Not With a Bang, But a Whimper (Guided Democracy II)

This will be an update to my last post, on the quality of the democratic process in an upcoming referendum on plans to alter the design of one of Barcelona's main cross-city thoroughfares. Last Sunday La Vanguardia published a 20-page special section under its masthead, as part of the paper rather than an insert. It's not clear who paid for it. The lead article is the writer's first professional byline in the paper; the tone is not that of a reporter, but a propagandist. Here, in translation, is an example of that tone, from the opening paragraph:

"The urban renewal of Avinguda Diagonal is not a whim or matter to be taken lightly, but a necessity, for the avenue is polluted, often congested, and falls short of the needs of Barcelona in the twenty-first century."

Voters have three choices in the plebiscite: the third--Option C--is to reject either of the plans for renewal. That option is described as "inmovilista," resistance to change.

Page two of the supplement features an article signed by the mayor; a two-page spread denounces the avenue as "over-crowded" and "agressive"; diagrammes of re-designed intersections are labelled "Option A," "Option B" and "Current Situation," as though Option C were not an option; the back page is a guide to voting.

If this is, as it appear, a publication commissioned by public authorities, it represents the utter decadence of liberal democratic culture in Spain. Information on the formalities of the voting process is mixed with editorialising by a branch of the state which is openly attempting to shape choices to be made by citizens in a public plebiscite, and hiding its own role in making that attempt; and