There are left-wing politicians and right-wing politicians. Writers who were progressives in their day and now not so much. And then there are the voters, who every four years swim towards one or the other ideological shore waiting for the sun to rise on our little piece of sand. In the halls of the Alma hotel, there are them of all colors. Seven ministers, three councilors, practically all the mayors and the mayoress Ada Colau. They all read. In the groups that form, they talk about books and literature, and suddenly it seems that we have become less tribal and that Sant Jordi could well become a pattern of shared culture. But it’s still just a mirage.
Because, let’s see, do politicians on the left or on the right read more? I launch, in an attempt doomed to fail to chronicle politicians without talking about politics. “The heritage of reading is not held by any ideology,” replies Vice President Yolanda DÃaz, who makes a recommendation: “We must read more to those on the right, than to those on the left we already read a lot.” She has a good relationship with both, “because politics is like life,” she says. He reads a lot, a lot, because he sleeps little, and he has come to the party with three books to give away: Follas novas, for Jaume Asens; The country of women, for Jéssica Albiach, and L for Ada Colau.
The mayoress, who owns a huge library – her only heritage: she has no car, no home, no house on the beach – believes that possibly among her shelves there will be a book that Xavier Trias also has at home. “But what I am sure of is that in yours you will not find my collection of French existentialists, feminism or Italian liberal socialism, the anarchist selection… Yes, there could be many differences there.”
Trias, one of the first to leave the party, arrives wearing jeans and sneakers because he has previously been to a concert by the Nou Barris Symphony Band, and he declares himself an iPad fan, where ever since he suffered “the deviant life, oriented in a directionâ€, he always has several readings underway “on urbanism or linked to citiesâ€.
Minister Iceta, who is launching perfume, knows instead the importance of carrying a book under his arm. “Even image consultants recommend it to you, and if you read it on top of that, it’s already the bomb!” rights. lefts. There are no political colors here and, furthermore, it is worth reading without ideological prejudices. “You can always learn and take ideas from the adversary.” Although he looks with envy at France. “There a minister who does not read does not exist.”
