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Sunday, June 16, 2013
In few
places can faith in the European dream be as glistening as it is in Catalonia.
Because of old European ties and faith in Northern efficiency? Partly. But many
Catalans also see the EU as a safety net into which to tumble free of three hundred years of exposure to one of Europe’s
most oppressive National systems, Spain. As Catalan former president Jordi
Pujol (1980-2003) has insisted in recent times, “independence is the only way
out” now that Spain’s politicians have predictably opted for clamping down on
Catalonia’s claims, almost exactly as they did on Cuba’s and the Philipinnes’in
the 1890s. Among even moderate Catalans the general feeling is that if they do
not react now, political, cultural and economic consequences will be fatal. Not
surprisingly, the polls indicate that about 60% of the population are now
opting for secession. Indeed, one and a half million Catalans took to the
streets last 11th September to express that desire.
One area in
which Catalans feel the threat that remaining in Spain would suppose is the
economy. While taxation yearly creams away a crippling 8·5% of the country’s GDP –thus stiffling investment and
growth prospects-unemployment rages at 26%, in clear contradiction with the
country’s age-old industrial potential. Catalans consider they are paying
Spain’s bills in return for practically nothing. Poor Spanish budget fulfilment
adds insult to injury as vital projects for European-gauge railway access to
key ports, export-orientated rail and road development and choice international
airport links are systematically sidetracked. Proportionally, Catalan students
get about half the grants their Spanish counterparts do. Madrid politicians
seem unwilling to invest even in a last-minute push to win over hesitant
Catalans, a gesture seen by some as suicidal. Instead, they are in the process
of narking even middle-of-the-road Catalans by introducing legislation aimed at
curbing Catalan in schools and outlawing the rising number of Catalan local
councils (about 70%) that are openly backing secession and autonomous taxation
methods. Indeed, diplomacy never was Madrid’s pet skill.
On another
score, Spain’s democratic deficit shows no signs of rectification, further
contributing to divorce mainstream Catalans from identification with Spain.
Franco is still the implicit victor. To prove it, last May 16th, the Spanish
Government’s representative in Catalonia –the haughty Señora María de los Llanos de Luna- paid public tribute to Spain’s
“Blue” division, the one that fought alongside Hitler in WW2. Meanwhile, in
Madrid –a city with hundreds of streets named after leading Francoists– the
PP-run City Council have announced their decision to dismantle the 1995
monument honouring the International Brigades which fought against Franco in
the Civil War (1936-39). “The monument lacks a permit” is the absurd pretext.
And while for years the international media have overlooked conservative
Spain’s ongoing romance with fascism, mainstream British, French and German
media are
increasingly highlighting incidents which would be unthinkable –even
outlawed–in other EU countries or in the USA. Perhaps the collapse of King Juan Carlos’ international reputation may
now further encourage Europe’s newborn insight into Spain’s secret stains.
Catalans
therefore pin their hopes on Europe as a new political setting. But does Europe
correspond that affection? Over and above the stiffness that EU commitment to
member states enforces, doesn’t Europe have a debt with the Catalans and their
solid democratic tradition? As acknowledged by credited historians, this small
Mediterranean country was one of the first to create a Parliament. And yet it
is surely one of the countries that has most and longest suffered at the hands
of intolerance and imposed dictatorships. Since the Treaty of Utrecht 300 years
ago this year, the official use of her language has been banned for over 85% of
the time in which her national rights and institutions were –and are– annulled
by Castile. In 1940, Churchill paid lip service to the bravery of Catalans but
froze the accounts of national hero cellist Pau Casals despite his loyalty to
democracy and England. I know it is an old score, but isn’t it to the fact that
Queen Anne betrayed the Catalans that we must attribute their defeat in
1713-1714?
Next year
will be the third Centenary of the beginning of a holocaust brought on by that
betrayal. Wouldn’t that give Europe an excellent opportunity to put an old
score right? Isn’t it a great chance to back one of the Continent’s oldest
nation’s current quest for respect and self-determination? If the EU wants to
correspond to Catalonia’s age-old contribution to democracy, it now has a
magnificent cue. It cannot remain neutral if and when the Catalan
government calls a democratic Referendum to decide on the country’s future. It
cannot turn a blind eye to the Spanish government’s bullying campaign to quash
it, including threats of military intervention and the abolishment of the
current level of autonomy. A sense of historical decency and coherence with
democratic principles exercised many times across Europe demand a stance in
favour of a people that have all too often had to ask the question:“where are
you, Europe?”.
Toni Strubell i Trueta was born in Oxford in 1952 and has an MA at the
University of Oxford. He now lives in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (the city where
British journalist and humanitarian John Langdon-Davis ran a small hotel for
years) and is currently involved in the production of a musical play –inspired
by Howard Zinn- called “IsaVel” on the life of Isabel Vilà, who, though
relatively unknown, is a sort of fusion of Florence Nightingale and Emma
Goldman. Indeed, she was a heroic and committed nurse and, on record, the first
female Union leader to take part in the 1st International (much to
the initial surprise of some XIXth Century historians). The play is opening at
Figueres on October 4th 2013. Stubell is also the author of a dozen books such
as “Isabel Cinc Hores” (on Isabel Vilà), “El moment de dir prou”, “Sunyol,
l’altre preisdent afusellat”, a biography on “Josep Narcís Roca i Farreras i el
primer catalanisme d’esquerres”, “What Catalans Want” (a book on Catalonia
available at Amazon) and “El cansament del catalanisme”. From 2004 to 2010 he
wrote on Basque politics for the newspaper El Punt. He was a Catalan Parliament
MP from 2010-2012. He is a founder member and ex-Coordinator of the Comissió de
la Dignitat (2002-2010), and has organized important events associated with the
recovery of the Historical Memory. He was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi (St.
George’s Cross in 2002).
@toni_strubell
http://www.helpcatalonia.cat/2013/06/where-were-you-europe.html
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