dencia!

*

Yuri SAFRONOV, specialist. corr. "New", Barcelona

The town is iconic - in 2009, the first “popular consultations” on the possible secession of Catalonia were held here. Rabadessa is also the secretary of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI), which includes 787 Catalan cities and towns (out of 948). Almost all the mayors of these communes were summoned to the prosecutor’s office a week before the referendum and received a warning about the inadmissibility of holding an “anti-constitutional referendum.” “They also called me and demanded that I sign a document stating that I had read the warning, but I said that I would not sign,” says Rabasseda, whom we met in a Barcelona cafe two days before the referendum. After being asked what he intends to do “if the referendum is lost,” Mr. Mayor’s face darkens for a second. And then Rabasseda says: “We will continue to fight... Carles Puigdemont is the current president of the Generalitat (that is, the head of government - Y.S.) - already the 130th in history. We've been waiting too long. And we can't live with Spain. We are different. Not better or worse, just different.” To make “this fact” better known to Madrid, Rabasseda refused for many years to hang the Spanish flag on the city hall building - until the Spanish prosecutor’s office forced him in October 2015. And in the winter of 2016, the municipal council of Arensda-Moon declared the King of Spain persona non grata.

Earlier, the village of Breda (Girona province) did this, then there were other cases... And the Barcelona municipal council decided to remove the bust of the king from the city hall. “This is another difference between us Catalans and most Spaniards. We are Republicans and Democrats through and through,” says Sonia Santiago, food quality inspector. Sonya and I met on the bus on the way to the decisive rally of independence supporters. The rally-concert attracted approximately twenty thousand people on Friday evening. “In-inde-independencia!” —

H

the crowd sang with such enthusiasm that it is impossible to portray. About half of the residents of Catalonia's 7.5 million people today want to escape Spanish dependence. And this is an indicator of a serious state crisis. Which needs to be resolved wisely and quickly. But over the years of his rule (since 2011), Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy has proven that his brain does not consider this task a priority. In six years, the number of Catalans wanting to leave Madrid's rule has tripled. Very different experts agree that the main culprit is Rajoy, because he not only initiated the decision of the Constitutional Court (2010) to cancel the reform of Catalan autonomy (2006) 1, but after that he did not even try to listen to what the Catalans want. And he always spoke to them not in the language of a politician, but in the language of a state prosecutor, threatening “an answer according to the law,” says Marc Sanjaume Calvet, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for the Study of Self-Government. But the Catalans are still a separate and proud people.

“We want recognition of our language, our culture and consideration of our special economic interests.” In Catalonia, the industrial revolution began in the 18th century. In Spain - in the 60s of the 20th century. And this gap led to the creation of different societies. The development of different mentalities, says Joan Cuglia i Clara, professor of history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The professor is a supporter of independence, but, “like most Catalans,” “was not born with this idea,” but “came to it in the last five or six years.”

“In recent years, the Spanish government has made all the mistakes that could be made,” Pere said in an interview with my colleagues from the Ukrainian Hromadsky TV

Vilanova, Professor of Political Science at the International Institute of Barcelona. “The Spanish leadership, with a few exceptions, has not understood for centuries that Catalonia is a separate issue. It may be part of Spain (like the Basque Country), but on its own terms. Professor Vilanova is an opponent of Catalonia’s secession and harshly criticizes the “irresponsible actions” of the Catalan government, which promised the people something that it physically cannot fulfill. Declaring independence contrary to the opinion of the international community - what happens after this is known from the example of Crimea. However, one should not confuse Crimea with Barcelona: if only because in the first case “polite people” “helped” local residents vote, in the second they interfered. And has anyone heard before about the mass struggle of the inhabitants of Crimea for secession from Ukraine?

“I don’t know if we would have gotten to this point today if there had been a different government in Madrid in recent years,” says historian Joan Cuglia y Clara. “I think that with a government that had at least a little more of what is commonly called emotional intelligence, everything would be different. Rajoy's reign was absolutely destructive... In my opinion, what happened on the day of the referendum created a crack that cannot be mended. This is the crack between millions of Catalans and the idea of ​​a united Spain. Of course, it was not the “idea of ​​a united Spain” that sent the police, but Mr. Rajoy personally, but you know... people here saw Spanish police giving blows right and left, grabbing people by the hair, breaking the doors of polling stations. People know that the Spanish government sent ten thousand police officers from all over the country to Catalonia. And when these policemen left their barracks, they were applauded and shouted: “Show them a lesson!” All this created a psychological effect here in Catalonia that cannot be erased from memory... - Of course, not all of Spain treats Catalonia this way. But there is a bloc that includes almost the entire Madrid press, most of the intellectuals (see below the text - Yu.S.) and three of the four main parties. (The third, the Socialist Party, however, takes a slightly more balanced position.) And this bloc creates a lot of noise, it can be heard very well, says Professor Kulya i Clara.

However, despite all the grievances, Catalonia should not declare independence - it should never, says MEP Lopez, and says that the Socialist Party of Catalonia (like the Spanish socialists) calls on the parties to negotiate: “After all, both are to blame - the head of the Catalan government, Puigdemont, and the Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy,” Lopez is sure. — By the way, there were also plenty of corruption scandals in Catalonia. The Rajoy government has a very weak position after the referendum. He can no longer increase the pressure on Catalonia. Retreating is very risky: you could lose the support of the Spanish “patriots” and lose shaky power. But professional Catalan independence fighters can wait. For example, good offers from Madrid. Even if it’s not Rajoy who makes them. However, many Catalans do not want to be with Madrid under any circumstances. But it’s better for them to wait, the historian Kulya y Clara is sure: “I wouldn’t shoot all the cartridges this week.” On the day of the referendum, the idea of ​​Catalan independence gained serious success in the world. So now we need to properly manage this political capital. In the coming days, weeks, months, we need to use it with great subtlety and not declare independence tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or in the near future...

The author thanks Alexandra Dmitrieva (Lugo), Elena Syrovatchenko, Imma Munoz and Montserrat Radigales (all Barcelona) for their help and participation.

* Independence - Spanish

1 The then Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero agreed to it: the Catalans received the right to be called a nation (being part of the Spanish one), they were left with part of the taxes (in particular, VAT and income tax), etc.

We've been waiting too long. And we can't live with Spain. We are different. Not better or worse, just different

With a government that had a little more of what is commonly called emotional intelligence, things would be different.

« Who are business tycoons and cultural masters with?

On September 17, the Madrid newspaper El Pais published a manifesto signed by 1,000 cultural figures and intellectuals in Spain. “We reject October 1 as an undemocratic scam...” says the manifesto. “Out of this thousand, only 37 are Catalans! - emphasizes Imma Muñoz, a columnist for the cultural department of the influential Catalan newspaper El Periodico. “Well, this manifesto received a response from 700 Catalan intellectuals and cultural figures.” But there was also a statement from Spanish business tycoons. Representatives of big business in Catalonia mostly agree with them. “Small and medium-sized businesses are mostly in favor of independence or broad autonomy,” says Marc Sanjaume-Calvet, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for the Study of Self-Management (an institute operated by the Catalan government).