Forgetting history as a weapon of imposition

The response of Spain's two major parties, then the UCD and PSOE, to the attempted coup of February 23, 1981, was the Organic Law for the Harmonization of the Autonomy Process (LOAPA) of June 1982. The Prime Minister at the time was Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. The law's aim was to moderate and pacify the autonomy process, prioritize state regulations over regional ones, and close the fast track of Article 151 of the Constitution to non-historical regions, among other things. A year later, the Constitutional Court annulled 14 of the law's 38 articles and declared the principle of state supremacy unconstitutional.

On February 28, 1980, Andalusia held a referendum to join the "fast track" of the historical nationalities. The vote was the culmination of a growing Andalusian nationalist sentiment, driven primarily by the Socialist Party of Andalusia-Andalusian Party ("Andalusia as a nationality"), which had led to large popular mobilizations demanding agrarian reform and self-government. The PSOE and PCE had aligned themselves with this movement, while the right wing advocated abstention. Even so, the full spectrum of parties had signed the Antequera Pact, committing themselves to "the greatest possible autonomy in the shortest time."

The major national parties had sensed the danger: greater autonomy meant less state power; and more Andalusian regionalism, less Spanish nationalism. Power (with a capital P) feared anything that smacked of federalism. The new state was being built on a fallacy, denying the existence of the Castilian nation, intentionally conflating a part with the whole, as a wedge of 'imperial sentiment'. This absence had been politically masked with the 'one size fits all' policy. Meanwhile, the state capital was being transformed into a primus inter padres which acted as a centralizing entity. The uselessness of the Senate (conceived as a territorial chamber) is the most irrefutable proof of the weak federalist will. mainstream Spanish.

The "one size fits all" approach, instead of fostering a sense of belonging to a greater, historically rooted entity, would become a source of hatred toward existing nationalities, in an exercise of political hypocrisy that sought to transform the idea of ​​singularity into privilege. The Constitution not only emphasized "nationalities and regions" but also established two paths to autonomy: "fast" (Art. 151, for historical nationalities) and "slow" (Art. 143). Political singularity, not as a folkloric element, is fully recognized in the Constitution and nuanced in that: "All Spaniards are equal before the law, without any discrimination being permitted on account of birth..." (Art. 14).

This preamble is due to the surrealism we've reached, where things are devalued and everything common and concrete ceases to exist; the world navigates through the froth of an omnipresent narrative, where oblivion is an inherent characteristic. Addicted to cotton candy, with absurdity as the norm, we've moved into a post-reality. So much so, that now the votes from Extremadura and Aragon travel through a pneumatic tube directly from the ballot box at the headquarters on Génova Street. The left's 'common home' is in danger of being dismantled from the top down. The excuse for saying no is that the new funding money bears the image of an Oriol... Spanish politics has definitely surpassed even the best of José Luis Cuerda's screenplays.

This situation didn't arise overnight; it's the result of a long process of historical amnesia and usurpation. The setback caused by the Constitutional Court's ruling on the LOAPA (Organic Law on the Harmonization of the Autonomy Process) gave rise to a slow strategy aimed at maintaining centralized power. The main resistance came from the historical nationalities; however, the seeds of distinctness were more widespread. Reality resembled the layers of an onion: nationalities, the periphery, and the 'forgotten' Castilian nation (which has been supplanted by what some commentators call 'Madrid DF').' and that Josep Melià, in Destination, towards the end of the dictatorship, had called 'Irrealmadrid'').

On the periphery lie the Balearic Islands, with a distinct identity built upon a political framework defined by its own language, a shared history and cultural roots with the other Catalan-speaking territories, and the Mediterranean Sea. This is powerful enough to generate a sense of sovereign singularity. For example, in Mallorca, a centuries-old political Mallorcan identity has been strong enough to govern for more than half the years of this century. This represents a defining strength and, at the same time, the object of the deliberate erasure that has been imposed. It is no wonder, then, that the right wing is obsessed with language, education, and territory, which they see as opportunities for profit.

One final thought, a bit of a rant: the left as a whole has governed when the dominant current within the PSOE has openly adopted a more 'nationally rooted' political line. That's significant enough. I vividly recall the internal reservations within the party regarding the coalition. It was 1999, the year of the First Pact for Progress. Common sense prevailed. It's no coincidence that in the Balearic Islands, Aragon, the Valencian Community, Cantabria, and the Canary Islands—part of the periphery—there are independent parties that have governed at one time or another. This fact is even more important now.

The crucial reunification of the left, situated on the westernmost edge of the institutional political map, is brewing. The "province by province" approach has gained traction in recent weeks. Sumar wants to reinvent itself, though we don't know if it will change its approach. And Podemos clings to its core principles. In this context, MÉS, the leading force of progressive nationalism, will have a dual responsibility: to avoid infighting and to promote an open process of participation that, if necessary, must culminate in some form of primary election.

However, the question remains whether 'coffee for everyone' was, or was not, a subtle formula to put the Basque Country and Catalonia in front of the wall of stoning and to promote the homogeneity desired by Power (in capital letters).