

Barça, the reflection of political abnormality |
![]() |
![]() |
English | |
per Víctor Alexandre | |
dilluns, 28 agost 2006 | |
![]() And so, let’s say it again: Barça is more than just a football club because it represents a nation without a state, a people who lack legal recognition and an international presence. This is how it was during Franco’s reign and this is how it continues in the supposed Spanish State of autonomies. It is logical, then, that Barça continues to be vessel into which we channel all of our frustrations. Their victories are our victories, and their defeats our defeats. This explains why a million people took to the streets to thank the team for attaining the League of Champions, but it also demonstrates our extreme degree of infantilization; we don’t realize that this joyous outburst is caused by the very same element that we experienced under Franco: Catalonian subordination to Spain. ![]() Until this happens, Barça will be submissive to all kinds of pressure. Remember, for example, the presence of the King of Spain and of Spanish prime minister Rodriguez Zapatero sitting in the box of the stadium in Saint-Denis in Paris, as the president of Catalonia—who had not even been invited—was left behind; or the suppression of the players’ speeches on the day of the celebration in Camp Nou. It goes without saying that it wasn’t the game that really interested the King of Spain or Zapatero, but the message that their presence sent to the world: that Barça is a Spanish club and that their triumphs and trophies are Spanish as well. As for the celebratory speeches, the company in charge of sound has explained that there were five microphones available and their equipment was in perfect condition. This claim, naturally, shed clear light on the political pressures—internal and external—that the club received to avoid the danger that someone might say “no” to the fraud of the Statute or make some reference, direct or indirect, to the Catalan Contries. All of this leads us to note that the “re-Catalanization” of FC Barcelona, as vibrant as it seems, can hardly turn the club something that it isn’t: an authentic national selection. Lluita , June-July 2006 (Catalan) Racó Català , 8/29/2006 (Catalan) Eurotribune.net , 8/30/2006 (Catalan, English, Spanish, French) radiocatalunya.ca , 8/30/2006 (Catalan) |
< Anterior | Següent > |
---|