Rafael Estrella is a socialist member of the Spanish Parlament.

(Europa Press, José Montilla, 26th October, 2005)

José Montilla is the socialist Industry Minister which holds the regulator role in telecommunications and media markets. He has tried to ilegally close a new TV channel in Madrid, and now is attacking a radio station that is criticizing the new catalonian statute that he (he is also the leader of socialists in Catalonia) and Maragall have impelled and now want to reform. He is appealing to the stockholders (the Catholic Church) to try to intimidate them so the journalists don't criticize him and the statute.

Socialists and journalists of Grupo Prisa (the media group who supports socialists whatever they do, which owns important media like El País newspaper, SER radio station, Canal + TV station, La Cuatro TV station, Localia TV, Cinco Días financial daily, El Siglo magazine, Digital + satelite TV,...) are constantly attacking COPE and PP calling them fascists, Franco's heirs, ultra-rightists, radicals, criminals, and anything available to make clear that PP is not a possible and democratic choice for the electors.

I would want to know what would happen in the USA if the Secretary of Commerce (or whoever is in charge of media affairs) criticized a specific medium (radio/TV/newspaper) in such a manner (appealing to the stockholders and war-like terms, which in Spain have the connotation of the Civil War). Would he be in charge more than 5 minutes?

Fernando

Fernando,

Only if he were a Democrat under a Democratic administration. E.g. Bill Gates circa 1998.

Although you've tried to set me straight, I still don't see much difference between the Socialists in your country, and the Democrats in ours.

Fernando, is this the next thread for continuing your interesting "Huge Madrid Rally" series?

Are you going to go?



Talking about news, cava or champagne for christmas? remember what Mr.Rajoy( PP) have said today about that :

"Mariano Rajoy, has sent in Sant Sadurní a clear message against the possible boycott that can suffer Catalan products , specially Cava, as a result of the reform of the Statute of Catalonia." El Mundo Oct-27


We have to point out that COPE is supporting a boycott against catalan products. Despite of that I blame the people who has made the false bomb threat.

Pffffff... the boycott...what a stupid idea.
Don't eat or dring anything, because all the main food and drink companies of Spain are in Barcelona actually:
-No Cola Cao
-No Danone
-No Nestle
-No biscuits at all.
-No pan Bimbo

May I continue?

COPE radio was prived of some of its stations in Catalonia by the catalonian government due to a "lack of frequencies" (they inmediately gave those frequencies to Grupo Prisa and other supportive media).

This is stated by the speaker of the same party (PSOE socialists) that has prepared the inconstitutional catalonian statute which is going to be reformed in the spanish parlament by that same party. This same member is the one who was part of the most corrupt government in our history (in which even the head of the Bank of Spain, two ministers, one state's secretary, the head of the police,... were trialed and condemned for corruption/state's terrorism). This same speaker is the one who appeared of TV the day before the elections of 14/3 (three days after Madrid bombings) to demand information to our former Government (no matter it is explicitly forbidden by our electoral law to make public statements the day before the elections) and is also the one who has vetoed the participation of 50 persons in the investigation of 3/11 bombings in the Parlament.

sdavidr: That demonstration has been organized by Foro de Ermua, the association formed by the mayor of Ermua (socialist) after Miguel Angel Blanco (PP councilman) assassination. I fully support it, but I'm not going to participate.

As for boycotts, I believe in the freedom of people to choose in what to spend their money. If I have to choose between a catalonian cava and a Extremadura's cava, I will choose the second. But I never drink cava anyway. What I'm going to do for sure is to close my current account in La Caixa. I have the right to decide who is going to manage my money, and La Caixa is financing independentists and supporting this statute, so I know what to do (no matter that they charge me for everything while other don't).

Fernando

I’m with you Fernando. I think boycotting is a perfectly legitimate form of protest, and it respects a person’s right to decide how he wishes to spend his money. Catalonia relies heavily on the rest of Spain for its economic health (40 billion in sales), and it’s not bad for the Catalan government to be reminded of this from time to time.

It isn’t really fair to vent frustration out on just the cava sector (on top of that, many of the components that go into a bottle like the cork and the bottle itself is made in other parts of Spain), but it does confirm an issue that I’ve alluded to several times, and that is money IS a big part of these things. The minute money gets involved, suddenly everyone gets nervous. Well, in my opinion, it’s the people who have the money who are getting nervous, not me, that’s for sure.

By the way, this all started when a man with a small business in Valladolid canceled his business ties with a Catalan supplier. The letter was scanned and circulated around the internet. I remember getting the email a week or two ago, but I had no idea it would turn into something like this. There was an interesting article about the boycott in El Mundo today.

Speaking of “pass-it-on” emails which are becoming popular these days. I received a presentation calling people to go to an anti-estatut rally on Tuesday, Nov. 1, in the Plaza de Castilla. Has anyone else received it? Who’s behind that?

Cope is a radio who’s journalists ( specially one) have said that the solution of illegal immigrants is to kill those immigrants. They make jokes about the death and disgrace of immigrants. That the task of spanish government is to talk with normal people and not with homosexuals muslims and catalans. That Catalonia is ruled by terrorists and that catalans deserve a corrupt society. That the solution of Spain is to destroy all the Spanish System of Autonomies , and to attack the diversity, the culture and language of all spanish regions because they are the evil’s root of Spain. That the reform of catalans statute is a coup d'etat supported by King Juan Carlos I...

Of course a lot of christian communities have denounced that situation, and of course PP don’t share these opinions. PP is going against catalan statute because of political reasons.
Valencian government is governed by PP and they have approved also a very similar "unconstitutional” statute. So ,I think there is a BIG difference between radio COPE and PP.

Talking about the rally of Foro de Ermua. Well, if they are defending a situation that affect all spaniards I don’t understant why they are worried about the people who REALLY support the “Unity” of Spain attacking his diversity:

Foro de Ermua :“Specifically we asked the fascists not go to the act " "we did not need preconstitutional eagles"

Also it’s surprising that some posts here consider that attacking the catalan government you are defending Spain. It’s good to remember that catalan government it’s a SPANISH institution that represents 7 millions of spaniards. Well, you could repeat and repeat and repeat a lie, that almost all catalans want the independence of Catalonia when that is not true. It’s good to remember that the statute of Catalonia is a spanish law like the statue of Madrid, that the objective of these statutes is to defend the necessities of the citizens of each self-governing autonomy: a good self-government, a government who governs with the necessary resources.

I believe that some spaniards ( a minority not represented by PP ) are not interested in discussing with democracy this statute and all other upcoming reforms of spanish statutes (galician, valencian,etc) . I am afraid that the really intention is to change the nature of the State of the Autonomies and to advance towards its authentic objectives: to destroy the diversity of Spain( and recover the Spain of Franco) , the actual constitution, and dividing all spaniards.