Reflections Of Catalonia

Yesterday's article about the Catalonian election was due to have appeared in today's "Daily Bulletin". Or at least, it went forward for inclusion, my having asked, the day before, whether it could be included today. In the absence of a response, I took it, because I wasn't sure, that it could be.

The reason why I had asked is because the day before an election in Spain is a "day of reflection", which means that everyone has to abstain from expressing an opinion, that there can be no campaigning and that the electorate must wander around in contemplative silence, pondering the momentous decision they will make the next day when confronted with the ballot box.

It would be quite nice to think that electorates do indeed enter a twenty-hour period akin to a spiritual retreat, wrestling with no concern other than which sheet of paper they are going to be placing through the box's opening. Will I CiU or will I not CiU? The entire Catalan nation (sic) taking itself on a long and winding walk, seeking spiritual guidance as to which way it should turn. Oh Lord, what on earth am I about to do?

Of course, the electorate is doing no such thing. It has almost certainly already decided and will spend the day of reflection clustered around coffees, beers or tapas in bars from Barcelona to Tarragona and any other place you can think of in Catalonia, telling each other how it (or they) intend to vote, and so either attempting to convince interlocutors to vote in the same way or congratulating interlocutors for sharing their electoral convictions. The day of reflection is a total waste of a day. They may as well just hold the election today and get on with it.

Anyway, and back to yesterday's article or what should be today's article in the "Bulletin", I was duly informed that those who know about these things had decreed that the day of reflection for the election in Catalonia would indeed mean the press in Mallorca also abstaining from offering an opinion and thus potentially influencing all the millions of Catalonians who might not have made up their minds. I had thought that this might be the case, which is why I had asked before submitting the article, and it turned out that I had been right to ask. Consequently, all those millions of Catalonians who might otherwise have been consulting a low-circulation, English-language newspaper, published in Mallorca and containing an article by a Briton that none of them would have ever heard of will now not be able to consult the article.

Except, of course, that they can consult the article, because it's already been published. On the internet. Not that they will be consulting it, as, and for the same reason why they wouldn't be consulting it were it to have been published today in the "Bulletin", it is in English and not Catalan and as it is of no interest to them as Catalonians what I have to say anyway.

Once upon a time, it may have made sense to have a day of reflection - in the days before the internet - but nowadays it makes no sense. Indeed, what are the rules governing the day of reflection and reflections about the election being expressed in cyberspace? Is there a ban on anything being posted today, or how does it work exactly? Is the electorate advised to look away from their computers or phones for 24 hours in case their reflective thoughts are somehow corrupted by what is on the internet? Will there have been a sudden rush of articles, opinions, tweets, posts, blogs at 23.59 before the whole internet world over Catalonia descended into silence at midnight?

It is all a bit daft, as there could be, for all I know, highly respected and highly influential commentators on matters Catalan who live in, let's say London, who will be spending today bombarding Catalonia with recommendations as to how they should vote. My guess is that the day of reflection rules don't actually extend to London or over the border from Spain in Portugal or France. If you really want your voice to be heard today, then you could just nip across the Pyrenees for the day, issue instructions on voting and still be back for Sunday and vote yourself.

Still, rules are rules, even if they are silly rules, and so today there will be no article in the "Bulletin". And because rules are rules, I shall also abstain from issuing my own recommendation as to how to vote. Any Brit who is in Catalonia might be influenced by what I have to say, even if a native Catalan wouldn't be. But then, it wouldn't matter if this Brit in Catalonia were influenced, because he or she wouldn't be able to vote anyway, unless he or she is a Spanish citizen and may be planning to vote in a way that would mean that he or she will cease to be a Spanish citizen.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.