Catalonia’s independence is one that typically confuses many observers on the left, in and out of Spain. It is in fact arduous for the more passionless observers — if you have ever met a passionate Catalan or Madrilan you will know what I’m talking about — to figure out where we stand on this issue.

Typically, a foreign observer will feel that this is just a domestic issue for Spaniards to resolve, preferably in peace, and that it does not concern them. While this might sound like a very reasonable and healthy attitude, a closer look at the repercussions of Catalonia’s independence would reveal the complete picture, prompting us to recalibrate our level of ‘passion’ for the subject, or in other words, to understand that we might indeed be concerned indirectly by will happen with Catalonia in the near future.

Perhaps the most reasonable approach is to look at some of the arguments for and against Catalonia’s independence while trying to put the whole issue into its true geopolitical context, one where the US (and Germany to some extent) play a great role. Or to put matters differently, it means looking into what many called the ‘balkanization’ of Europe, that is the destruction of nation states, chewed into smaller and more digestible bites for the US and the powerful corporate lobbies to eat at their favorite Brussels table.

The recent events

The referendum for the Independence of Catalonia — supposed to take place five weeks from now — is perhaps the hottest domestic issue since Spain became a democracy in the late 70’s. In fact last Monday, Spain’s Constitutional Court suspended the Catalonia’s planned independence referendum, scheduled for November 9 to decide the future of the northeastern region. The court said that it needed to consider whether the vote for Catalonia’s independence from Spain was indeed unconstitutional, automatically suspending the vote until further notice as required by legal procedure.

The referendum intends to include a two part question, “Do you want Catalonia to become a state? If yes, do you want that state to be independent?” The vote would determine whether Catalonia maintains the status quo, forms a state but remains part of Spain, or becomes completely independent. A final court ruling on the case could take years.

However, and in spite of the court’s decision, Catalonian officials have vowed to ignore the court’s decision and continue with their independence efforts, in complete defiance of Madrid’s authority. Knowing that Catalonia is Spain’s richest and most highly industrialised region, as well as one of its most independent-minded, this is undoubtedly one red hot political issue for Spain and, as a matter of fact, for Europe.

So what is at stake and what are the pros and cons that any leftist, at least broadly speaking, should know about regarding Catalonia’s independence?

Catalonia is definitely not Spain

First of all, and you may have read this now famous slogan on a sign: CATALONIA IS NOT SPAIN. Indeed, culturally speaking, Catalans do not fit, to say the least, the stereotypical Spaniard that most US citizens expect when they think of Spain. Catalans don’t dance Flamenco, they abhor bullfighting to the point that they banished it in 2010 (Hemingway probably turned in his grave) and if you ever visit Barcelona, don’t even think of ordering paella. Catalans have their own language, their own flag, their own traditions and their own history of course.

Now, having said that, none of this makes Catalonia any different from other regions in Spain. These features merely distinguish Catalans from rather stereotypical cultural icons. These arguments about Catalonia’s singularity could very be transposed to Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country, Extremadura, la Rioja, Aragón, Tenerife, etc. In fact, each Spanish region can be defined according to what differenciates it from the rest. However, cultural diversity isn’t the same thing as cultural division. One could equally argue about what unites Spain culturally and historically.

Cultural absorption, collective paranoia or just propaganda?

The main worry from Catalans I meet is that their culture might be absorbed. This claim, the last defense for any independentist claiming that Catalonia is not Spain (ergo the independence) is in fact a rather poor one. Indeed, on the one hand Spain’s rich cultural diversity (for instance there are 5 recognised languages) is proof that Catalonian identity remains unthreatened. Independentists tend to exploit Franco’s repression against Catalans to their advantage, but this has nothing to do with reality and everything with propaganda. Second of all, Catalonia, a very rich region even by European standards, and is actually very much open to US cultural influence. English has already replaced neighboring French as the second language for young Catalan students. No fear of absorption there apparently…

How about self-determination and democracy? 

This point might actually be the one closer to home for any ‘legal’ leftist attached to democratic principles. Indeed, whether one is an anarchist or plainly social democrat, democracy is a value in and of itself that is highly regarded by the large majority of people, even among many conservatives.

On this matter, the champions of democracy typically face the champions that defend the Law above anything else, meaning here the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The latter is now being represented by the current government of Rajoy (conservative).

Having democracy on our side and having such adversaries as austerity champion, neoliberal and ultra classist Mariano Rajoy and his clique should end the discussion right here and allow leftists to enjoy once again the feeling of being right and root for Catolonia’s independence. However, this might not be as simple as it looks and we might have to wait before we bask in our well founded moral superiority.

The bigger picture

In a perfect world where each country would be an island, we might argue that self-determination (or self-management or democracy …) is the highest value and only criterium to consider when assessing the situation in Catalonia. However, we live in a complex world where external influence, concretely speaking that of the United States (understood as its political and economic elites, not its people of course), is now part of Spain’s political life, even on such domestic issues.

It would perhaps be an argument too long to develop here, but the idea of an independent Catalonia fits the plans of discrete though powerful forces from abroad that have tried to tease the fire of regionalism for quite some time now. There seems to be in Europe a perfectly timed wave of either independence claims (Scotland, Basque Country in Spain, Flandres in Belgium, etc) or regional remolding (cf France’s recent and rather odd ‘reform’ of regions).

The European Union, that many now understand to be an offshoot of US hegemony — there is an abundance of evidence in this regard — is actively participating in the promotion of euroregionalism through the defense of minority languages (even the nearly dead ones like britton in France) and of political and cultural independence of regions, even those that overlap two or more countries (like French Catalonia as part of Catalonia region, or Alsace in France as part of a larger cross German border region, etc). Among the many documents available on this subject, perhaps the most graphic is the map posted by the European Ecologist party on their website that shows exactly what the application of those designs would look like. On that map one can see the actual design of a EU whose main architects are in Washington and Berlin: it is the destruction of nation states as we know them.

Of course, I understand that hearing about euroregions for the first time with barely anything to substantiate it might be difficult. I will dwell on this subject on another post, but for now, if we accept this for argument’s sake, perhaps we might stop and rethink about what democracy would really mean for Catalans once they would be embedded in the EU, with little or no bargaining power when dealing with powerful financial and other lobbies that already control Brussels politics. In fact, that would be for those matters that the EU treaties allows member states to rule on independently from the EU Commission and the European Central Bank…

In conclusion

I could end this post without any conclusions. In fact, there is yet much to say about Catalonia´s independence, many more arguments for and against it, but the final conclusion must be drawn by the observer, provided he/she makes sure to put this issue in the larger context of Europe, where the US plays a great part.

Therefore, rather than ending with a conclusion, I want to share with you the words of Artur Mas, the political leader in Catalonia behind the referendum of Nov 9th. When asked about the possibility of a federal model for Spain rather than an independent Catalogne, he said the following:

“I think that the right answer would be the following one: imagine that the European Union turns into the United States of Europe. In this case, with a federal structure, Catalonia would like to be one of the states of that federation. If you look at the United States of America, you will realise that, with a population of about 300 million people, they have 50 states. The European union, with more than 500 million people, could have more than 60 or 70, or maybe 75 states. And why couldn’t Catalonia be one of these states, in a federal structure and with the powers of a state which belongs to a federal structure? So, with less powers than an independent country but more powers than we have today. In that case, Spain would have less powers, and France and Germany and Holland, but Catalonia would have more powers…

If the EU is not capable of turning into a real political federation, then our aspiration is to have the same tools and the same powers that other nations of our size have in Europe. For instance, the same tools as Denmark, or the same tools as Austria, or the same tools as Finland.”

Artur Mas, President of the Government of Catalonia

November 7th 2012

Destination Europe: Catalonia’s EU future

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