Following a visit to Barcelona’s Escola Humanitat, Michel Feher, founding editor of Zone and author of Rated Agency: Investee Politics in a Speculative Age was recently interviewed in Nació Digital. Click here to learn more about his book. Click here to read the full Spanish language interview. A translated excerpt appears below:

“Q: Can coronavirus have ideological consequences?

A: It is possible. Let’s look now at the United States. If the reaction is to think that aliens carry the virus and you need to close boundaries, Donald Trump wins. If the reaction to coronavirus is to believe that the world is getting worse and worse and we have to go back a bit, that would be good for Joe Biden. If the reaction is to look at how stressed health systems are and how much health coverage is needed for all, Sanders is strengthened. I think this third reaction will happen, but it will come too late. This means that for the coronavirus, the worst and the best futures are possible. For my own personal concern, coronavirus is very bad. But for my reflection, it’s very interesting. It is a speculative theme par excellence.

Q: Do you follow Catalan politics? What is the negotiating table between the Spanish and Catalan governments?

A: On the question of independence, I am an agnostic. There are things that are both friendly and unfriendly. But that’s not the point. Everything that happened after the October 1 referendum is part of the increasingly shrinking reduction of fundamental freedoms and democratic freedoms in Europe. We have to wait for this negotiation to work. I don’t want to do Catalan politics. I find the attitude of ERC interesting. But I would like to say that at present Spain, along with Portugal, are a strange European exception. They are the only leftist governments in Europe. Exploiting it, even for legitimate reasons, would be extremely dangerous. It would be for Europe, Spain, Catalonia and for the independentistas themselves.”