Spain feels bad defeats against Morocco. Fortunately, in the 21st century, disputes are fought on soccer fields and not on the battlefields. The Qatar thing had nothing to do with the Annual thing. But it was still a disaster. In this World Cup, dictatorships and democracies play by the same rules and with the appearance of equality. That is why Morocco was able to beat Spain. And the defeat came in full celebration of Constitution Day, one of the few things that generates a minimum of shared pride. This debacle catches Spain at a low point. ‘The Economist’ has just published a strange article in which it says that the two irreconcilable Spains are reborn. Regarding the reform of sedition and the law of ‘yes is yes’. Certainly, Spain seen from the rostrum of the Congress of Deputies or from the Twitter bar, could seem on the brink of civil war. The same happens with the United States seen from the European press. When the right is in opposition, Spain is always at risk of immediate dissolution. It doesn’t do anything, one of its leaders said that some had achieved more in the Budget negotiation than by throwing bombs. I guess he was referring to Pujol and Arzalluz with Aznar. Although, in any case, to a convinced democrat that should not seem entirely bad.
It is difficult for Spain to assess its strengths and, all too often, both confuse being in opposition with announcing the country’s apocalypse. Added to this are national and ideological minorities, very prone to seeing the speck in another’s eye more than the beam in their own. Defeatist Spain, heir to the tradition of that generation of 98 marked by colonial defeats, returns to the parliamentary tribunes and digital bubbles. But I’m afraid many Spaniards are more proud of Spain than those speeches say, also of its internal diversity and its ability to reach agreements between different people instead of trampling them with all sorts of homogenizations. And they are even proud of that soccer team that failed to beat Morocco even on penalties. But that it represents a democracy that 44 years ago left behind a dictatorship like the one its neighbor to the south still suffers from. They only have the pride of football left, that is a complete defeat.