The BNG, terrorism, and the astonishing silence of the media in Spain

There are people who still believe that if something doesn't appear in the media, then it hasn't happened.

The BNG calls for “a very strong applause” for a terrorist organization at an event in Santiago
Does an independent blog like Counting Stars still make sense today?

As has been the case every July 25th for a few years now, this Friday you were able to read an article in Contando Estrelas denouncing that the BNG asked for "a very strong round of applause" for a terrorist organization at an event in Santiago. The Galician Nationalist Bloc has been boasting about the attendance of this terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), at its annual rallies in Plaza de la Quintana in Santiago de Compostela. It is a fact that almost all media outlets omit year after year, as if praising an organization classified as terrorist by the European Union, United States, Canada, Japan has been something unimportant for years.

This year the media silence on the matter has not been almost absolute. The "almost" is unnecessary. As you can see on Google News, that information has only been published on this website. I have looked for various possible ways to mention it and there has been no way. Apart from this blog, no media outlet has reported on this despite it being public knowledge. Regardless of their ideology or leanings, no media outlet has considered it worth mentioning that the second-largest party in Galicia (it obtained 31.34% of the votes in the 2024 Galician elections) and to which the current mayor of Santiago, Goretti Sanmartín, belongs, is asking for "very strong applause" for a terrorist organization at a public event.

So, if someone ever asks about it, many will believe it didn't happen because no media outlet reported it, only a blog published by a Galician from Vigo. It doesn't matter that there's a video in which that statement can be clearly heard. If all the media outlets except this blog don't report that news, for many it's not news.

I've often wondered if it's worth it to continue spending my money to support a blog that doesn't receive any kind of subsidy or money from any organization, public or private, and that doesn't earn any income from advertising or any other type of money. I write this blog for nothing, to express my opinion and so that sometimes you can read what others don't report. If Counting Stars didn't exist, the BNG's applause for a terrorist organization would have been relegated to a YouTube video that hasn't reached 2,000 views and that many will forget over time.

For years, this blog has featured on its homepage a quote attributed to the Irish conservative politician Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." I am just an ordinary man, but if, faced with certain things I see in my country, I were to decide to keep quiet and look the other way, I would never sleep peacefully. For decades, the enemies of Spain and of freedom have been taking advantage of the silence of many Spaniards, a silence motivated by cowardice, lukewarmness, laziness, or simply a desire to avoid trouble. As a result, right now in Galicia, the second most voted party is openly applauding a terrorist group, without anyone saying a word in the media.

I refuse to remain silent in the face of these things and will continue to fight against terrorism and its supporters, as I have been doing for 21 years, since this blog began its journey.

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Photo: AFP. PFLP terrorists in Gaza on September 2, 2014..