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Saturday, October 28, 2017

The Cataluña Crisis



I am a guest resident of Spain and as such I view the current crisis in Cataluña as an observer from the fringe. I do have an opinion, as does every single adult in Spain as this is a very serious problem which will result in days of horror to come, including the deaths of people before it is sorted out.

Mainly I'm concerned because of the attitudes of many British people who are expressing their opinions in a manner in which they feel they are right, when in fact they have completely misunderstood the situation.

Spain is a country as presently constituted and there is no provision whatsoever to allow for any of its parts to breakaway and go it alone. Those people in Pais Vasco, (The Basque Country) or Euskadi as it is known discovered this after a long and bloody campaign that took a terrible toll and was designed to gain independence through brute force. It didn't work! Those in Cataluña who are pro-independence have learned nothing from the struggles of Euskadi.

The reason why they feel the need to break away is best known to themselves. As a foreigner I can not even hope to understand, but once the fever for freedom takes hold it becomes an obsession and takes over completely. That part I do get and all common sense goes out the window. I am so glad that my family and I live outside the boundaries of Cataluña for as a foreigner we would be completely powerless and a captive to a situation that we can never have any input.

British reportage has a certain slant that seems to feel that the Spanish government are denying the region their democratic right to express their wishes through the ballot box. Well, here's the point: There is no provision to legally vote in a referendum for an integral part to break away, whether you are for or against. The "referendum" that was organised on October 1, 2017 was completely illegal and the police were instructed to interrupt any proceedings, and anyone who stood in the way was committing civil disobedience as were those who participated.

The fact that the police spanked those who were being disobedient was what they were supposed to do, as well as to arrest those they felt appropriate. It is no good to break the law and then complain that the police spanked them too hard.

This entire campaign was doomed from the start and was begun by people who knew they were making mischief and who played on the emotions of soft-headed persons who thought that because Cataluña was such an economic powerhouse they could stand alone. The result of their actions so far has been to scare away the very companies that made the economic miracle possible, and instead of being independent they have lost the autonomy they had. What's more the leaders, including half the parliament will spend the next thirty years in jail.

There are British people who voted in a referendum to leave the EU Common market and they think that the people of Cataluña should have had the right to vote in a legal opinion poll as to whether to stay or go as part of Spain. What those same British people don't seem to realise is that if their same region of Somerset or Dorset or Leeds, etc., wished to hold a breakaway referendum in England it could not happen there either.

Maybe countries that are part of the United Kingdom have the right to decide whether they wish to remain or leave that circle, but parts of those countries cannot have any say as to stay or go as part of the country itself.

The irony is that for Cataluña to become independent is not even a practical option. Had the Spanish government agreed to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence the first thing that would have happened is that it would not have had any money as the Euro would have ceased being a currency of value in that region.

Madrid has now taken over full control of all institutions involved in the management of the region and now pain will be imposed to get people back in line with the law. That will be such a shame as the lives of a significant number of Catalonians have been shattered who were intelligent enough to know that independence was a non-starter.

All bad ideas are started by one person, as are good ideas but when they bring along great throngs of people and involve them to the point where they suffer injury and pain in support of a bad idea there really is no punishment sufficient to put the leaders through.

However, thirty years in jail is a good start!

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael