Only one way ahead for Catalonia


The Spanish Constitutional Court has sentenced that the Catalan Statute doesn’t fit in the Spanish Constitution. A heavily watered down version of the Statute approved by 90% of Catalan Parliament in 2005. It was mutilated by the Spanish Parliament but even then afterwards it was approved by the Catalans in a referendum has now been further cut by a court. After all these changes this Statute is now a step backwards from the one approved in 1979.

In an exhibition of Spanish imperial arrogance a court has defied people’s will. A handful of judges think they have the right to amend what the citizens voted.

This has completely shut down any aspirations of all Catalan people who believed in a middle way, that Catalonia could one day be comfortable inside of Spain. The dream is over.

The reactions in the Catalan blogger scene and twitter are countless as I write these lines. This is it. The final straw.

19 thoughts on “Only one way ahead for Catalonia

  1. It has been shown to Europe that Spain is a dictatorship!
    Bye Spain! 🙁
    Hello Europe! 🙂

    Viva Democracy!
    Viva the Catalan Constitution!
    Viva Liberty!
    Hurray Catalunya Estate!

  2. Gràcies Vicenç, Spain has become rich very quickly in the last few decades without changing in the ways that established democratical societies have to change to become responsible.

    The criminals from Franco’s dictatorship have never been prosecuted and therefore the very structure of Spain is based on shaky foundations and sentences like these are the result.

    All these reasons together with the financial crisis Spain has got itself into mean that the only way for Catalonia not to be dragged with Spain is to regain its independence.

  3. Now what “people’s will” are you talking about? The sovereign in Spain is the people of all Spain, not a fraction of those. The CT is NOT the Catalan Constitiutional Tribunal. For heavens sake, and for you own, stop divulging such nonsense, because the incoherences are so obvious that although you get a million favourable tweets from nationalist diehards, you’ll never find any common ground with civilised people outside of Catalonia.

    And it is them on whom your future depends should you seek approval and recognition for independence.

    1. Agreed, the Spanish Constitutional Court has all the right to do what they’ve done. But by doing so they’ve effectively kicked Catalonia out of Spain.

      Personally I am very pleased. I didn’t think they’d make such a big mistake, and with perfect timing, just before the Catalan elections.

      Regarding your request that I stop writing , unfortunately for you, I enjoy it too much to be able to meet your demands.

  4. If my request that you stop divulging nonsense to you means to stop writing altogether, be my guest.

    More seriously, I appreciate that you have made the above rectification. I understand that you feel “kicked out”, and Ï read as political analysis that you extend this feeling to the whole of Catalonia (although I do not share this view).

    But if the CC had the right (law) to do what they have done, then it no longer serves as an argument (scapegoat) for independence. There always is and will be the simple argument of the will of the people. Simple and forceful. You’d only have to transmit it to the outside world as something genuine, not engineered.

    On a last note: I do not think that the sentence of the CC will have any major effect on the Catalan elections. They will not be a plebiscite for independence.

  5. Oups, sorry, should have made that clear, for the record: “will of the people” in my last message referred to the will of those living in “Catalonia” (be it the Principate or the “Catalan lands”, or whatever, whenever you finally find time to give us the necessary information). In this case I do think that the determining force is the will of the people living in that defined space, for I see no sense in putting a referendum of one part of the state to the people of the whole state.

  6. Seriously, I don’t understand why Catalunya keeps on making such a big deal of this. Independently on how it was achieved (I don’t agree with the political side of it), the Tribunal Constitucional needs to make the Estatut coherent with the rest of the Constitucion. Obviously. What is the big deal of being called a “Nation”? The Estatut should not place Catalunya at the same level as Spain, of course not. It is a region within Spain. Are we really discussing those matters when we are in the middle of a tremendous economical crisis?? And what about the Catalan language? Do you understand that you have been, and continue, closing yourself within your borders forcing everyone who goes to Catalunya to learn your language, which is only useful there? You keep on complaining that if not, the language might disappear, but look at Galego: still there while being more inclusive with travelers and immigrants who know Spanish.

    As always I think it is a question of money. But I don’t think that 1/10th of the people that are asking for independence realize everything that takes to it (your own police, legalities, futbol team: say bye bye to Iniesta and company because they already played in the Spanish national team and they cannot switch). But certainly if that is your desire, go. I wouldn’t want to keep anybody who doesn’t want to stay. How do countries as large as USA or China keep all the territories together and we cannot is something beyond my comprehension. For starts, I know those two have had all the same language for many years. Maybe we should have done the same thing centuries ago. This is what we get for being more inclusive and tolerant, decades of debate. Great…

  7. Thanks Paola. The Catalan Statute was approved by the Catalan Parliament, the Spanish Parliament and in a referendum by the Catalan citizens therefore going against that shows the quality of democracy there is in Spain.

    The reason why Catalonia is in Spain is the right of conquest. There’s no pact amongst equals, just submission as the Constitutional court has just made clear.

    Spain denies our culture and language, inflicts an unparalleled fiscal plundering to the Catalan countries to preserve its financial viability and obstructs our right of self determination. I want Catalonia to regain its independence democratically, and we will.

  8. Thanks for your response Albert. Well, obviously, the citizens and the parliament don’t know much about law, because it enters in conflict with the definition of Nation as it is in the Constitution, written and approved in 1978 by many different factions of the political life in Spain, included Cataluña:ón_española_de_1978

    So, unless the Constitution is changed, it cannot include that part, easy. Again, I don’t understand what is the big deal about being called a Nation or not. And it doesn’t have anything to do with democracy. If 70% of the people says something that is not, we are not going to make it valid because it is democratic. Not everybody studied law, or science, or whatever. That is why we have experts. None of the democracies is perfect, but I think we have an OK one.

    The reason why 100% of the countries today are what they are and the borderlines are where they are, is because of conquest and history. To what century do you want to go back? Or should we be changing all the frontiers now? Well, Portugal and Gibraltar espanyol, then, and maybe the Muslims want Al-andalus back as well… Moreover, I don’t think the feeling of independence in Cataluña is as big as you think it is, as many of my friends feel they are first Catalonians but then Spanish (and then European). And that is right. But the Estatut as it was it was not LEGAL within the current Constitution, period.

    Spain doesn’t deny you anything, that is an old argument. Can you give examples? You have your culture and your language, in fact too much for my taste, that when we go there to visit your beautiful region, sometimes many of you don’t want to speak castellano so we can understand each other (you can have the language you want, but don’t impose it on the rest of us; I’m, for one, not going to learn a language only useful in a tiny region of the planet!). Languages were invented to communicate with each other, and it is beautiful that you have your own, but don’t impose it on the rest. You are not that mean with Swedish or British people, then don’t be it with us. That generates hatred. We don’t hate people from Galicia, why? That should be a referent for you.

    The fiscal issues and such could be debated by economists and correct them if they consider it, totally agreed, I am not an expert and therefore won’t get into that. But I am guessing you are getting something back for them and you are showing just one side of the coin… please be correct and fair.

  9. The only imposed language in Catalonia is Spanish, which is actually Castillian, from the region of Castile. Catalan is the language of Catalonia and anybody who comes to live in Catalonia must learn it just like in Germany you’d learn German and so on. Having our own state will make that easier. You have a colonialist mindset and want Catalan to be substituted by Spanish. We won’t let that happen.

    Catalonia is a nation, whether you like it or not, and a much older one than Spain.

    All we ask is exactly the same recognition and rights and duties that you Spanish people have. We only want democracy, respect and dignity. It has been proven that the only way to achieve that is to have our own state.

    Last week at the demonstration, did you hear anybody shouting “We want our Statute!” or “We want a federal state!”? No, everyone was shouting “Independence!”. Now you guys have some thinking to do as to why this is happening.

    But more likely you won’t and we’ll soon be independent. You guys don’t want us to be Catalans but you still take our money. If you can’t accept us why should we be in Spain?

  10. You replied with no facts and just your ideas, so for me this conversation is over. You lost. Good bye.

  11. and when you just visit Germany do you learn German? I don’t believe you. You are closed minded and people like you make a lot of people not wanting to visit your beautiful region. YOU think about that.

  12. Paola, seriously. If you move to Spain you’re supposed to learn Spanish, which is really only useful there (you can say it’s also useful in Latin America, but really, how many people in Europe care about that.

    You do NOT need to learn Catalan to visit Catalonia, what nonsense. I lived in Catalonia for a year and a half and afterwards spoke good Spanish and understood a reasonable amount of Catalan, but don’t speak it. If anything, this suggests to me that Catalan should be more enforced, because I guarantee after the same amount of time in France, Spain, Brazil, wherever, I’d have spoken their respective languages.

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