The new counter-counter-politics

Catalans have a bitter recent memory of what occupying the streets can achieve for national causes. A decade of mobilizations across squares, streets, roads and motorways ended with judicial and police repression by state institutions.

Now, as the cycle appears to be closing with the reluctant application of the Amnesty Law, Ceuta has triggered new nationalist demonstrations. The mobilizations, encouraged by the Popular Party and Vox, have not yet approached the records set by the procés in either attendance or the scale of occupied public space. But they already show signs of growing momentum.

The most revealing element, the column argues, comes from the spontaneous comments of demonstrators. Their uncompromising defense of Ceuta’s Spanish identity carries an unexpected implication. After years of insisting that nationalism was a defect peculiar to Catalans and Basques, Spanish nationalism has suddenly become visible too.

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Now Spanish nationalism exists; it was not a Catalan or Basque defect.

The flags are notably uniform. During the procés, different symbols appeared together, including the Catalan senyera, blue and yellow estelades, rainbow flags and even black flags associated with Saint Eulalia. At the Ceuta demonstrations, the flags are almost all red and yellow, with an occasional Francoist eagle. The main chant is also striking: rather than praising a political leader, it insults Pedro Sánchez’s mother.

The column finds the comments of more reflective demonstrators even more telling. Many say that politics does not interest them and that they attend out of patriotism. For the writer, this illustrates the contradiction of “anti-politics,” including the old phrase attributed to Francisco Franco: “Fueyo, do as I do, do not get involved in politics.”

The writer calls that phrase deeply cynical when spoken by rulers. “Do not get involved in politics” can mean “do not interfere with my political actions.” Politics is not limited to belonging to a party, the column concludes. Every small action can be political, including writing the column itself, while refusing to acknowledge that reality amounts to hiding one’s head in the sand.

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Fueyo, do as I do, do not get involved in politics.