CONFLICT IN SPAIN ABOUT TAKING BACK CONTROL
Catalonia differs from other areas seeking independence, writes Srdja Pavlovic.
The pre-referendum situation in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia was a state of exception in everything but name.
Sept. 15, the first day of the referendum campaign, was a memorable day in Barcelona. Police raided major Catalan media outlets and the post office refused to deliver a local newspaper because of an article in favour of the referendum.
Spanish Guardia Civil raided offices of the Catalan government, arrested officials and confiscated 9.6 million referendum ballot papers. Spanish authorities also threatened legal action against referendum organizers.
This intervention motivated thousands to take to the streets, peacefully protest and chant the slogan “I am not afraid.” They organized through local Referendum Defence Committees and communicated via Twitter, WhatsApp and Telegram.
On Oct. 1, the vote went ahead and 90 per cent of those who cast ballots chose independence. The prospects of Spain’s balkanization alarmed the government in Madrid and sent shock waves through the European Union. While the Spanish government resorted to force against those supporting independence, EU member states and most Western governments remained silent.
The crisis was hardly a surprise to anyone following Spanish and EU politics. In the last decade, Spain went through an economic crisis and many popular disturbances. In 2012, there were 15,000 demonstrations throughout Spain. Within a year that number skyrocketed to 25,000. Most constituted public response to high unemployment and austerity measures rather than expression of nationalist zeal and secessionist aspirations.
Leaders of the separatist movements and the central government in Madrid have been on a collision course for some time, however. The last regional elections in 2015 brought to power the governing coalition that promised to organize a binding
Secessionist tendencies are particular to neither Spain nor Europe.
referendum on independence of Catalonia. It also committed to a unilateral declaration of independence if it obtained more than 50 per cent in favour.
Secessionist tendencies are particular to neither Spain nor Europe. Other regions have been struggling for decades to achieve independence: Scotland, Quebec, Corsica, Flanders, South Tyrol, Padania, and the Republic of Srpska, to mention but a few.
The referendum in Catalonia was different.
First, the referendum happened when both the Spanish state and the EU bureaucracy were failing to formulate coherent policies in response to financial, political and demographic crises hitting Europe. It is clear both administrations have been experiencing deepening crises of confidence.
Second is the harsh reaction by Madrid to the call for a referendum. The threats of direct rule and liberal use of police batons against peaceful demonstrators refocused public attention, lent additional legitimacy to the secessionist cause and gave new meaning to nationalist slogans about oppression and marginalization of Catalonia. The government in Madrid refused to negotiate and forgot protest is a necessary check on political power.
The third reason has to do with a growing dissatisfaction with state institutions and traditional political parties, and the resurgence of grassroots engagement in the political process.
Some analysts suggested the events in Spain clearly demonstrated the traditional European nation state was no longer an adequate political form. They argued the inability of the EU to meet various global challenges, its dysfunctional economic policies and the lack of any credible policy on migration, paired with deepening national divisions, were narrowing democratic spaces for all. The Catalan referendum was another example of direct democracy rightfully challenging the nation state.
It comes as no surprise one of the slogans of Brexit, “Take back control,” resonates strongly in Spain. Both political elites, in Madrid and in Barcelona, are hoping to do the same thing — take back control of what they and their voters see as rightfully and legally theirs. Considering how deep divisions in Catalonia are, the region might become another “frozen conflict” in Europe.