Our thanks to Rob for this. He writes:
The theme here is community and self-determination vs collectivism. The author is on the side of the former. The entrenched feminism of the Madrid government is noted. An extract:
“Beyond the economic issue, another interesting side note on Spain is its intense social justice (cultural Marxism) programs. While Europeans often suggest Spain as being a “conservative” government, in policy and action this is simply not true. Spain is notorious for being one of the most militantly feminist governments in the EU aside from Sweden, and this is saying something given the socialist nature of the EU. Gender laws and divorce laws in the country offer some of the most draconian double standards against men I have ever witnessed. Perhaps this will give you a kind of litmus test for the sort of culture we are dealing with here, and maybe it accounts for some discontent in certain portions of the Spanish population.”
Things look very worrying over there. Nigel Farage on his radio program recently pointed out that Madrid has 16,000 troops in ships moored off the coast near Barcelona.
It is way too early to speculate on what kind of social policies the government of an independent Catalonia might prefer. Less feminist and anti-male than Madrid, one hopes.
My fingers are crossed.
Rob
