officials are trying to use this election to “turn the page” – a phrase I have heard repeated ad nauseam by everyone associated with the party. But, hovering at around 30 per cent, it seems unlikely that PSOE is going to be able to govern, with the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and a Puigdemont-led Junts likely to govern together.
Although polling well, a huge amount is riding on this election for PSOE at a national level. If it can form the government in Catalonia and things ‘calm down’, so to speak, it will be able to say that its amnesty project has kept the country together and stopped the bleeding at a national level. Alternatively, the nightmare scenario for PSOE will be that Puigdemont is back as the head of a government and the anger across Spain will only increase until PSOE has to concede point after point to the Catalan Nationalists to achieve nothing.
There would be no way to spin that to the rest of Spain and the regional elections in the next electoral cycle would be a bloodbath for PSOE.
Telegram (temporarily) shut down in Spain
Last week, Telegram was shut down by Spanish Judge Santiago Pedraz after several other media firms (Mediaset, Antena 3 y Movistar) complained that it had been using their material without paying them. After it failed to respond, Telegram was blocked by the judge, prompting an immediate online reaction. Predictably, protests came and some described the move as a violent attack on freedom of expression.
If I really wanted to grow, I’d say this was a clear example of the mainstream media blocking the small upstart and freedom of information. But sadly, I can read Spanish and that isn’t the case at all.
An appeal was soon lodged for the restriction to get lifted, but interestingly not because the accusation was false, but because shutting down the social media platform was a ‘disproportionate’ response.
Guys, I know the temptation is to attack the ‘legacy’ media, but not everything is a culture war. Telegram isn’t some poor upstart; the owner is a billionaire. If it wants to use content from other companies, it can pay for it. What if Bournbrook, instead of linking to videos, just hosted them here and creamed in the advert money and clicks? Would we be heroic battlers for freedom? No, we’d be thieves.
Plus, the vast number of businesses that wear rebel credentials yet are ruthless when they are at the top of the mountain (take Brewdog for instance) should make us more wary. We are not obliged to pick a side between competing media platforms; you are not the products you use.
The order to suspend Telegram was eventually itself suspended.
Vox, the Islamic Commission and bad timing
And finally, back in the real world, the Vox Leader in Aragon, Alejandro Nolasco, tore up a Huesca City brochure for their Ramadan festival, stating that “Islam is against liberty, progress and women”. He was accused by the Islamic Commission of Spain of ‘Islamophobia’ and a protest was held in Zaragoza on Sunday 17th March calling for his resignation. Less than a week later, on 22nd March, two Muslims were convicted of glorifying terrorist attacks and calling for anyone who insults the Prophet Muhammad to be beheaded.
The two men, originally from Pakistan and living in Barcelona, had as their defence that they didn’t know that calling for the death of people who insult the Prophet was wrong because in their home country, that’s considered heroic.
It’s always worth pointing out that although the word has been hijacked, ‘phobia’ is supposed to mean an “irrational fear”. This was hardly good timing for the Islamic Commission.
