This post is not about brexit
Frankly, because I am sick to the back teeth of the general election, which seems to be about nothing but brexit. If we have to have general election, I would like it to be about how to deal with poverty, how to support the disabled, and how to claw back the cash that has vanished from the UK economy into overseas tax havens, how to improve education and health care and how to look after our ageing population. But it's not. And my frustration - and I find the same frustration among friends, neighbours and family - is that we can't actually do anything about this.
So for the foreseeable future, we'll go on switching on the telly and the radio and picking up the newspaper, to find the Tories are still charge, Labour are still a useless opposition and those of us who live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are excluded from all discussion. Because, make no mistake, brexit is an English fixation.
But let's talk about something else. How about Catalonia? I've been to a few places in Catalonia (Lleida, Barcelona, Tarragona and Mallorca). I hated Barcelona. I am maybe the only person ever to be glad to leave the place. For me it had a 'send your money and stay at home' attitude. And I can get that in Paris or London, thanks. But it felt like a capital city. The other parts of Catalonia were no less Catalan - just a lot less pissy about it.
I liked the Basque country (Euskadi), with very friendly people just getting on with life. I never made it yet to Bilbao. I lived for a year on the other side of the border on the edge of the French Basque country. This is a fabulous part of France, although the Basques have less chance than anyone I can imagine of being reunited with their Spanish Basque countrymen - despite sharing a language and a culture.
Galicia in the north west is another place I've sent teachers to on educational visits but never managed to get to myself. Their culture is Celt. They are connected to the Irish, the Scottish Gaels, the Bretons, the Welsh, the Cornish and the natives of the Isle of Man. Their music is eerily like the Celtic music of other parts of Europe.
All of these 'regions' have things in common: a language that is not Spanish and a feeling of individuality and a different culture. But where Euskadi and Galicia remain fairly poor regions, Catalonia is a vast, prosperous area with 7.5 million people who just will not shut up. At least, that's how it looks to the Spanish government in Madrid.
They think they've given the Catalans everything they could want: 'devolved' government, plenty of investment, their own TV and radio stations, the right to educate their children through Catalan. But it counts for little with a large number of Catalans: we're told about half the population wants independence from Spain. That means half don't. But Catalans will tell you a lot of the people who reject independence are Castilian Spaniards, who've come from other areas of Spain to enjoy the prosperity the Catalans have worked for and have not integrated with the locals.
There are many footnotes in Catalan history: they didn't support Franco in the Spanish Civil War. There's a good article about that here:
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/shadow-spanish-civil-war-hangs-catalonia-518463
Interestingly, one way Franco kept the Catalans down was to instruct football referees to take sides when Barcelona was playing any Spanish team. That went down well with the Catalans, as you can imagine.
Already the Spanish government has accused Catalan MPs and activists of treason - and sentenced 11 of them so far to utterly ridiculous sentences - and it is still pursuing two Catalan ministers, Carles Puigdemont (exiled in Brussels) and Clara Ponsati (exiled in Edinburgh) with European Arrest Warrants.
Today it was announced the Spanish government plans to make any attempt to demand independence for Catalonia illegal. Independence parties will thus be outlawed.
Where will that leave the pro-independence voters of Catalonia? Will they go underground? Will the EU even attempt to defend them against a government that has already sent in riot police to beat up old ladies, and use water cannon and rubber bullets against the population? After all, internal affairs are not the business of the EU.
I am, as people say on Facebook, 'asking for a friend': I'm not suggesting that the demand for Scottish independence will come to this. Just wondering what we do if it does.
So for the foreseeable future, we'll go on switching on the telly and the radio and picking up the newspaper, to find the Tories are still charge, Labour are still a useless opposition and those of us who live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are excluded from all discussion. Because, make no mistake, brexit is an English fixation.
But let's talk about something else. How about Catalonia? I've been to a few places in Catalonia (Lleida, Barcelona, Tarragona and Mallorca). I hated Barcelona. I am maybe the only person ever to be glad to leave the place. For me it had a 'send your money and stay at home' attitude. And I can get that in Paris or London, thanks. But it felt like a capital city. The other parts of Catalonia were no less Catalan - just a lot less pissy about it.
I liked the Basque country (Euskadi), with very friendly people just getting on with life. I never made it yet to Bilbao. I lived for a year on the other side of the border on the edge of the French Basque country. This is a fabulous part of France, although the Basques have less chance than anyone I can imagine of being reunited with their Spanish Basque countrymen - despite sharing a language and a culture.
Galicia in the north west is another place I've sent teachers to on educational visits but never managed to get to myself. Their culture is Celt. They are connected to the Irish, the Scottish Gaels, the Bretons, the Welsh, the Cornish and the natives of the Isle of Man. Their music is eerily like the Celtic music of other parts of Europe.
All of these 'regions' have things in common: a language that is not Spanish and a feeling of individuality and a different culture. But where Euskadi and Galicia remain fairly poor regions, Catalonia is a vast, prosperous area with 7.5 million people who just will not shut up. At least, that's how it looks to the Spanish government in Madrid.
They think they've given the Catalans everything they could want: 'devolved' government, plenty of investment, their own TV and radio stations, the right to educate their children through Catalan. But it counts for little with a large number of Catalans: we're told about half the population wants independence from Spain. That means half don't. But Catalans will tell you a lot of the people who reject independence are Castilian Spaniards, who've come from other areas of Spain to enjoy the prosperity the Catalans have worked for and have not integrated with the locals.
There are many footnotes in Catalan history: they didn't support Franco in the Spanish Civil War. There's a good article about that here:
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/shadow-spanish-civil-war-hangs-catalonia-518463
Interestingly, one way Franco kept the Catalans down was to instruct football referees to take sides when Barcelona was playing any Spanish team. That went down well with the Catalans, as you can imagine.
Already the Spanish government has accused Catalan MPs and activists of treason - and sentenced 11 of them so far to utterly ridiculous sentences - and it is still pursuing two Catalan ministers, Carles Puigdemont (exiled in Brussels) and Clara Ponsati (exiled in Edinburgh) with European Arrest Warrants.
Today it was announced the Spanish government plans to make any attempt to demand independence for Catalonia illegal. Independence parties will thus be outlawed.
Where will that leave the pro-independence voters of Catalonia? Will they go underground? Will the EU even attempt to defend them against a government that has already sent in riot police to beat up old ladies, and use water cannon and rubber bullets against the population? After all, internal affairs are not the business of the EU.
I am, as people say on Facebook, 'asking for a friend': I'm not suggesting that the demand for Scottish independence will come to this. Just wondering what we do if it does.
Comments
Post a Comment