The Adjusted Normal, 24. Time to Vote.
Now that my classes have begun, I seem to have less time to write. In the morning I go walking, after getting up early, shower, and have two hours of class before I have to make lunch. Then, we eat, I clean up, and my afternoon classes come. At five I'm free, and then I run any errands, winding up free at home rather well into the evening.
While I like having time off, I don't mind having most of my day busy. The day passes quickly, and I feel like I've achieved something, even if it's not much. It doesn't leave much time for writing, though, neither here nor on my manuscript.
Today, the post came, and our mailbox filled with colorful envelopes, each bearing exhortations from different political parties, to vote for them this coming Sunday in our regional elections. Three of the letters came only in Galego, one in both Galician and Castilian, and the last, only in Castilian. The most informal one, for the Galician version of the leftist party Podemos, was written like a chat between two people on Whatsapp, criticizing the current PP regional government, and agreeing to meet to go vote. The others were typical letters. "Xogamonos o futuro de Galiza." (The future of Galicia is at stake.) "Ou mais do mesmo ou cambio galego." (Either more of the same, or Galician change.) "A miña única prioridade é Galiza." (My only priority is Galicia.) "España está en una encrucijada histórica." (Spain is at a historic crossroads.)
The only one in Castilian came from Vox, of course, which party does not recognize any regional language's legitimacy. It's also the letter that speaks mostly in national terms, and have highlighted in green, the key words, igualdad, libertad, seguridad, bienestar, and prosperidad (equality, liberty, security, well-being, and prosperity). Their slogan is Galicia es verde, Galicia is green, a wink to the color adopted by the party, and the fact that our landscape is green year round.
Thankfully, polls are forecasting that neither they, nor Ciudadanos (which didn't even send any publicity) will achieve a seat in our regional parliament. Because they sound like a bite out of the rancid side of history. Abolish regional governments, abolish the equality of regional languages with Castilian, abolish any kind of social teaching in school unless it conforms to their beliefs, the expulsion of every single illegal immigrant, and of legal immigrants that may break the law, even if it's a speeding ticket, the abolition of laws that protect women, the abolition of laws that do not allow discrimination of LGBTQ, the penalization of any kind of abortion. All these things, and more, are what these people want.
What will likely happen is that the PP will remain in power. They haven't done anything positive for the region. They've simply cut funding for just about everything under the austerity flag, leaving little money to create smaller classes this coming fall, for example, and obliging hospitals to close hospital beds in summer, despite the ongoing pandemic. They've also tried to derail the leftist central government by not pushing through applications for unemployment due to the pandemic, causing many temporarily unemployed people to have to live off their savings for at least a month, those that had some. They will not get my vote.
My vote will go to one of the others, perhaps the Socialists, perhaps the nationalists, perhaps the Galician version of Podemos. But, if it ever transcends that I have cast a vote for a right-wing party, that means I've been forced to do it at gunpoint, or I've been given an amnesiac drug of some kind and persuaded to do so. I may not be a Catholic anymore, but social justice is still very important to me.
Life continues.
While I like having time off, I don't mind having most of my day busy. The day passes quickly, and I feel like I've achieved something, even if it's not much. It doesn't leave much time for writing, though, neither here nor on my manuscript.
Today, the post came, and our mailbox filled with colorful envelopes, each bearing exhortations from different political parties, to vote for them this coming Sunday in our regional elections. Three of the letters came only in Galego, one in both Galician and Castilian, and the last, only in Castilian. The most informal one, for the Galician version of the leftist party Podemos, was written like a chat between two people on Whatsapp, criticizing the current PP regional government, and agreeing to meet to go vote. The others were typical letters. "Xogamonos o futuro de Galiza." (The future of Galicia is at stake.) "Ou mais do mesmo ou cambio galego." (Either more of the same, or Galician change.) "A miña única prioridade é Galiza." (My only priority is Galicia.) "España está en una encrucijada histórica." (Spain is at a historic crossroads.)
The only one in Castilian came from Vox, of course, which party does not recognize any regional language's legitimacy. It's also the letter that speaks mostly in national terms, and have highlighted in green, the key words, igualdad, libertad, seguridad, bienestar, and prosperidad (equality, liberty, security, well-being, and prosperity). Their slogan is Galicia es verde, Galicia is green, a wink to the color adopted by the party, and the fact that our landscape is green year round.
Thankfully, polls are forecasting that neither they, nor Ciudadanos (which didn't even send any publicity) will achieve a seat in our regional parliament. Because they sound like a bite out of the rancid side of history. Abolish regional governments, abolish the equality of regional languages with Castilian, abolish any kind of social teaching in school unless it conforms to their beliefs, the expulsion of every single illegal immigrant, and of legal immigrants that may break the law, even if it's a speeding ticket, the abolition of laws that protect women, the abolition of laws that do not allow discrimination of LGBTQ, the penalization of any kind of abortion. All these things, and more, are what these people want.
What will likely happen is that the PP will remain in power. They haven't done anything positive for the region. They've simply cut funding for just about everything under the austerity flag, leaving little money to create smaller classes this coming fall, for example, and obliging hospitals to close hospital beds in summer, despite the ongoing pandemic. They've also tried to derail the leftist central government by not pushing through applications for unemployment due to the pandemic, causing many temporarily unemployed people to have to live off their savings for at least a month, those that had some. They will not get my vote.
My vote will go to one of the others, perhaps the Socialists, perhaps the nationalists, perhaps the Galician version of Podemos. But, if it ever transcends that I have cast a vote for a right-wing party, that means I've been forced to do it at gunpoint, or I've been given an amnesiac drug of some kind and persuaded to do so. I may not be a Catholic anymore, but social justice is still very important to me.
Life continues.
My vote is for BNG. Don´t tell anybody just in case.
ReplyDeleteThis party is the less bad for me.
It sounds like one of the better choices, indeed.
Delete