Hie! As a non spanish person with Catalan friends who get really heated up with the subject and cant explain it thru. Why is that they want to separate from spain? And havent they done like 4 or 5 referendum thingies to gain independence and they've all turned our negative or whatever it is that means we wanna stay? I come in peace and hope not to get shouted at like my friends did to me when I asked. Sincerely, the Tall Friend
I think youâre confusing Catalonia with Quebec or Scotland or some other country. Weâve had 1 independence referendum and yes to independence clearly won it. The pro-independence political parties have also been winning the elections every time since 2012.
Letâs start with the beginning.
What is Catalonia? And what was Catalonia?
Catalonia is a country with its own language (Catalan), culture, and history. It developed in the Middle Ages, when it was an independent country.
As you can see, we have two neighbours: Spain and France. As you will probably know, those are two of the most imperialistic countries in Europe (they colonised Latin America, the Caribbean, parts of Africa, the Philippines, etc).
I will try to explain the historical part as fast as possible so we can get to nowadays, but to understand the situation you need a bit of historical context.
Before going to invade lands far away, the European colonial powers invaded their neighbours and fought other European countries. Catalonia, because of its location and importance in Medieval Mediterranean commerce, was targeted.
In 1469, the Queen of Castilla (Spain) and the King of Catalonia-Aragon got married. This was normal at the time and did not mean that the two countries became one. On the contrary, each country remained independent, just that with the same monarchy. It didnât really matter for Catalonia because Catalonia was ruled by a Parliament (and the king didnât really have that much power), but Castilla (Spain) was an absolute monarchy (meaning that the King had all power).
With time, the kings and many Spanish people started to really hate Catalans because they were seen as un-Christian for having other forms of government than the Catholic absolute monarchy. And since Catalonia had its own laws and traditions, those were seen as un-Christian and traitorous. Most of the greatest writers, politicians, nobles, etc of the Spanish Golden Century (1500s-1600s) were openly very Catalanophobic.They said Catalans are âthe most miserable creature ever created by Godâ, âa monstruous abort of politicsâ, âan illness against the kingsâ, all Catalans were often called thiefs, or that âit is well known the obstinity and savagery of this people [Catalans], the most criminal of allâ (all of these are literal quotes). Catalans were also said to be guilty of spreading Judaism in Spain for whatever reason.
(In fact, even nowadays fascist Spanish people often tell Catalans and Basques to âspeak Christianâ meaning to speak Spanish instead of our languages).
Spain wanted to force all population to convert to Christianism (at that moment a lot of the population, especially in the south, was Muslim), and to become a Castillian (that is, a Spaniard in the modern sense of the word: speak only Spanish, be Catholic, have an absolute monarchy, celebrate Spanish celebrations, etc). This is the moment when Spain did the expulsion of Jewish and Moorish people and when it started its repression of Catalan, Basque and Romani people.
Castilla (Spain) tried to gain as much power as possible in Catalonia, convinced the upper classes of Catalonia that they had to abandon the Catalan language (which they considered a âpeasantâs languageâ and not evolved enough for finer minds), and so the upper classes started to speak Spanish and try to imitate the Spanish way of doing everything. But practically everyone kept speaking Catalan, and Catalonia remained independent (with its own laws, parliament, insititutions, etc).
Until there was a moment where the Spanish monarchy couldnât stand that Catalonia has such a different political system. In the year 1714, Spain (Castilla) won the War of Spanish Succession against Catalonia and other territories, and proceeded to invade Catalonia and the other Catalan-speaking territories (Valencia and the Balearic Islands).
Spain teamed up with France, which means they were the two most powerful armies in Europe. Obviously, Catalonia-Aragon lost the war, and was invaded.
The invasion meant that Spain could finally do what they wanted with this land: they banned our language and imposed Spanish, they eliminated our traditional laws, they eliminated our institutions and imposed the Spanish absolute monarchy, they imposed Spanish âgobernadoresâ (governors) to rule our lands, they burnt down whole towns, they closed our universities, they forbid schools for ever speaking in Catalan or teaching Catalan history, they forbid churches to say mass or teach Catechesis in Catalan, they killed many of those who had fought to defend Catalonia from the Spanish invasion publicly to humiliate them (for example, general Josep Moragues was killed after being dragged alive by a horse through the streets of Barcelona and then killed and his head was displayed as a warning in the entrance to Barcelona for 12 years, even with his widowâs begging), among many other things.
Please, see this post for a list of laws made against the Catalan language between the 16th and 19th centuries. And this post for the laws between 1900 and 2016 (when I made the post, I could say more laws now).
After the invasion of Catalonia, the idea that Catalans must be âSpanishizedâ and that speaking Catalan makes us inferior spread more and more among Spanish people, as did the general hate against us. This is why Catalonia was often victim of Spanish soldiersâ rape, stealing harvest, etc without facing any consequence, because the Spanish kings and officials allowed it.
France also tried to invade us many times, then Spain invaded back, then France, then Spain⌠but I wonât get into that because it would make this post unnecessarily long.
The worst moment though, was definitely the fascist dictatorship of Franco (1939-1978).
Fascism in Spain adds Catalans (as well as the other national minorities: Romani people, Basques, Galicians, Asturians, etc) to their list of enemies.
Catalonia was always a progressist place, and in the 1930s a huge part of Catalans was anarchist. Fascism made a coup dâetat which they called âa crusade against the redsâ, and Catalans were not only targeted for being Catalan but also for being all seen as âredsâ (anarchists and communists) and atheists. The anthem of the fascists (called Cara al sol) said âCatalan, Jew, and renegade [atheist], youâll pay for what you have doneâ.
The fascist coup dâetat did not triumph in Catalonia thanks to the resistance of the antifascist unions and the Government of Catalonia, which organised civilians militias. Sadly, in the end the fascists won the war (Spanish Civil War) and established a dictatorship. They killed the president of Catalonia and thousands more people who opposed them. Everyone who defended the right to speak Catalan was tortured and killed. Schools were forbidden from teaching in Catalan or mentioning Catalan history, literature, etc. Catalan teachers were fired and either killed (many teachers were leftists) or forced to go to a rural village far away from their home, and schools in Catalonia were replaced by Spanish fascist teachers or people from the Spanish army. These teachers beat the children if they were heard speaking in Catalan. Schools taught the superiority of Spain and the Spanish language and the glory of the Spanish empire. Children were made to sing the fascist anthem and pray every day before starting class. Some Catalan traditions were banned, such as our traditional dance. Many of our traditional songs were also banned, and people even went to jail in for singing them (for example, la Santa Espina). Every family knows people who were tortured and/or killed by the regime, sometimes for no reason, sometimes for their political beliefs.
The dictator died in 1975 and Spain entered a phase known as the âtransition to democracyâ. Catalonia was given a bit of self-government (not much) and our language was legalised to use at schools.
Even with this, we have whole generations born and raised under the fascist regime who were brainwashed into hating Catalans, Basques, Jews, atheists, etc. And even in Catalonia, there are still people who are ashamed of being Catalan. For example, the neonazis who murdered Miquel Grau and Guillem AgullĂł (two Valencian young men who were targeted for being independentists) were not from other parts of Spain.
It is scary, because our country is controlled by another one which is full of people who hate us, and the Spanish governments have always (even nowadays) discriminated Catalonia in front of other regions and actively work against us.
Many people wanted to try to be able to keep our language (which was weakened by the fact that it was persecuted for most of the 20th century) and pass different laws. Spain is very conservative, Catalonia is not. If you look at the maps every time there are elections, you can see the voting results in Spain vs. the voting results in Catalonia and the Basque Country are very different.
So the governments of Catalonia have been asking the Spanish government to have a few more control over our own territory (Spain is very centralist, so most power is in the hands of a central government in Madrid). Spain has always said NO. Please see this previous post with a video that explains all the ways we have tried.
Catalans basically were saying âyes, we will be part of Spain with no problem, as long as weâre allowed to speak our language and have some laws to protect women, poor people, etcâ. Every time, we had less demands. We were begging that yes! we wanted to be part of Spain but just these little demands! But they never allowed anything. Spain still has a very imperialist mindset, and see our sole existance as a threat (thatâs why you get the Minster of Education Wert saying in parliament that âwe must turn Catalan kids into Spanish kidsâ).
So in front of that, people got tired. More and more people saw that the only way we can truly advance to a more equal and democratic society is if people who live in Catalonia can decide how Catalonia should be run, and not just obey the comands of a government in Madrid that has never had any intention of helping our land prosper, and who have an opposite idea of what the future should be like.
So we asked for an independence referendum. Many times. They always said no. So we said âfuck it, weâll do it anywayâ. So we organised October 1st 2017. Spain declared it illegal, searched for the ballot boxes and voting papers for months, sent thousands of military police to beat up voters and steal the ballot boxes with the votes, etc. The police brutality on that day was shameful, and yet the Spanish government and the King said the policemen were honourable for doing so, and many Spanish people gave them support too and greeted the policemen singing âa por ellosâ (go get them).
Please, read more about what happened in October 1st and after it in this post.
Even though the police stole votes, physically stopped people from entering the voting schools, etc. 43% of the people of Catalonia voted (in fact, over 50% voted but their votes were stolen by the police and could not be counted). And 90,2% of the votes were âyes to independenceâ.
Spainâs response? A democratic country would have found the solution to meet with the Catalan goverment and talk about it, maybe find a middle point, listen to the demands of Catalans⌠But no. Spainâs response was to jail the politicians who had taken part in the organisation of the referendum as well as the leaders of the main civil organisations, more people arrested, and arbitrary imprisonment in . They also took down websites that talked about the referendum and independence, said we had made up that the police had beaten voters (even though over a thousand people had to be hospitalized just on the day of the referendum as a result of police brutality and there are hundreds of photos and videos), and apply Law 155 in Catalonia (which means that the Catalan institutions are dissolved and Catalonia is ruled directly from Madrid. The party at the Spanish gov in that moment was the far right wing PP, which in Catalonia had only gotten 13% of the votes. That is basically a dictatorship).
And now, every time there is more and more repression. Some people ask us if we are not scared of the arrests, jailings, police brutality, etc. Yes, we itâs scary. But not protesting and remaining under Spanish occupation is even scarier. For mental health, I donât think I could stand the rest of my life seeing how Spanish media treats us. I donât want to see my grandmother cry when she watches the news because âitâs like Franco againâ. I donât want to see more of my friends in trials for things they have not done. I donât want to be temporarily arrested again because a policeman saw me wearing a yellow ribbon (symbol of solidarity with political prisoners) and decided I must be up to something.
tl;dr Spain is a fascist state and we want no part in that.
Catalan people want to be treated as equals and this will never happen in Spain. We want to be able to pass the social laws we have voted for (to welcome refugees, equal pay for women, protect the Earth, abolish monarchy, not have political prisoners, stop evictions, etc) and Spain does not allow us to. The only option is independence.
Please, read this previous post and youâll see how Spain bans Catalonia from progressive laws, and so how independence will make life much better for all its citizens. And hopefully, more Spanish people will realise that life is happier when we respect each other and work in cooperation for a better future.
2087
janainaart
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
