Santiago: Separatists are more bothered by peaceful pilgrims than by some terrorists

For some years now, Galician separatism has been activating a hate campaign against tourism in Galicia every summer.

The BNG, ally of Sánchez, boasts of the support of a terrorist group during a public event
Imagine the scandal if Vox publicly boasted of having the support of a terrorist group

The separatist hate campaign against the source of 10% of Galicia's GDP

Of course, the separatists also travel and visit other regions of Spain, just as other sectors of the far-left (Galician secessionism has this ideological orientation) have been doing for years. What they want is to deprive others of the right to travel, a right they themselves exercise, by rejecting the arrival of people who come to Galicia for their summer holidays while not depriving themselves of all kinds of leisure trips. Furthermore, by doing so, they are attacking one of the region's main sources of income: tourism represents 10% of Galicia's GDP. It's a sector that feeds many Galician families, but separatism doesn't care about that.

If far-left separatism hates tourism in general (especially tourism from the rest of Spain, out of pure and simple Hispanophobia), the pilgrims arriving in Santiago de Compostela have become the favorite target of these fanatics, who every summer are annoyed by the mere fact that young people arrive singing in the Galician capital, happy to have reached the end of the Camino de Santiago. In this case, separatism mixes two of its favorite prejudices: Hispanophobia and anti-Catholicism.

A hate campaign that has already manifested itself in incitement to murder

On August 11, 2022, I already pointed out here that Vox denounced the campaign of the BNG separatists against the pilgrims in Santiago de Compostela. A few days earlier, the far-left's hate campaign against the pilgrimages had already manifested itself even in an incitement to murder the pilgrims, a crime about which one might wonder if there was any investigation by the hate crimes prosecutor's office, so active in other matters.

The shameful role of some media outlets in that campaign

What is most outrageous is that there are media outlets that present these separatist hate campaigns by talking about "Galicians" or "residents of Santiago", conveying the false idea that Galicians hate those who come from outside, when in reality it is about fanatics whose intolerance does not represent Galicians, a people who overwhelmingly feel Spanish and in whom Catholicism is the majority religion, much to the chagrin of separatism, which has never won a regional election in this region.

Let's look at an example of this campaign. On July 21, the newspaper "El Español" ran a headline like this: "A Galician criticizes the attitude of pilgrims upon arriving in Santiago: "The worst is the Spanish tourist"". The news referred to a video by "a Galician content creator". That media outlet forgot to provide some context: the author of that video is a separatist who the day before posted another video expressing his displeasure with the celebrations in Santiago of Spain's victory in the 2026 World Cup. A few days later he posted another video with a separatist flag.

Is it 'controversial' that some young people sing and dance?

On Saturday, that same media outlet returned to the attack against the pilgrims, this time with a news story titled: "A group of pilgrims causes controversy when they arrive at the Obradoiro in Santiago." Seeing the headline, one might imagine that these pilgrims arrived in the city kicking trash cans, shouting insults, and urinating in the streets. But no. According to "El Español," these young people were "dancing and singing." And this is controversial? Looking at the photos of the pilgrimage in question, the real reason for the "controversy" comes to light: the young people are Catholic and were carrying several Spanish flags. Perhaps that is the real reason why some are kicking up a fuss on social media against this pilgrimage, as if the young people had been hammering away at the city's historical heritage.

Media silence on the presence of a terrorist group in Santiago

These separatist hate campaigns against pilgrims and their media echo stand in stark contrast to other things. As you could read here, on July 25, the BNG separatists held a public event in Santiago in which they boasted of the support of a terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been sending representatives to BNG rallies on that day for years. Despite the fact that the BNG openly displayed its support for that terrorist group, no media outlet published anything about it. Not even "El Español," which is now foisting a false "controversy" on us about some young Catholics who sing and dance.

Thus, the same separatists who boast every year about having a terrorist group in Santiago are now the ones railing against peaceful pilgrims. This is what separatists, a minority in Galicia, are doing, not "the Galicians." It goes without saying that, unlike the separatists, the vast majority of Galicians welcome pilgrims and detest terrorists, whatever their nature. Enough of this conflation of us all with extremists who feel more comfortable with terrorists than with peaceful, Catholic youth.

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