barack obama

The Boss ends stop in Catalan capital after gathering over 100,000 spectators and several celebrities

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Liberal Convergència (CDC), left-wing pro-independence ERC and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNB) have been excluded from the lunch organised on the occasion of the US President, Barack Obama’s visit to Spain. Spain’s King will preside over the event, to be held on Monday, and according to the Royal Household the reason for not inviting these parties is that Obama was interested in meeting the leaders of the most important political groups in the Spanish Parliament. Thus, current Spanish President and leader of the Conservative People’s Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) leader, Pedro Sánchez, Pablo Iglesias, leader of alternative left coalition Unidos-Podemos and Albert Rivera, from Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ will attend the lunch, as well as several acting ministers.

The President of the US, Barack Obama, called for a “strong and unified Spain” during a brief meeting held this Tuesday with Spain’s monarch Felipe VI. The Spanish King described Spain as “one of the most ancient nations in Europe” and Obama stated that Spain’s presence is important “not only for Europe but also for the US”. Catalan President Artur Mas declared that he didn’t feel the target of Obama’s statement, as Spain could be unified “with or without Catalonia” and lamented that the Spanish Government discusses Catalonia’s case with everybody “except with the Catalan institutions”.

The Catalan National Assembly, a grass-roots organisation, and Òmnium Cultural, a non-profit association promoting Catalan culture, are behind the massive independence demonstrations of 2012, 2013 and 2014, and in July they presented their new campaign 'Now it's time, united for a new country'. They aimed to mobilize the Catalan people for the self-determination vote scheduled on November the 9^th. There will be events throughout Catalonia and abroad during the 2 months before Catalonia’s National Day (September the 11^th). On that day, a massive demonstration in the shape of a giant V, for 'Votar' (To Vote) and 'Victòria' (Victory), will take place in Barcelona, which is expected to become the largest rally in the Catalonia's history. In addition, more than 30 ANC groups abroad are organising a worldwide campaign #votecatalonia. The political marketing firm Blue State Digital, which managed Obama's digital campaigns, is involved in the initiative.

In its editorial on Wednesday, the prestigious ‘The New York Times’ has dissociated the current situation in Crimea and its secession from Ukraine from the independence processes in Catalonia, Scotland and Quebec. The editorial article, which demands European Union countries to impose economic sanctions on Vladimir Putin's Russia, states that the Catalans, Scots and Quebecers “have shown there are legitimate ways to raise” the secession issue. The American newspaper criticized Crimea for its “phony referendum” with a “foreordained” outcome, organised in an express way just as Russian soldiers were being deployed in the peninsula. The newspaper admits secession is a “difficult” matter but recalled that the invasion of Crimea is “illegal”, calling on the international community to react to Putin’s actions.

Within a year, Pope Francis’ Twitter account, @Pontifex, has reached 12 million followers while his tweets are 4 times more re-tweeted than the ones of U.S. President Barack Obama. Indeed, each of Pope Francis’ messages generates an average of 6,637 re-tweets, while Obama’s messages are re-tweeted 2,309 times on average. Such data was unveiled on Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which is the main international event of cell phone related technologies. After analyzing the Pope’s impact on the digital environment, the study ‘The Internet loves Pope Francis’ concludes that Pope Francis is the world leader with the greatest influence in social networks, above the Dalai Lama or Cristina Kirchner.

The Catalan Government Spokesperson, Francesc Homs, has ironically stated that the situation in Catalonia “must be the most international of political domestic issues in the wide world”, if the Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy is talking about it before the US President. Homs exclaimed: “every time, people say it is an internal issue and that it would be a mistake to treat it internationally, but Rajoy cannot stop talking about it in his public appearances”. Homs praised the international community for their silence on the Catalan issue, as they have likely been “pressured” by Spain to voice their disapproval. However, he did not directly refer to Barack Obama, who had avoided commenting on Catalonia’s potential independence at the White House press conference on Monday evening.

Next to the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (who went to the White House), the President of the United States, Barack Obama, did not talk about Catalonia despite being asked about it directly by a journalist. Obama did not repeat the formula expressed by other international leaders – it is Spain’s internal matter – but instead preferred to avoid the issue. He did not explicitly back the Spanish PM, despite the fact that Rajoy had stated, only a few minutes earlier, that “Catalonia’s independence will not happen”. Rajoy’s meeting with Obama and the following press conference at the White House were also controversial because the Spanish Government banned several media that were covering the trip and only allowed one Catalan newspaper to attend it.

The Catalan coastal town was nominated in the “Government” category of Twitter’s “Shorty Awards”. The Mayor of Newmark, Coory Booker won in this category. Vilassar de Mar was third, just behind Barack Obama’s Twitter.

The Town Hall’s twitter is a finalist in the ‘Best Government’ category in the third edition of the US-based Shorty-awards. @vilassardemar is the only European site nominated.