Living in 'interesting' times

May you live in interesting times” is a Chinese proverb that is often used wrongly. No one wants a boring life (or at least we don’t think we do) and so the saying is often taken as a way of wishing someone well (that their life be exciting). Yet, the saying is actually a curse. “Interesting” in this context suggests upheaval and chaos, danger and uncertainty, but if we change the qualification slightly from a “boring” life to a “quiet” life, then the sentiment behind the phrase begins to make more sense.

However, anyone in Catalonia looking for a quiet life at the moment could well be in the wrong place at the wrong time. We are indeed living through ‘interesting’ times. When those times began is up for debate: nothing has been quite the same since the recession began in 2008, for example. Yet what clearly makes life ‘interesting’ for people in Catalonia right now is the unravelling of the independence issue that came to a head, although not a final conclusion, during 2017.

As every year at Catalonia Today, our December issue has a month-by-month overview of the year. Between pages 17 and 41, you will find a brief summary of each month, with a focus on some of the main events that happened in culture, sport, business, internationally and, above all in 2017, in politics. The review is not meant as a comprehensive examination of the year, as there is simply not the space to do that, but it is an excellent way to jog one’s memory and it is a good springboard for reflecting on the 12 months we have just been through. If you haven’t done so already, please go back and check it out.

As for myself, 2017 was a very ‘interesting’ year. On a personal level there were a number of events that to some extent proved life-altering, at least potentially, as I still struggle with their effects. However, it was on the public level that this year really made an impression. When I arrived in Catalonia in 1990, one of the first things I learnt was that I was only nominally in Spain, and that Catalonia was seen by many people to be a separate entity, at least historically and culturally if not politically. Nor did it take long for me to hear the arguments for independence, the grievances against Spain, the heartfelt sense of identity felt by many. In the more than two decades since, I have heard these arguments over and over again. So, with the independence process seemingly coming to a head this year, I was really hoping for some sort of closure or a settlement of this issue . I might have known it would not be so easy.