On Catalonia and Democracy
The US Government should condemn Spain for its egregious attack on democratic principles, just as its founding fathers did almost 250 years ago.
When King George III’s government retaliated with a show of brute force to the American colonies’ declaration of independence, it began a new chapter in the struggle between despotism and democracy. Now, that struggle has made a comeback, in the form of the Catalan Independence Crisis.
Catalonia was (or is, depending on your political position) a region in Northeastern Spain, which has its own language, literary traditions, food, history and culture. It was once an independent nation, until 1469, when the Crown of Aragon (containing Catalonia) merged with the Crown of Castille to form Spain. Since then, the Catalan people have attempted time and time again to regain independence, and in the 21st century this movement has seen a resurgence.
Much like American society before the War of Independence, Catalans are divided as to whether or not they want to have their own nation. According to a pre-referendum census, a little more than half the population was in favor of independence, with the remainder against. There is still an ambivalent minority, but its influence on society is practically nonexistent.
The Catalan parliament, La Generalitat, has arranged numerous referendums to give Catalans the opportunity to vote on their future, with the most recent referendum being on 1 October 2017. In that referendum, a little less than 50% of the population participated, but over 90% of the vote was in favour of independence.
Looking at these statistics, readers might well question how the Catalan Government could possibly have declared independence, given that such a small percentage of the populace voted in favour. This is where the next major piece of information comes in: the Spanish Government declared the referendum illegal (although it was legal under Catalan regional law), and sent in the Spanish military police to stop the referendum from taking place. In various locations, the military police engaged in egregious violations of human rights — voters were beaten, manhandled and sometimes shot at with rubber bullets.
So, we now know that the Spanish government not only declared the vote illegal, but also actively tried to prevent people from exercising their right to vote. And that’s a scandal. The Generalitat of Catalonia estimated that several hundred of thousands of voters couldn’t cast ballots due to police intervention, which gives some explanation as to why there was such low turnout.
After the Generalitat declared independence later that month, Madrid decided to arrest the leaders and organizers of the referendum. Many Catalan government members, including President Carles Puigdemont, fled into exile. The Spanish government took other Generalitat members (such as Vice President Oriol Junqueras) into custody, where they joined several non-governmental independence supporters (notably Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez) who had campaigned for independence wholly through non-violent means.
In February 2019, the Spanish government put those jailed leaders on trial in the Constitutional Court, Spain’s highest level judiciary. The Catalans were prosecuted by the state solicitor, a public prosecutor and the far-right political party Vox. Because of the inclusion of Vox, coupled with the fact that the accused were charged with rebellion, sedition and disobedience, many international governments and NGOs condemned the trial as a political sham.
Nevertheless, Spain proceeded with the hearings for four months. International observers continued to criticize Spain’s constitutional court for its seeming bias against the defendants, especially with its decision to not display footage of the police brutality against voters on the day of the referendum. When the court finally released the trial verdicts, reaction was swift — protestors took to the streets, blocking traffic to Barcelona’s El Prat International Airport, and converging on the city centre.
What was the response from Spain? A repetition of the same repression that the Catalans were protesting in the first place! Military police descended on Catalonia, beating protestors again, driving vans through crowds, firing rubber bullets and tear gas canisters — measures taken straight out of the first chapter in the Dictatorship 101 textbook.
Yet, many in the pro-Spain camp still manage to get a positive reaction by deriding the independence movement as ‘nationalistic’. But if a commitment to democratic ideals, non-violence and global connexion are nationalistic, then this label could be applied to any nation state in the world. On the other hand, what are Spain’s governmental actions, if not nationalistic and fascistic?
Public intellectual Lawrence W. Britt defined the characteristics of fascism in his famous article for Free Inquiry Magazine, entitled “Fascism Anyone?” I have summarized a few as follows:
First: ‘Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.’ This, Spain has — the prominence of Spanish flags, not just at football games, but on the streets as well; Spain also has imperial ambitions — the crown is obsessed with maintaining national integrity, which leads it to move against promoting democracy in separatist regions.
Second: ‘Disdain for the importance of human rights.’ The crackdown on the independence referendum and post-independence-trial protests demonstrated exactly that.
Third: ‘Identification of enemies/scape-goats as a unifying cause.’ Madrid and its goons actively deride members of the Catalan government, made non-governmental officials stand trial for their roles in promoting the referendum, and call the independence movement a destabilizing force — an ironic comment, when one considers that instability only came to the region when the Spanish state cracked down on peaceful voters.
Fourth: ‘Obsession with crime and punishment.’ The defendants in the independence trial were held in prison for several hundreds of days, and were unable to contact their families or friends (with rare exceptions). Compare to this, the treatment of prisoners who have ties to Spain’s royal family.
Proceeding now to the central question surrounding these events: What should be done by the international community in regards to the Catalan crisis? I hope, dear readers, that the answer to that question will seem obvious to you.
As a matter of principle, we should support whichever side is promoting democracy, the right to free expression and the right to self determination.
On behalf of the US government, this support should come in the form of an open condemnation against the monarchical tyranny that is Spain, along with sanctions on their economy. American citizens must organize demonstrations in solidarity with the Catalan people. Our forefathers set an example when they refused to bow down to King George III’s bullying — we would do well to follow in their path.