Pep Guardiola’s yellow ribbon homage to Catalonia reveals worrying aspects of hypocrisy and ignorance of The FA. Football Paradise explores the complex politics of revolution.
A sytem of beaureaucracy engenders the apathy needed for hypocrisy. Or is it the other way around?
– Anon
In the Catalan lexicon, there is an expression that goes like Fer-ne cinc cèntims, which when translated into English – literally – means “make it five cents”. However, it is the figurative rendition of the phrase that makes it interesting with its own local charm. When translated with this non-literal aspect in mind, the Catalan utterance implies the phrases “give me just the gist of it”, or “make it short”, or – in terms of redundant politeness – “cut the crap”.
Nevertheless, when the discourse itself is around Catalonia, the need for fer-ne-cinc-cèntims-ing things would simply mean doing injustice to the sentiments of the Catalans – or in a more general sense – to the very idea of freedom of expression and to democracy itself. For this happens to be one of those territories of dialogue where you cannot just “cut the crap” and simplify the subject with a singular, conclusive statement. To fully understand the nature of the conditions that have prevailed over Catalonia for ages, one is left with hardly any choice but to delve into the complexity of it all – a complexity that inevitably arises owing to the multifarious facades the socio-political scenario of the region has adopted over the years.