Albert Soler, writer and journalist from Girona newspaperjust published A botifler in the Villa and Court. Fidel al seu estil satíric i crític, Soler es trasllada a Madrid per a una nova entrega de les seves cròniques punyents, des d’on enfocarà la política catalana i espanyola. The book is already generating controversy, after an attempt to boycott a presentation at the Bernat bookstore in Barcelona.
Does he like being called a sausage?
They started saying botifler as an insult to those who thought differently, or rather, to those who thought. Then I saw that people like Joan Manuel Serrat, Javier Cercas, Arcadi Espada, Sardà, Caballé… And I thought, if these are butchers, then I want them to call me the same. Botifler was not an insult, but rather a compliment, and therefore I love to be called botifler, I claim it.
Many people hate him, others thank him for giving them a voice.
I am not the first case in history. A long time ago there was a man who did and said things that the world did not understand. He was persecuted and insulted, he had to hide and in the end he was killed. Dracula, it was called.
What did he miss in Madrid?
I was running out of morons. There are many in Catalonia, there is never a shortage, but this is still a small country, and I said to myself, hey, I’ve seen a lot of them, I’ll see if there are as many morons in Madrid too. And indeed All the governments of the world are full of them.
There will be some difference.
Imbecility is unique and indivisible, that is to say that one is an imbecile or one is not, and this makes them alike. When I see a Podemos minister saying the nonsense she says, I think they could very well pass for lax councilors and vice versa.
He believed in Podemos, as he explains.
At first I got excited about them, because they seemed left-wing. But damn, I saw that they have on the left what I have hair on the left. They are nothing more than meapilas who want to tell us how we should think and how we should speak. Nothing, nothing, the left has nothing.
By the way, what happened to the hair?
Hair falls out due to excess testosterone. You should know, with that beautiful hair that shines.
Bringing the Time.news to the national level, was it like playing in another league?
I do not think so. Even if it’s a book written in Madrid, I like to play with the comparison, so the Catalan geeks come out in the middle. This book is a mix of Madrid and Catalonia. I mix them, compare them.
He went to Congress. what did you find
I approached the Congress and knocked on the door speaking to them in Catalan, but no one opened the door for me. They should be eating and drinking around, as usual. I stood guard to see if I could find any Catalan politicians, and nothing, not one.
Of the characters you meet in this book, which one do you like the most?
To go to bed or what?
That he likes your profile, let’s say.
I had a lot of fun the day I happened to be in an elevator with Esperanza Aguirre. It was an epic moment. I was scared because I remembered that this good woman one day almost charged two municipal guards. I said to myself, don’t talk, don’t move, this woman has very bad milk. I managed to get up two floors with her without her insulting me or assaulting me or anything, which is a medal on my resume.
Is Madrid better than Barcelona?
That’s for sure. Not that I say so. There are young Catalans who take the Ave to go to Madrid early in the morning, spend the day and night in the capital and return to Barcelona at six in the morning.
Blame the process for this?
I think the process has a lot to do with it, because people are bitter. The one who is not bitter because the famous republican is not there and is not expected, is bitter because he has to put up with the slackers. It’s not that Catalonia has ever been the joy of the garden, but hey, people used to have more illusions, they had joy. The process and this gang of mangers have ended even the desire to have fun and live life.
“Catalonia the Wild East”, is the title of a chapter. Is this what we look like?
I like you to remind me because I did the presentation in Girona at the Cuellar bar in Vila Roja, in the east of the city. Many people from Girona, as you know, believe that Vila Roja is the eastern lighthouse. Regarding Catalonia, to call its laxists savages is to do them a favor, because they don’t even get to that. They are ridiculous, they are chickens.
There is still talk of the “Catalan conflict”.
The only one who seems to have a conflict is Pedro Sánchez. I don’t know what conflict there is in Catalonia that needs to be resolved. I live in Catalonia and I live by the sea in peace. Normal people here have no conflict. I was in Madrid but I couldn’t enter the Moncloa, so I was left wanting to ask what the conflict is.
You, he reaffirms, do not feel oppressed.
No one is oppressed here. I’d love to be one of them, one of those downtrodden Catalans who live the worst have a mansion with a lawn and a swimming pool and two cars. I have to settle for working, going home after work… You see, we workers don’t have time to be oppressed, we have other concerns.
At the presentation of the book in Barcelona, followers of the rapper Hasél tried to boycott it.
Some brainless people who couldn’t even get past the last row of assistants, made up of two ladies and a pensioner.
People who know you say you have created a character of yourself.
I do not know. For sure? Who says that?
His wife, the journalist Eva Vázquez.
He must not know me well (laughs). Now seriously, the way I talk is the way I am and I’m not making anything up. I think my wife mistakes me for someone else.
Now that the process is said to be dead, what will it do?
That the process is dead does not mean that there is no regional government worthy of the best comedy films.
Where will we find him next time?
I don’t know if my proposal will leak, but I will ask my publishing house, Planeta, to pay for a fortnight in Havana, Cuba. How does a hot dog in Havana sound to you?
Sounds like I wouldn’t be back then, I’m afraid.
Surely not! (laughter).