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BARCELONA: Millions of Catalans hope to go to the polls on Sunday to vote on whether the region should become independent from Spain, in a referendum fiercely opposed by the central government and which threatens to expose ruptures in the country’s 39-year democracy.
Catalonia, which has its own language and is a semi-autonomous region in Spain’s northeast, has long felt distinct from the Castilian heartlands.
After statutes to expand Catalonia’s autonomy were denied, despite approval from the Catalan and Spanish parliaments, separatists decided that independence was the only option for a region that comprises 16 percent of Spain’s population and accounts for a fifth of the economy and a quarter of exports.
Following a symbolic referendum in 2014 which drew a low turnout, but in which 81 percent of voters backed independence, Catalonia’s President Carles Puigdemont announced the Oct. 1 poll, which Spain’s government says is illegal because the constitution declares the “indissoluble unity” of the Spanish nation.
Madrid has taken draconian measures to prevent the referendum; about 10 million ballot papers have been confiscated and police have raided media offices, local government buildings and printing presses, also arresting officials. Referendum-related websites have been shut down, only to pop up elsewhere on the Internet.
Spain’s attorney-general has ordered Catalonia’s regional police, Mossos d’Esquadra, to be controlled from Madrid, while an estimated 16,000 police and security officers from other parts of Spain will be dispatched to Catalonia to stop the vote.
These harsh measures, which carry an implicit threat to suspend Catalonia’s semi-autonomy, have echoes of Spain’s fascist past. Spain returned to being a democracy in 1978 following the death of dictator Francisco Franco three years earlier. Franco’s army rebellion sparked the Spanish Civil War and the victorious fascists brutally repressed Catalan culture, language and institutions. The transition to democracy included a broad amnesty and today’s ruling People’s Party (PP) was founded by a cadre of former Francoist ministers in the 1970s.
“In Spain, Franco is never far away,” said Christophe Bostyn, international relations officer at Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC), a pro-independence civil group that has helped organize rallies supporting secession.
“The central government doesn’t respect autonomy — it sees Catalonia as its possession that cannot be questioned. They don’t have a negotiating culture — either you obey or we send in the police.”
Over 1 million people took to Barcelona’s streets on Catalonia’s national Day, Sept. 11, to demonstrate in favor of independence, and protests of varying sizes are now near-daily occurrences in the Catalan capital, yet everyday life continues unaffected. About 1.4 million people joined city-wide festivities last weekend for La Merc, a celebration of Barcelona’s patron saint, and protests seemed good natured; Catalonia is prosperous, peaceful and democratic, although many Catalans worry that welcome state of affairs is now in jeopardy.
Josep Tirapu was one of around 150 protesters gathered outside the University of Barcelona on Saturday to protest Madrid’s actions. The students aim to continue the vigil until polling day.
“We’re not all going to vote yes, the important thing is to defend democracy,” said Tirapu, 20, a law and politics undergraduate.
“We believe in our government, which has been preparing for this vote for many months. The state is trying to repress us, so we’re making it possible for the referendum to go ahead by taking to the streets.”
As with Brexit, traditional political leanings have been marginalized, with parties on the left and right in both the pro- and anti-independence camps. Like Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, leader of the PP, Catalan President Puigdemont fronts a right-wing party, yet the two men have bitterly opposing views on greater self-governance for the region.
Whether the vote will happen is uncertain. The Catalan government will shortly release the location of the polling stations, according to the referendum website, with organizers seemingly taking a flash-mob approach to try to outmaneuver Madrid.
“The referendum is going ahead,” said ANC’s Bostyn.
“We will see a massive mobilization of people. Beyond any doubts, yes will win.”
Should he be correct, Puigdemont has vowed to unilaterally declare independence within 48 hours, although that would be a symbolic gesture unless the Catalan government is willing and able to secure and defend its territory immediately.
“The division of the country is outlawed under the Spanish constitution,” said Dr. Rebecca Richards, a lecturer in law at Britain’s Keele University.
“If Catalonia decides to declare its independence and halt all exchanges with Spain, to essentially attempt to kick Spain out of the territory — that could get messy and potentially violent. What’s more likely is negotiating a new economic relationship with Spain, negotiating increased autonomy, or both. Spain has a lot to lose if it has a poor relationship with Catalonia.”
Ferran Brunet is founder of Societat Civil Catalana, which opposes the referendum. A professor of economics, Brunet warns of the calamitous effect unilateral independence would have on Catalonia, which would be left outside the EU.
“The referendum is illegal. People who are against the vote and those who wish to vote no have no voice,” said Brunet. “It’s a waste of public money. Catalans are divided, families are divided.”
Amid those schisms, Madrid’s heavy-handed approach is undoubtedly pushing many undecideds into the “yes” camp.
“The Spanish government is acting in an anti-democratic way,” said Anna Bertran, a pro-independence 25-year-old school teacher from Barcelona taking part in the student protest.
“It’s using the judiciary to try to stop the vote, rather than allowing political debate. It’s not a question of independence, it’s a question of having the right to vote. We’re not asking for any more than that — if ‘no’ wins the vote, I’ll respect the result.”
Others take a more cynical view of Puigdemont’s push for independence.
“It’s only the wealthy who want it,” said Ignacio Lamata, a volunteer at La Rosa de Foc, an anarchist bookshop in Barcelona’s seedy El Raval district owned by the far-left Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), which took up arms to thwart a fascist takeover of Barcelona at the outset of the civil war in 1936.
“Ask a factory worker and they don’t care — it’s the kids of Franco in charge, not only in Madrid, but Catalonia, and whatever the result those in power will just keep stealing and stealing. Nothing will change,” said Lamata.
His sentiments are not without foundation. In July, Prime Minister Rajoy testified in court as part of a corruption investigation involving the ruling PP that includes charges of organized crime, falsifying accounts, influence-peddling and tax crimes, Reuters reported, while in 2014 Jordi Pujol, the former long-serving Catalan president, admitted to over 30 years of tax fraud.