Conflict Renewed in Catalunya: “La Sentència”

Manifestació, #2, Barcelona, October 18, 2019

The Sentences

Last week, the court system in Spain handed down some fairly harsh sentences for nine Catalan politians accused of rebellion for their role in promoting and carrying out the October 2017 independence referendum.

The sentences for these nine ranged from 9 to 13 years in prison with the main charge being reduced from rebellion to sedition.

The public reaction in Barcelona was immediate and massive once the announcements were made. I was walking my way home from the Climbat Foixarda rock gym on Montjuic, via Plaça Espanya, and I immediately noticed something in the air–a police helicopter hovering, whopping and whirring around, for one thing. But also… the heavy police presence–vans, cars, officers on foot… in the Plaça Espanya/Gran Via area, the many airport buses lined up (blocked from leaving?)… the hundreds of people streaming down the sidewalks from city center toward Gran Via… the Sants train station with controlled access entry… and so on.

As it happened, all those folks, many with the standard Catalan flag capes, were on their way to the airport to occupy the terminal in protest of the verdicts. Many walked all the way there, some 10-15 kilometers. In the end, nearly 150 flights were cancelled and there was some minor skirmishing at El Prat Airport.

Every day since then the protests have continued (off and on), sometimes with confrontations with police and anti-independence groups.

Friday was the big whopper of a protest, with Barcelona basically shut down as Catalans from all over the province flowed in–many walking–to join the throngs on Passeig de Gràcia–probably a half million people or so. Again, mostly peaceful, but there was apparently the need for rubber bullets and tear gas on Via Laietana…

Then the calls and texts from the States started…”Is everything OK over there?” “What’s happening?” “Are you safe?”

What Do I See?

Here are my observations…

–The Catalans who support independence are pissed. They think the sentences are unduly harsh–some rapists have gotten away with much lighter penalties, they will say.

–Those same Catalan “independentistes” (correct Catalan spelling) see the Spanish government as acting as a true and ugly direct descendent of the Franco regime–willing to use a too-heavy hand to put down dissent, harsh anti-democratic legal measures, squelching traditional freedom of expression, etc.

–Madrid sees the independence movement as unconstitutional and illegal and has shown no interest in any kind of dialogue.

–The European Union is turning a blind eye. They like stability and they are afraid of what would happen if the Catalans were to break away–so they may not like the heavy handedness of Madrid, but they willing to ignore the situation as long as the status quo isn’t rocked too badly. (If the Catalans were to succeed, God forbid, it would open a Pandora’s box for the EU… Basque Country, Galicia, Scotland, Belgium, Italy, France, et al–there are festering independence movements in many places just waiting for such encouragement.)

–99% of the protests have been entirely peaceful, with families, oldsters, kids, all out on the streets, and I have been in amongst the crowd on many occasions. I would guess the current violence you are seeing on TV comes from two sources: hotheaded young Catalans who are really fed up with Madrid’s tough stance, and anti-independence and even neo-fascist (neo-nazi?) groups trying to provoke a violent reaction from the Catalans.

–A couple of days ago, our street was actually blocked off for a few hours by a handful of young protesters. They moved the giant recycling bins into the road and lit some cardboard trash on fire. There was no police reaction and no confrontations, the largely-ignored fire died down, and the next day the recycling bins were back in their places, the street was cleaned up, and morning rush hour traffic was honking about as usual.

–Much of life in Barcelona goes on as per normal–there are still chocolate croissants at the corner bakery, the local open-air market continues to sell fresh fishies and veggies, and the gym is still open.

My Ultimate Solution

As I see it…

–[Even though Madrid would NEVER EVER consider it]… just give the Catalans a binding, official, Scottish-style referendum on independence. If they vote “Yes”, then they enter the European Union. A “No” vote means it’s over.

–It is by no means clear that such a referendum would, in fact, end in a “Yes” vote. Barcelona itself, with all of its immigration, seems to be split by the idea–one-third want independence, one-third, don’t, and one-third could care less or don’t pay attention (like most political questions). The rural areas seem to be very pro-independence-minded.

–Yes, Madrid would be taking the risk of losing their cash cow province. But this would certainly put the question to rest, wouldn’t it? And if Madrid truly thinks it is nothing more than an extremist vocal minority in Catalunya that is pushing for independence, then put it up for a vote!

–Maybe consider the idea of having a 60% threshold for the “Yes” vote, to be assured that a very solid majority really is in favor of independence. That would be a tough bar to clear–but if the Catalans were to do it, they’d certainly deserve independence.

The Future?

I have no idea…

The world is so polarized these days, with Brexit, Trump, the Catalan question, right versus left, socialism versus fascism, sport climbing versus traditional climbing versus bouldering, dogs versus cats, and so on. I suspect most of us fall in the middle of all that somewhere and it is painful and frustrating to see the extremists on both ends grabbing the debate by the throat and getting all the gory headlines.

I certainly hope we are not headed for another major human blood-letting in order to settle these questions (as we apparently thought we were doing in the 20th century).

Ah, the human condition. We are such wretched beings–beans?–sometimes…