Sunday, April 02, 2006

The Brigand - El Bandoler

It is tough to be a Catalan nationalist. You bet. Our biggest enemy is not the conservative Popular Party or the government in Madrid, our biggest enemies are the Catalan politicians. Many of them are dishonest, arrogant, inept, clumsy and with the IQ of an ant (I hope that those ants who read my blog will not be offended).
There is no party in Catalonia who escapes from this pandemic disease. However, there is one that shines above them all, ERC (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya), soon to be known as ERBC (Esquerra Republicana Bananera de Catalunya). They are the worst, like Tom Delay to the 5th power, a bunch of bandits or brigands. As W.H. Hudson would put it, a typical ERC politician is "an ignorant ruffianly gaucho, who... would... fight, steal, and do other naughty things without a qualm".
The latest event that proves their criminal activity is the discovery of the fact that top ERC politicians who have key positions in the Catalan government have been sending letters to all those contract employees who work in the departments they manage asking for compulsory contributions to the Party, otherwise they would lose their jobs. Some of those refusing to pay what I would qualify as "revolutionary tax" (similar to the ones imposed by terrorist organizations to business owners), have been already fired from the Catalan institutions.

What a shame, what a terrible shame. All leaders of ERC should go to prison and spend there 30 years. And they still try to justify it. They say that being financed by party members and supporters makes them independent from the business contributions and this maybe true, but extorting law abiding citizens instead, makes them criminals.

I cannot imagine a Catalonia governed by those crooks. If they ruled the country on their own and you would like to get a governmental job, anything from an administrative assistant to a Secretary of State, you would only need to fulfill three relatively easy pre-requisites: speak Catalan reasonably well, be a ERC party member or supporter and agree to pay the revolutionary tax. All the rest is secondary, your qualifications, your international experience, your expert knowledge, all useless if you do not meet the three basic conditions. I told you, a bunch of bandits. We will get rid of them sooner or later.

I know that some Spanish nationalists will turn this article against Catalonia and the Catalans. I do not care. I just want to influence the politics of my nation, Catalonia, so that they are Sarbanes Oxley (SOX 404) compliant. We will get there, no matter what those who hate Catalonia think or say.

Lluis Llach's song, el bandoler (the brigand) is playing obsessively in my brains. It is a good song and suits this posting very well.

5 comments:

Habibi said...

I guess you know, but ERC leaders have said that "they" have used the letters-affair to force them to vote "oui" to the Estatut. This is another reason I do not like them. They cannot accept that they are wrong (sometimes) and that you may not get all at once (Greed broke the sack - la avaricia rompió el saco). I feel so ashamed for them, especially for the Conseller en Cap.

Pere said...

M'alegre d'haver caigut al teu blog... és tan curiós!!
M'ho he pasat d'alló més be "llegint" (adivinació per context?) en anglés.
Salutacions from l'Alcúdia!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the post. Don´t know Catalan society from inside, but my humble two cents from the outside:

- Corruption and other flaws of politicians tend to grow freely in a society where thanks to most media´s silence the politicians have found the perfect argument to justify and hide every mistake or crime they make: whoever points to it is a Spanish nationalist/is against Catalonia/spreads hatred against Catalans.

- Usually, behind corruption and crimes made from power positions, lays the idea that they are above good and evil (because, for instance, they are doing something bigger, in this case defending and protecting Catalonia). It could also be that radical nationalism is often linked with a strong interventionism.

Most "Spanish nationalists", as you put it, feel only let down at seeing that the people let politicians (especially those representing a minority) do that kind of stuff without moving a finger, because of a badly understood concept of "Catalan patriotism". Most of us don´t have anything against Catalans themselves. If we feel let down is because, from what we know, we are sure we could expect more from you.

Fighting external adversaries (scapegoats?), as you very well put it, isn´t an excuse not to fight inner demons.

Tom said...

Is it true that CiU/CDC operate the smae policy of 'extorting' money? I only ask because that's what I've read... it does nothing to remove ay blame from ERC leaders, but it does shed some light on what may be the reason that this policy, in place for eight years, has suddenly reached the presses.

Zoe said...

Goood reading your post