The village of the oppressed millionaires

It would seem that the “estelada” is a particular matter for the posh and the rich. Amen to the mandatory useful fools of Madrid, of course.

With no surprise and thanks to the Spanish Tax Agency, I acknowledge that the very remote, discreet and very Catalan settlement of Matadepera has assumed the leadership of the richest municipalities in Spain. Despite such a dissuasive toponym, it turns out that the average income of the Matadeperans, which I guess they call themselves, is around 218,000 euros per head. A rather stellar figuremaybe linked to the fact that Manuel Lao, the slot machines’ magnate is registered there. But, apart from this eventual distortion, the town of Matadepera already had a very high per capita income before Lao decided to register there; specifically, it was close to 60,000 euros in 2018. Something which would not have much interest if it were not for the nothing trivial coincidence that this municipality turns out to be part of those who have overwhelming independentist majorities among their councilors.

Specifically, the bucolic rural corner populated by our domestic millionaires has 12 separatist councilors out of a total of 13. Puigdemont’s party, 8; ERC, 3; and the rebellious boys and girls of the CUP, 1. Not a single socialist, not anyone from Colau’s party. Normal, if one notices that, according to the opinion polls carried out by the Generalitat itself, only a meager 22% of the citizens of Catalonia who perceive themselves as members of the less well-off classes identify with the separatist cause. Even more normal if that data is linked to another extremely revealing one: according to the same official survey by the Catalan Administration, only 33% of Catalans who lack a paid job suspect that their personal situation would improve somewhat after breaking with the rest of Spain. Add to this, finally, that an overwhelming 86% of the local respondents with a Castilian mother tongue proclaim themselves against independence. It would seem that the “estelada” is a particular matter for the posh and the rich. Amen to the mandatory useful fools of Madrid, of course.