Delfín Carbonell escribe en [i]The New York Times[/i] sobre la independencia catalana

THE NEW YORK TIMES AND CATALUÑA’S INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN

Fancy this: The New York Times in its “Opinion Pages”, the day before yesterday (September 10th), published an OP-ED piece by its “contributor” Artur Mas, President of the Generalitat of Cataluña, Spain. This erstwhile serious newspaper has now become the mouthpiece of the “independent” aspirations of some political leaders of a Spanish region. However, I may have to go back on that assertion because the OP-ED, as they call it, may very well be plain paid advertising disguised as an article of opinion. My rationale for this conclusion is that the formerly prestigious NYT has not edited the piece and has published it with grammatical blunders and all, treating it as a run-of-the mill ad.

It is my guess, far-fetched guess, that the brand-new New York Times contributor, Mr. Artur Mas, wrote the post, letter or Op-Ed, in either Catalan or Spanish, and the paper used some internet translator, or perhaps the letter was translated in Barcelona. Be it as it may, the fact is that the New York Times does not employ proofreaders or editors any more, contrary to what they claim… or it may be that they just don’t give a hoot. One thing is certain: if I had sent the piece under my name, the Editor-in-Chief would have not given it a second glance, perhaps not even a first one.

As the Spanish Embassy is going to keep mum about this, let me answer:

Since 1978 the Kingdom of Spain has a Constitution, approved in referendum. The Catalan people voted massively for it, more so than Madrileños, by the way. The constitution binds all Spaniards because it is the supreme law of the Kingdom, just as the Constitution of the United States binds all states of the Union. Everybody has a right to decide on its political future, of course, but first the constitution would have to be either changed or amended.

Under Franco’s dictatorship everybody in Spain suffered, not just Catalans, who benefited a lot economically –the dictator wanted them quiet-, more so than the people of Andalusia who had to emigrate massively to that region in search of jobs. Mr. Mas explains that “more than 40 percent of Catalonia’s population came from other parts of Spain…” but fails to explain as the reason for such immigration that Cataluña was well-off with Franco and enjoyed economic benefits.

Mr. Mas and his cronies are the product of Franco’s suppression of Catalan language and culture, but they way he speaks both languages –Spanish and Catalan- gives the lie to his statement that Catalan has been choked to death by Madrid, even in democracy. They are lucky to be bilingual and should strive to remain so. Mr. Mas does not go into the fact that Spanish is being smothered in schools now. A bilingual region is turning into a Catalan-language-only region, a grave mistake for future generations.

Since Aragón and Castile were united with the Catholic Sovereigns, before the discovery of America, both countries have traveled together as one along the path of history. Suddenly the Mas and Pujol families (Mr. Jordi Pujol is Catalonia’s Godfather) have decided to rule over a country, not an Autonomous Region, and are using a sleight of hand trick with emotions and feelings, seeking an enemy to justify the corruption that Catalonia is engulfed in. There are always two sides to a coin, Mr. Mas.

The fact that Mr. Mas has become, just like that, an Op-Ed contributor to The New York Times shows that all the ballyhoo and fanfare he is churning up these days with his concentration of people for independence, has no leg to stand on.

I congratulate The New York Times on its new contributor and hope that next time it will go over his post with a fine-tooth comb.