Parlem, hablemos!

Some light is beginning to appear on the Catalan issue,

Podemos’ Alternative for Catalonia. TXEMA GUIJARRO.

Amidst an increasingly-polarized climate, international press coverage has tended to overlook the position of En Comú Podem, the political alliance which has won the last two general elections in Catalonia. This grouping comprising Ada Colau’s Catalonia En Comú and Unidos Podemos has tried to carve out a middle road in the current confrontation. It recognizes last Sunday’s vote as a legitimate political mobilization but doesn’t view it as a valid referendum. It also defends Catalonia’s right to decide but favors a plurinational, federal Spain. In this respect Colau, who is Barcelona’s mayor, voted in solidarity with those facing police repression but left her ballot blank.

We, as somebody who wishes the peoples of Spain well, can only endorse the conclusion of this interview,

At times I feel we are at the edge of an abyss. But we have to see the crisis as an opportunity to demonstrate to the Spanish people that there are alternatives. We are not condemned to this collision between Madrid and Catalonia. A key reference for me is Barcelona mayor Ada Colau whose handling of the crisis has been exemplary. She represents the only real point of intersection in the region between those in favor of independence and those opposed—bringing them together around a discourse defending civil rights and democratic freedoms. So yes, there is a positive way out of this conflict but it really depends on us being able to govern, to start changing things in this country from the executive.

But the forces of division and hatred continue to operate.

After the Catalan referendum El Pais published this report,

Fake images from the Catalan referendum shared on social media. Some photos and videos that were widely circulated via social networks and appeared in the media were not taken on October 1.

Today there are many more accusations of fake images, after the far-right British Daily Mail and Julian Assange circulated claims of widespread Falangist participation in anti-Independence marches. Le Monde has just published a break down of some of these these falsehoods: Drapeau franquiste, salut nazi : les images trompeuses de la manifestation contre l’indépendance en Catalogne. Des images anciennes et des tweets manipulés ont circulé sur les réseaux sociaux pour discréditer les rassemblements de dimanche, selon les médias espagnols. According to the Spanish media old images and manipulated tweets have circulated on social media in order to discredit Sunday’s marches. The examples start with the use of photos taken in 2015, one taken in September this year, far from Sunday’s march, the use of a – real – image of people giving a Fascist/Franco salute, in a small group of around 30, to suggest a mass far-right presence, and the image spread by the far-right Mail, taken of a tiny band of extreme-right hooligans coming out of bar as if they were representative of the massive march. .

‘Fexists’ is Catalan for Fascists. This is particularly obvious fakery since the demonstrations took place during the day while this is taken during the night, and it turns out to come from a pro-Franco march, not authorised by the police, which occurred in Madrid during September 2015.

A Spanish Tweet account tries to distinguish the real from the ‘bulo’ false (fake, hoax).

NO. La foto aérea no es de la manifestación de SCC hoy en Barcelona. Se atribuye a la Diada de 2012.

👇 pic.twitter.com/wUDeavyD5m — MALDITO BULO (@malditobulo) October 8, 2017

¿QUÉ FOTOS SON REALES Y CUÁLES FALSAS DE LA MANIFESTACIÓN DE AYER EN BARCELONA? Más en https://t.co/UlxqTNk5UJ 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/N5pw7LyLfl — MALDITO BULO (@malditobulo) October 9, 2017