Amidst great indifference, many Spanish
unionists celebrated Spain's success in the soccer Eurocup 2012 in Barcelona. Catalonia and
the Basque country shared TV indifference to the match in which many Catalan
players won the Cup for Spain. They had no option: Spain and Italy are the only
European States which force players to play in their national teams. If they do not, they
lose the right to play in any other team. As a survey on Catalan TV
showed, 60 % of Catalan people would have liked Spain to lose and another 15 % was indifferent.
While Spanish cities saw celebrations with
dozens of thousands of people, in Barcelona only 5,000 people joined the celebrations
amidst great indifference. But this was not the news. The news was
the overall Fascist tone of the celebrations. As many journalists reported, many of
the flags where not the Spanish State flag but the Francoist one (you can recognize them in the photos from the eagle). Moreover
there were flags with the swastika as well as the Celtic cross. Members of Spanish
Fascists parties such as PxC and MSR were seen at the demonstration. In fact some South American people who joined the celebrations were ousted and some of them
were badly beaten. There were racist and supremacist chants. In some
places, such as Reus, Catalan flags were burned and several Catalan symbols on
monuments or motorbikes were also damaged. In Badalona, a PP leader said on Twitter
that Barcelona should be burnt to celebrate the Cup. A civic association in
Badalona, the Human Towers, was also attacked by the Spanish unionist crowd. In Italy, a Spanish supporter was detained for exhibiting Fascist propaganda but none in the Spanish Kingdom where the prior, Francoist Spanish flag is, in fact, a Fascist symbol.
Photos: Thanks to Nació Digital and Jordi Borràs
Last night, I was having an argument with my relative over Catalunya and Catalans in general. I have always supported Catalunya, my relative considers them as Spaniards all the same. He insisted that Catalans (and me) were hypocrites because we still supported Spain in the Euros. It didn't occur to him though that we watched Catalans celebrating in Barcelona via Madrid TV. I doubt the media there would have liked to say that supporters were at a minority. And second, we should support our players to the very end. I personally refuse one minute to hail Iniesta for his awesomeness in Barca (I love love LOVE FCB!) and then wish he'd die when he scored the final goal in the World Cup. I will folow my Barca players to the grave unless they did a Figo on the club. I also don't own a Spanish shirt but the Catalan instead ;). From Gibraltar, Visca Catalunya per sempre!
Thanks for sharing! Let's hope some day we can all cheer for Barça players playing for the Catalan team! :)
I have just come back from Catalunya with a strange sense that these people can be just as racist towards outsiders of all kinds.
In many cases Catalun pride has taken an unfounded sense of superiority regarding other Europeans, which leads to visitors often being treated with contempt.
are not racism in Cataonia!!!!!!!!!?????????????????