Catalonia: nationalism or regionalism?

The Catalonia issue burns hotter. Recently, adoptive Catalonian Simon Harris argued here the economic and historical-cultural case for independence. Even a proposed proto-referendum run by volunteers has been suspended by the Spanish Government's Constitutional Court.

It's clear that identity is a powerful driver in these matters. Yet, as "JD" counter-argues today - in a way that certainly won't please Catalans, but the substantive point has to be addressed - breaking up Spain (there's more than one region that has separatist movements) into cantons makes the whole country easier to swallow. This is, after all, the EU's plan for the UK, with its "regions" including a trans-Channel "Arc Manche".

As with the Scots, the question has to be asked, what is the point of gaining national independence only to be ruled by an even remoter and less responsive power in the form of the European Union? Does this not play into the hands of those who divide in order to rule?


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Spain: Corruption...

JD writes:
____________________

Last week the Guardia Civil in Spain, after a couple of years quietly gathering evidence, arrested 51 regional politicians. Although corruption among officials and businesmen is a well known, but unspoken , 'fact of life' in Spain, the suddenness of the action came as a shock to everyone. The newspapers have been full of little else ever since.

But 51 people taken in for questioning is just the tip of a very large iceberg - I have just been reading this-

"The figures for corruption in Spain show that there have been more than 1,900 people charged in prosecutions for corruption and at least 170 have been convicted of such crimes in the last legislature. However, most of those convicted are not in prison, either because they were given suspended sentences or were disqualified from public office or fined or they still have appeals pending.

"According to data gathered by Europa Press, among those accused and convicted are people who have held positions in political parties or in public administration at all levels as well as businessmen, lawyers, trade unionists and families of all of them, mainly for urban planning corruption , tax fraud and illegal recruitment of both personnel and business."
http://www.elimparcial.es/noticia/143987/nacional/Radiografia-de-la-corrupcion-en-Espana:-mas-de-1.900-imputados-y-al-menos-170-condenados-en-130-causas.html

The corruption is widespread and convoluted. The leading figure in Catalan politics for the past 30 or 40 years (Jordi Pujol) is being investigated along with his two sons, Francisco Granados deputy mayor of the Madrid region has been arrested and it appears that his family are all part of his 'scam', the miners' union chief has been asked to explain where he got his millions from, Mariano Rajoy is desperately doing a damage limitation exercise as most of those arrested are from his party, the Bankia chief is in jail (I think, I'll have to go and check the papers again)

I was told this morning that Valencia is the worst region for 'backhanders' from property developers and the 'white elephant' that is the new Castellón-Costa Azahar Airport would seem to confirm that. However, I'm not the only one who is lost! This is from the newspaper El Mundo-

"The avalanche of cases makes it difficult to track down those involved in the corruption that span the country. ELMUNDO.es offers an interactive map that lists all cases at regional and national level as well as the largest municipal scandals of this century, focusing on the political class and senior officials linked to parties, making up 80% of the listed in this sample involved. This is a work in progress and we would like your cooperation. If you have any precision or suggestions, please write to elmundo.datos@elmundo.es http://www.elmundo.es/grafico/espana/2014/11/03/5453d2e6268e3e8d7f8b456c.html "

As you can see they are asking for people to email with stories which sounds like an invitation to crash their server as I am sure everyone, including me, can give an example of how the wheels are oiled.

If you check the map at the link you will see that there are 38 names in Cataluña, 80 in Valencia region, 74 in Madrid region and a staggering 111 in Andalucia! Aragon, Navarra and Asturias are the only regions with a 'score' of zero (so far!)

As they say, this is a developing story but it looks as though it will run and run. There are cases which are already 'out of time', which have passed the date before which a case must be brought to Court which means they will have to start again. The lawyers will be the only winners here, as usual.

The fall-out continues and we are seeing new stories emerging all the time.

I not sure that these people are wicked as such, it is very easy to lose sight of core values when one is in a position of authority or even close to those in such positions. The actuality of helping friends and colleagues happens all the time to a greater or lesser degree in all walks of life. I can testify to that with a tale of my own: Some years ago I was working in Venezuela for a very big construction company (French company) and they had a 'Mr Fixit' who would help with administration, to liaise with officialdom etc. When I had completed my work there, this Mr Fixit took me to Caracas airport and within about ten minutes of arriving at the front door I was sitting in the 1st Class departure lounge. No check-in, no security check, no queues, no passport control (Mr Fixit took my passport and came back with it stamped)

Now, if that sort of thing were to happen all the time, as it does with politicians and businessmen, it would be very easy to become detached from reality and gradually drift into a position of expecting it to happen as a matter of course.

So it is easy to see now and why they are merely giving in to temptation and are blinded by the sin of avarice.

This is happening in Spain now. To what extent is it happening in the rest of Europe? How large a problem is it in the UK?

Is there anything that can be done about it?

As I say above, it happens all the time at all levels of society, even in small ways - you scratch my back... etc. Is there any way of amending human nature?

Shakespeare knew all about human nature-

"but man, proud man,
Dress'd in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep."

[JD adds:]

You are welcome to add your own observations. I am more forgiving of the failings of human nature; some of those implicated are out and out villains, but some of them are just giving in to temptation. It is easy to be seduced by the preferential treatment you receive. If I could pass through every airport as easily as I did through Caracas, life would be far more comfortable and expectations would rise accordingly to the point where it would seem like an entitlement. Which is why politicians actually genuinely believe they have 'done nothing wrong'.

At what point does 'doing a favour' turn into corruption? Should the Parliamentary Lobby be allowed or banned for example? Life is complicated, is it not :)


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UKIP and UKIT

David Hickman writes on The Conversation not only about the forthcoming and likely controversial C4's "100 Days of UKIP" programme, but about how independent TV in the UK has changed in the last 10 years.

"In 2004, Ofcom fundamentally altered the balance of power between British broadcasters and independent production companies with the introduction of new “terms of trade”. This happened pretty invisibly to anyone outside the industry, but the effects were profound.

"Under these terms, indies retained more of their rights – meaning, among other things, that the most successful of them became richer. And the richer they became, the more attractive they were as takeover targets. The results were a weakening of the broadcasters’ budgets and power, and the creation of super-indies. The results were a weakening of broadcasters’ budgets and power, and the creation of super-indies which became ever more dominant suppliers to those broadcasters. These conglomerates of production companies were (and are) themselves sometimes owned by some the world’s biggest media players."

Unintended consequences...

But since the media are our collective eyes and ears, liberty for all must also involve restricting the power of "overmighty subjects" (and non-subjects).

Will tomorrow die?

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Dogs and cynics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope

The Daily Mail and caveman talk - an expert writes:

 

"‘Kuon’, meaning dog, evolved to give us canine, kennel, and also cynic — a word coined for a sect of ancient Greek philosophers, who believed life’s luxuries were a sham.

 

"They earned their nickname because they had sex in the street, like dogs."

Not quite what I always understood. Perhaps the Mail was editing the extracts down a little too hard.
Wikipedia quotes an ancient commentator:

"There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them.^[7]"

The IEP says:

"The precise source of the term “Cynic” is, however, less important than the wholehearted appropriation of it. The first Cynics, beginning most clearly with Diogenes of Sinope, embraced their title: they barked at those who displeased them, spurned Athenian etiquette, and lived from nature. In other words, what may have originated as a disparaging label became the designation of a philosophical vocation."

The cynics mocked not only social rules but also the pretence of knowledge, so they barracked philosophers, whom they regarded as bullsh*tters. For example:

"When Plato gave Socrates' definition of man as "featherless bipeds" and was much praised for the definition, Diogenes plucked a chicken and brought it into Plato's Academy, saying, "Behold! I've brought you a man.""

It is easy to imagine them yapping at the profs holding forth, indicating that their noise made as much sense as what was coming out of the philosophers' mouths. Radical honesty, that's a cynic.

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The wisdom of Scott Adams

http://search.dilbert.com/search?w=the+natural

"P.S. Yes, I am in a bad mood this week. Why do you ask?" snaps the famous cartoonist.

Sometimes it takes losing your rag to get at a simple statement of the truth:

"The loser worldview is that whoever is causing the problem needs to fix it for you.

"The problem with the loser worldview is that in many cases the only person who CAN fix the problem is you, even if you had nothing to do with causing it. A winner in that situation fixes his own problem. A loser sits indefinitely waiting for others to solve it for him, even knowing that won't happen. [...]

"If others are at fault, and they have the ability and motivation to fix the problem for you, by all means take a run at it. But if the only person who can fix your problem is you, and you choose not to do it because the fault is with others, you have taken the loser path. You literally chose the path you know will fail because of some misguided sense of rightness."

- Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert)

And one way to assess solutions, he says in "The Joy Of Work", is to formulate them as newspaper headlines. For example, if you think what you need to do in your job is use your time more efficiently, the story would be "Cubicle Worker Becomes Billionaire Thanks To Careful Scheduling".

Brilliant.


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A lament for All Souls

This lament by Iain Dall MacKay was composed on hearing of the death of Patrick Og MacCrimmon - a family famous for its piping tradition whom I first saw mentioned in the writings of George Macdonald Fraser.

A commenter to the above notes that MacKay was mistaken, so that his friend heard the lament. A 1927 recording is here.

UPDATE (21 January 2021): Historical and musicological information here:

https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10170/148/MacDonald%2C%20John-Hugh.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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Scotland's independence: like I said... (2)

"Labour is paying a heavy price for leading the recent campaign against independence, and persuading the Scottish people they’d be better off voting ‘No’. Its core voters in cities such as Glasgow and Dundee felt betrayed by the party standing on a platform with the hated Tories.

"Having done so, Labour is now held accountable for delivering the cross-party promises of further devolution made in that frantic fortnight before the vote. Every day those promises remain undelivered, the clamour grows that Miliband’s party has deceived Scotland into rejecting independence.

"Accusations of treachery and trickery have a special potency in Scottish history, from the betrayal of William Wallace to the massacre at Glencoe. Now, however unfairly, Scottish Labour finds itself cast as the perfidious enemy within, and its poll ratings have plummeted. On the latest projections, at least three-quarters of Labour MPs in Scotland would lose their Westminster seats to the SNP if the Election were held tomorrow – the equivalent of the Conservatives losing every one of their MPs in Essex and Kent.

 

"That would eliminate any chance of a Labour majority, and – one way or another – it would guarantee a second referendum on Scottish independence, which next time the SNP would comfortably win. Goodbye Union. Good luck, Scotland. And goodnight Labour."

 

- Damian McBride in today's Mail on Sunday

"I think it's coming anyway. The panic last-minute promises from HMG are a gift to the Yes camp, who can say, "Would they have offered these concessions if they didn't think we'd leave; will they keep their promises if we don't?"

"Then later, if the promises aren't kept, it'll be let's vote again, now we know; and if the promises are kept, then it'll be like one of those I-need-some-space "trial separations" that end in divorce proper.

"Salmond's done it, with the assistance of an incompetent and negligent Westminster."

- Sackerson, "Salmond has done it!" (9 September)

(Source: The Independent, 30 October 2014)

(Hat-tip for the heads-up to John Ward.)


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