Patriotism or Fascism?

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel", as the famous 18th century English writer, Dr Samuel Johnson said. The events of recent weeks in Catalonia and the response to them across Spain offer an opportunity to reflect on his words. Following the events in Catalonia, the people of Madrid have taken to the streets to protest the region's drive for independence. Many of the anti-separatist supporters are simply showing their disagreement with the Catalonian referendum and are fighting for Spain to remain a strong and unified country. However, amongst these demonstrators, some were seen performing fascist arm salutes while singing "Cara al sol", a far-right political song.

There is nothing wrong with being patriotic. It can inspire a sense of civic duty amongst a population as well as a willingness to make your country the best version of itself that it can be. However, sometimes patriotism can be taken to an extreme, allowing hate and exclusion to flourish. This has recently been seen in Spain, following Catalonia's urge to seek independence. I am aware that most people hanging Spanish flags outside their windows are simply doing this as a form of resistance to the Catalans, showing how they want their country to remain united. Nevertheless, this has also provided an opportunity for fascists to alter the purpose of the Spanish flag and to transmit a hateful message. Additionally, the performance of the fascist salute, as well as far right songs, such as "Cara al sol", hold dark connotations of the oppression under the Francoist regime, actions which I believe should not be tolerated. One thing is patriotism, but what a tiny minority has been showing is blatant fascism.

I am aware that the majority of demonstrators are not sympathising with fascism, and are merely responding to provocative flag-waving by Catalans by wrapping themselves in their own national banners. Despite this, flags can become symbols of division and provide people with extremist ideologies with a means to flaunt their ideology. That said, I believe that there is a great difference between patriotism and fascism, and the contemporary events occurring in Spain should not be taken advantage of to propagate hatred.��

health care

According to the Bloomberg Health-care Efficiency Index which gauges life expectancy, health-care spending per capita and relative spending as a share of the gross domestic product, the US has consistently ranked poorly since 2012. This is mainly due to elevated spending which is at $9,403 per person, higher than Panama or Greece which don't exceed $3,000 per person, but also due to a budget allocation of only 17.1% of the nation's GDP. Comparatively, Spain is ranked as an above average representation of health-care in OECD countries at 3rd. This efficiency stems from an average spending of $2,600 per person with an average life expectancy of nearly 84 years. Health-care costs receive 10% of GDP spending, therefore being subsidised and thus most citizens see no out-of-pocket expenses when they visit public hospitals. This Single Payer method of socialised medicine has resulted in some complaints of long waiting times and delays in seeing specialised doctors beyond primary care. The top two countries on this index are Singapore and Hong Kong, respectively. The latter requires that health-care is never provided for free in order to prevent wasteful practices and these costs are kept artificially low through government subsidies which use only 1.6% of the city-state's GDP. The country also uses a system like Medisave which deducts 9% of one's wages and allocates that to a medical savings account for personal or family care. Hong Kong uses a mix of public and private health-care systems which results in a low cost of only $2,000 per person, and despite securing one of the largest life expectancies in the world, there are excessive waiting times as some patients may have to wait 2 years to see a specialist in a public hospital. To compensate for this, private hospitals are speedy but expensive. The amalgamation of these two systems results in impressive efficiency which comprehensibly grants the autonomous region the Number 1 spot.

By Alvaro Millan

Catalonia: What's going on?

20th September, 2017

The morning of the 20th of September witnessed Anubis, the largest anti-independence operation up to that point, which Rajoy claimed to have "effectively ended the possibilities of holding the illegal referendum".� This action required the mobilisation of three different companies of the Civil Guard, with the subsequent support of the Mossos de Esquadra to facilitate the duty of the Guards when protestors tried to prevent their efforts. The main targets of the police units was the Conselleria d� Economia, the de facto administrative head quarter of the 1-O referendum, where 14 arrests were made, most of them being high ranking officials of the Catalan government and relevant organisers of the referendum; the most prominent detainee was Josep Jove, right hand of the nationalist leader, Oriol Junqueras. Apart from the arrests, the Civil Guard seized 9.8 million ballot papers among other items necessary for the referendum.�

Outside of Catalonia the response to these events happened immediately, particularly in the Spanish Congress. The members of Esquerra Republicana abandoned congress, while insulting their fellow congressmen. In a more polite fashion, the other members of Catalan parties at Congress also abandoned the hemicycle, both groups refusing to return until the governmental actions are undone.

Simultaneously, a Ciudadanos-led proposal to grant support for the government has being turned down, after the PSOE voting against. Pablo Iglesias denounced the "existence of political prisoners in Spain", referring to the arrests, and his party performed a silent protest outside of Congress following the failure of Rivera�s proposal.

At this critical point the President of the Government, Mr Mariano Rajoy, met with both Albert Rivera and Pedro Sanchez in the Moncloa Palace. The repercussions of these meetings are yet to come. Finally, Rajoy gave a 10 minute long official address at 9 o�clock, 13 hours after the start of the operation, in which he warned the President of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, to stop any further provocation as they will be responded and where he implied that the Rule of Law will always be sustained.�

As this events were unfolding in Madrid, Puigdemont officially claimed ""that these actions were the suppression of the Catalonian state of Autonomy", a suppression that hasn't yet occurred. Vast numbers of the CUP sympathisers, the pro-independence anarchist party, congregated outside the Conselleria d�economia, vandalising multiple vehicles of the law and order forces and besieging the Civil Guards inside the building, a siege that was only partially broken thanks to the multiple charges launched by the Mossos and which meant that some Civil Guards were only able to depart after 20 tense hours.

The concentration of independence supporters appears to have been the largest number of protestors in the history of the Catalan conflict. However, no official confirmation came from the security forces. Perhaps the most significant reaction to the situation in Catalonia is the communication released by the Barcelona football club which condemned the government's actions. �

By Andres Nonymous�

Why the people of Catalan should be given the right to a vote on independence

Every year on the 9th of September (Catalonia's national day) millions of people line the streets peacefully demonstrating with smiles, songs and flags rallying for Catalonian independence. Yet, the Spanish government refuses to allow the Catalans a referendum to decide if they wish to remain a part of Spain, or to break off and form an independent nation.