Yeah, the right-wingers are coming out in the open everywhere nowadays. It is funny, how one thing which is viewed as almost shameful one day, becomes a badge of pride the next one. Depending on the political fashions and trends… Overall, this is becoming a rather interesting time, globally.

Now, I really do not know that much about Spanish politics, besides what I picked up along the way, while dealing with other subjects and issues, but I do have a feeling that things are much worse than they are being portrayed in public. As per usual, it is all connected to the economy, but it is being packaged as something else…

For example, Catalonia. During their pre-referndum campaigns, one of the main points of the pro-independence camp was the economic argument: Why should Catalans keep paying for the other Spanish regions? Right now, about 1/3rd of Spanish budget comes from Catalonia, while the Catalans are saying that they are getting almost nothing , in return, from Madrid… If I remember correctly, they calculated that , if Catalonia becomes independent, it will automatically be the 6th, or 7th economy in Europe, while the Spanish economy will crash even further down…

so, all the BS about the constitution and territorial integrity aside ( after all, it did become a part of Spain only after it was occupied by … I forget which Spanish king, and the population does have a different language and traditions), what Madrid fears is the loss of revenue. I still wonder how are they planning to play this out, since the Catalans have no intention of stopping in their independence drive, and the actions that Madrid is taking will only further alienate the Catalans….

Also, I do not know of any other western nation which is so heavily influenced by a religious institution… the church seems to have a real grip on power on many levels. It is quite interesting to see that in a country with so many Catholics, and with everything that is happening with the church globally, there are still no big scandals with priests abusing their power… It might be because, for some reason, the Spanish priests are better human beings than the priests in other countries. but I think it is because the church is still too strong and the believers have still not reached the point where they can speak up of abuses… ( There have been a number of Internal reports and accusations of abuses in Spain , but they never went beyond the Vatican) I wonder what will happen when this “wave” of revelations reaches Spain too. How will all the people whose life evolves around the Church react once the stories about priest abuse reach the public?

and I am not certain do you really need to start dealing with justice for those who suffered under Franco. Although it might seem the “right” thing to do, the experience of other countries shows that it might do as much harm as it does good. There are too many people whose lives will be affected and, in some cases, it is better to leave some things where they belong- in the past- than dragging them out and reopening all sorts of old wounds…

Yet, the good news ( again, only from what I am seeing) is that there is an increasing number of people who do seem to think differently, and that is a good thing- THe right-wingers, fascists, etc, are a loud bunch- which makes them appear bigger than they truly are, but they can be dealt with- on their own — the real risk is the support of the church , since it seems that ( not only in Spain, other places too) the church has an innate interest in supporting the nationalist ( more traditional) political parties than the ones with more liberal views- The liberals will keep the poer away from religious institutions, while the populists will work together with them in order to control the population more easily.