Catalunya

I don’t care about El País’ Catalan Edition

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I don’t care about El País’ Catalan Edition

I don’t, I just don’t. All odds were on me lapping it up. If El País had a target-reader production machine, it would churn me out first. I am a highly educated Catalan speaker, I score left on any political compass, I am invested in things like books and alternative music and films (sorry for the pretentious label), socially mobile, I speak English, and I live abroad. But I don’t. Actually, it’s not that I don’t care, it’s that it really pisses me off. El País was founded in 1978. That’s 36 years ago. That’s 36 years El País has had to create an edition in Catalan. But they didn’t. We did … [Read more...]

Homage to Catalonia; Scotland says ho sentim

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Homage to Catalonia; Scotland says ho sentim

As I write, the flags of Scotland (or 45% of them, at least) are at proverbial half-mast. I woke up on Friday, September 19th, 2014 to the sentence that will stay with me for the rest of my life: ‘Scotland Says ‘No’ to Independence’. It was the first country ever to do so. Beneath the low wail of the disenfranchised youth, cries of confusion could be heard thousands of miles away in Catalonia to the effect of, “What are you doing?! You’ve ruined it for all of us!” We know, we know. And we’re really sorry. The truth is that, in the lead up to the devastating result, Catalonia had … [Read more...]

…But they’ll never take our freedom?

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...But they’ll never take our freedom?

I come from Scotland. The land of the free and the home of the brave... or something like that. The country that brought us television, the telephone, and Trainspotting; The land whose national diet screams “YOLO” and whose dialect uses the word “fucking” the same way that most people use a comma. This is, arguably, the most important year in Scottish history for hundreds of years – it’s the year we’ll decide whether to divorce our overbearing husband to the South, or to remain in a loveless marriage for the rest of our days. Let’s be clear from the offset: this has nothing to do with … [Read more...]