SPAIN
Spain does not calm down after the arrest of rapper. More serenity!
On the night of Sunday to Monday, Catalonia saw its sixth consecutive night of heavy riots after the arrest of rapper Pablo Hasél on Tuesday. He had not started a prison sentence to which he had been sentenced for "inciting terrorism and insulting the royal family and government institutions." There had also been protests, some of them violent, in Madrid and other cities by left-wing extremist and anarchist groups, including youths who were simply ready to riot. They see tasteless, violence-glorifying lines in his lyrics such as "Finally death penalty for the ridiculous heiresses to the throne," "May Patxi López' (a socialist politician) car explode!" or "The mafioso, the king, celebrates with the Saudi monarchy..." covered by freedom of expression and art; the Supreme Court saw it differently.
In the left-wing government of socialist Prime Minister Sánchez, this also causes further tension, because the left-wing populist coalition partner Unidos Podemos has so far refused to condemn the protests - actually unforgivable for a governing party. Sánchez, on the other hand, condemned the violence, but also spoke out in favor of protecting freedom of expression even better in the future - and thus probably hits a nerve. At least a certain double standard cannot be denied. When old fascists in the tradition of the Falange (a fascist Spanish party of the 1930s) show the fascist salute at their meetings completely legally, or when Franco pictures are offered for sale at the curb on the Spanish national holiday, there is no outcry and nobody recognizes an attack on the democratic Spanish institutions.
A little more serenity would also do the royal family, its supporters and the "government institutions" good. When it was recently announced that Infanta Leonor would henceforth attend a boarding school in Wales, a freelance journalist at the state television TVE allowed himself the laconic caption "Leonor leaves Spain - like her grandfather," alluding to King Emeritus Juan Carlos, who is in exile in Abu Dhabi after numerous allegations of corruption. Too much for those responsible, who spoke of "grave irresponsibility" after a "shitstorm" and promptly fired the author. However, this gives the impression of an easily vulnerable royal house - this can actually not be in the sense of those responsible and should henceforth be considered. Because one should not really do this favor to rapper Hasél, who already denies his genre any favor in artistic terms.