J’accuse

I accuse Mariano Rajoy Brey, president of the government of Spain, of having prepared and currently executing a silent coup d’état against the people and the territory of Spain in general and of Catalunya specifically. I accuse him of severely anti-democratic and unconstitutional behaviour, going directly and deliberately against the interest of the people he is by law obliged to serve. I accuse him of having created the present situation through lying, theft and conspiring. It is therefore my strong conviction that Mariano Rajoy Brey should immediately be released from his duties and sent to the nearest jail to await his trial for high treason. As for Spain, Partido Popular should be declared illegal on the ground of it being a crime syndicate and parliamentary elections need to be called as soon as possible.

Evidence, one: in 2006, Mariano Rajoy Brey, then president of Partido Popular and leader of the opposition, presented a proposal to parliament, sustained by 4 million signatures, to declare the recently approved Statute of Catalunya subject to a referendum by all of Spain. Whereas all autonomous regions get to update their statutes regularly and have them approved by national parliament, in the case of Catalunya Mr Rajoy considered this region executing its constitutional rights “a threat to the unity of Spain”. What exactly this threat consisted of, Mr Rajoy did not clarify. It being Catalunya apparently was threat enough.

Evidence, two: in 2010, Spain’s constitutional court, closely counselled by Mariano Rajoy Brey, regarded almost the complete text of aforementioned Statute unconstitutional, including many articles which were and are in vigour in other autonomous regions. Apparently, what is allowed other parts of Spain is not allowed Catalunya. The reaction to this outrageous verdict was an outpouring of angry and insulted people on the streets of Barcelona. It should be clearly understood here, that the first time Catalans openly showed their chagrin with Mr Rajoy’s manipulative behaviour, it was to defend their right to belong to Spain. They started showing an interest in secession from Spain only after their grievances were repeatedly not addressed.

Evidence, three: during his tenure as minister of the interior under president Aznar and after he became president himself in 2011, Mariano Rajoy Brey through appointments by him personally has changed the independent justice system of Spain into an utterly corrupt organisation which is following Mr Rajoy’s every wish and dictate. Ever since Mr Rajoy laid his hands on Spanish justice, it has become custom that public prosecutors investigating corruption cases are disqualified from practising their profession, while the subjects of their investigations walk scot free.

Evidence, four, concerning my accusation of Mariano Rajoy Brey being a liar and a thief: he has ordered evidence in an ongoing judicial investigation to be destroyed under the pretence of simply wanting to change the computers at his party’s headquarters, to which extent he had their hard disks erased up to thirty different times. He was also in close contact with the main accused in this case and then pretended to hardly know him. Mariano Rajoy Brey came to power with the promise to heal the then faltering economy. He has never done such a thing, although he has claimed that the slight improvement experienced over the last two years was his work, a claim not sustained by any fact, yet he has done many things his election programme never talked about, including taking away workers’ rights and introducing a policing law, known commonly as “la ley mordaza”, which is utterly unconstitutional in that it prohibits and penalizes unspecified behaviour. Mariano Rajoy Brey also stole the parliamentary elections of 2016. When Podemos was going to win 92 seats in the last opinion poll before the elections and would get 91 according to exit polls, yet a few hours later did not reach more than 71 seats, it was his duty as prime-minister to order an investigation into the causes of this enormous difference. For good measure, it is customary to question the reliability of elections if the difference between exit polls and final results is more than 3%. Instead, Mr Rajoy simply declared that the professional polling agencies must have got their numbers wrong and considered the case closed. As it so happened, thanks to the surprisingly low result of Podemos, Mr Rajoy was able to form a cabinet for a second term in office. And finally, virtually everything Mariano Rajoy Brey has said and is saying about Catalunya, from claiming that Spanish people are being attacked on the streets here to the education system being charged to create a hatred for Spain among Catalan children, is pure lies and nonsense, the greatest lie being that “Catalans want to rupture the holy unity of Spain”. If Mr Rajoy for once had the dignity to listen to what Catalans have to say, he would immediately understand his mistake. Then again, Mr Rajoy knows full well that his claims are untrue. The point here is, that Catalans are considered as belonging to Spain yet do not have the same rights as their fellow countrymen. Under the constitution, such a distinction is unforgivable.

Evidence, five, concerning my accusation of conspiring: I accuse Mariano Rajoy Brey of having deliberately sought a conflict with Catalunya, abusing his powers as head of the government, with two goals in mind, firstly to destroy the culture of Catalunya and to appropriate its riches and bring these under direct control of himself and his circle of trusted collaborators, and secondly to turn the government of Spain into a dictatorship.

Number one: whatever the influence of Catalan leadership on the current troubles, it is absolutely clear that the conflict between Catalunya and the Spanish government has been the work of Mariano Rajoy Brey and nobody else. The fact that Mr Rajoy wants to effectuate article 155 of the constitution and bring Catalunya under direct rule, without ever having tried to come to another solution even when Catalan authorities have implored him up to eighteen times to do so, makes it clear this has always been his aim. Add to this the fact Mr Rajoy is not implementing this drastic measure with the objective of cooling the masses (as oppositional political parties asked him to do) but rather seeks to eradicate Catalan identity. By intervening in Catalan politics, media, education, police and whatever else we may expect from this compulsive liar, Mr Rajoy clearly aims to severely punish Catalans for peacefully engaging in a conflict he himself provoked and aggravated. It seems to me that this is a clear case of conspiracy, with the aim to destroy a region’s character, when the constitution clearly states Spanish regions are entitled to their own uniqueness (as this was after all the reason to grant them autonomy back in 1978). Concerning Catalunya’s riches, there has been an economic war going on by Madrid against Catalunya in which Madrid abuses its state powers to damage the Catalan economy while favouring Madrid’s economy, with the help of Catalan taxpayers’ money and a whole range of unconstitutional tax exemption laws. Lately, special laws have been drawn up to force companies to move from Catalunya to Madrid, thereby further damaging the Catalan economy.

Number two: it is clear that a government which came to power through deceit cannot be considered a legitimate government in a state which calls itself a democracy. The fact that Mr Rajoy enjoys the support of a large majority in parliament, key players in the judicial system, the national media and large corporations, does not change this consideration. Apparently, these people are either fooled by Mr Rajoy or they are in on the scheme. To me, an illegal government which aims to destroy one of the regions it bears responsibility for through unlawful means, can only be considered a dictatorship.

Conclusion: taking into account all of the above, Mariano Rajoy Brey, president of the government of Spain, must be considered a thief and a criminal who through illegal means has mounted a dictatorship inside the realms of Spanish democracy and should be immediately detained and brought to justice, if there is any justice left in this country. As regards the party he is leading, Partido Popular, with up to 700 of its leading members involved in corruption cases and the party unanimously supporting Mr Rajoy's policies and actions, it must be considered a crime syndicate which should immediately be dissolved and prohibited from entering Spanish politics ever again. The need for national elections, it seems to me, automatically follows everything stated here. Under these circumstances, applying article 155 of the constitution will be out of the question.

I rest my case.

Friday?

The bullet is through the church, as we say in Netherland. Rajoy has announced his programme, at least the announceable parts, needing senate approval on Friday to come down on us. For that same Friday la Generalitat has called a session to finally effectuate independence, one assumes. So four more days of growing tension. Many people begin to chicken out, it feels, though on the other hand ranks are still growing, with the undecided realising they are about to lose an awful lot. 'Cause this ain't gonna be nice. Four more days for Europe to finally step in and broker an honest deal, because everybody must see by now that many of Catalunya's claims are real and fair enough. It is time Madrid stopped hurting Spain's economy by overreaching its power concentrating efforts. We're talking about Barcelona here, but Valencia is equally not so happy. This is not in the interest of Europe. There are a number of very strong second cities all over the Union, who all feel sometimes hard done by but who in general are prospering to their region's and their nation's benefit. I think of Milano, Munich and Manchester, among other candidates. It doesn't make any sense to want to intervene in Catalunya the way Mr Rajoy has planned it. Barcelona is more than just a money machine. It's a bustling city, cramped on a small lot between the mountain and the sea, where life is surprisingly relaxed, a feat which has attracted enormous amounts of tourists, helping to boost Spanish tourism back up the ranks over the last couple years. It would be a serious mistake to endanger this source, not only of income but also of Spain's standing in the world. How ever Mr Rajoy has his pals in Brussels behind him, not wanting to break up their main nations, public opinion may go quite the other way. BDS, anyone?

There are many other reasons to plead against intervention, but they have been mentioned widely in quieter times. Now, it's about survival. We can only defend ourselves. I hope the troops which will be sent in to quell resistance understand how the mood may have become unstable and difficult to predict. It would suit them right to treat their fellow countrymen, as has always been the justification for any of this, with care and respect. We're only defending what you want to take from us. I don't know how many are willing to die for that.