Despite the words pronounced by Zapatero, it is not true that Spain's victory in Euro 2008 has had a unity effect on Catalan, Basque and Galician nations. Not all the media have assumed that point of view and some of them have seen the attempt to avoid a political reality. Spain is about to split at least in three states in a relatively short period of time. Football is not going to change that. Some people may be stupid, but not to that point.
BBC published an article in which they refer to "regional divisions": "Basque and Catalan nationalists are not suddenly going to abandon their political principles on the strength of a goal by Fernando Torres." True. Obviously true. And the Herald Tribune wrote: "However, there have been no public screens erected in the northern Catalan regional capital Barcelona and in the Basque port city of Bilbao. Both regions have long-term separatist issues that stem from a distant history when Spain was composed of autonomous kingdoms, differences which were exacerbated by political antagonisms which culminated in a 1936-39 civil war."
Since you cannot build a nation on the basis of football, and since Spain has been doing the opposite thing to build a nation by denying the right of Catalan and Basques to exist, once Euro 2008 is over everything remains as it has always been. Catalonia, on its way to an own state. Spain, defending a 30-year-old Constitution against all evolution and democratic essay.
BBC published an article in which they refer to "regional divisions": "Basque and Catalan nationalists are not suddenly going to abandon their political principles on the strength of a goal by Fernando Torres." True. Obviously true. And the Herald Tribune wrote: "However, there have been no public screens erected in the northern Catalan regional capital Barcelona and in the Basque port city of Bilbao. Both regions have long-term separatist issues that stem from a distant history when Spain was composed of autonomous kingdoms, differences which were exacerbated by political antagonisms which culminated in a 1936-39 civil war."
Since you cannot build a nation on the basis of football, and since Spain has been doing the opposite thing to build a nation by denying the right of Catalan and Basques to exist, once Euro 2008 is over everything remains as it has always been. Catalonia, on its way to an own state. Spain, defending a 30-year-old Constitution against all evolution and democratic essay.
