Me he sentido tentado a republicarla aquí simplemente para poder corroborar el tiempo perdido desde esa primera entrada: Febrero de 2013.
Hela aquï:
2013-02-12
“A nation is
a group of people united by a common
mistake regarding its origin and a collective
hostility
towards its neighbours”.
(Professor Shlomo Sand in a quote from Karl W. Deutsch).
Some people regard the present catalan nationalism eruption as a result of
the systemic crisis, more severe in Spain due to the construction bubble, that
has increased the unemployment to an unusual rate. Catalonia suffers also the
impact of the crisis and demands to the Central Government of Spain a new
fund-sharing more profitable.
But in fact, Catalan nationalism is a dormant volcano that erupts from time
to time and catches the Spanish Central Government on the wrong foot.
Let us recall a bit of history:
On September 14th, Catalonia celebrates its
National Holiday, what is, in fact, a day in memory of Rafael Casanova, a leader of the Catalan Government who died
in 1716 during the final battle against the invading army sent by the Bourbon
PhilipV.
After that defeat, the old democratic Catalan institutions (Corts y Consell de Cent) were abolished
and a militar authority was imposed. New taxes were created and old ones
increased. Castilian became the official language, which cooperated on the
progressive Catalan extinction in favour of Castilian.
happened during the
Second Spanish Republic. After Catalonia was occupied by Franco’s army, the
Statute was abolished, Catalan self-government was harshly suppressed and the
usage of Catalan language banned. The Prime Minister of the Generalitat, Lluís Companys, was handed to Franco by the German
Gestapo and shooted.
In 1979, after Franco’s death, the second Statute was approved by
referendum.
It was the fruit of a compromise reached in the middle of a very serious
threat posed by a coup. It was a reminiscent of 1932’s treaty.
n September 30th, 2005, the
Parliament of Catalonia approved a new Estatut, that subsequently was deepely
curtailed by the Central Congress and Senate. Even so, it was approved on a
referendum held in Catalonia in June 16th, 2006, and enforced on August
9th on same year.
The Partido Popular, a Spanish right-wing party, labelled the Estatut as
confederate and even as secessionist, and made an appeal to the Spanish Constitutional Court to reject the text. Rajoy, the chief
of opposition, took to the streets to collect signatures against the Statute.
The firm sentence of this Court turned out in another significant
curtailment of primitive text; a fact that from any theory of democracy point of view leaves a little to be
desired, since the Estatut was approved by the legislative chambers,
both spanish and catalan, that represent the mayority of citizens, whereas the
Constitutional Court is a small group chosed by cooptation by the main parties
leaders.
Fourteen articles y sections of the Statute were
rejected and 27 more were reinterpreted; mainly those relatives to an Autonomic
Justice, Tax collection and Oficial Language. Nevertheless one of the most
conflictive points was about the term „ Nation.“.
What is it? says John Wyse. —A nation? says
Bloom.
A nation is the same people living in the same
place. —By God, then, says Ned,
laughing, if that’s so I’m a nation for
I’m living in the same place
for the past five years. (Quoted from „Ulysses“ by James Joyce).
The first article of the Estatute stated „Catalonia
is a nation“.
Strong discussions were held regarding that
term. Former President J. L.R. Zapatero said in the Senate that the concept of
Nation is „debatable“ and
„controversial“.A sentence that was quoted out of context by the conservative
press and right-wing politicians. Zapatero, a former professor of
Constitutional Law, regreted later to have caused such a confrontation.
The statement was removed from the Article and
translated to the Preamble, where it has no political or legal significance.
A língua é minha Pátria" (F.
Pessoa)
Another boiling point was the use of Catalan
language at school and at the Administration.
The first
project attempted to make the Catalan a predominant language at school and even
at the Central Administration in Catalonia.
The final
text sets the right to use and the duty to know one of the two languages on a
co-official basis.
Nevertheless, Article 4 states that: “Catalonia’s own language is Catalan”.
Also, the new Estatut introduces
de plurilingal principle (aranés dialect is also included) in the Central
Administration of the State.
Art. 6.3 states: „The Generalitat and the State shall undertake the
necessary measures to obtain official status for Catalan within the European
Union and its presence and use in international organisations and in
international treaties of cultural or linguistic content. The International
Institut“.
Catalan has been since long ago a boiling point between Spanish (Castilian)
nationalism und Catalan nationalism. A point often settled by force by the
Castilians:
After the defeat of catalan nationalists in 1716, the king Philip V
issued a decree dictating to the corregidores the following order:
“Castilian language should be introduce as carefully as posible, so the
most mild, discreet and disguised
directives will be provided in order to achieve the desied effect
without noticing any intention”.
Dictator Franco was less subtle. He banned
abruptly any use of catalan under the threat of strong sanctions. The result
was patently shown after Franco’s death: most of catalans were not able to
write catalan language. The language has been preserved orally.
Castilians tried to justify his rejection to
Catalan saying “Why to learn a language
only by nine million people spoken if Spanish is spoken by 400 millions?"
Another argument considers Spanish as a more powerful tool for knowledge. A
simple comment that reminiscences when Adolfo Suarez,
the first Prime Minister after Franco’s death, was in a official visit to
Barcelona. There, chatting in a group at the University, he smiled a bit
smuggly and said „We understand that Organic Chemistry cannot be taught in
Catalan“. The answer was „President; we have been teaching Organic Chemistry
for many years“.
Castilians never realized the advantages of
bilinguism as a new culture added.
Catalan and Castilian come from the Vulgar Latin
and were formed more o less along the same centuries. Catalan has in its favor
from Castilian its richness of wovels sounds –Castilian has only five vowels
sounds, whatever some linguistics said. That makes easier for catalans the
approach to other foreign languages. (Old romans mocked primitive spaniards for
they were unable to pronounce the liquid „S“, like in Scipion.)
We have exposed heretofore the long war between
two nationalisms: the week catalan nationalism and the stronger Spanish (Castilian)
nationalism.
The Spanish philosopher J. Ortega y Gasset wrote
in 1921 about this problem in his essay “Invertebrate Spain”:
“When a society consumes due
to its particularism, we can always affirm that the first to show as a
particularist was precisely the Central Power. And that is what has happened in
Spain…..Castile has built Spain and Castile has demolished it“.
How are things at this stage?
On September 11th last year, a new political-social movement, the Catalan
National Assembly (ANC), created in the past two years, called the catalans for
a big demonstration with the aim of
achiving the political independence of Catalonia.
The Assemblea Nacional Catalana
(Catalan National Assembly, ANC), a non governmental group, is an organization that aims at regaining the political
independence of Catalonia trough the establishment of a free and democratic
State.
The massive turnout surprised all and in any case, it was the most massive
demonstration ever celebrated in Catalonia. The organizers of ANS stated that
meant the „consolidation phase“ previous to get the social majority to win the
independence referendum.
After that massive demonstration, Artur Mas, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and leader of
Convergència, a wright-wing nationalist party, felt his moment had arrived, and
tried to capitalize the 11th-s crowd to push Mariano Rajoy (the Spanish Prime
Minister) into increasing the sharing-fund the Central Administration
distributes to Catalonia.
What, in fact, President Mas wanted was to make the grant of Navarre and
the Basque Country the same for Catalonia. He claimed Catalonia was suffering
discrimination.
Basically, Navarre and the Basque Country, due to historical rights, manage
by themselves their government finances, like a sovereign state; a peculiar
fact, unknown in any other country, democratic or not. They collect their
taxes, they establish them, and so they rule their Autonomous Communities. This
is named „el cupo“.
Central Government explains that Navarre has 642.000 inhabitants and the
Basque Country a little over two millions (2.184.000) , whereas Catalonia has
7.5 millions; so an extra „cupo“ that
the rest of the country possibly cannot afford.
Both Presidents (Rajoy and Mas) met last month in Madrid. Rajoy was
adamant about his stance and no compromise was agreed. From that meeting, Mas,
perhaps thinking in the recent secessionist demostration called early
elections.He should’n have done it! His coallition CiU lost 12 seats in the
Parliament and failed to obtain an absolute majority.
Why this confrontation now, since both right-wing parties help usually each
other against other political forces?
One theory explains that both political groupings are having problems
because of its budgetary deficits as well as the corruption –huger in Rajoy’s
party-. The confrontation might be the goal to divert the attention of the
people, to stir people up, appealing in both nationalisms the everlasting
affront.
To the threat of catalan sovereignty and seccesion, spanish nacionalistics reaction
is, some times, paternalistic:”What are you going to do alone?” An argument
that ignores that Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland were a united country
until the beginning of last century, and now they have populations similar o
even lower than Catalonia, with very high standard of life.
In some other cases there are menacing reactions, some of them a bit
childish “If you go, you couldn’t enter the EU, we’ll veto you”: Probably they
ignore that 656 kilometers separate Catalonia from France, and that in
retaliation for the veto, the citrics and other commodities probably had to go
by ship to Europe, from Valencia to the Port of Marseille.
There are also some supercilious people that flap their hands saying: Beat
it! Beat it!
The Spanish Government goes for appealing to the 1978 Spanish Constitution,
that in its Preliminary Title state the sovereignty on the Spanish people as
well as the unbreakable unit of the spanish Nation.
That means that any referendum should be held by the whole Spanish
population. This is a point of friction since catalans wish held a referendum
with the catalan population both catalan and castilian-speaking citizens.
In conclusion:
Quoting former british Prime
Minister Harold Wilson: “A week is a long time in politics.”:
Should Catalan Government call
for a referendum for sovereignty, it might be prohibited by
Spanish Constitutional Court.
If it takes place in spite of
that prohibition,Catalan leaders might be accused of rebellion, which would
increase the affronts to their dignity of both nationalisms.
The most reasonable proposal
appears as to be that of letting the Catalan people a free right to choose,
which does not mean an automatic secessionism.
A closer examination of the
situation should take in account the results of last referendum as well as the 2012 elections:
The Estatut was approved with the 74% of votes, but there was not a
turn-out of voters –less than 50%; whereas in 1979, the Estatut reached the 88.15 of approval with a higher participation.
The right to choose will
probably calm down the feelings, and the probability of secession does not
appear so high.
Not to forget that nacionalism
uprisings come from time to time like volcanos, but political movements like
ANC’s are tsunamies, that hardly ever repeat.
In any case, should be
remembered than in 1945 there were 51 Sates as members of the United Nations:
Today there are 193. Not to talk of current map of Europe.
Julio G Mardomingo (Feb 2013)
N.B. La publicación original aún aparece en : Bioteca.blogspot.com
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