Nazi Mania!

In 2011, an independentism ideology started to grow in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. This movement, while not new, became especially important in 2013 and since then, political parties have tried to stop it; some with questionable techniques.

Several politicians from conservative parties have criticised the movement insinuating it is like Hitler’s Nazism and Mussolini’s fascism. Michel Foucault’s idea of discourse is a way of organising knowledge in a way that appears to be truthful, creating opinions and claiming they are the truth. Discourses are mainly used to undermine something; in this case: Catalan independence. The argument that what Catalonia is doing is following a fascist path seems to be quite popular among ultra-right media and politicians. Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, a politician of the PSOE (socialist party) once said in an interview with a national broadcaster (Antena 3):

“We were used to coups with guns and shootings, but not from inside” - referring to the Catalan referendum - “As if they were familiarised with the Germans, who had Hitler, and the Italians with Mussolini”. (Ibarra, 2013)

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, 2003 (la Razón)

In 2014, Rosa Díez, MP for the Union, Progress and Democracy party, said in the Spanish parliament that Catalan nationalism is perverting and stealing democracy.  “They want to steal Spain’s democracy” (Díez, 2014).

Rosa Díez, 2013

Politicians in Spain create these discourses to undermine this movement. However, the media are usually creators of discourses. Roger Silverstone (2007) said the media have always tried to have the task of creating some distance between communities. He argues, in all the media’s actions, it tries to resolve the ambiguities of life. Media representations tend to produce a sort of polarisation. The unfamiliar is either pushed until they become the ‘odd ones out’ or dragged closer until it becomes ‘invisible’ (Silverstone, 2007).  It will be common in Spain to find newspapers referring to Catalan voters as ‘secessionists’, underlining that Catalonia wants to be its own state, without discussing the idea that Catalan voters have the right to decide their future. Challenge and defiant are words commonly used by Spanish media, continuing to underline Catalonia as a defiant community; highlighting the rivalry between Catalonia and Spain, insisting on the fact that Catalans are those who will compete against the rest of the state to achieve independence. Some newspapers even refer to Catalans as those who ‘don’t know what they are talking about’.

“We find ourselves being positioned by media representation as so removed from the lives and worlds of other people that they seem beyond the pale, beyond reach of care or compassion, and certainly beyond reach of any meaningful or productive action”. (Silverstone, 2007, pp. 283)

Historically, Spain and Catalonia haven’t always been on the same page. The worst example is Franco’s dictatorship; an age where if anyone spoke Catalan they would get killed instantly, but before that, there were other complications between both cultures (as an example, the independence movement is not new. There were many people during the Second Spanish Republic who were aiming for it). These historic differences are reflected in the media and politics. In terms of media, there is a clear differentiation between ‘them’ and ‘us’, but in terms of politics, these clashes and slanging arguments are nothing new (although some have found a more controversial way to criticise the movement).

Artur Mas (former president who started the movement) photoshopped as Hitler in the film 'The Great Dictator' by Charles Chaplin, in a Facebook page of a local PSC group (Catalan Socialist Party).

References:

Caraurta2 (2013). Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra equipara a Artur Mas con Hitler y Mussolini y habla de "golpismo" [video online] Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQNT1ecUsWM [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017]

El Periódico (2017). Felipe equipara la situación en Catalunya con la de la Alemania nazi [online] Available at: http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/politica/felipe-equipara-situacion-catalana-con-alemania-nazi-4467629 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2017]

Muñoz, L. (2014). El tratamiento en la prensa del movimiento independentista en Cataluña [ebook] Murcia: Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia. Available at: http://sphera.ucam.edu/index.php/sphera-01/article/view/231/207 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2017]

Eldiario.es (2013). Seis episodios de comparaciones (odiosas) del nacionalismo catalán con los nazis [online] Available at: http://www.eldiario.es/catalunya/episodios-comparaciones-odiosas-nacionalismo-catalan_0_108839791.html [Accessed 7 Mar. 2017]

Silverstone, R.(2013), Media and morality: On the rise of the mediapolis, Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons

Upydmedia, (2014). "No es cierto que no haya opresión en Cataluña. Los ciudadanos no nacionalistas viven oprimidos" [video online] Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJdeKgjNZmM&t=1493s [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017]