Separation movements around the world
IN recent months, there have been movements in various parts of the world by people seeking separation and independence from their present governments. A great deal of world attention was focused on the Catalan people in northern Spain whose Barcelona is Spain’s second city after Madrid. Last October 1, the Catalans voted (90 percent) to separate from Spain in a referendum. The national government has declared the voting unconstitutional and threatened police action.
The Kurds of the Middle East have not received as much media attention, but their longing for their own state goes back many years. The Iraqi Kurds voted for independence (93 percent) in a referendum held by the Kurdistan Regional Government on September 25 but the Iraqi government has also rejected the referendum as illegal. The Kurds are also in Turkey, Iran, and Syria –occupying a contiguous area – and the governments of these countries understandably oppose any diminution of their territory in the event a Kurdish state comes into being.
Scotland was an independent kingdom in the early Middle Ages which joined with England in 1603 when James VI of Scotland was declared King of England and Ireland. It became part of the United Kingdom in 1800, but enjoys home rule. In the last independence referendum in 2014, the “no” vote prevailed (55 percent), but after the Great Britain voted last year to exit the European Union in “Brexit,” the Scots are considering a new vote for separation and independence.
These are only three of the more recent and better-covered cases of people seeking greater autonomy or separate statehood. We have had our own Moro liberation movements which, fortunately, have decided to seek greater autonomy instead under the proposed federal government pushed by President Duterte.
We continue to follow developments in Spain, the Middle East, and Great Britain, and we do so with some sympathy for some groups’ desire to be independent nations, but also with the hope that their leaders will see the need in some cases for unity and strength in diversity. Most of all, we hope that all differences will be resolved with peaceful negotiations and with due consideration for the rights of all concerned.