Sanchez’s Negotiates Amnesty & more – 2nd Nov 2023

Buenos días from Oberlin! This is the Rorshok Spain Update from the 2nd of November twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Spain.

Let’s start with political news. Pedro Sánchez might be getting closer to securing a presidential position. Several news outlets state that the socialist leader has almost certainly reached a deal with Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya about an amnesty for 4,000 individuals convicted for their involvement in the twenty seventeen Catalan independence forum.

However, his open support for the amnesty was called into question. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, head of the conservative People’s Party or Partido Popular, stated that it was up to the Spanish people to decide if an amnesty should be granted and called for elections. Other centrist and right-wing parties have also criticized Sanchez’s position on the amnesty issue.

But what about Sanchez’s supporters? On Saturday, the 28th of October, the Socialist Party or PSOE put the support deal with Sumar and other political factions to form a government to the vote. Members of the PSOE and the Catalan Socialist Party will have until Saturday, the 4th of November, to cast their vote.

Although the agreement with Sumar won’t pose much of a problem, the amnesty is still controversial. What Sánchez really wants to know is if the party will support him regarding the amnesty deal since he virtually admitted on Saturday, 28th October, at the PSOE conference, that granting amnesty would be the price to pay for reaching an agreement with the Catalans. It was reported that on Tuesday, the 31st of October, he negotiated with Catalan President Pere Aragonés about what the amnesty law needed to include.

What are the risks of granting the amnesty? Well, the one first and foremost in most detractors’ minds is Catalunya declaring independence. That is the goal of Carles Puigdemont, the former president of Catalunya. He is wanted by Spanish justice for his role in the unrecognized twenty seventeen referendum.

Another subject Spaniards all over the country are talking about is Princess Leonor’s swearing in ceremony. The Heir to the Spanish throne pledged allegiance to the country’s constitution with the entire Congress as witnesses on Tuesday, 31st of October, the day of her eighteenth birthday. Her father, King Felipe VI, also did the same when he turned eighteen. This ceremony effectively allows the heir to instantly become the monarchy’s head if the King or Queen abdicated or passed away.

Her parents were by her side, but the King and Queen emeritus were notably absent. This was to avoid people associating the princess in any way with retired King Juan Carlos I and the accusations of corruption against him. Also missing were key government members whose Republican beliefs kept them from attending. One example was Ione Belarra, acting social rights minister and leader of the political party We Can, or Podemos.

Moving on to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Around 35,000 people gathered in Madrid to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The protesters’ main motto was “Stop the war. Neither genocide nor terrorism.”

Belarra attended the protests and harshly criticized President Pedro Sánchez and other European leaders, stating that they weren’t addressing the situation as seriously as they should.” She also called for Spain to bring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Back in twenty twenty-two, the Spanish Congress approved setting up an independent commission to investigate cases of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. The commission released the preliminary results of that inquest on Friday, 27th October.

Ángel Gabilondo, Spain’s national ombudsman, gave a press conference in Madrid, where he announced that of the over 8,000 adults polled 0.6% stated a clergy member had sexually abused them as children or around fifty of those 8,000 plus. The report goes on to say that the way the Church dealt with sexual assault cases was “insufficient.” The commission also suggested they create a state fund to pay reparations.

In other news, remember that shorter working hours project that passed recently? Well, there are doubts about whether it would increase productivity in Spain. The reasoning behind shortening work hours was that workers would be more efficient in doing their tasks if they spent less time at the office.

This might work for countries like Germany, which has a high GDP, but would it work for one like Spain? Should the country implement such a measure?

Tell us your opinion! Contact information in the show notes or at the end.

That doesn’t mean the country’s researchers are idle. In fact, food scientists in San Sebastián, in the Basque country, have recently begun making lab-grown meat. This new development has been the result of years of studying how to create more sustainable proteins. Some of their experiments have included microalgae bread, plant-based tuna and bacon, and hamburgers made from mushrooms.

In Sports, in the men’s football category, Messi won his eighth Ballon d’Or on Monday, the 30th of October, which came as a surprise to very few. That said, the Spaniards might have been more interested in another category. For women’s football, Barça midfielder Aitana Bonmatí won the Golden Ball.

The twenty-five-year-old is now well on her way to winning every prize at a club and country level. She is also the second-youngest Golden Ball award recipient in history. Last year’s Ballon d’Or winner was Alexis Putellas, one of Bonmatí’s fellow teammates at Barcelona Football Club. Between winning the World Cup this year and having two consecutive Best Player Award winners, Spain has established its dominance in women’s football.

Still on football or more accurately, sexism, things aren’t looking up for Luis Rubiales, the former Royal Spanish Football Federation president. Recall that he had been forced to step down because of Jenni Hermoso’s sexual assault allegations and his non consensual kiss.

This Monday, the 30th of October, the World Football Federation, FIFA, announced that Rubiales would face a three-year suspension. During this period, Rubiales will be barred from any activities involving football, either at a national or international level.

There is a mill owner who has made it his mission to bring back ancient traditional Asturian and Castilian grains. Back in two thousand nine, David Menéndez bought an estate in Agones, in Asturias, which came with four mills. He spent fifteen years restoring three of them, and now he runs a company that sells high-quality, bespoke, and organic flours under the brand name Retuerta Mills or Molinos de Retuerta,

Using local grain varieties help keep crops healthy without pesticides or herbicides. Since they have adapted to the environmental and soil conditions, they have generated defense mechanisms against the area’s most common pests.

Spain’s Meteorological State Agency has warned citizens about the storm Ciarán, which arrives in the country with wind gusts of up to 150 kilometers per hour. The agency issued a red alert for Galicia, Cantabria, and the Basque Country due to rainfall and waves up to nine meters (or thirty feet) high.

Speaking of gourmet products, one Spanish restaurant might just have received the greatest honor on Saturday, the 28th of October. No, it wasn’t a Michelin star, but the visit of one of rock’s most outstanding musicians: Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stone frontman graced chef Rafa Zafra’s Estimar restaurant, a Barcelonian establishment that specializes in seafood.

As Zafra later explained, it wasn’t easy to set a table for ten on a Saturday, but with a little help from some friends, he made it. They organized for six guests who had reservations to head over to another one of his restaurants called Amar, at the hotel Palace. That’s how they managed to squeeze the musician’s party in. There was no way they could turn rock and roll royalty like Mick Jagger away.

And that's it for this week!

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