Cataluña or Catalunya?

The official Catalan flag - La Senyera (L) and the Catalan independence flag - La Estelada

This Saturday just gone was a “historic day” in Cataluña, according to just about every media source I read or tuned into. Of course, which sense of “historic” depended very much on the news source and, clearly, which side of the fence they sit on regarding Cataluña’s derecho a decidir (right to decide) its future within, or not, Spain.

You see, the Catalan President (Premier), Artur Mas, signed into law the Ley de Consultas – the law authorising a referendum in Cataluña on independence from Spain, that he plans to celebrate on November 9 this year.

The referendum countdown clock - installed in the Plaça St Jaume.
On the left it reads "Now is the Time"

The central government in Madrid has flatly refused the referendum on the grounds that it would be unconstitutional for Cataluña to vote unilaterally on independence. And indeed, today, the Consejo de Ministros (Spain’s Cabinet) are meeting with the sole purpose of taking the Catalan law to the Constitutional Court, which will paralyse it until a decision is made. A callejón sin salida (dead-end alley), as those opposed to the independence push say? Well, we’ll have to see.

You could say that symbolically, all the planets had aligned to bring us to Saturday’s “historic” event. On September 11, Cataluña celebrated its “national” day, La Diada”.  This day commemorates the fall of Barcelona in 1714 to the Franco-Spanish forces of the Bourbon king Felipe V at the end of the War of Spanish Succession.

The Catalans had chose the losing side in the war, but their defeat (and their resistance during the Siege of the city) ended up forging a stronger Catalan national identity - sort of like Gallipoli for Australians, I guess.

(As a side-note, I can’t help noticing that Spain’s new Bourbon king (yes Spain’s monarchs are still Bourbons) is Felipe VI… Spooky.)

One of the many huge billboards erected in the centre of Barcelona by the Town Hall,
celebrating the Tricentenary of the Siege of Barcelona. It reads "Live Free"

This year is the 300^th anniversary of the end of the Siege, and with the independista fervour generated over the last year and a bit by Artur Mas’s centre-right nationalist government (supported by their political opposites in just about any other matter except the push for independence, the left-wing republicans Esquerra Republicana) the turnout for the celebrations was massive – the biggest ever. 

1.6 million people, according to the police, converged on Barcelona. Dressed in red and yellow – the colours of the Catalan flag - they took up their positions on two of the city’s main arteries, the Gran Via and the Diagonal, forming a gigantic V for Vota (Vote) that stretched for 11 km. It was quite a sight. 

Part of the V. Pic: Josep Carpintero, Asemblea.cat. CC license

(For fairness, I should note that the central government put the figure at 480,000. Here in Spain though, you generally have the absurd situation where organisers of demonstrations dramatically over-estimate attendance and the government dramatically underestimates the same, so you usually have to go for a middle figure, although in this I’m tempted to go with the police.)

More of the V. Pic: Josep Carpintero, Asemblea.cat. CC license

All this was just a week out from Scotland’s referendum on independence from the UK. The vote was followed with bated breath here in Cataluña and the rest of Spain and although the result obviously disappointed the Catalan independistas, they quickly turned it around to celebrate the fact that the Scottish were at least given the opportunity to vote.

Towers symbolising voting urns set up at the apex of the V during la Diada

And this is where I think things get a bit messy for Madrid. You see it’s not nearly as simple as to say that all those who want the derecho a decidir actually want independence. Last week, when the Catalan Parliament passed the law for the referendum, it did so with the support of more than just the nationalist parties. Many Catalan’s just want to be allowed to have a say.

As an extranjero living in Barcelona, I feel strangely removed from what is going on around me. I’m aware that I can’t fully appreciate the fear and pain that many Spaniards feel at the possibility of a break-up of their country, nor understand the deep-seated sense of “difference” that Catalans feel to other Spaniards.  Also, I come from a country that has never suffered a civil war, as Spain did just 80 years ago, the memory of which I know must be having an impact on people’s opinions on this matter, but just how I cannot fully comprehend.

But I can’t help but wonder if Madrid’s emphatic “no” on exploring avenues for greater Catalan autonomy has not created a rod for its own back, helping to bring us to where we are now.  After all, it’s human nature to baulk at being told “no”. 

Add to that the seemingly un-ending economic crisis, earlier constitutional challenges against Cataluña led by the Party currently in power in Madrid, recent central government reforms that many in Cataluña see as attacks on their language and competences, and I can see where some of the fuel for the secessionist fire might be coming from.

Having said all that, I can understand that no government wants to be the one that oversees the break-up of their country – just look at the last-minute scramble David Cameron made up to Scotland when the polls started to give the advantage to the “Yes” camp in the Scottish vote.

Problem is, simple prohibition (even when based on sound legal arguments, as it seems to be here) seldom works. And Spain should know that better than most from it’s own recent history. Franco’s brutal oppression of any sign of (non-Spanish) nationalism did very little to quell people’s ambitions – if anything it made them stronger.