Here's Cataloony and anti-Semite Xavier Bru de Sala on Catalonia and the war from today's Vanguardia. The article is titled "Catalan unity".

There are four days left and we can already predict that we will remember February 15 as a memorable date. The no to that war and the no to Aznar's servile position add to the effort of all our political parties (except one) to contribute to the symbolic and moral rupture of the Catalans with the position of the Spanish government. After the failure of Powell's proofs and the ridiculousness of the British secret services, the arguments offered to justify the attack on Iraq have collapsed. At the same time, the Bush Administration is pressing on the accelerator, to silence the European protests with the booming of the inevitable, calculating that once the attack has been launched we can only hope that the war will be short, that is, will go well for them and will be won soon. That's why it is crucial to raise our voices now. If the Barcelona demonstration is really massive, it will have a very notable resonance. For the first time in our democracy, Catalonia will stake its position in an international crisis in a forceful and united manner. For the first time, there will be Catalan unity against the Government and the Spanish official position on a serious matter. Possibly, slightly frightened by the importance of the demonstration, some Convergence and Union leaders will abstain from pressing on the organizational accelerator. In that case, they run the risk of being overwhelmed. You don't need much of a nose to smell the clamor.

Comments: 1) Check out that last mixed metaphor or whatever it is. 2) He sure likes that image of pressing on the accelerator. 3) He really thinks that some people outside Catalonia give a shit what the Catalans think about anything, as if you could say that the Catalans as a group think anything. 4) Like a typical obsessive nationalist, he can't look at any issue except through the lens of the relative prestige of his own group.

If there is (a clamor), Barcelona will become a moral reference for Europe. One of the few great European cities which are not capitals of states, the only one which boasts a strong democratic nationalism, demonstrates with all its leaders for peace and against the warlike posture of its country. If there is a massive attendance, this visualization of Catalonia as an entity with its own position is, besides being new, very important. The Europeans are against the attack on Iraq, with few differences despite the fact that the continent is artificially divided by the thoughtless servility of Aznar and Berlusconi.. If there's a possible echo chamber of this civil unity above its rulers, it is Barcelona. Catalonia's changing blocs and, in opposition to official Spain, but beside real Spain, moving to the European position, is much more transcendent on this occasion than having a little Foreign Ministry wandering around lost on the dance floor. The opposition to this war is ethical, because there are alternatives and it is not the last recourse. That's why, these days, it is an advantage and a motive of pride to mean nothing geopolitically. We Catalans are legitimated in going out to the street in defense of these values, becuase in our case they are not contaminated by unedifying national interests. The opportunity to be the civil capital of the ethical no is unique.

Comments: 1) He really does think non-Catalans give a crap whether there's a demo aganist the war here in Barcelona or not. 2) 57% of the citizens of the EU are in favor of an attack on Iraq if the UN approves. That figure drops to 45% in Spain. But if we assume that all of those 45% of Spaniards will vote for the PP in the next election, that's enough to pull another absolute majority in Parliament. Anyway, there is no European majority against the war, since that pro-war 57%, remember, includes only EU citizens and doesn't count the Eastern Europeans, who can be safely assumed to be even more pro-war. 3) Notice the self-congratulatory tone throughout. An American who is as nationalist as Bru de Sala would be called a chauvinistic bigot. The ethical capital of Europe, my ass. Tell that to the shortchanging taxi drivers, the con men openly working the streets, and the municipal cops drinking carajillos in the bars, not to mention the self-admittedly dishonest newspapers. 4) What lack of unsavory national interests? Your whole point in this article, dude, is that it's in Catalonia's "national interest" to unite in opposition to the war so everybody will say how moral and ethical y'all are. 5) Bru de Sala forgets, throughout his piece, that Aznar is the Prime Minister because, like, the people of Spain voted for him. And gave him a landslide victory with an absolute Parliamentary majority. It was in 2000. Remember?

Internally, it's also transcendental. A demonstration in Seville, for example, would be just as much of the opposition as one in Madrid. They would be discounted and absorbed by the political sphere. A demonstration of the Catalans, with Pujol, Maragall, Mas, and Clos at the head of a crowd, has an authentic civic and unitary character, since it represents not only the near-complete totality of the parliamentary (ideological) range but also the spirit of an advanced people that is against, due to historical suffering, unilateral impositions. There is no doubt that the Left is wholeheartedly preparing. It would be unpardonable for CiU, once its leaders have joined the manifestation with total clarity, to just go along, as if it only wanted to appear in the photos, instead of pulling along its people to join the demonstration. The civic unity would be the same, except that nationalism will also be in the game. If, for living up to its beliefs, Convergence and Union is punished by the PP, everyone will understand that, in addition to joining in a grave American error, Aznar is vengeful. If it fails us Saturday, Convergence and Union will also have failed Catalonia.

Comments: 1) What about the 15% of Catalans who vote PP? They don't count within Catalan unity, too? Or is it that they're Uncle Toms, not really Catalans? 2) You do know, Mr. Bru de Sala, that Pujol has come out in favor of the war if there's UN approval, don't you, and that Mas will do whatever Pujol tells him to? Convergence and Union's leaders have already announced that they are pro-alliance. Agreed, most Convergence voters probably aren't, and the party itself is co-sponsoring the demo on the 15th. That's CiU trying to sit on both sides of the fence on this one. They're Mugwumps--"with their mugs on one side of the fence and their wumps on the other". 3) Nice to know you've anointed the Catalans with the title of "an advanced people". All I can say is you don't know my in-laws. They're pretty primitive. My mother-in-law makes her own soap. Hell, she used to kill her own pigs. Got too old for that.