Public Address | Cafe | Speaker: Catalonia, interrupted https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address Robert Southon https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382793#post382793 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382793#post382793 I never knew the Spanish government controlled the Spanish judicary.

You never knew? Tom, you really haven’t been keeping up.

A few things you might like to check out:

1. The appointment of the top judiciary in Spain by the two main political parties is an unquestioned part of the…

]]> Thu, 07 Nov 2019 23:07:28 +1300 Tom Semmens https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382790#post382790 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382790#post382790 Would you also agree that the Spanish government should stop sentencing political leaders it finds troublesome to very long jail terms?

I never knew the Spanish government controlled the Spanish judicary.

Anyway, judicaries everywhere tend to reflect the consensus of elite establishment opinion in their rulings on topics with strong…

]]> Wed, 06 Nov 2019 07:05:07 +1300 Neil https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382763#post382763 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382763#post382763 Catalan independence leaders appear to have learnt all the wrong lessons from Brexit. Holding ill-conceived referenda to force through major changes without significant support doesn’t lead to any peaceful democratic solution. Especially if it’s a bad solution in want of a problem.

They may benefit instead from looking at the…

]]> Tue, 22 Oct 2019 00:40:11 +1300 Robert Southon https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382745#post382745 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382745#post382745 Thursday afternoon in Barcelona and everything is going according to the script that Pedro Sánchez envisaged. Or is it? The court sentences severe, the strong Catalan reaction, the overspill into street violence, the law and order clampdown.

But I’m wondering if another genie has got out of the bottle. The…

]]> Fri, 18 Oct 2019 03:57:48 +1300 Paul Campbell https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382740#post382740 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382740#post382740 I feel there’s a rule of thumb this sort of constitutional change requires a super-majority, say a 2/3 majority, otherwise the results are chaos and recriminations (for a great modern example the ongoing brexit clusterfuck)

(which doesn't excuse the Spanish government's overreach)

]]> Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:48:27 +1300 Neil https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382738#post382738 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382738#post382738 It’s a bit hard to take seriously Puigdemont‘s claim to be merely implementing the democratic will of the people. From Wikipedia:

The referendum was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session on 6 September 2017 along with the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic of Catalonia…

]]> Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:24:57 +1300 Ian Dalziel https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382737#post382737 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382737#post382737 Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:11:23 +1300 Philip Bendall https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382736#post382736 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382736#post382736 Here's a response to the sentences from Carles Puigdemont (the former president of Catalonia) published TODAY in The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/14/spain-imprisonment-catalan-leaders-supreme-cout-jailed-nine

]]> Tue, 15 Oct 2019 23:08:09 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382731#post382731 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382731#post382731 The Catalonians need to get over themselves.

Would you also agree that the Spanish government should stop sentencing political leaders it finds troublesome to very long jail terms?

]]> Tue, 15 Oct 2019 12:27:29 +1300 Neil https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382730#post382730 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382730#post382730 The sentences are counterproductive, making martyres of them isn’t going to help resolve the conflict.

But they are not guiltless. They declared independence on the basis of a referendum they ran which had a turn out of just 43%. If they had been able to continue with that I can’t…

]]> Tue, 15 Oct 2019 09:54:03 +1300 Robert Southon https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382727#post382727 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382727#post382727 Mon, 14 Oct 2019 19:48:50 +1300 Tom Semmens https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382723#post382723 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382723#post382723
The two opinions most commonly expressed by friends in Barcelona:

1. The independence movement is driven by wealthy families who stand to gain financially and the extent to which Catalonia has been in any way negatively affected by the current system is vastly exaggerated. Cf Brexit.

2. The central government’s…

]]> Sun, 13 Oct 2019 12:47:55 +1300 Neil https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382722#post382722 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382722#post382722 The two opinions most commonly expressed by friends in Barcelona:

1. The independence movement is driven by wealthy families who stand to gain financially and the extent to which Catalonia has been in any way negatively affected by the current system is vastly exaggerated. Cf Brexit.

2. The central government’s…

]]> Sun, 13 Oct 2019 09:31:11 +1300 Simon Armstrong https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382721#post382721 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382721#post382721 cultural snobbery and a selfish rejection of the poorer parts of Spain as an albatross around the Catalonia’s neck and a desire to abandon their poorer fellow countrymen and women in places like Estramadura for the sake of being unfettered in the sunlit uplands of posh, progressive Europe.

Yeh nah.…

]]> Sat, 12 Oct 2019 18:39:06 +1300 Tom Semmens https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382720#post382720 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382720#post382720 Sat, 12 Oct 2019 11:22:41 +1300 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382719#post382719 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-catalonia-interrupted/?p=382719#post382719 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Sat, 12 Oct 2019 11:22:41 +1300