Catalans Take To The Streets Again!

February 16 Protest, #7 (#Fake Justice). Barcelona, 2019

Catalans on the march in Barcelona

Some 200,000 to 300,000 Catalans took to the streets today to protest the trials (the “fake justice”, as above) that are now beginning for 12 key Catalan leaders charged with carrying out the October 1, 2017 Independence Referendum and the subsequent declaration of Catalan independence–which brought on a political intervention from the national government in Madrid.

You can read more about today’s protest in this BBC article.

Some of my personal observations and opinions…

–These Catalan leaders–some in exile, some held in jail–were carrying out the will of the Catalan populace who voted them into power. Can you really jail politicians for peacefully carrying out the will of the people? The people who voted for them are just as culpable then, no? Logically, shouldn’t the people also be arrested, charged, and tried?

–Catalan independence seems like a very, very, very long shot at this point. Then, if the Catalans were to succeed, what about Basque Country? Galicia? Or any one of the many separatist movements currently active throughout Europe?

–The European Union craves stability above all, so the Catalan “situation” is seen by the EU as an internal matter, so there is not much EU support at this point, even if they aren’t entirely in support of Madrid’s methods. Without the solid backing of the EU, it would be difficult to garner the required international support for a new Catalan state.

–The Catalan separatist movement has been quite peaceful and, I would add, even family-oriented despite some propaganda to the contrary (see my photos below). The only violence to speak of would be the rare isolated incident here and there…or, more obviously, and as you might have seen on television, the rather brutal crackdown by the national police in an attempt to interfere with the October 2017 referendum.

–I can’t see the Catalans getting their independence any time soon–probably not in my lifetime. But it seems that many Catalans are in it for the long haul, so who knows what might happen with the next generation…

–I feel like the Madrid central government has been dealing with the Catalans in a very heavy-handed, even vengeful, way–there is even a whiff of mothballs, monarchy, and the old conquering Spanish Empire in their rhetoric at times. The Catalans themselves are somewhat divided about the idea of independence so, rather than being jerks about it, Madrid could easily take the wind out of the sails of the movement with some well-designed concessions to Catalunya.

–My impression is that the Catalan rural areas and small towns throughout the province are heavily in support of independence. (You’ll see signs as you enter many smaller burgs that say, “You are entering a Catalan town” or something similar.) Barcelona, however, is quite cosmopolitan with immigrants from all over Spain and the world, consequently, the idea of independence here in the capital is not nearly as overwhelming. In Barcelona, I’d guess the political division on the question is roughly this: 33.33% want it, 33.33% don’t, and the other 33.33% don’t really care and/or don’t pay attention to the issue–much like popular opinion during our own American Revolution.

My solution:

1. Have Madrid authorize a Scottish-style referendum in Catalunya that would be legal, binding, and final–BUT, with the threshold for independence at 60%, not just a simple 50%-plus-the-one-lone-paisano (or pagès, more accurately). This would ensure that there is indeed strong support for the separation from Spain.

2. Leading up to the referendum, have the path previously prepped and paved for Catalunya’s quick entry into the EU if such a vote were to be successful.

Some photographs from the day’s march: