Where were you, Europe?

 

In few places can faith in the European dream be as glistening as it is in Catalonia. Because of old European ties and faith in Northern efficiency? Partly. But many Catalans also see the EU as a safety net into which to tumble free of three hundred years of exposure to one of Europe’s most oppressive National systems, Spain. As Catalan former president Jordi Pujol (1980-2003) has insisted in recent times, “independence is the only way out” now that Spain’s politicians have predictably opted for clamping down on Catalonia’s claims, almost exactly as they did on Cuba’s and the Philipinnes’in the 1890s. Among even moderate Catalans the general feeling is that if they do not react now, political, cultural and economic consequences will be fatal. Not surprisingly, the polls indicate that about 60% of the population are now opting for secession. Indeed, one and a half million Catalans took to the streets last 11th September to express that desire.

 

One area in which Catalans feel the threat that remaining in Spain would suppose is the economy. While taxation yearly creams away a crippling 8·5% of the country’s GDP –thus stiffling investment and growth prospects-unemployment rages at 26%, in clear contradiction with the country’s age-old industrial potential. Catalans consider they are paying Spain’s bills in return for practically nothing. Poor Spanish budget fulfilment adds insult to injury as vital projects for European-gauge railway access to key ports, export-orientated rail and road development and choice international airport links are systematically sidetracked. Proportionally, Catalan students get about half the grants their Spanish counterparts do. Madrid politicians seem unwilling to invest even in a last-minute push to win over hesitant Catalans, a gesture seen by some as suicidal. Instead, they are in the process of narking even middle-of-the-road Catalans by introducing legislation aimed at curbing Catalan in schools and outlawing the rising number of Catalan local councils (about 70%) that are openly backing secession and autonomous taxation methods. Indeed, diplomacy never was Madrid’s pet skill.

On another score, Spain’s democratic deficit shows no signs of rectification, further contributing to divorce mainstream Catalans from identification with Spain. Franco is still the implicit victor. To prove it, last May 16th, the Spanish Government’s representative in Catalonia –the haughty Señora María de los Llanos de Luna- paid public tribute to Spain’s “Blue” division, the one that fought alongside Hitler in WW2. Meanwhile, in Madrid –a city with hundreds of streets named after leading Francoists– the PP-run City Council have announced their decision to dismantle the 1995 monument honouring the International Brigades which fought against Franco in the Civil War (1936-39). “The monument lacks a permit” is the absurd pretext. And while for years the international media have overlooked conservative Spain’s ongoing romance with fascism, mainstream British, French and German media are increasingly highlighting incidents which would be unthinkable –even outlawed–in other EU countries or in the USA. Perhaps the collapse of King Juan Carlos’ international reputation may now further encourage Europe’s newborn insight into Spain’s secret stains.

Catalans therefore pin their hopes on Europe as a new political setting. But does Europe correspond that affection? Over and above the stiffness that EU commitment to member states enforces, doesn’t Europe have a debt with the Catalans and their solid democratic tradition? As acknowledged by credited historians, this small Mediterranean country was one of the first to create a Parliament. And yet it is surely one of the countries that has most and longest suffered at the hands of intolerance and imposed dictatorships. Since the Treaty of Utrecht 300 years ago this year, the official use of her language has been banned for over 85% of the time in which her national rights and institutions were –and are– annulled by Castile. In 1940, Churchill paid lip service to the bravery of Catalans but froze the accounts of national hero cellist Pau Casals despite his loyalty to democracy and England. I know it is an old score, but isn’t it to the fact that Queen Anne betrayed the Catalans that we must attribute their defeat in 1713-1714?

Next year will be the third Centenary of the beginning of a holocaust brought on by that betrayal. Wouldn’t that give Europe an excellent opportunity to put an old score right? Isn’t it a great chance to back one of the Continent’s oldest nation’s current quest for respect and self-determination? If the EU wants to correspond to Catalonia’s age-old contribution to democracy, it now has a magnificent cue. It cannot remain neutral if and when the Catalan government calls a democratic Referendum to decide on the country’s future. It cannot turn a blind eye to the Spanish government’s bullying campaign to quash it, including threats of military intervention and the abolishment of the current level of autonomy. A sense of historical decency and coherence with democratic principles exercised many times across Europe demand a stance in favour of a people that have all too often had to ask the question:“where are you, Europe?”.

 

 

Toni Strubell i Trueta was born in Oxford in 1952 and has an MA at the University of Oxford. He now lives in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (the city where British journalist and humanitarian John Langdon-Davis ran a small hotel for years) and is currently involved in the production of a musical play –inspired by Howard Zinn- called “IsaVel” on the life of Isabel Vilà, who, though relatively unknown, is a sort of fusion of Florence Nightingale and Emma Goldman. Indeed, she was a heroic and committed nurse and, on record, the first female Union leader to take part in the 1^st International (much to the initial surprise of some XIXth Century historians). The play is opening at Figueres on October 4th 2013. Stubell is also the author of a dozen books such as “Isabel Cinc Hores” (on Isabel Vilà), “El moment de dir prou”, “Sunyol, l’altre preisdent afusellat”, a biography on “Josep Narcís Roca i Farreras i el primer catalanisme d’esquerres”, “What Catalans Want” (a book on Catalonia available at Amazon) and “El cansament del catalanisme”. From 2004 to 2010 he wrote on Basque politics for the newspaper El Punt. He was a Catalan Parliament MP from 2010-2012. He is a founder member and ex-Coordinator of the Comissió de la Dignitat (2002-2010), and has organized important events associated with the recovery of the Historical Memory. He was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi (St. George’s Cross in 2002).
@toni_strubell