The fifth anniversary of the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks It should have been a moment of remembrance of that tragedy, of retrospective analysis, why not, of what happened, or of whether the victims received the support they deserved and required, and above all their accompaniment. And so it was inside any person of good will who was present at the tribute on the Rambla or took a second to recall those days of pain. But this Wednesday’s day was disturbed by the unfortunate and undignified attitude of a few dozen pro-independence militants who interrupted the minute of silence, distorted the atmosphere of pain and respect that should have prevailed with their shouts and, in some cases, even rebuked and insult people who lost relatives in the attacks.
If we stick to the arguments of those who broke the act, a parliamentary commission of investigation on 17-A perhaps it would have helped to clear doubts. Some fringe remained to be cleared up (about the specific personality of the possible international inducer or inducers, basically) but not enough to repeat that the truth is not known or wanted to be known. And less to proclaim loudly that the Spanish State, and not a jihadist cell, was truly responsible for the attack, when the evidence confirmed by all the police forces and endorsed by the courts is so overwhelming.
The mentality of those who this Wednesday they wanted to turn an act of mourning into one of hate It does not deserve another adjective than conspiracy. His mental mechanism is not at all different from that of those who fabricated unsupported theories about 9/11, who did so with the Madrid attacks (and made the mother of a victim, Pilar Manjon), the Trumpist propagandists who blame the government and called the parents of children killed in shootings liars (such as the broadcaster convicted a few days ago in the US) or the covid deniers who have come to harass toilets. Believing in a world created to the measure of a delusion and attacking those who with their testimony make the falsity of their theories more evident, the real victims, is a recognizable and habitual pattern in which far-right populism and alienation from reality meet.
But in each and every one of these cases, behind the individual faces of unreason there has been politicians and media that have fed their theories, inciting hatred and trying to take political advantage of it. That’s why The attitude of the president of Junts, Laura Borràs, was especially seriousdistributing hugs, applause and words of thanks to those who moments before had behaved shamefully. If the search for personal protagonism even in a circumstance like this Wednesday’s is criticizable, even more so is the moral support given to the group of protesters.
If she weren’t already suspended from her position for being indicted in a trial for alleged corruption, what happened this Wednesday would have been enough to demand the disapproval of Borràs as president of the Parliament and therefore institutional representative of all the plurality of sensitivities expressed by citizens in the Chamber. But currently the position she holds is the joint presidency. And that party is the one who has a problem. It is not enough to stand out as he did from the protagonists of the screaming. One day he will have to say clearly if he feels represented in attitudes such as those that overshadowed what should have been a day of tribute.