Until a few weeks ago I didn't know who Carlos Berzosa was. Maybe I'd seen the name at some point, but remembering who the rectors of Spanish universities were didn't find a space in my already overcrowded memory. Until a few students at Madrid's Complutense University decided to give their rector a hard time. Berzosa got shoved and shouted at over a proposal to end gender segregation in the university's residences, known as colegios mayores.
The opposition of the students to this measure puzzled many observers, who wondered whether the new generation was going to turn out to be more conservative than that of their parents - many of whom had done their best to circumvent the segregationist restrictions when they were students. Then the Comunidad de Madrid weighed into the argument, on the side of those who opposed mixed colegios. An argument broke out over the maintenance of the colegios with Aguirre's administration blaming Berzosa for not spending wisely, whilst the rector claimed that he didn't have sufficient funding and defended the autonomy of the university.
As a result of this Berzosa has found himself on the already lengthy list of enemies maintained by the Madrid PP and their media friends. Fast forward to Tuesday, when the meeting organised by trade unions in support of Baltasar Garzón was held on the premises of the Complutense, and with the presence of Berzosa. An attack on democracy is how the PP has described this meeting, obviously sensing a threat to their monopoly in recent years of character assassination of judges they don't like. Berzosa has been attacked for allowing it to happen on university premises and in recognition of his recent fame he now joins Garzón, Samuel Eto'o and the puppets of Los Lunnis in being on the receiving end of a legal action brought by Manos Limpias.
Now given that Manos Limpias is currently competing strongly with the Falange to be the favourite extreme right group for judges on the Supreme Court, there is every probability of yet another Spanish court being paralysed with this latest act of political revenge. Also included in the complaint made by the organisation is the former anti-corruption prosecutor Carlos Jiménez Villarejo, whose hard hitting speech in defence of Garzón yesterday has outraged the ultra right. It all goes to show that you don't have to do very much these days to get dragged before the judge
15 comments:
"It all goes to show that you don't have to do very much these days to get dragged before the judge" - except, it seems, take part in mass murder. But there you go: maybe we're just behind the times.
Graeme,
I'd like to make a prediction for the next general election
(2012??). I actually think the PP will lose again. And they deserve it fully. I believe it would be bad for democracy if after all what we know about Guertel they win at the end. And with this I hope we can say goodbye to Camps, Fabra, Trillo, and obviously Rajoy - who might be a decent sort of chap but has done nothing to sort out the rot and cleanse the PP. All this does not mean I am enjoying the sight of Zapatero at the helm of the economy - but I guess there are some things that are even more important than the economy - and you won't hear me saying this very often.
An this is totally off-subject but I found this article in the "El Pais" quite interesting:
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/opinion/punalada/inglesa/Republica/elpepiopi/20100415elpepiopi_12/Tes
I hope you are right Moscow. The prospect of the PP being returned to power in spite of everything they have been found doing is enough to have me thinking recently about alternative places to live. The sense that they can get away with anything will be tremendous. The next election is Rajoy's to lose, and do think its quite possible that we end up with another minority government as a result.
Thanks for the link - perfidious Albion up to no good again.
Graeme,
Let me see.. the PSOE has 169 MPs, PP has 153. I'd say they will meet somewhere in the middle, 158-160. Perhaps the PP will have a few more, but not enough to avoid the PSOE forming a government with CiU.
It all depends a bit on how IU does (my forecast is 3-4 MPs) and of course UPyD (5-6 Mps).
What makes you assume that CiU wouldn't be prepared to help the PP back to power? It wouldn't be the first time.
Graeme,
Hmmmm... I guess in order to know the answer to that question we will have to wait and see the result of the Catalan elections in a few months...and more importantly see what happens in their inmediate aftermath...
I have it on very good authority that Rajoy is already practising the Sardana. In private of course!
Graeme,
I agree totally with your fear of a PP (or any other party for that sake) which thinks that they can get away with anything. But I'm not so sure any longer that the next elections is Rajoy's to lose. Where I would want to see an oppostion spending all their time challenging ZP on liberalisation and cost cuts in the public administration, I regret to find a party which instead focuses on Spanish nationalism and catholic values and is so close to corruption that even their own people admit it.
In Catalonia things are very different. Here I would say that CiU doesn't any longer hope that Artur Mas will be the next president, we know that he will and the only issue is where - what most likely will be a minority government - will be able to find support. But neither that should be a problem - PSC and ERC are a perfect match as alternatives.
What I do exclude, however, is a closer co-operation with PP. CiU's main criticism of the Tripartit isn't regarding left-wing policies, but that PSC "doesn't have a sense of Catalonia as a country". Nor will CiU win the next election with a right-wing platform, but
because they come across as the best people to govern Catalonia.
Maybe the return to power will make CiU more right-wing again, but today it above all presents itself as a "truly Catalan alternative" and the step from there to approaching the PP is, as I see it, as impossible in the Catalan as in the Spanish parliament.
If I'm right, PSOE will stay in power after the 2012 elections, unless PP gets so strong that they don't need CiU.
//Erik
Erik, you may be right because CiU suffered badly from their past association with the PP. On the other hand, their main interest is always in controlling the Generalitat and being the king makers at national level is like a secondary hobby which occasionally brings them trophies to display to the folks back home - especially when neither of the big two parties can form a government without them. Given that they might win control of the Catalan government well before the general election the risk from them doing deals with the PP is reduced. Leaving the national question aside, they have common ground as conservative parties.
I stll believe Rajoy won't make it. I don't know why but he just doesn't appear in my cristal ball nor in the intestines of the wild duck I have just butchered......
I actually would like the PP to govern again. My problem is I want a different sort of PP. Anyway, whether it is the PP or the PSOE who goes to bed with the promiscuous catalans, there is one party that can benefit handsomely from any such scenario: UPyD.
"A different sort of PP" - That would be UPyD then? Are you going to eat that duck or did you just slaughter it to see how the intestines spilt?
You wouldn't believe it if I told you what I saw when the intestines split...
Funny, some people seem to think the UPyD is just a trojan horse for the PSOE...or wait...was it the for the PP?
"You wouldn't believe it if I told you what I saw when the intestines split"
Let me guess...a (trojan) horse's head?
If UPyD is a Trojan horse, most likely it's a Trojan horse neither for the PP nor PSOE but for Rosa Diez, on her way from one of these parties to the other - or to political retirement.
Cynical, but that's the way it happened in Ireland.
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