Catalonia, new state in Europe?
I wrote this op-ed for The Morningside Post, the student-run news and opinion site for Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. It won't be published because of the similar approach with an article published last year, but I still want to share it because I find this issue newsworthy, especially after recent events, and several friends have asked me about Catalonia, so here it is.
On September 11th 2013, a historic 250-mile human chain stretched all the way from the Pyrenees to Valencia, full of hundreds of thousands of Catalans holding hands, asking for independence from Spain. In total, an estimated 1.6 million of the 7.2 people of Catalonia peacefully hit the streets on the nation’s National Day, La Diada, urging the Spanish government to hold a self-determination referendum. The mobilization this year was inspired by the Baltic Way of 1989, when people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a human chain along their capitals to gain independence from the USSR, which they achieved two years later.
Last year a similar number of Catalans gathered in Barcelona in a massive demonstration that was followed around the world and, as usual, was received coldly by the central government. Artur Mas, the president of Catalonia’s governing organization, la Generalitat, promised a referendum in 2014, 300 years after the day that inspired La Diada, when the Bourbon troops marched into Barcelona at the close of the war of Spanish succession. Nevertheless, this week the prime minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, rejected Mas’ request to hold even a non-binding referendum, ignoring the will of great part of the Catalan population. According to surveys, right now over 51% of Catalans are in favor of independence, but a whopping 81% endorse a referendum.
The support of Catalonia’s independence has been speedily growing in the past years, in line with Spain’s increasing recession and the unsuccessful austerity measures imposed by the central government in Madrid. The unemployment rate remains around 26%. The autonomous region of Catalonia, which represents 20% of the economic production of Spain, contributes to the Spanish government much more than it obtains, with losses of 16,000 million Euros yearly. In total, it receives less public expenditure per capita than more than half the other regions of Spain, yet contributes more to the central government than more than half of the other regions of Spain. This inequality is based on the principle of solidarity among regions; however, it has become clearly unsustainable for Catalonia. From increases in the VAT rate that were not refunded to Catalonia, to having toll roads four times as expensive as in the rest of the country, or being constantly mistreated in the Spanish media… just to name a few examples of this exploitation.
The Spanish government’s ideal of a “country” is a united, centralized, homogeneous one. But this is plain impossible since Catalonia, which has been independent in the past, is a nation of its own. Its Parliament, les Corts Catalanes, was established in the 13th century, making it the oldest in Europe. Its people speak and are schooled in a different language, have a different culture and traditions and feel a strong sense of Catalan identity. I, like many Catalans, don’t feel Spanish. I have friends and relatives who live in Spain, and whenever I visit them I honestly feel I am in a foreign country. Don’t get me wrong—us Catalans, we like Spain… As a neighbor. As a partner. As equals. But we are exhausted of decades of discrimination and we don’t think there is a need to be part of Spain.
We believe that we would be better off as an independent country and we have the research to prove it. According to recent investigations, without the burden of the huge fiscal deficit, Catalonia would have a GDP level in line with some of Europe's wealthiest nations, and its government could reduce the current debt and improve the quality of public services. Furthermore, research from Kenneth Rogoff in 2006 demonstrates that Catalonia as an independent state in Europe would be one of the richest in the world.
The problem is that the government alleges that it has to abide by the Spanish Constitution, which states that there is only one nation, the Spanish one, and that sovereignty is exclusively held by the Spanish people in its entirety. Therefore, only the Spanish Government can organize a referendum. This might sound like the Scottish struggle, but whereas the UK – as a plurinational society – accepts that Scotland is a nation, Spain cannot fathom that Catalonia is more than one autonomous region. The consequence of this different approach is that, while the British Government is allowing the Scottish government to organize a referendum on independence, the Spanish government is completely opposed to allowing the Catalans to do the same. It has denied negotiations with Catalan political leads and has promised to fight any move by the Catalan government to organize a referendum.
We Catalans have spoken and the world has seen it. Now we need a strong, united Generalitat Government that exhausts all possible options for a referendum and takes us where we not only want, but are meant to be.
PS. Many Catalans, like me, live abroad. But we still celebrated our own versions of the Catalan Way. Over 10,000 of us, in 116 cities around the world, wanted to tell the world what it is that we want. This is what we did in New York City. The end of the video is pretty amazing.
If you want to know more about this topic:
Spanish secret conflict (Documentary)
The independence of Catalonia: the economic viability, by Xavier Sala-i-Martin
A Referendum for Catalonia, by Artur Mas (The New York Times)
Linking hands, Catalans press case for secession (The New York Times)
Q & A: The Catalan Way explained (Diari Ara)
Spain Bars Catalan Independence Vote (The New York Times)
origamiaround
izzy806
pixelskylines
dededos
discoholicmusic