Cassandra Nash

Uncivil disobedience is not viable

By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 11 Jun 2015 • 10:10

Two little dicky birds

REMEMBER ‘Two little dicky birds, sitting on a wall, one named Peter, one named Paul?’

Pedro Sanchez and Pablo Iglesias are about as liable to fly away in opposite directions as the birds in the rhyme although Iglesias needs Sanchez as much as Sanchez needs him. Podemos is the victim of its half-success, failing to get very far under its own steam, and a frustrated Iglesias is playing hard to get. On reflection he is more of a dog-in-themanger than a dicky bird.

ADA COLAU, Barcelona’s mayor elect, took 11 seats in last month’s election. She announced a few days back that the Barcelona en Comu party would disobey laws that it felt were unjust, which is a prizewinning cop out.
While living in a state where unjust laws can be passed by a democraticallyelected parliament – especially one with a whopping great overall majority like Rajoy’s – little can be done apart from revoking them at the first opportunity.
Spain has had enough problems with politicians who disobey the laws that affect them personally. It doesn’t also need politicians who see institutional lawbreaking as a viable alternative to lawmaking.

He who laughs

IT is not necessary to be a royalist or rabidly anti-nationalist to admire how Felipe VI withstood the public’s reaction to Spain’s national anthem in Camp Nou. It was a foregone conclusion that whistles and jeers from the supporters of both teams would deafen any cheers at the Barcelona- Athletico de Bilbao cup final. The king stood solidly to attention, ignoring the half-smile on the face of Cataluña’s regional president Artur Mas. Mas, whose CiU party loses more seats in every ballot, called early regional elections for this September. Unlike Felipe who has a 71 per cent approval rating, he has nothing to smile about.

All the same

THERE weren’t many outright regional or municipal victories for the PP, PSOE, Ciudadanos or Podemos last month. But it was the electorate’s jaded “they’re all the same” verdict that split the vote, not the parties involved.