Carmen Gomez

Not wishing to dwell too much on the subject, nevertheless the issue needs our attention because it causes unrest in our midst, and like a cancer, can spread through a country where at present there is great dissatisfaction with its lot. I speak of the party Vox; a party whose leaders are concerned with flattering the prejudices of the mob, and their own. Some time back, the Spanish people were more or less content with their circumstances, because they were resigned to a restricted and artificial range of emotions, taking things as they found them. 

By this I mean that though matters in the public domain, such as people being ousted from their home, which continues to happen at an alarming rate; or pregnant mothers losing their babies due to contaminated meat with no proper satisfactory official outcome; no one still is creating much of an outcry, except for the pensioner’s demonstrations.

Discontent

For all that, Spaniards crave representations. They are perhaps unwilling to protest, but being conscious and critical of these and other realities, they crave some solutions; something in respect of which they can be more spectators and less participants. They want the human drama which Vox purports to provide. A party whose leader’s conduct at times can be seen as almost orgiastic; a conduct which is guilty of “confusion des genres,” since they have the capacity to lead the people in unexpected directions.

They play on the people’s discontent and throw whatever they believe into their hate speeches; either by sparking hatred towards the Catalans, or in this case Gibraltar, its people and its leader; in the knowledge that this will play on the people’s sentiments and fuel the fervour needed for their own party interests.

It was in October 2015, when I wrote an article which carried the photo of a banner stretched across an avenue on Spain’s national day parade in Madrid, with the words in capitals which read !Gibraltar Español;” and above it “ Piratas fuera;” and underneath the message, that all good Spaniards should urinate always in the direction of England. I believe this to be a quote from some admiral of theirs way back in their chequered history; certainly not an expression of their intended good will towards us. In May 2016, Vox was already demonstrating its message of hate, and claiming Spain’s right to the Rock; aided and abetted by the far right group Gibraltar Español, promoting unadulterated hate for Gibraltar. At the time said fascist facebook had 110,000 followers, offering videos of the Rock being bombarded by Spanish missiles; similar to that of 2013 where they showed a total annihilation of the Rock, together with their video nasty of Gibraltarians being massacred. Today their following has grown by 7,000.

A further six years down the road, with a much bigger following and the same incitement to hate as in 2015, when they called for aircraft landing and departing from the Rock to be used for target practice, and be brought down. With the then message, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?” See what I mean? What call for vendetta lies hidden in these words? Unless they mistake the action of handing over Gibraltar by Spain to Great Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht, to one of Great Britain wrongfully seizing Gibraltar from them. I recall writing at the time that none of this should not be taken lightly.

Not the end

However, this is not the end of the Spanish media armada. There is an ex foreign affairs minister who having failed in his crusade; as all of them have before him i.e. to give Spain Gibraltar on a platter; he now travels the land as a spokesperson for all these wretches. On the facebook mentioned above, in addition to their usual insults, they now have an interview of Margallo on the Spanish popular radio station “La Cope” of the 14th December last year, where he says with reference to Gibraltar, that Spain now has the key. He says that this Intolerable situation exists because no single party dares to demand the return of Gibraltar, because they are terrified of what those in the Campo think, who don’t want any change in the status quo because they live from it! He also continues to repeat the lie that the Spanish workers are being discriminated upon.

Lying is a pastime in Spain for politicians, so we can’t take him to court for that. At the end of the day, we are left at a huge disadvantage, because the man in the street is unable to draw a line between criticism and metaphysics. It starts with criticism and before they know it, they are over the frontier (never better said) into something else. I don’t believe that many in Spain have the capacity to know what they are doing when they do it; or to be able to know how and when to retrace their steps.

Eager ear

This is where Vox finds a voice and steps in to lead them where they think they want to go. They find an eager ear in the midst of people’s disturbance; a people who should not be occupied with the past; which is quite futile when we come to consider the present in relation to the future. How do we counteract this? Surely it’s for Great Britain to find a solution and advise Spain what they can do with their key.

Not interested in the mass but in the drama of it. you do not care about the mass if you are a believer and even if you are a believer you will have desires which crave fulfilment otherwise. For such people live in various degrees. We need amusement.

We are Aesthete – person who is appreciative of and sensitive to art and beauty

What is much more likely is that nothing will be done at all. We are all too busy. We have to try and earn our living in other ways.

It is even doubtful whether we are sufficiently interested cannot make the plays o to speak unless we think there is a demand and there will be no demand until we have made it.

Rember when the Spanish minister for finance Sr. Montoro in 2014 accused the Government of Gibraltar of a supposed evasion of millions of Euros locally despite our chief minister inviting him to a fact finding mission over his unfounded accusations and disregarding the legislation passed in Gibraltar in the last twenty years which complied with OECD and EU requirements.

Lack of respect

An abysmal lack of respect for our law and our chief minister one should not have to live with this constant struggle of having to explain ourselves and defend ourselves At every moment this abuse and denigration of our good name.

10-01-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR