The judge who was handling the case of Iu Forn, the journalist of the Catalan-language newspaper Avui, who wrote an article called "Manual of a good coupist", has decided to file the case and not to press any charges. The reason given for dismissing the charges is that the article refers to hypothetical military “coupists” (and his mothers) that want to destroy the constitutional and democratic regime that we have today, and it does not refer at all to the current democratic military institution in Spain.
The right wing press manipulated the article to give the impression that Iu Forn was referring to the whole Spanish military when he, in a more or less subtle way, insulted their mothers, when it is clear from the article that he was referring to the mothers of potential participants in a coup d’Etat against the democratic institutions.
That’s why it is so good to have in Catalonia, judges, policemen, teachers and lawyers who understand our language.
Judge by yourself. I have tried my best to make a literal translation of the article. You can find the Catalan original here.
Manual of a good “coupist” - "Manual del bon colpista"
Forward it
(Iu Forn Jan 12th, 2006. Diari Avui)
(Free translation by Ian Llorens)
We suffer a pandemic disease of high ranking military officials (most probably absinthe liquor[1]) who do not like the new Catalan “Estatut” [2] . This is to say that since they are a little angry, they spend their time threatening us by saying that they will take over the streets with their tanks.. Ok, either they take over the streets or they shut up (for ever). And if finally they do what they have historically done, let me give them a small piece of friendly advice:
If they enter Barcelona along Diagonal avenue [3], please park your tanks and get on the tram, that you are in an environmental friendly city.
Once at the Diagonal Avenue, you will see on your right hand side, the “La Caixa” headquarters [4] those who are trying the hostile takeover [5] and want “Espain”[6] to starve to death. It is evident that it is worth while trying to seize it. But, be very careful!!! If you find a tall and blond girl in an office, do not bother her. She could well be the King’s daughter who works there [7].
If while ransacking the city, you decide to take away some documents, you ‘d better wait for the ones on the way back from Salamanca [8] to come back. It you take them away together, you will make better use of the transportation and you will save a few bucks, what’s always good.
Please remember that the new civic ordinance in Barcelona prohibits prostitution in certain cases. For this reason, you’d better come without your mothers. [9]
Important warning: do you know that the Financial Times, the newspaper that last Tuesday said that article 8 of the Spanish Constitution [10] is “not perfect”, also said that the desire to be a nation is a democratic quest and that the attitude of the Popular Party vis-a-vis the general Mena [11] case could be a bigger threat to the unity of “Espain”[6] than the autonomy ambitions of Catalonia? So this newspaper is not Catalan. If you want to bomb it, you need to call the UK yellow pages and ask them for the address.
Oh! Another important thing that I almost forgot. Please do not pay attention to the words of the Spanish Supreme Court chairman. As soon as you arrive, sign up for some flamenco dance lessons, otherwise you may end up learning Catalan [12].
[1] The Catalan word for ranking (“graduació”) is also used to describe the alcohol content of an alcoholic drink
[2] Statue or Constitution
[3] One of Barcelona’s main arteries
[4] The most powerful Catalan savings bank
[5] Gas Natural, a “La Caixa” group company is trying a hostile takeover of Endesa, a Madrid based energy company
[6] Iu Forn uses the word Ej-paña, Castilian dialect for Spain
[7] King Juan Carlos’s daughter, Cristina, works at La Caixa
[8] The central government recently decided to return to Catalonia the documents that were stolen during the civil war and that were stored at Salamanca’s national archive. This has caused outrage in the rest of the nation.
[9] This is the sentence that caused commotion in Spain after having been maliciously translated by the right wing media as being applied to all Spanish military personnel, when it is clearly applied to potential participants in a hypothetical military coup.
[10] This article states that the Spanish military needs to preserve the unity of the Spanish territories
[11] General Mena said that if the Catalan “Estatute” were approved, the military should intervene
[12] The chairman of the Spanish Supreme court said a few weeks ago that learning Catalan language was comparable to learning “Sevillanas” (a variety of flamenco dance)
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7 comments:
A new catalan heroe ?
No, simply a Catalan journalist.
did financial times just get in trouble on your blog!? - i knew it-
btw: Kung Hei fat choy!!! :)
Iu Forn, a new catalan stupid guy, like Ian.
Words are words, and I understand your interpretation, but it’s obvious the intent of Sr. Forn was a “broadly painted” insult, like writing “Espain” which is ridiculing the Castilean accent. Also the not too subtle wording of the “puta” sentence wasn’t very clever and not very serious. It would be better suited for a blog, not a newspaper, in my opinion. He’s not doing anything useful, and is just feeding the fire, like COPE
Andrew,
I do not read Avui too often, unless the things blow out of proportion. This is the first article I read from Iu Forn, and it is clear to me that he was NOT attacking the military in general, but just those who believe that the Spanish military is above the elected members of parliament (they call them troglodites in the New York Times, avoiding any reference to their family members) and trying to be "funny" ("graciosillo") at the same time.
However my philosophy has always been to defend my view point without bitter attacks to others, to use irony and not insult, so I agree that this article should have not been published in any serious newspaper.
However the Avui newspaper is not considered by me a serious newspaper since I read and article by a jerk called Salvador Sostres called "Parlar espanyol és de pobres". He should be prosecuted for this and put in jail for a couple of months (ideally in the same cell as Jimenez de los Santos), because of the way he depicts Spanish people, totally unacceptable, intolerable, mean and racist!. I feel ashamed to share with Salvador Sostres the same nation (at least in the preface) of origin.
Avui might have done this whole thing as a marketing ploy, because instead of plodding through el periodico en blau the other day, i read through avui. NOt enough to get a true sense of their politics. But from what I've read about them, and the snippits I've read from their articles, they're only doing a disservice to the people of Catalunya. They behave like high school students, not serious journalists
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