Given that the images of the clashes that arrived yesterday from Barcelona are a bad page in Spanish politics and that Rajoy, in my view, made a mistake in taking such a hard line (transforming people who up to now have behaved in a very unresponsible way into martyrs), however, there are three things about yesterday's referendum that I don't think anyone has mentioned and which I would like to underline.
The majority of Catalans are NOT secessionists. In 2015, just two years ago, in the Catalan elections, the grand coalition of pro-independence forces obtained 39.5%. A huge figure, certainly, but the fact remains that the majority of Catalans are not in favor of secession. The separatists have all the numbers to stay in government of the country, but they cannot say that "all the Catalan people want independence", because that is not the case.
Catalan politicians today portrayed as martyrs they are the same ones who have governed Catalonia in recent years by tackling the economic crisis with a plan of cuts in health, education and social services among the highest in all of Spain, aggravating hardships and inequalities and then diverting the attention of the public opinion with the banner of independence, blaming Madrid for policies that are certainly restrictive but which they have made even more draconian in an almost scientific way. In the years 2009-2015 they made overall cuts in health, education and social expenses by more than 26% (see graph at the bottom of the post). Healthcare alone was cut by 31%, and further privatised, tuition fees were raised by 158%, more than any other region, and Catalonia was a leader in evicting homeowners who couldn't pay mortgages, without putting in place compensations in terms of housing policies (paving the way for the victory of Podemos and Ada Colau as mayor of Barcelona). Not to mention the corruption scandals in which Artur Mas himself is involved, ex-president of the Generalitat who in recent days has marched alongside Puigdemont like a fallen martyr for independence and freedom. In reality he is a politician who was falling for the judicial investigation, resurrected by the independence ideology.
The two million plus voters declaimed everywhere even in our newspapers are a number that has no solid basis, verified or verifiable. It is a sort of "self-certification" by the Government of Catalonia, on the results of a consultation carried out without electoral registers, without any controls, in which anyone could vote several times, in which the ballots were scrutinized no one knows how and by whom. I cannot believe how even serious newspapers continue to use this data as significant of anything.
To these 3 facts I add a consideration that almost nobody in Italy seems to want to reflect on.
The question of independence in Spain is a very serious matter. Basque independence has caused more than eight hundred deaths and only in recent months has a peaceful agreement been reached. There are also many other autonomies that are together thanks to a pact of constitutional and mutual solidarity that cannot be unilaterally overturned. If the balance changes on one side, demands are awakened on the other. It is no coincidence that the 2006 Statute of Catalonia was contested not only by the Partido Popular, but also by five autonomous regions. To say, as I have heard in Italy, "yes, but let them do it, whatever" means not taking into account Spanish history and specificity, and thinking that they are the same thing as the now somewhat cacio e pepe secessionism of the Northern League . It is not so. It's much, much more complicated.
But faced with so many experts who are proliferating and pontificating in every corner these days, all with the solution in their pocket, I raise my hands and give up.
SOURCE: www.irenetinagli.it
