Torrentontitos. Let the reader keep the little word, which is not mine but which I make my own. How accurate Josep Martí Blanch was when in La Vanguardia he portrayed the idiots (sic) who chanted “jump, jump, jump, Muslim who doesn’t jump” that dull Tuesday of the Spain-Egypt match at the RCD Stadium.
There is still an undercurrent in Catalonia over those racist chants, while FIFA takes its time. From those muds, these sludges: the Parliament, once an oasis, now looks more like a set from Torrente president than a legislative chamber.
That’s when Vox deputy Alberto Tarradas, 29 years old and a devoted disciple of Santiago Abascal, entered the scene. The parallel – saving aesthetic chasms – is inevitable: that air of José Luis Torrente, the sexist and xenophobic ex-policeman, patriot (Spanish), from Santiago Segura’s franchise.
Tarradas Paneque, born in Roses and for years a product of the Abascal laboratory, has made a career in the party since he was 19, and has not left it. He was the youngest candidate in Spain for Vox. With family members in the Mossos, he is known for his cameos in urban actions against Girona separatists, Puigdemont included. Genuine performances aimed at his audience, that youth fed up with the nagging of political scientists and skillful at splashing in the current polarization.
This Thursday, from the podium, Tarradas finished his speech with a phrase that needs no interpretation: racist, Islamophobic, perfectly aware of its effect. He was addressing Najat Driouech, the first Muslim deputy in Catalonia (from ERC) and the first to wear a veil in the chamber.
Tarradas (Vox) degraded the Parliament with his xenophobic threat to Najat Driouech
The young man from Roses said he was surprised by the chants at the Spain-Egypt match. He added that he saw no problem at all. And he finished with a threat wrapped in sarcasm: that if the deputy didn’t jump, it was no big deal, that they wouldn’t deport her. “At least for now.” Later, well into the afternoon, came the half-hearted retractions. They will change nothing, even though the Board is already preparing the yellow card for this political substitute. The deterioration of the Parliament and, by extension, Catalan politics continues.
Every time Vox pushes its migration discourse to the extreme, it reveals itself, and crashes against the framework of its particular Overton window. It already happened when Rocío de Meer fantasized about expelling millions of people, including second generations, as if history could be erased by decree. Spain has been mixed for centuries. Vox is too, even if it pretends not to know it. They don’t say it for such deportation to happen – they know it’s unfeasible – but because it works. As fuel for hatred.
Torrentontitos. It’s not just a clever word. Thanks, Pep. It’s a diagnosis. And also a shame.
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