“I woke up late that day and … saw the riot police beating people up. It was really tense and scary … I was really dubious about voting after seeing it all.” Yago is one of many people living in and around Barcelona who describe scenes of tension and sometimes outright clashing in Catalonia, a province in northeastern Spain. According to Yago, while “the whole movement has been really peaceful,” there is still an incredible amount of subtle tension and people calling each other “fascists” or “violent morons” for what they believe in.
In Catalonia, a major push for independence has completely gripped the region and thrown the entirety of Spain in disarray. In October 2017, the Catalan Parliament officially voted for independence from Spain. With a slight popular mandate and the backing of the regional parliament, Carles Puigdemont, the current president of Catalonia, acted against the desires of the Spanish government and supported the continuation of this nationalist movement.
Despite the Spanish government stripping Catalonia of its regional autonomy, the government of Catalonia as well as a slight majority of the Catalan people have continued to show signs of support for the independence movement. In the December elections, the pro-independence parties gained a collective majority in the Catalan Parliament. While this most recent independence movement has been particularly strong in force, the Catalan push for autonomy imbues many centuries of the region’s history. With its own culture, language, colonial history, and governing body, this region has frequently fought to become its own nation. However, according to American political scientist Joseph Nye, Catalans are still “closely divided on the issue,” and the movement for independence is nowhere near unanimous.
Ultimately, while a desire for autonomy pervades Catalonia’s history, such independence has been consistently denied by the Spanish government; hence, this persistent tension combined with Catalonia’s contemporary economic supremacy has led to the recent rise of a legitimate independence movement. Despite the activist passion behind this movement, though, disagreements within Catalonia in combination with the fervent opposition of the Spanish government and the Spanish people continue to cast doubt on the efficacy of these moves. Nevertheless, while independence might not succeed, the Catalan people could eventually gain an increased level of autonomy, quelling the catalanista roar… for now.
A Story of Nationalism
Independence movements are no new story in Catalonia. As early as the mid-seventeenth century, Catalans were revolting against the rule of the Spanish government. The region was initially incorporated outside the control of Spain; however, once the two kingdoms were eventually united, mutual acceptance was still hard to find. Again in the eighteenth century, Catalonia expressed opposition to the Spanish government, and their legal and governance autonomy were greatly diminished. The monarchical government of Madrid disbanded the Catalan legal system, barred the administrative use of the Catalan language, and even limited some civil liberties.
In the following two centuries, a variety of conflicts ensued between this region and the rest of Spain, which resulted in fluctuating degrees of autonomy for its people. Finally, with General Francisco Franco’s rise to power in the 1930s, Catalonia faced another few decades of severe oppression. Living under the complete control of the Franco dictatorship, the region didn’t gain any significant autonomy again until the inception of Spanish democracy in the 1930s. Namely, in 1939, through a policy of limpieza, or cleansing, all autonomy charters were revoked, and hundreds of political dissidents were brutally murdered.
According to an interview with Stephen Ansolabehere, a Professor of Government at Harvard University, “the move toward independence [in Catalonia] has been building for a long time. The Catalans want the same deal as the Basques have. The Basques [another region in northern Spain] control their own revenues, schools, health, system, roads, police etc… The Catalans want that deal.” While the Basques can keep and manage their tax revenue, the Catalans must give it all to the Spanish central government.
Per the 1979 Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, the Basque region has its own Hacienda, or Treasury, and although it has to pay a Cupo, or quota, to the Spanish government on matters of national interest, it retains much of its own tax revenue for regional use. Conversely, in Catalonia, a 2010 Constitutional Court ruling pushed this region in an entirely different direction. Instead of increasing its autonomy, the center-right members of the Court ruled to remove any legal implications of the term “nación,” and among other things, the Court revoked an article related to the use of Catalan over Spanish and curtailed regional powers over the courts and judges.
Ultimately, seeing another separatist region gain such an augmented level of autonomy, the Catalans demand the same level of control over their tax revenues as the Basques have. However, the financial infeasibility of this for Spain has left this tension uneased, festering the push for a new order.
With a history of deprived autonomy and unequal treatment, it is clear why the question of independence keeps coming up in Catalonia. Furthermore, in an interview with the HPR, Bonnie Field, a Professor of Global Studies at Bentley University, underscored how a history of cultural divergence also underlies this rift: “A majority of Catalonia has always been catalanista-there is this very broad consensus amongst Catalans that you value the history, culture, food, dance, etc. of Catalonia over that of Spain.” While most Spaniards speak castellano, catalan is the prevailing language of Catalonia. The two regions diverged in colonial development in the ninth century when the Francs annexed Catalonia from Visigoth control.
In the following millenium, beyond the obvious linguistic differences, variations in the most popular dishes, most cherished traditions, and even the most loved soccer teams became obstacles to any sense of cultural unity between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. All this might seem like subtle, unimportant tension, but in aggregate these differences have had a profound impact on the divides between Catalonia and the rest of the Spanish nation.
Beyond History and Culture
In addition to the historical and cultural roots of Catalonia’s seemingly constant push for independence, their superior economic status in Spain is another essential fuel in recent tension-building. Catalonia retains the highest GDP of any of Spain’s provinces, and it produces around one-fifth of Spain’s economic output. Catalonia specializes in biopharmaceutics, chemical, ICT, and medical technologies along with other capital-intensive industries. The vast majority (almost 70%) of its exports go to EU nations, so if an independent Catalonia retained favorable trade agreements with these countries, some argue they could sustain successful existence outside of the control of Spain.
While the efficacy of an economically-independent Catalonia remains debated, its economic supremacy over the rest of Spain is almost indisputable. According to Spanish economist Elisenda Paluzie, Catalan residents contribute upwards of one-fifth of Spain’s taxes even though they only represent about 16 percent of the Spanish population. In return, the people of Catalan do not see many gains from this outflow of taxes. “Currently payroll taxes go directly to Madrid,” stated Professor Ansolabehere. “The Catalans would have to convince businesses to switch over to paying Barcelona and not Madrid.” Thus, many high-income Catalans support secession as a route towards reaping the full benefits of their economic success.
Skyline of Barcelona.
This diversion of tax revenue away from Catalonia despite their massive contribution to the Spanish economy is at the heart of independentist tensions in the region. Combined with the historical deprivation of autonomy and the region’s cultural uniqueness, this economic rift drives a persistent conflict in the relationship between Spain’s government and the Catalan Parliament.
Today’s Disharmony
Based on the persistent political, cultural, and economic forces that have driven a desire for autonomy in Catalonia for centuries, the current push for independence is not surprising. However, that does not mean it is not unique. According to Professor Field, today’s majority support for Catalan independence is “the largest amount of people ever supporting Catalan independence in the democratic period of Spain.” This “extremely powerful, extremely mobilized activist movement” stands out as one of the strongest and most effective revolutions against Spanish power in modern history. While the story might read the same as it did in 2014, today’s secessionist movement has certainly gained more traction than previous attempts at independence: The referendum provided unprecedented support, the majority of the Catalan Parliament is aligned towards secession, and the Spanish government has had to take legitimate, constitutional action to prevent further action.
Nevertheless, division within the region still persists, casting a large degree of pessimism on the potential for substantive change in the region. In recent polling done by the Institute of Political and Social Sciences in Barcelona, almost 48 percent of respondents were somewhat against or very against the declaration of independence by the Catalan Parliament. While a vast majority of respondents (61.9 percent) were vehemently opposed to the recent intervention of the Spanish government in Catalan affairs, Professor Field claims that an even higher number of Catalans doubt the success of this movement. Having seen the ultimate failure of the 2014 movement and previous attempts at independence, many doubt that this movement will succeed, and they’ve even organized on the streets to protest the move.
Ultimately, according to Professor Ansolabehere, “There is a lot of support among the educated and elite in the society.” However, in the middle class, dissent runs high: “Especially in the suburbs of Barcelona, there are many middle-class people who immigrated from elsewhere in Spain to find work. These immigrants to Catalonia do not speak Catalan and consider themselves Spanish.” This socioeconomic divide in support further deepens skepticism around the legitimacy of this movement, and has opened a prominent divide between the rich and the poor in Catalonia.
Beyond this division within Catalonia, the vast majority of the rest of Spain adamantly opposes Catalonia’s attempt at independence. Based on polling from the Center for Sociological Research in Spain, only 13.4 percent of Spaniards would like to see increased autonomy for regions like Catalonia, and a miniscule 10.2 percent would actually favor these regions gaining full independence. Spaniards in general favor unity, and they see the recent secessionist movement in Catalonia as a huge threat to this.
A Path Forward
With such high dissent and disagreement within Catalonia along with fervent opposition from the other regions of Spain, the likelihood of Catalonia gaining full independence anytime soon is fairly bleak.
So what does the future of Catalonia actually look like?
According to Professor Field, while full independence in the next five to ten years is “very unlikely,” there is a potential for “amplified autonomy” as a long-term political solution. “When you ask Catalans how they want this issue to be resolved, more say they want amplified autonomy than full independence.” Amplified autonomy might involve the restoration of regional powers revoked in the 2010 Constitutional Court ruling mentioned earlier along with the general enhancement of Catalan self-governance. According to recent polling by the Institute of Political/Social Sciences in Spain (ICPS), while 36 percent of Catalan respondents said they hoped this process would end in a fully independent state, while over 45 percent said that they would prefer the process to end in Spain giving Catalonia a higher degree of self-governance.
Such amplified autonomy is likely to gain more support from the rest of Spain, as well as Europe. Spain’s forty-nine other provinces heavily rely on Catalonia’s superior economic performance; thus, it is hard to imagine a prosperous Spain without Catalonia. Moreover, for the European Union, firmly supporting either side in this contentious battle is not really an option. However, Professor Field claims that a proposal for increased autonomy of Catalonia is something that the EU could much more easily stomach and, in turn, negotiate with Spain on.
Nonetheless, this impulse for what some call “selfish economic nationalism” could be a dangerous destabilizing force for Catalonia, Spain, and all of Europe. Primarily, it could lead to the gradual collapse of central authority in Spain as more and more regions call for independence. In addition, like with Brexit, this reduction of solidarity could trigger various economic and political issues that impede the progress of the region.
In all, the future of Catalonia is not clear. While almost everyone doubts the realization of full independence, it remains almost indisputable that this issue will not die easily. Centuries of political tensions and cultural differences along with Catalonia’s economic supremacy over the rest of Spain are fueling the flames of a seemingly endless call for change. Amplified autonomy might be the only solution to this ongoing battle, or it might be yet another step back for both Catalonia and the rest of Spain.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons/Medol // Wikimedia Commons/1997 // Wikimedia Commons/Ludjoh12 (own work)