"You will not see any street performances in Barcelona right now, because there are not any of them, they were all blown away, like a punctured balloon. As were the Spaniards, so we'll stay. But what a joke we have invented with this Tabarnia! Although, you know, maybe it's not a joke at all. The idea is good, everyone likes it, especially if they again try to muddle this garbage about secession from Madrid. All this separatism there, in the village ".
A young taxi driver, a native of Barcelona, ??which he stressed a couple of times in conversation, vaguely waved his hand somewhere to the north-west, towards Tibidabo Mountain with the Temple of the Sacred Heart, which apparently meant, according to him, the boundaries of a rational civilization. "And we have a city here". Then, for some time, he thought profoundly about big politics, periodically inserting into his speech funny Spanish unprintable expressions addressed to the Generalitat of Catalonia and his former, now fugitive president Carles Puigdemon, and returned to ordinary chatter on personal topics, writes Alexander Gostev in the column on "Radio Liberty".
In this January in a familiar city, my search for clearly visible traces of the struggle for independence of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, indeed, collapsed. Where the passions still seemed to be boiling, and where the supporters of the department in front of the cameras lingered in pictures with the federal Spanish law enforcement forces, almost landing from the boats on the Catalan coasts, the most ordinary, that is, energetic, motley, vibrant and saturated life of the Mediterranean metropolis , full of funny skits.
The local police, the very Mossos d'Esquadra, the beautiful name and imposing blue uniform of which became known to the whole world last fall, as well as their emphatic "neutrality" during the well-known events, are habitually lazily frowning at the hacking in the historical center of illegal immigrants from Africa , selling all the small rubbish on the asphalt towels and carpets, and just as usual send smiles to attractive blonde foreigners. Their ranks, as before, at first glance, for the most part, consist of muscular young handsome men, although the number of young women is increasing every year - and they seem to be more serious about the service and their duties.
The Catalan language is heard on the streets, but very infrequently, for example, from the mouth of a teacher leading a "caterpillar" of young schoolchildren to some kind of excursion, and is perceived simply as one of the many components of a common Babylonian multilingual roar, in which the Chinese, also Russian speech, especially in the tourist triangle of Eixample - Barceloneta - Montjuic. In this city everyone still speaks Spanish. Unless some balconies are still abundantly decorated with striped red and yellow flags "Esteladami", here and there - with a white star on a blue background, elegantly stand out against the background of drying a variety of underwear.
However, nearby, often literally next door, there is a sufficient number of samples of the flag of the Kingdom of Spain, bearing the proud unofficial name "La Roigigualda". But from time to time (from the state-political), and the third variant - in my opinion, the most beautiful, in which there is something medieval, unlike most of the rather faceless modern flags of European countries. This is the state banner of the "independent Tabarnia" - a still autonomous and virtual territorial entity, the idea of ??creating it, however, whether in jest, or seriously, in recent weeks captures the imagination of an increasing number of residents of the "big Barcelona".
The very word "Tabarniya" was born in the summer of 2014, but the massive popularity and fame, at the level of a huge flash mob, it suddenly found in this Christmas and New Year holidays. It was formed, as you might guess, from the names of the two largest centers of the Catalan coast, Tarragona and Barcelona, ??and denotes the regional boundaries of the most economically developed, coastal part of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. Here live about 5 million 800 thousand people - out of all 7 million 522 thousand inhabitants of the autonomy, and here 80% of its GDP is produced.
It was in Tabarnia that the supporters of the unity of Spain always prevailed over the separatists, which was also shown by the recent extraordinary elections to the regional parliament on December 21 - the majority of votes in Barcelona and Tarragona were given to the Ciudadanos (Citizen). However, in general, Catalonia has its own local suffrage.
The sparsely populated provincial western and northern regions, where separatist positions are strong, are elected by the Electoral Commission by 15 deputies more than the densely populated coast, and as a result, the deputy seats are distributed in proportion to the votes cast for the candidate lists. As a result, three separatist parties, which garnered only 47.5 percent of the vote, still received an insignificant majority in the Catalan parliament, 52 percent, and elected their next speaker of independence, Roger Torren, from the party "Left Republicans".
The flag of Tabarnia is a mix of urban flags of Tarragona and Barcelona. The authors of this satirical political idea, the skeleton of which is the cream of the Catalan business, legal and cultural elite among those who advocate the unity of Spain, say that the appearance of Tabarinia is a peculiar caustic Christmas moralizing for the separatists, both "scary" and "mirror "their aggressive slogans, ideas and techniques.
While the "tabarnists" position themselves as a social movement, but not a party - albeit very close to a political organization called Barcelona, ??via fora! , that is, "Barcelona, ??on the way out!", pursuing the same goals. And they make serious statements: "If they separate, and we separate from them. They do not want to "feed Madrid," and we do not want to feed "independent Catalonia"! And we will go as far as the supporters of independence! If the Parliament of Catalonia and / or the Generalitat in the near future again allow themselves a unilateral declaration of independence, we will do everything to make Tabarnia a reality ".
Indeed, the Spanish Constitution, supported by the supporters of the idea of ??Catalan independence, formally allows the "Tabarnians" to hold a referendum at any time and announce the creation of their own autonomous community, with the right to further secession - and the return to the Spanish Kingdom. Or, if this is the "choice of the masses", a hypothetical existence in the role of an independent state - with a powerful diverse economy, a beautiful flag and a world-recognized tourist potential. After all, the Autonomous Community of Madrid was still a few decades ago part of the abolished province of New Castile. Why not?.
By the way, the joking state already has a newly formed comic "government of Tabarnia in exile," led by "president" Albert Boadelay, a Catalan theater actor and director, and in the past - a desperate fighter against the Franco regime.
In a bright program speech, using video broadcast in Youtube, Boadelia in Catalan called on all Spaniards not to consider him a clown, stressing that he is only a modest pupil of Carles Puigdemon and all the others who "turned the Catalan parliament into the National Theater".
Jokes are jokes, but when I wrote this text, it became known that the referendum on the separation of Tabarnia from Catalonia is scheduled for October 2019. I really want to return to Barcelona yet, and more than once - I wonder, which capital of education will it be by this moment?.
Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Join also the TSN group. Blogs on facebook and follow the updates of the section!.