An old-school Catalan racist

La Vanguardia, 27-02-01
Barrera says that the inflow of immigrants is endangering the survival of Catalonia.

• In America the Negros have a lower IQ than whites.
• People with genetic mental deficiencies should be sterilised.
• It’s more important to save Catalonia than democracy.
• Immigration is the main threat to Catalonia, we have managed to overcome the wave of Andalusians but now the Catalan language is in danger. I’d like a Catalonia like with the Republic: without immigrants.
• No-one will convince me that a Rambla is better with mixed-race people than one with only white people walking on it.
• When Haider [the Austrian far-right leader] says there are too many immigrants, he’s not being racist, he’s telling the truth.
• I’m not against the death penalty, this debate should be opened.
• I have more respect for an ETA murderer than for a common criminal because the etarra kills for noble convictions, not for money.
• The waves of immigration are a plan to decatalanise Catalonia.
• The solution for unemployment is to expel the immigrants who are stealing our work.
• There is a genetic distribution in the Catalan population that is statistically different from the sub-Saharan.
• What substantially complicates things is that it is more difficult to integrate a Latin American than an Andalusian.
• I do not claim that a country should have a pure race but there is a genetic distribution in the Catalan population that is statistically different from that of the sub-Saharan population for example.
• I am not a racist or a xenophobe.

JEREC, the youth movement of ERC

The quotations above are from a man called Heribert Barrera. He was no minor player. On the contrary, he was a leading figure in Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, the Catalan Republican Left. And if ever a party was wildly misnamed, this is it. It springs originally from the Catalan fascist movement Estat Català that flourished in the 1930s after asking Mussolini for advice on how to be good fascists.

"Escamots" in Barcelona. The shorts were green.

Barrera was the first President of the Catalan Parliament from 1980 until 1984 after the restitution of democracy, and was President of ERC from 1991 to 1995. When he died in 2011, the Catalan political class gave him the nearest thing to a state funeral that could be arranged, with symbols of official mourning in the Parliament. The then Catalan premier Artur Mass described him as a “master of patriots” and presented him as an example for young Catalans to follow.

A ceremony in the Catalan Parliament was led by its then President Núria de Gispert, who said, “The mark that he made was very, very deep, much deeper than would ever have been imagined.” She described him as “a politician of capital importance coming from service to the people and a tireless man in the fight for liberty.”

Jordi Pujol, another former Catalan premier and self-confessed mega-scale tax fraudster, described Barrera as “a gentleman who was sometimes hard, but was a respectful politician.” He continued his eulogy, “As a young man you chose a commitment that you have maintained for 75 years because you are a man of sound, consistent values, and you have been an example … at such a difficult time, subjected to economic, social and demographic pressure that could affect cohesion, memory of e Barrera and his warnings cane serve us to face the future.” This last comment is a clear reference to Barrera’s views on people from elsewhere moving into Catalonia.

Catalan nationalism has a nasty racist streak, as does any kind of nationalism. I have already mentioned examples of it: A posh Catalan racist, Catalan language and racism, Beyond the smoke and mirrors. I will return to the matter again.

Sources:

The quotations from Barrera are from different reliable sources. I do not list them individually here but they can be found easily on the internet by searching for the Catalan or Spanish text, which is shown below.

La Vanguardia

La clase política catalana despide a Heribert Barrera

(The Catalan political class says farewell to Heribert Barrera)

El Parlament de Catalunya despide con todos los honores a Heribert Barrera

(The Catalan Parliament says farewell to Heribert Barrera with full honours)

El País

El último adiós a Heribert Barrera

(The last farewell to Heribert Barrera)

 

El Periódico

El Parlament acogerá este lunes el funeral de Heribert Barrera

(The Catalan Parliament will host Heribert Barrera’s funeral on Monday)

 

On the connections of ERC and fascism in the 1930s.

Stanley G. Payne, The Collapse of the Spanish Republic.

Javier Barraycoa. Historias ocultadas del nacionalismo catalán (LIBROSLIBRES)

* * * * *

• A Amèrica els negres tenen un Coeficient Intel•lectual inferior als blancs (En América los negros tienen un coeficiente intelectual inferior a los blancos).
• S’hauria d’esterilitzar als dèbils mentals d’origen genètic (Se debería esterilizar a los débiles mentales de origen genético).
• Es més important salvar Catalunya que la democràcia (Es más importante salvar Cataluña que la democracia).
• La immigració es la principal amenaça de Catalunya, varem aconseguir superar les onades d’andalusos, però ara el català està en perill. A mi m’agradaria una Catalunya com la de la República: sense immigrants (La inmigración es la principal amenaza de Cataluña, conseguimos superar la oleada de andaluces, pero ahora el catalán está en peligro. A mí me gustaría una Cataluña como la de la República: sin inmigrantes).
• Ningú em convencerà que és millor una Rambla amb gent mestissa que una on tan sols hi passegi gent de la raça blanca (Nadie me convencerá que es mejor una Rambla con gente mestiza que una donde tan sólo pasee gente de la raza blanca).
• Quan Haider diu que hi ha masses immigrants, no és racista, diu la veritat (Cuando Haider [líder ultraderechista austriaco fallecido] dice que hay masas inmigrantes, no es racista, dice la verdad).
• No estic en contra de la pena de mort: s’hauria d’obrir aquest debat (No estoy en contra de la pena de muerte: se tendría que abrir este debate).
• Em mereix més respecte un assassí d’ETA que un delinqüent comú, ja que l’etarra mata per conviccions nobles, no per diners (Me merece más respeto un asesino de ETA que un delincuente común, puesto que el etarra mata por convicciones nobles, no por dinero).
• Les onades migratòries son un pla per descatalanitzar Catalunya (Las oleadas migratorias son un plan para descatalanizar Cataluña).
• La solució per l’atur es expulsar els immigrants que ens roben el treball (La solución al paro es expulsar a los inmigrantes que nos roban el trabajo).
• Hay una distribución genética en la población catalana que estadísticamente es diferente de la subsahariana (Hi ha una distribució genètica en la població catalana que estadísticament és diferent de la subsahariana)
• Lo que complica bastante la cosa es que es más difícil integrar a un latinoamericano que un andaluz (Lo que complica bastante la cosa es que es más difícil integrar a un latinoamericano que un andaluz)
• no pretendo que un país haya de tener una raza pura, pero hay una distribución genética en la población catalana que estadísticamente es diferente a la de la población subsahariana, por ejemplo
• Jo no sóc racista ni xenòfob (Yo no soy racista ni xenófobo).