Once Again, Homage to Catalonia

By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

 

Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell’s 1938 account of the Spanish Civil War, described the fight by the Catalans for self-rule against the centralizing Spanish nationalism of Francisco Franco’s fascists. 

They were on the losing side, and Franco abolished Catalan autonomy in 1938. Following his death in 1975, Catalan political parties concentrated on autonomy rather than independence.

Eight decades later, is history repeating itself?

Of course today’s Spain is no dictatorship, and since 2006, when a Statute of Autonomy granted sweeping powers to Catalonia, the region already controls its own police, education, health care, schools, parliament and media.

Nevertheless, the Catalan government in September decided to hold a binding referendum on self-determination. 

It was meant to fulfil a pledge made in 2015 by Artur Mas, then the president of the Catalan regional government, known as the Generalitat, and reaffirmed by Carles Puigdemont, the current president.

However, the government of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in Madrid did all within in its power to disrupt the scheduled Oct. 1 vote.

Catalonia, one of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions, is situated in the country’s northeast and home to 7.5 million people. The capital, Barcelona, is one of Europe’s most vibrant cities.

Catalans have their own history, culture, and language, and until 1714 Catalonia was a self-governing polity within the Spanish Empire of the day. 

Industrially more advanced than the rest of the country, Catalonia has come to resent the political dominance of elites in Madrid.

It accounts for almost one-fifth of Spain’s economic output, and its departure would be a tremendous loss to the country, so Madrid is determined to hold onto it.

Spain’s judiciary maintained that the Constitution does not allow any region to secede, so in advance of the vote, Rajoy blocked 140 websites, including that of the Catalan National Assembly.

Spanish authorities raided the offices of the Catalan regional government, seizing 10 million ballot papers and arresting at least 14 senior Catalan officials. They dismantled the technology to connect voting stations, count the votes, and allow online voting.

Madrid also took control of Catalonia’s finances to ensure that separatist politicians could not spend further public funds on the referendum. 

About 4,000 national police officers were sent to Catalonia ahead of the vote, under orders to keep polling stations closed, and some 1,300 schools were sealed off, to prevent them being used.

On the day of the referendum, Spanish riot police smashed their way into polling stations and fired rubber bullets at protesters.

Catalans contended that the Spanish response was returning the country to the dark days of Franco’s fascist dictatorship, which had banned all “separatist” activity in Spain. 

Back then, even the Catalan language was suppressed and only “Spanish” – that is Castilian – could be taught. Is Catalonia going back to the future?

The balloting went ahead, but in conditions that amounted to a virtual state of siege.

The Catalan government announced that the referendum had been approved by 90.09 per cent of voters  – but in a turnout of only 42.3 per cent of those eligible to cast ballots. 

Puigdemont blamed this on “indiscriminate aggression” by Madrid and contended that Catalans “have earned the right to have an independent state.” 

But Rajoy declared the process illegal since a majority of Catalans hadn’t voted.

Rafael Catala, Spain’s justice minister, warned that Madrid was prepared to use its emergency powers to prevent a unilateral declaration of independence. 

Two days later, King Felipe VI of Spain accused the separatist leaders of “inadmissible disloyalty” that threatened the country’s constitution and unity.

And on Oct. 5 Spain’s constitutional court suspended a forthcoming session of the Catalan regional Parliament was expected to approve a unilateral declaration of independence.

Many Catalan demonstrators, outraged, held signs that mentioned the 1930s civil war. One read,  “We’re the grandchildren of those that you didn’t manage to kill.”