MANEL LUCAS GIRALT 17 JUN 2020
“Plural” dialogue between Torra i Iceta, this Friday in Parliament. QUIQUE GARCÍA EFE
It is a sophisticated version of the “well look at you” that proliferates in the world of political dialectics
It should be crystal clear for everyone that one of the most defining features of democracy is pluralism, and that it is a value that must be carefully preserved and cultivated, there shouldn’t even be discussion on that point. It is true that it is easier to put it on a Twitter biography – “lover of pluralism and cats” – than to assume it with sportsmanship when it comes to exercising it; just like proclaiming that criticism helps us and then feel offended at the slightest comment, or declaring ourselves fans of nature documentaries and then changing channel after ten seconds watching an arctic polar bear.
But, in spite of everything, pluralism is the essence and support of democracy, and there can be no discussion on this matter.
This does not prevent it from also having its perverse side, the result of biased use. It appears when a ruler excuses himself from the mistakes of another ruler, of rival training, to avoid accounting for his own weaknesses. And if this bias is reciprocal, it ends up producing a blockage or, at least, a choreography of dribbles from which it is not easy to get out.
This has been revealed in the last parliamentary control session to President Quim Torra, as a result of the financial resources necessary for reconstruction after the pandemic. The socialist leader, Miquel Iceta, has asked what the budgetary modifications will be after the Covid-19 crisis and Torra has responded by delegating responsibility to the central government, chaired by a co-religionist from Iceta. The president uses this strategy with the PSC and the Commons, using pluralism – the fact that some parties govern one institution, and others another, the normal and convenient one – to defend themselves with an attack. And, of course, Iceta has avoided any comment on the Moncloa and has insisted on his question about the Catalan government, Generalitat. The result: we have not come to know where or how the resource pool will come from.
It is a sophisticated version of the “well look at you” that proliferates in the world of political dialectics. Almost no one is exempt from falling into this sin. Today, again in Parliament, we have had a second example, this time between the ERC spokesperson, Sergi Sabrià, and Quim Torra. It was an exchange of replies about this mythological – and, for some, dystopian – creature called “pro-independence unit”. Sabrià has affirmed: “Unity must not be left to the wind in words, unity is not proclaimed, it is exercised”, alluding to the pressure received from the Left. The president has replied with a “well come on, how do we do it?”, a total backhand racket. And all this has remained here, in another turn to the cable pulley that holds them together and in tension at the same time: when the electoral ban opens, I do not know how they will ensure that the entire armor does not crack.
What seems to creak without remedy is the Minister of the Interior, Miquel Buch, harassed by the continuous excesses of the Catalan police Mossos. This Wednesday the Comuns and the CUP have pounced on him, but he already came from home with the demands of the ERC itself to clean up. We are in a zombie legislature, which only endures waiting for a tailwind in favor of JxCat: I would say that only that maintains Buch. Unless someone concludes that things need to be dumped along the way.
https://cat.elpais.com/cat/2020/06/17/opinion/1592416169_213078.html
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