Translations, copies on all sides and orders excluding staff. This is the day-to-day work of the departments of the Generalitat of Catalonia following the application of Article 155 a month and a half ago.

Technically, changes have not changed day to day, as automatisms rule any dysfunction. But politically, nothing is the same after the publication of the article in the Official Gazette of the Spanish State on the night of 28 October. Following the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the suspension of self-government and imposed a package of measures that are unparalleled in democratic Europe.

During the celebration of the Republic in the Plaza de Sant Jaume in Barcelona, Rajoy struck down the Executive of Catalonia and, in passing, 185 other positions of the Generalitat. The policy of Junts pel Yes focused on these press posts, directors, secretaries-general and other trustworthy posts.

The offices of the Generalitat abroad, the Diplocat, the Advisory Council for the National Transition and 25 other agencies immediately fell, in addition to the delegates from Madrid and Brussels and the dome of the Mossos d'Esquadra headed by José Lluís Trapero. And to round off the absurdities, the announcement of the elections; while Puigdemont is in exile and half Govern in jail, giving a much more deplorable aspect to the current political landscape.

Lockdown under threat

Decapitated the structure, dissolved the Parliament and ruled by Soraya Sáénz de Santamaría, Catalonia is today an intervened administration. Although it operates through bureaucratic inertia, many projects are paralysed. This has been denounced this week by a group of artists from the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica of Barcelona, who have had to cut programming for lack of payment or who the workers of the Seu Vela de Lleida have had to suspend the restoration works.

It has also suspended the hiring of 230 technicians who would strengthen the protection provided by the Direcció General d’Atenció a la Infància (DGAIA) to minors without a guardian, have slowed down procedures, have postponed money bags and contracts with suppliers of Regional Councils and Deputies have been frozen.

The sense of blockade has been confused with suffocating control, although it varies according to the departments, is especially intense in Economics, Presidency, Interior and Telecommunications and Information Technology Centre (CTTI). “Black men sent by Madrid look loudly at all the documents, looking for things that the Civil Guard has not found,” says a worker.

Added to this scenario is the suspension of the competition for the implementation of second school hours and 2,700 places for primary and secondary schools, as well as the financial reform that had been elaborated by the National Pact of Universities, jeopardizing the scholarships of a large number of students. “As we have been left without political dialogue, these issues are being perpetuated on the table,” said USTE.

Nor is there any problem in the public health network, it could be forced to extend the strategic plan of 2017, leaving aside investments for buildings, new care plants, operating rooms and essential diverse materials. Meanwhile, the opening of the agri-food laboratory has been delayed in the Agriculture section and in Public Works there are crossed fingers so that Madrid does not change the timetable for the coming months.

Maccarthism 2.0

The 155 has already generated the first “damage balance” and although it remains to be analyzed, they are evident in the third sector, in education, in health, in agriculture and in the public projection of Catalonia. The fund is owned by Madrid and is applied according to its interests any dossier, award or processing of grants.

In addition to the control of the items, the monitoring of public offices should be added. In addition to corporate communication, press releases or all the content published by Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya also monitor the emails of the technical secretaries and Twitter messages, according to URL0 and according to Intersindicala, “155. to capture opinions against the application of the article or messages of solidarity addressed to members and social leaders who are detained.”

With regard to messages of hatred, persecution has also increased. Pursuant to Article 578 of the Penal Code, the police aggression of October 1 is directed against people who reported on social networks or who sent comments on the death of José Manuel Maza. The former State prosecutor was in charge of investigating the complaint against the Catalan Executive and the Parlament bureau for alleged crimes of rebellion and sedition.

The attempt to punish any criticism of Article 155 or the policy of pp has reached paroxysm, when the Spanish Interior Minister has opened the following paragraph on his website: “The Situation of Catalonia: protection of victims”. At this point, they call on the Catalans to denounce the hate crimes that the process has caused.

We must not forget the disputes opened in this drift against members of the Self-Defense Committees of the Republic (CoR) and other groups, the fines imposed under the Moorish Law for organizing assemblies, the protective banners of prisoners placed in various municipalities or the ban on wearing the iconic yellow bond of prisoners at the polling stations on 21 December.

Operation ‘General Cause’

Article 155 was presented as a measure to “recover institutional normality” from the beginning until the holding of the December elections. However, it is not clear what your path will be, once the institutions and finances have already been controlled. The desire to change the basic pillars of the Catalan personality is appreciated: The model of inclusive school and the public radio and television system of Catalonia are in the spotlight.

Within the framework of education, voices calling for the end of the “indoctrination” supposedly carried out in classrooms are reinforced every day. This is what small and ultra Action for the Improvement of Secondary Education (AMES) trade unions, linked to Coexistence Civica Catalana and Citizens, demand. According to these institutions, “some students have begun to deal with the persecution of not sharing the madness of Puigdemont and Junqueras”.

It is curious that these allegations have ended in the courts, eight professors of the Seu de Urgell have been charged in class for talking about the police charges of October 1, or Habemos Español’s complaint to Ramón Font for encouraging sedition because he allegedly said “we will never stop talking about politics in the classrooms.” The educational community believes that behind this aggression is the intention to reduce the freedom of professors and the model of linguistic immersion, both keys of overcoming and social cohesion in Catalonia.

In addition to the above, the threats against the Catalan Corporation of Mitjans Audiovisuals are happening, although they are outside Article 155, being victims of a major campaign accused of an alleged lack of “neutrality”. At the moment, the PP, Citizens and the PSOE have managed to prohibit TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio from using the terms “Government of exile”, “President Puigdemont” or “detained counselors” in reference to the representatives removed from Madrid. On the other hand, the PP’s list head, Xavier García Albiol, has proposed “closing TV3 for later, with normal people, reopening it”.

In this way, the appearance of a “general cause” against independence and political dissent is being acquired. You could smell it by listening to Judge Lamela's words at the Spanish National Audience. He identified the respondents as “complex and heterogeneous organizations” for subversive purposes. The fact is that, in view of the first steps of Article 155, the doors have been opened wide open to silence the protests and to remove the sovereign movement from the map.