Can you imagine the American superheroes defending people from evil CDRs that beat people with starred flags? Well, you don't have to. You can watch it right on TV.
The world looks at us, affirm the independence movement. And it's true.
This week I visited my sister, and in one of those long after-hours, the children left their chairs and went to the television. We adults tend to abstract from our conversations until something the chidren say catches our attention. In this case it was a short sentence:
"..Supergirl is protecting them from the CDRs .."
It goes without saying that the conversation at the adult table stopped momentarily with laughters. It was then that I noticed what the children were watching at. My sister is a follower of DC superhero shows, so she usually watches Supergirl episodes when they air in the United States. At that time, SuperGirl showed paramilitary forces dressed in ocher, with their faces covered and a yellow star on their chest, attacking the superheroes at the cry of "Let's expel the invaders!", a a well-known phrase from Puigdemont.
I'll never stop being amazed at the receptivity of the children, who had recognized an obvious parallelism. Out of curiosity I kept watching the episode, and the parallels didn't end there. The paramilitary commandos that my nephew had identified as CDRs were racist and despised the superheroes because many of them were from other planets. The commandos were patrolling the neighborhoods, identifying the "invaders" houses and marking them with paint stating that "the land would always be for the humans". Later they harassed and attacked the marked ones. I asked my nephew if they were the villains of the episode, and he told me they were the villains of the whole season. Superman, Supergirl, Manchester Black and other heroes of the DC universe that I didn't recognize allied to defend the people of the yellow supremacists. In a dizzying coincidence, the leader of the racist commandos was sent to prison for encouraging violence ... and his followers demonstrated in the streets demanding the freedom of the "political prisoner"! Literally!
I already thought at that time that such an accumulation of coincidences deserved an article. The fact is than I had not yet seen the scene that cleared all my doubts.
The president of the United States (a recovered Bruce Boxtleiner) warned of the fascist movement that arose with the populist rallies that demanded the release of the "political prisoner", and a television in his office broadcast images of a demonstration of the Catalan independence movement!. That presidential television was filled with protesters with starred flags, both the blue ones and the yellow ones, those used by the terrorist band "terra lliure" exemplifying the motto of the Eart supremacists: "Free Land" .. of invaders.
The episode that we saw is the 12th of the fourth season. It's titled "The Menagerie". And it's just an example of how the world view regarding the Catalan independence movement is changing. A few months ago, the starred flags could be seen in peaceful demonstrations in China mixed with symbols of freedom. Today more and more the world culture frames this flag in xenophobic, unsupportive and excluding movements. Some DC screenwriter has seen it just right.
"The world looks at us", affirm the independence movement.
Well, it's true. And it doesn't like what it sees.