TRAVEL

Catalonia, a region of Spain, captured the attention of the world when its elected parliament took action in the Fall of 2017 to formally separate from Spain. The idea of creating an independent country seems radical and crazy and, most-of-all, unobtainable. However, due to the election of politicians favoring separation, there has been a dramatic increase in elected Catalonian officials publicly expressing their desire to make Catalonia an independent country. Catalonia is one of the larger of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities, and it contains the well-known city of Barcelona (a economically vibrant city that is also a popular tourist destination). For US citizens, a reference to an “autonomous community” of Spain is analogous to a reference to one of our 50 states, with distractive geographical borders and separate local governments. Some citizens of Spain more closely identify themselves with, and feel a greater patriotism towards, their autonomous region than to their country, Spain. In Catalonia, the primary reasons for regional patriotism are economic, cultural, and linguistic differences. For example, in addition to speaking Castilian Spanish (which is the Spanish that we know), residents of Catalonia also speak their own language, called “Catalan.”

Catalonia first experienced rejection starting as far back as the War of Spanish Succession in 1714. In 1714, Catalonia’s laws and government was abolish and was instead imposed into the centralism in Spain. Although this was bad for the “identity” of Catalonia, the economy experienced success under this new rule. Catalonia experienced even more recently a drastic suppression under Francisco Franco, the dictator who reigned from 1939 until his death in 1975. Similar to other dictators of this time period, like Hitler and Mussolini, Franco established strict rules surrounding political opponents, censorship of the media, and persecution of specific people and regions. In Catalonia, Franco suppressed Catalonian unique culture, including its Catalan language. Following Franco’s death in 1975, Catalonia began to reestablish and reemphasize its unique culture, including the reinstatement of Catalan as the region’s official language.

Within the last year, the separatist movement has become more visibly active. In 2005-2006, the Catalan Parliament wrote a new Statute of Autonomy (the Constitution of Catalonia), which was approved in a referendum by the Catalans. Following, the next step was to seek approval from the Spanish parliament. However, the parliament did not approve and instead modified the Constitution. Finally, the Constitutional Court additionally declared some articles of the Statute unconstitutional. As a result, many Catalan politicians and a portion of the public thought that their will, that had been expressed through the referendum, was not respected within the Catalan parliament. On October 1, 2017, an illegal referendum was held in Catalonia to determine if the people of Catalonia wanted to pursue independence Spain. 90% of the participating voters supported independence. So, it appears that many voters who did not support independence (called “loyalists”) elected not to vote as only 43% of registered voters went to the polls. Encouraged by the pro-independence voters, Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, declared Catalonia an independent state in the form of a republic (but only for a matter of seconds). The Spanish government, similar to the president and parliament of Catalonia acted illegally, applied Article 155 of the Constitution and took control of the Government of Catalonia (not the parliament). However, the parliament and government of Catalonia is still functioning (with an majority of independence support). In addition, they proceeded to incarcerate many of Catalonia’s politicians who acted illegally according to the constitution. Puigdemont fled to Belgium, and remains in exile today in Germany.

 I have seen the effects of the strong separatist movement on the country’s citizens. While living with a family, the topic of Catalonia has not always ended in a friendly way and sometimes with the slamming of fists or the slamming of doors. Around the vote of October 1, 2017, Zaragoza was filled with many marching against Catalonia with some even holding the flag of the republic. Historically, the flags were not used for Spain because of the negative view surrounding Franco and his usage of it to unify Spain. For example, while discussing the topic with a local Zaragoza teenager she was frustrated by the usage of flags claiming that it was not being used for patriotism, but instead as a form of counteracting the Catalonian supports and therefore a negative idea.

So, what does the future hold for Catalonia. Many Spaniards, including many loyalists, view Catalonia’s vibrant economy as critical to the future economic success of Spain. Accordingly, it is important that Catalonia remains part of Spain. However, many in Catalonia, especially the separatists, believe that too much tax revenue that is sent to the federal government is used in other regions of Spain with insufficient amounts returning to Catalonia. The recession in Spain following the 2008 global financial crisis brought the tax inequality issue to the forefront. Independence would have dramatic economic impacts on Spain and Catalonia; drawing the question of if a portion of Spain’s federal debt would be allocated to Catalonia if separated. Would Catalonia be admitted as a separate member of the European Union? While it seems doubtful that independence will occur, the separatist movement, and its impact, is not over, and will likely continue to affect not only Spain and Catalonia, but also Europe and the rest of the world.