1 million Catalans form chain to promote secession

[frigidmagi]

Washington Post

More than 1 million people showed their support for Catalan independence Wednesday by joining hands to form a 400-kilometer (250-mile) human chain across the northeastern region of Spain.

The demonstration on the region’s annual public holiday aimed to illustrate the strength of local backing for political efforts to break away from Spain. The Catalan regional government estimated 1.6 million people in the region of 7.5 million residents took part in the human chain, many of them with red, yellow and blue pro-independence flags draped around their shoulders.

“Today is a historic day. The Catalan people have reaffirmed their determination to be a free state,” said Carme Forcadell, president of the Catalan National Assembly, which organized the human chain.

The protest in Catalonia was peaceful, but a small group of Spanish fascists in Madrid stormed their way into the office of the Catalan government’s delegation building in the capital.

Television images showed about 10 men with Spanish fascist flags shouting, pushing people, knocking over furniture and hitting a journalist’s TV camera. They yelled “Catalonia is Spain!” and quickly left, but reportedly opened a tear gas container, forcing the 100 or so people gathered there to evacuate.

During Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship from 1939-1975, the Catalan language was banned in schools, publishing and from public use.

Despite sharing many cultural traits with the rest of Spain, many Catalans claim a deep cultural difference based on their language, which is spoken side-by-side with Spanish in the wealthy region.

Catalonia’s regional leader Artur Mas has promised to hold a referendum on independence in 2014, but the Madrid-based government has said that such a vote would be unconstitutional.

Polls indicate that the majority of Catalans agree on holding a referendum, though surveys indicate support among residents for independence is around 50 percent. It falls to less than that when those questioned are asked whether they would want a separate Catalan state outside the European Union.

The Spanish government’s refusal to grant Catalonia similar fiscal powers held by the Basque Country - the other region with a strong separatist movement - combined with the country’s double-dip recession have swelled the pro-independence ranks in recent years. Many Catalans feel secession would allow them to pull free of Spain’s economic troubles.

“It’s becoming clearer that we have nowhere to go with Spain. We want to be free,” said Montse Espina, a 44-year-old sales representative holding a pro-independence flag in Barcelona.

Pro-independence supporters raised their arms and chanted “Independence!” during the demonstration. There was a festive mood across the countryside, with church bells ringing out in some towns and villages.

In Barcelona, the human chain passed through the city’s main square, around the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral and through the Camp Nou Stadium where the Barcelona soccer team plays.

“The message has been sent,” Mas said. “If we are not given a way to channel this widespread patriotic movement, then I think the Spanish state has a serious problem with Catalonia.”

Spain’s deputy prime minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said Mas was promoting political divisions.

“The worst thing a politician can do is force people to separate” into two groups, she said.

I don't think anyone is forcing anyone to separate so trying that line of argument is gonna fail.

I've read about this, basically Catalonia feels they get very little from Spain and are forced to give more. They feel their language and traditions are ignored or downplayed (I have no idea as to the truth of this). Generally the theory I've run into states that this is a result of two things, the general failure of the Spanish state recently (high unemployment, scandals and displeasure with the government who has been somewhat tonedeaf and embraced austerity) and the relative success of Catalonia and the EU. Basically Catalonia is experiencing less economic pain and in the EU feels politically and economically secure enough to ask "Do we really need Spain?"

Honestly if the EU lasts and proves stable you may expect to see more of this. And it's very possible that the EU government itself will encourage it. After all Catalonia is going to have alot less power in the EU on it's own then a unified Spain would.

[Lys]

I am a citizen of Cataluña, admittedly expatriate, and I strongly oppose this. To the point that I'd support military action to stop it, like every other time they tried to secede. In fact Barcelona is easily among my top five cities in the planet, and I would bombard it with artillery if that's what it took to prevent secession. I'd do it as a last resort, after all other options had been exhausted and the situation could not get any worse, but I'd do it. I'll just try not to hit the Sagrada Familia, I don't want it to take another century to finish the damn thing.

[frigidmagi]

Considering my views on American secession (which you can find under It'll be a Cold Day in Hell), I'm not going to be hypocritical enough to tell you to let it happen or that you're wrong to feel that way. I'd bombard Oklahoma City to keep my home state in the Union for example.

But I do have to ask, what is your opinion on why at least a million of your fellow Catalans feel this way and why are you so gung ho to prevent it?

[Lys]

I'm not any happier with the administration of Spain than they are. The two major parties have screwed the pooch, they've repeatedly screwed the pooch, to the point that I've started voting Falangist in disgust. I can understand why they feel they want to be out from under the yoke of a cavalcade of incompetents who can't plan reasonable national policy to save their lives, and largely haven't in two decades. Of course Cataluña is the main powerbase of half those idiots, but it's admittedly the better half. They also feel, with some justification, that their more prosperous part of the country is being forced to subsidize the less prosperous parts. The cultural thing... I don't now what they're on about. Over there everything's in Catalan, you're a foreigner unless you speak Catalan, and Catalonian culture is practised on a regular basis by the locals. What more do they want? To not have to learn Spanish? Newsflash, they probably will even if they secede because the rest of Spain is still their biggest trading partner.

Now, the principal reason why I tend to oppose secessionist in principle is because it usually makes nations weaker. A State entity is usually greater than the sum of its parts, so secession tends to diminish those parts by far more than it appears at first glance. A weak State is a plaything for stronger states, and the ability that France and Germany have to push around countries like Spain and Italy is already bad enough. It would get worse if they fragmented. There's also the emotional national self-identification thing. To me Cataluña isn't my country, Spain is my country. Cataluña is only the part of my country the I hold citizenship in and feel most connected to, but it's still only a part of the whole. In that context secession feels to me like the mutilation of my country, which I am naturally inclined to oppose and vigorously.

[Cynical Cat]

There's also a long standing resentment of how they've been treated by the Castillian majority for centuries, including having their language suppressed under Franco.

[Lys]

It seems like a strange thing to want to secede over an injustice that has been addressed for decades. Franco's gone and his policies with him, there is no longer any suppression of Catalan language and culture.

Ironically, part of the resentment against Castillian oppression stems from the fact that for centuries, Aragon wasn't so oppressed. Under the laws of the Habsburg monarchy, Castille and Aragon were almost separate countries. The Habsburgs were considerably limited in how they could tax Aragon, and under the laws of the monarchy citizens of Castille or Aragon were legally foreigners in the other domain. The two were not truly unified until the early 18th century under the Bourbon King Philip V, and then mostly because Aragon had supported his opponent in the War of Spanish Succession, while Castille supported him. By then nationalism was starting to become a thing, so it was too late to suppress Catalan and Valencian culture in Spain in the same way that Provençal culture had been suppressed in France. Which is a pity, but much of the Habsburg reing was a pity. The Count-Duke of Olivares almost managed to turn things around, but alas the French won on the field and Paris was not taken.

[Cynical Cat]

It seems like a strange thing to want to secede over an injustice that has been addressed for decades. Franco's gone and his policies with him, there is no longer any suppression of Catalan language and culture.

Yeah, but it's still within living memory and the grave hasn't swallowed those resentments. It also wasn't just Franco and it lasted for generations. As a Canadian, I can vouch for the fact that this shit lingers as the Quebecers are still pissed and 2 out of 3 of their oppressors were francophones and they've been running their province for 50 years.