Wednesday, February 22, 2006

George and I


Today it’s George Washington’s birth anniversary. Yes, the first president of the United States was born on February 22nd, and so was I (a few decades later). I have browsed through Washington’s life to see whether there was any other common characteristic in our lives, but I cannot find any significant coincidence.
However I still have time to add some more common characteristics in our biographies. As you may have guessed, when I go back to Catalonia, I plan to join politics. My intention is to return when I retire, in about 25 years. I may then become the first president of Catalonia, not an independent Catalonia, I still think that this is not the right way to go in the new Europe, but of a Catalonia that has found its sweet spot in Spain and Europe.
Do not ask me what this sweet spot is, I do not know it yet, but I have 25 years and hundreds of blog postings to figure it out. Maybe a nation within the Spanish nation, maybe a US-type state in a federal Iberia, perhaps part of the extended nation of “Baleària” (my politically correct alternative to “Països Catalans” or Catalan countries) formed basically by Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia with the following main characteristics:
- Name: Baleària
- Capital: Castelló de la Plana (Valencia)
- Language: co-official Catalan and Spanish
- Flag: equal to the Catalan flag
I am hoping that this compromise would satisfy the majority after reaching a number of trade-offs:
- Name after the Balearic islands, avoiding complex name combinations like Pirineus-Mediterrània (Pyrenees-Mediterranean) or stupid acronyms like Cavaba
- Capital in the old kingdom of Valencia
- The official languages recognize the unity of the Catalan language (Valencian could be used as the unofficial synonym of Catalan, or the variety of Catalan spoken in Valencia as described by the Spanish Language Royal Academy). Spanish would also be official at the same level to warranty the rights of the Spanish speaking and to make sure that Baleària remains competitive in Spain and the Spanish speaking markets
- Flag: the Catalan version of the flag is common to all existing flags.

This could only be possible if politicians like Carod-Rovira and Camps only get a small minority in the parliament and the vast majority vote for people with common sense, like …, I cannot find any name among today’s politicians …., let’s say someone like me.
Baleària would be a part of a federal Spain with only 4 or 5 states, because having 20 states or autonomic regions is hurting the economy now and will hurt it even more in the future due to the unbearable level of overhead and duplications in the public sector that create a non “lean” environment with lots of waste (in the context of a “lean” supply chain that, in my opinion, can be applied successfully to the public sector).

9 comments:

Habibi said...

If we are to change the name of the Països Catalans we should find something that does not compromise with anyone. Calling it Baleària would not work, historically, I think. In that way would work Aragón, but this is not a partner, anymore. Though, València used to be a kingdom and Catalonia only a county, but it still seems rather obvious its primacy. Also, we have just got the dot cat domain name! Besides, why Castelló de la Plana? Come on! Barcelona shall always win.
The problem here, as always, is the fact that we call our language and culture Catalan (which is only a part of it --a metonymy). If we figure out a new "nation"'s name, it would sort out everything.
What would you do, then, with Franja de Ponent, Catalunya Nord, El Carxe and Alghero? And what about Andorra?
Anyway, I would vote 'oui' to the Federation's Referendum!

Habibi said...

BTW, I forgot to say:
Feliç aniversari!

ian llorens said...

Habibi,
Thanks for wishing me happy birthday!
You have many and very valid questions. I will try to answer them, step by step, in my upcoming postings when I myslef find the answer.
I will answer one now, the capital.
I do not think that the capital needs to be the same as the economical center. Castello is conveniently located, midway between Barcelona & Valencia, less than 50 minutes by AVE (speed train) from both cities, to Palma, 25 minutes by plane. You can park all the politicians there (including me, when I retire) and people like you can continue to work in Barcelona or Valencia without being bothered by us.

Tom said...

Ian - I don't believe that establishing a cpaital on the basis of convenience is necessarily a good idea. Often, these towns become overwhelmed by the presence of huge numbers of civil servants with little to do but make laws and drink.

Surely the capital should be the home of the country's national identity, culture and politics? In other words, Barcelona.

Andorra (the most catalan place I've ever visited) must stay 'independent'. Where else would we be able to buy duty free cigarettes and brandy?

Unknown said...

happy b-day ian!!!

secondly, i think you should institute royalty in catalonia- so you can be king, then maybe when i go to barcelona i can get royal treatment!

Anonymous said...

Ian, did you drink too many Bacardis? AVE between Castellò and Barcelona? Neither PSOE, nor PP have any intention to build a hi-speed train in the eastern coast. The are investing everything on a radial network of high speed, with very interesting connections, such as Madrid - Toledo or Madrid - Valladolid. I am afraid we shall wait for your retirement to have any hope on changing this policies. Grettings and happy birthday.

Guirilandia said...

Feliz aniversari ian, i em sembla que tens mes sen que la majoria dels politics en aquet pais!

ian llorens said...

You see how difficult it is to reach an agreement, even among people with common sense. Habibi does not like Baleària, an alternative would be Andorra, but Tom wants to keep it independent so that he can continue to buy cheap cigarettes. Ale wants a kingdom, that I do not support because of the high overhead involved, although I believe she deserves royal treatment anyway and Johnny does not think we will ever get Barcelona, Castello and Valencia connected by speed train, because the priorities are on connecting Pinto and Valdemoro and Bullullos del Condado and Madrigal de las Altas Torres.
So despite my common sense (seny according to Andrew) I am going nowhere.
Thanks God I have 25 years to fine tune my proposal.

From 33 thousand feet in a Lufthansa WiFi equipped Boeing 747, I would like to thank all of you for your valuable feedback.

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