Despatches from Catalonia
- October 06, 2017
- by
- Matt
Last week I posted a guest post from Barcelona in the lead up to the Catalan Referendum. Today I’m posting the following dispatch from the frontlines of the referendum struggle from a very different perspective, summing up the tumultuous events that have shaken Catalonia in the last few week, by my great friend and indefatigable independentista Andreu Jené:
Catalonia: The Revolution of Dignity
I begin this report from the electoral college in my neighbourhood, where about eighty of us have shut ourselves in order to protect it during tomorrow’s referendum. This may seem a...
Guest Post. The Catalan Referendum: Anubis versus Demos
- October 01, 2017
- by
- Matt
Today is a day without precedent in Spanish and Catalan history. To mark the occasion, I’m posting this very personal take on the unfolding crisis by Tamara Djermanovic, writer, professor of Humanities at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and a very good friend of mine:
Anubis versus Demos
Out of all the extraordinary measures...
Spain Versus Catalonia
- September 26, 2017
- by
- Matt
Political struggles demand that you take sides, but there are some political confrontations that you just wish weren’t happening. Watching the struggle for Catalan independence unfold over the last seven years, I have certainly not felt like a neutral or indifferent bystander. Indifference is not possible when dealing with a country –...
History, Peace, and Beauty: On Barcelona’s Ramblas
- August 18, 2017
- by
- Matt
Of all the massacres perpetrated in Europe in the name of Islamic State, yesterday’s slaughter in the Ramblas has a particular personal resonance for me. I spent nine years in Barcelona, living near the Ramblas for part of that time. Even when I moved further away from downtown Barcelona, hardly a week went by in...
The United Kingdom of Insecurity
- June 20, 2017
- by
- Matt
According to conventional political wisdom the first duty of a democratic government is to afford security and protection to all its citizens. This objective is often misleadingly conflated with the notion of ‘national security’ – a principle that supposedly incorporates the duty of protection but actually often overrides it. National security isn’t...
Mayday! Mayday!
- May 02, 2017
- by
- Matt
There are some politicians who look better from a distance, and Theresa May is definitely one of them. May and her advisors are clearly aware of this, and they have done their best to shield her anything approaching close scrutiny. They have refused to let her participate in political debates. In an absurd attempt...
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