Merry Felonies: The Constitutional sledge hammer
I couldn’t pass up a chance to bust out a Merry Felonies cartoon. My focus this time is on Spain’s President, Mariano Rajoy, and his reaction to the Catalan referendum to be held (or not) on October 1st.
2017 Catalan independence referendum
An independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. Nearly 2.3 million ballots were cast, but the day was marred by brutal police violence leaving around 1,000 people injured (depending on sources). The pro-independence local government organized a non-binding referendum that asked citizens, “Do you want Catalonia to be an independent country in the form of a Republic?” Spain’s Constitutional Court had previously declared the vote illegal, but Catalan independence leaders pushed ahead with the referendum regardless.
“Police smashed their way into polling stations, and were seen pulling voters out by the hair and restraining elderly people. The scenes shocked Catalans and reverberated around Europe. Almost 900 people were injured, Catalan officials said. Opposition parties criticized Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for taking a heavy-handed approach to blocking the vote.” [read more…]
FC Barcelona condemned the events and how the police prevented citizens from exercising their democratic rights. They stated, “FC Barcelona condemns the events which have taken place in many parts of Catalonia today in order to prevent its citizens exercising their democratic right to free expression.” [read more…]
“Of all votes cast, 2,044,038 people voted in favor of independence (90.18%), while 177,547 voted against it (7.83%). A total of 19,719 votes were declared void (1.98%). Scenes of jubilant celebration take over many polling stations. Catalan health authorities later reported that 1,066 people had been treated for injuries sustained from Spanish police actions to stop the vote.” [read more…]
Was it a legal referendum?
Madrid insists the vote was illegal. Prime Minister Rajoy said on Sunday that it “didn’t happen.” The EU was overwhelmingly in Rajoy’s camp and said nothing to condemn his heavy handed tactics.
The national government argues that Spain’s Constitution, revised in 1978, says that all Spaniards have the right to vote in referenda on major issues, so any vote on secession must be put to all Spaniards. Less than half of the regions 5 million voters appear to have taken part in the referendum. Does that give him the right to attack his own citizens? Hell no!
Learn more:
• Catalonia’s 2017 independence referendum: a timeline
• Catalonia independence referendum: What just happened?
• The Spanish Court Decision That Sparked the Modern Catalan Independence Movement
• Spain passes bill granting amnesty to Catalan secessionists
News from the wrong perspective
Have you ever read the news and thought something like this…
• Is this true?
• No! This must be a joke.
• Are these people are crazy?
• You’ve got to be kidding!
• Is this guy on drugs?
Well, you’re not alone. Merry Felonies is our form of relief. A way to lighten our spirits when the news is too damn much! So, when we see something ridiculous, we have to make fun of it.
Latest Merry Felonies ✎﹏﹏
જ⁀➴ Read ALL of our Merry Felonies cartoons!
How did the comic strip start?
The idea for Merry Felonies started with our reaction to the news. Miguel and I would watch or read the news and make sarcastic comments. If there was something particularly funny, Miguel would sketch something out and I’d think of a punchline.
When our good friend and favorite renegade economist Steve Keen worked with IDEA Economics, a small outfit that worked to educate regular people about how economics functions, we were hired to provide the comic strip. It ran from about 2015 – 2020.
It’s interesting to look back at that era and realize that not only have things not changed much, they’ve somehow gotten worse (economically speaking). Now we’ll republish all the comic strip here.
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