Afraid of What? Why Islamist Terrorism and the Catalan Independence Question Became Conflated in Representations of the 2017 Barcelona Attacks

Abstract

This article analyses why the issue of terrorism and the quest for independence in Catalonia, which are fundamentally different matters, became conflated in representations of and responses to the terrorist violence of 17 August 2017 in Barcelona and Cambrils. Pro-independence discourses and messages that developed in response not only to the attacks themselves, but also to the Spanish authorities’ handling of the situation, were successfully used to further the sense of group cohesion that had gradually been built over several years beforehand by pro-independence activists, and which was so crucial to attempts to increase support for independence in the run-up to the illegal referendum of 1 October 2017. This is shown through two case studies: first, the use of the phrase ‘No tinc por’ (‘I’m not afraid’) in defiance not only of Islamist terrorists, but also of Spanish politicians refusing to allow an independence referendum; and second, the role and depiction of the Mossos d’Esquadra (the Catalan police) in the aftermath of the attacks, especially the making of a hero out of Catalan police chief Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez.

Key words:

• Catalonia
• Islamist terrorism
• Catalan independence
• Civil Society
• ‘No tinc por’
• Mossos d’Esquadra

ORCID

Caroline Gray http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8634-1468

Notes

1 See, for example, ‘El consejero catalán de Interior separa entre víctimas del atentado catalanas y españolas’, El País, 20 August 2017; available at <https://elpais.com/politica/2017/08/19/actualidad/1503154324_828771.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

2 ‘Víctimas de 34 nacionalidades en unos atentados que suman ya 14 fallecidos’, La Vanguardia, 18 August 2017; available at <http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170818/43636371701/victimas-de-34-nacionalidades-en-unos-atentados-que-suman-ya-14-fallecidos.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

3 Kathryn Crameri, ‘Goodbye, Spain?’: The Question of Independence for Catalonia (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2014).

4 Kathryn Crameri, ‘ “We Need Another Hero”: The Construction of Josep Moragues As a Symbol of Independence for Catalonia’, National Identities, 13:1 (2011), 51–65.

5 Crameri, ‘Goodbye, Spain?’, 73–99.

6 For a fuller account of the two approaches, see Caroline Gray, Nationalist Politics and Regional Financing Systems in the Basque Country and Catalonia, Colección Tesis Doctorales de la Hacienda Foral 4 (Bilbao: Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, 2016), 82–94; available at <http://www.conciertoeconomico.org/phocadownload/TESIS-Gray-Nationalists-politics.pdf> (accessed 16 January 2018).

7 Gray, Nationalist Politics, 91.

8 Kathryn Crameri, ‘Political Power and Civil Counterpower: The Complex Dynamics of the Catalan Independence Movement’, in Contesting Spain? The Dynamics of Nationalist Movements in Catalonia and the Basque Country, ed. Richard Gillespie & Caroline Gray, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 21:1 (2015), 104–20 (pp. 107–11).

9 Manuel Castells, Communication Power (Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2013 [1^st ed. 2009]), xxii–xxiv.

10 Mark Honigsbaum, ‘Defiance and Solidarity on the Web’, The Guardian, 11 July 2005; available at <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2005/jul/11/newmedia.attackonlondon> (accessed 16 January 2018).

11 Programme website: <http://www.ccma.cat/tv3/super3/>; official video of the song: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgS_uWVMfWY>; song lyrics: <http://www.ccma.cat/tv3/super3/uh-oh-no-tinc-por/disc/50/> (all accessed 16 January 2018).

12 Josep Gustems Carnicer & Olga González Mediel, ‘La música y el sonido en la programación infantil de televisió de Catalunya’, in ¿Qué escuchan los niños en la televisión?, ed. Amparo Porta (Castelló de la Plana: Publicacions de la Univ. Jaume I/Valencia: Rivera Editores, D. L., 2010), 110–33 (pp. 120–22).

13 Marissa de Dios, ‘El “Club Super 3” cumple 25 años’, El Periódico, 11 February 2016; available at <https://www.elperiodico.com/es/tele/20160211/club-super-3-25-anos-super-3-tvc-4880345> (accessed 16 January 2018).

14 Personal interview, 11 December 2017.

15 Personal interview, 11 December 2017.

16 ‘Los personajes del Super3 protagonizan un musical’, La Vanguardia, 22 November 2013 (updated 24 November 2013); available at <http://www.lavanguardia.com/musica/20131122/54393759330/super3-musical.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

17 Figures taken from Encuesta de usos lingüísticos de la población 2018, published by the Catalan government’s Departament de Cultura and L’Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya (Idescat); available at <https://www.idescat.cat/pub/?id=eulp&lang=es> (accessed 17 July 2019).

18 ‘Tardá [sic] a Rajoy: “Uh, oh, no tinc por!” ’, La Vanguardia, 30 August 2017; available at <http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20170830/43920277505/joan-tarda-mariano-rajoy-catalunya-fuerza.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

19 Tardà’s full speech has been uploaded by La Vanguardia to their YouTube channel, ‘Joan Tardà: “Uh oh no tinc por!” a Rajoy’ (30 August 2017); available at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr98m-eKNYw> (accessed 16 January 2018).

20 See Jordi Calvis (@jordicalvis), Tweet, 9 June 2017; available at <https://twitter.com/jordicalvis/status/873258766287949826> (accessed 18 June 2019).

21 Personal interview, 11 December 2017.

22 Manuel Castells, Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015 [1^st ed. 2012]), 10.

23 Personal interview, 11 December 2017. Catalan National Day commemorates the fall of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession.

24 For the adapted image, see, for example, Jordi Sànchez (@jordisanchezp), Tweet, 21 August 2017; available at <https://twitter.com/jordisanchezp/status/899599281337884672> (accessed 17 July 2019). At the time, Sànchez was President of the ANC.

25 Guillermina Torresi, ‘Las redes sociales se rinden a favor de Trapero’, La Vanguardia, 22 August 2017; available at <http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20170821/43730477206/bueno-pues-molt-be-pos-adios-josep-lluis-trapero-major-mossos-atentado-barcelona.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

26 ‘Josep Lluís Trapero, el “comisari Paella”: de fiesta con Puigdemont y Rahola hace un año’, Libertad Digital, 23 August 2017, <http://www.libertaddigital.com/espana/2017-08-23/josep-lluis-trapero-el-comisari-paella-de-fiesta-con-puigdemont-hace-un-ano-1276604754/> (accessed 16 January 2018).

27 See Jordi Calvis (@jordicalvis), Tweet, 21 August 2017; available at <https://twitter.com/jordicalvis/status/899689008510488577> (accessed 18 June 2019).

28 See Trapero Fans Club (@TraperoFansClub), Tweet, 30 September 2017; available at <https://twitter.com/TraperoFansClub/status/914132032858533893> (accessed 17 July 2019).

29 The video of the song, ‘ “Sóc en Trapero”, el musical del major dels Mossos’ is available on the official Polònia TV3 YouTube channel, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypyd7LnhVFA> (accessed 16 January 2018). The viewers’ estimate is taken from press articles, including Tomàs Delclós, ‘Trapero encén el “Polònia” ’, El País, 15 September 2017; available at <https://cat.elpais.com/cat/2017/09/15/cultura/1505470945_727033.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

30 Crameri, ‘Goodbye, Spain?’, 119–20.

31 Crameri, ‘Goodbye, Spain?’, 119–20.

32 Enric Hernández, ‘Los Mossos recibieron la alerta de atentado en Barcelona de la CIA el 25 de mayo’, El Periódico, 31 August 2017 (updated 1 September 2017); available at <http://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20170831/mossos-recibieron-alerta-atentado-cia-25-mayo-6255194> (accessed 16 January 2018).

33 ‘Mossos admiten un aviso sobre Rambla pero alegan que no era de la CIA ni fiable’, La Vanguardia, 31 August 2017; available at <http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20170831/43938713732/mossos-admiten-un-aviso-sobre-rambla-pero-alegan-no-era-de-la-cia-ni-fiable.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

34 ‘Los Mossos intentaron destruir la alerta de EEUU sobre la Rambla’, El Periódico, 21 January 2018 (updated 22 January 2018); available at <https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20180121/mossos-intentaron-destruir-alerta-eeuu-rambla-6567677> (accessed 2 May 2018).

35 Liz Castro, ‘Catalonia is Everyone’s Business’, Ara in English, 1 October 2017, <https://www.ara.cat/en/Catalonia-is-everyones-business_0_1879612284.html> (accessed 16 January 2018).

36 Personal interview, 15 December 2017.

* Disclosure Statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.