Posted on 10/16/2019 at 4:42 PM
By Juan Claudio de Ramón, Spanish essayist, graduated in Law and Philosophy.
Protesters have invaded the roads of Catalonia after the verdict of Spanish justice against separatist leaders. – EPA.
Juan Claudio de Ramón. – D.R.
One of the most bitter experiences for a Spanish citizen in recent years
has been to see how Spain’s democratic reputation was questioned in the wake of
the crisis caused by Catalan nationalism in October 2017. A crisis that is, on
the other hand , the most useless in the West, and whose sole responsibility is
some frivolous and vain independence pro-elites who have pretended to believe,
as unfortunately it is common in these times of populist dialectic, that their will
was the Law. They have believed that they could act not only on the sidelines
of all Spanish citizens, but also ignoring half of Catalan citizens who do not
share their plans to separate from Spain.
Recall, for the benefit of the Belgian reader, certain facts that are necessary
to form an opinion without preconceived ideas. The 1978 Constitution made Spain
a social and democratic state of law. This Constitution was approved in a
referendum by 90.5% of the Catalan of voting age who manifested themselves with
their votes at the polls (with a participation of 68%, slightly above the
Spanish average). Two of the seven jurists who drafted this Constitution were
Catalan. Catalonia has voted in 50 different elections since 1975. It has sent
more deputies to the Spanish Parliament than the Madrid region. There have been
more than 70 Catalan ministers since 1918. At this time, the two presidents of
the two parliamentary chambers in Spain, the Congress of Deputies and the
Senate, are Catalan.
Feeling of double identity.
The Constitution has drawn a decentralized state, with broad autonomy for these
“historical regions and nationalities.” Thanks to this, Catalonia
enjoys a high degree of political autonomy in areas such as health and
education. With the Basque Country, it is the only Autonomous Community that
has its own police force. All Spanish governments, both right and left, have
expanded, through dialogue with the Catalan parties, the degree of
self-government within the constitutional framework. Thanks to all this,
Catalonia is today one of the most prosperous regions in Europe. Two examples:
the Spanish state has supported and financed the successful candidacy of
Barcelona to celebrate the Olympic Games; and Catalonia is now the only
autonomous community that has its four provincial capitals as part of the
high-speed rail network.
Throughout its history, a sense of double identity has prevailed in Catalonia:
a Catalan and Spanish identity at the same time. Catalan nationalism has always
tried to reduce ties of belonging to Spain through suffocating manipulation
campaigns, also using intimidation. In recent times, the two most cited false
complaints are the alleged abuse of the language and the Catalan economy.
Neither accusation is confirmed by the facts. Spain is one of the signatory
countries of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages; The
Constitution defends and protects the Catalan language. There have never been
as many Catalan speakers as today. At the moment, in the public school of Catalonia,
Catalan is the only language of schooling. With regard to the economy, it is
not true that Catalonia is making an abnormal contribution to the Spanish tax
system or suffering from an infrastructure deficit. Despite this, Catalan
independence movement has not hesitated to use demagogic slogans in its
campaign, such as “Spain steals us” or “Subsidized Spain lives
thanks to productive Catalonia”. They came to show posters with ragged
children, supposedly from southern Spain, saying that they live on the taxes of
the middle classes in Catalonia.
Mock Referendum
The history of Catalonia in Spain is the story of a success that begins to
degenerate when, under the leadership of Carles Puigdemont, an illegal race
towards independence is unleashed against more than half of society. This break
was consumed on September 6 and 7, 2017 when, in a session that can only be
described as a parliamentary coup, independence, without having the necessary
two-thirds majority, repealed its own Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, when
approving , despite the Constitution, the laws of the new Republic.
What followed is known to all. The Spanish Constitutional Court has suspended
these laws. The reason for the principle is simple: sovereignty belongs to the
entire Spanish people. Nobody owns only a part of the country, and nobody can
fragment the common good to take a part of that whole. In spite of this, the
Catalan government continued its career, organizing, against the judicial
mandate, the referendum simulation of October 1. Before the inaction of the
Generalitat to avoid its celebration, the Spanish police were forced to act
under the mandate of a judge, – not the government -, in very difficult
circumstances, to ensure respect for the law. It was a very difficult day. But
it ended with only three people in the hospital. The number of almost 900
injured that has been mentioned is a pure and simple product of the propaganda
of the Generalitat. Many of the images that circulate on this day are false.
There are no political prisoners.
The court decision that was recently announced is the result of these events. In their attempt to gain sympathy for their cause, Catalan nationalism grants convicts the status of political prisoners. It’s false. No politician, male or female, has been judged on their ideas. Every day, independence leaders freely express themselves in the media. Even President Torra, the successor of Puigdemont, is the author of dozens of xenophobic articles against the Spanish. On the contrary, the judicial conviction is due to the perpetration of crimes that are codified in Spanish legislation and that exist, under the same name or others, in the legislation of the major democracies. No human rights organization (such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch) considers these people as political prisoners or prisoners of conscience.
A democracy that fears applying its Criminal Code could not survive. Spain is a democracy equipped with the appropriate instruments, legal and rights guarantee, to guarantee respect for the law, to favor dialogue within the law, to overcome this crisis and to continue being, for Europe and for the world, An example of an open and inclusive society, a society united in its diversity.
Add comment