If the 'Jordis Camps' of life bring the 'Baltis Picornells' before Justice, who will be next?

Baltasar Picornell Lladó, better known as Balti Picornell, was the second president of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands in the ninth legislature, after Xelo Huertas had to leave this position after having caused a considerable mess. Both Huertas and Picornell were presidents of the Parliament for Podem, which in that legislature (the first with Francina Armengol as president of the Government of the Balearic Islands) was a governing partner along with the PSOE and MÉS. Podem found it appropriate to appoint people for this position who, according to them, represented the people, in opposition to the more usual profiles of the political 'caste' (it was the time when from Podem they spoke a lot about and against 'the caste'). Picornell was ideal: when he took office, in February 2017, he was not yet forty years old, he worked as a metal carpenter, and he had long hair down to his upper back. From the PP and its allied media, he was received with contempt and condescension: they caricatured him to exhaustion and dedicated all sorts of epithets to him, with that vigorous insulting wit that the right wing usually exhibits. 

When his term in Parliament ended, Picornell also left politics and returned to his job in metal carpentry. Practically the only public activity he has maintained has been a certain presence on social media, and this is where his problems now stem from, because this Thursday he had to appear before Justice as investigated for a lawsuit filed against him by the Vox deputy in Congress Jordi Camps (better known as Jorge Campos, but we will call him Jordi Camps because at Vox they are very fond of translating first names and toponyms). The deputy Jordi Camps maintains that Picornell insulted him, or tarnished his honor, or something like that, due to a photo he published on social media in which he – Picornell – appears next to a graffiti on a wall that alludes to the deputy Jordi Camps. We will see how it ends, but for now the lawsuit has been admitted for processing and Picornell had to appear to testify as a defendant before the court. The entity Acció Cassandra, which presents itself as a civil and legal defense structure for the Catalan national minority, aimed at intervening in procedures with political, ideological, or collective rights relevance, has assumed Picornell's defense.

Many, faced with this, will accept the well-intentioned idea that two extremes are clashing, the far-right against the supposed far-left. This equidistance, however, is false: there is no far-left with political relevance today, neither in the Balearics nor in Spain. On the other hand, we have more than enough of a very relevant, well-organized, and financed far-right. Picornell, contrary to what his detractors said, was a correct President of the Parliament in form and substance, who exercised his functions and knew how to live up to the representation of citizen sovereignty. He was, therefore, infinitely superior to the current President of the Chamber, this Le Senne who dishonors Parliament by allowing hate speech, or by starring in it himself: let's remember that he is awaiting trial precisely for a hate crime, for having torn up the photo of Aurora Picornell and the Roges del Molinar during a session in which the repeal of the democratic memory law was being debated. The democratic threat is here, not in a citizen retired from politics who enjoys posting satirical images about a public figure. If we allow the Jordis Camps of life to drag Baltis Picornells before Justice, tomorrow it could be our turn. PS: the trial against Le Senne never arrives, while the lawsuit against Picornell has followed a very agile procedure. PS2: it is also infinitely more honest to dedicate oneself to carpentry, even if it is metal carpentry, than to real estate speculation.