Unannounced and limited to Spain’s borders, Catalonia’s political aspirations were born about 150 years ago with two goals in mind: to provide Catalonia with a cultural, economic, and political arena of its own, and to modernize Spain, a backwards country then, in need of catching up with Catalonia’s industrial revolution. The Catalan elites understood that without political regeneration and curbing of corruption, and without a modern Spain, they would never enjoy a stable environment to implement their plans of progress. Therefore, back then Catalans were neither proposing breaking up formally with Spain, nor were they pressing forth with a nationalist agenda, but rather an understanding of mutual non-interference. In fact, their demands in 1900 could be summed up by an autonomy charter (politics), a fiscal agreement (economics), a seaport (transportation infrastructures), and a university (culture). Today, 150 years later, none of these goals have been achieved, and the few accomplishments are all being constantly threatened by the Spanish legislation. In the case of infrastructures, this has been done though lack of investment from Spain, which has left the otherwise vibrant Catalan economy without the necessary tools to compete internationally.
The notion that, once Spain became a modern country, Catalonia would benefit from this stability was dispelled precisely when Spain began its own modernizing efforts in 1982 under Felipe González. These efforts proved to be in complete opposition to Catalonia’s goals. Spanish ‘modernity’ consisted of nothing more than the creation of a macro-center, namely Madrid, which would hold all economic, financial, cultural, political, and symbolic power, in exchange of turning all other provinces into virtual deserts with no recognizable identity. That’s why, although Spain is the country that has built more high speed train tracks in the world (with the exception of China), none of the lines ever made it to its borders (up until 2013), while all the remaining lines do pass through Madrid. Of course, some of these lines were forced to shut down out of lack of passengers, and none turned out to be profitable. This provincialization of Spain resulted in a ruinous economy and huge political overhead, because it fostered the creation of new local elites who had no idea of what to do with their newly found power—with the exception of Catalonia and the Basque Country—and who were tempted to benefit personally from public works, all this right before the current crisis.
However, before all this took place, Catalan politicians understood that it was necessary to contribute towards the modernization of Spain, so as to guarantee that Catalonia’s own space would be respected. They agreed to their own fiscal plundering, as it’s usually known (espoli fiscal, in Catalan), in the amount of 10% of Catalonia’s GDP, understanding that this would be a temporary arrangement. However, this was not to be. The same plundering goes on today, right when Catalonia is in need of all its resources to be able to face the current crisis while preserving all the social advances of the past. Also, Catalonia’s political gains proved to be very minimal, and Spain’s modernity was not capable of opening itself to the idea of a shared, diverse country. For example, when Barcelona organized its 1992 Olympics, the Spanish decided they woul too organize the International Expo in Seville! Also, during all this time, Spain has not lifted a finger to invest in Catalonia’s infrastructures. What happened is that Spain’s weak economy, benefitting from real-estate bubbles and foreign aid (European funds, Catalan taxes), is going down the drain, and it’s taking Catalonia’s economy down with it.
Given all this, in 2006 all Catalan political parties, who represented around 80% of Catalan society, proposed to remake a very limiting autonomy charter in order to protect Catalonia’s future, its language, and its resources. They came up with a new proposed legislation which would be slashed down by the Spanish courts, who considered it excessive. After that it was put to a vote by the Catalan people, who voted in favor of it. Immediately after that some Spanish political parties (famously, PP) denounced it in front of the Spanish constitutional court, after which it was further curtailed. In the end it was severed of any reference to Catalonia being a nation and having the rights of a nation, just because it went further than mere decentralizing or regional legislation. What in fact this was saying to the Catalans was, you are just another region, you’ll get the same as the others. But Catalonia is not just another region, if we hear what Catalans think of themselves. Catalonia is a shared idea of progress and community, of European modernity, crystallized through the medium of the Catalan language. In order to survive, Catalonia needs to be politically free, and it needs to have control over its own resources, its own culture, and a much needed international projection impeded by Spain itself.
So, secessionism and pro-independence sentiment are not just about accomplishing long term political objectives, but are the result of the people believing they are a nation who have the right to live free as European citizens. A nation is a shared project, and Catalonia just does not make sense within Spain because Spain is all about something entirely different. This cry for freedom is the consequence of Spain’s never-ending attacks that demonstrate that it does not accept diversity. Spain has tried to subject Catalans “to the laws and the language of Castile” for the last 300 years, and it is precisely Castile now who writes the laws that try to impose Spain’s language agenda in Catalan schools, or homogenized business hours all over Catalonia. Catalonia is not leaving Spain out of spite or resentment, but out of necessity for its own breathing space which is simply impossible to achieve under the Spanish law. This Spanish way of being, at its worse, has produced monsters like Franco’s forty year dictatorship, who right out abolished Catalonia’s political institutions, its language, its culture, all civil liberties, and democracy, all in an effort to finish off the work started three hundred years earlier by the Bourbon dynasty. According to them, “in order to rule Spain one must bomb Barcelona every 50 years.” Spain was built on violence against all that is different.
An independent Catalonia within the european Union—even with just commercial links—would maintain an impeccable relationship with Spain, simply because that’s how it is now. One must make a distinction between the people themselves and the aggressive, reductionist Spanish State, which is the reincarnation of power hungry elites with a very dark political agenda. The worldview shared by Catalans and Spaniards, to which we should add the Portuguese, would give more positive results than now, when divergences stain mutual relationships. Thanks to several boycotts, Catalonia has a hard time selling its products to Spain now. Once we are free, we’ll be best friends. We’ll be able to be ourselves in front of the whole world. We will be the most staunch defenders of progress, happiness, and the creation of a better world.
Read this article in French, Italian and SpanishPatrícia Gabancho
Journalist and writer
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