Deputy of Brand Spain resigns after Catalan twitter insult
July 22, 2013It has been common for a while in Catalonia for crowds attending sports and cultural events to boo or whistle during Spain’s national anthem, including the opening ceremony of the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona on Friday.
The booing prompted Juan Carlos Gafo, who is deputy to the head of Marca España (Brand Spain), the organisation set up to help promote Spain overseas, to tweet: “Fucking Catalans, they don’t deserve anything”.
Unusually for Spain Gafo was forced to resign. However, the incident does highlight both the depth of feeling on both sides of the argument and also how many people in Spain feel it is acceptable to publicly voice their dislike of Catalans.
In the last 15 years or so I have been shocked on a number of occasions by the way Spaniards behave towards me when I have told them my partner is Catalan. Without going into full details here now (although I may return to this), if “Catalan partner” had been instead “black”, “Jewish” or “gay” then what these people did or said would have been seen as completely unacceptable by most people in Spanish society.
Why then is it that a large part of Spanish society despises Catalonia and Catalans with a vengeance and that it is acceptable to voice that opinion.
Source: El Pais
Tags: Brand Spain, socialmedia
