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rfmcdonaldSupport for Catalan separatism--of Catalonia, not of the wider Catalanophone world including the Spanish regions of Valencia and the Balearic Islands, or the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales--seems to be growing, as Paddy Wadworth wrote in his Foreign Policy article "Madrid's Nightmare".
Economic reasons--specifically, resentment of the Spanish government's transfer of income from Catalonia to the poorer regions of Spain, and the belief that if Catalonia was fiscally independent, at least, it wouldn't have to implement the austerity programs demanded for Spain--also play a role in boosting support for independence. In fact, various polls do seem to suggest that support for Catalonian independence has been growing the past few years. All this may well, as suggested at Geocurrents, lead to electoral breakthroughs for separatist Republican Left of Catalonia in the next elections.
Symbolism matters in federal, multinational states. Events in the past decade seem to have reinforced Catalonia's alienation from the rest of Spain, for reasons as various as the tensions with the Aznar government earlier in this decade and the recent attacks on Catalonia for its ban on bullfighting. While noting that Catalonia's separatists would certainly see advantages for themselves if their region became an independent state and observing that I don't think Catalonia needs to be independent, that there's a contradiction between Catalonia's survival and Catalonia's inclusion within Spain. If the mass of Catalonians are convinced that there is a contradiction, then much becomes possible.
Zapatero had rashly promised to accept whatever changes the Catalan parliament made to its existing autonomy statute, so long as they stayed within the current constitution. But the most radical changes were watered down by the Madrid parliament, though it did approve Catalonia's desired affirmation of its "preferred" status of the Catalan language, and its full control of over its judiciary. Most significantly, it accepted Catalonia's status as a "nation" in its own right, though it shifted this provision from the main statute to the preface.
But in early July, the Spanish Constitutional Court, responding to a petition organized by the opposition conservative People's Party (PP), ruled that some of the changes violated the constitution and avowed that only it only recognizes "one nation, Spain," dashing Catalan hopes. Popular support for the PP petition campaign revealed that Spanish nationalism, dormant since the dictatorship, remains a key force in Spanish politics.
Yet the court decision provoked what were probably the biggest demonstrations in Barcelona since the transition to democracy. Around a million people took to the streets to protest in favor of increased self-determination for the Catalan nation. They were led by José Montilla, leader of the PSC, the Catalan chapter of Zapatero's party, who described the decision of Spain's highest court as "offensive." The tone of the march suggests that many Catalans who would have been content with even the watered-down statute are now shifting towards demands for complete independence. Montilla was repeatedly abused by pro-independence demonstrators, who appear increasingly to reflect the popular mood.
Economic reasons--specifically, resentment of the Spanish government's transfer of income from Catalonia to the poorer regions of Spain, and the belief that if Catalonia was fiscally independent, at least, it wouldn't have to implement the austerity programs demanded for Spain--also play a role in boosting support for independence. In fact, various polls do seem to suggest that support for Catalonian independence has been growing the past few years. All this may well, as suggested at Geocurrents, lead to electoral breakthroughs for separatist Republican Left of Catalonia in the next elections.
Symbolism matters in federal, multinational states. Events in the past decade seem to have reinforced Catalonia's alienation from the rest of Spain, for reasons as various as the tensions with the Aznar government earlier in this decade and the recent attacks on Catalonia for its ban on bullfighting. While noting that Catalonia's separatists would certainly see advantages for themselves if their region became an independent state and observing that I don't think Catalonia needs to be independent, that there's a contradiction between Catalonia's survival and Catalonia's inclusion within Spain. If the mass of Catalonians are convinced that there is a contradiction, then much becomes possible.
