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SPAIN
Sept. 11 always brings Barcelonans into the streets to dance the sardana, sing for their enemies' blood in the anthem "Els Segadors" and chant political slogans in celebration of their national holiday, the Diada de Catalunya. But this year a new intensity colored the Catalans' nationalist fervor. A pro-independence march, which has never before drawn more than 50,000 people, pulled in a crowd estimated by city police at 1.5 million. And every newspaper in the city carried the results of a new poll that revealed a once unimaginable transformation: half the population of Catalonia supports secession from Spain.
It wasn't always thus. Unlike the Basques, whose support for independence from Spain has run high for generations, most Catalans have traditionally favored greater autonomy over outright secession. The recent surge in secessionist support is closely tied to Spain's economic crisis. Although Catalonia is the wealthiest region in Spain, it is also the most heavily in debt, running a fiscal deficit of 8%. In 2009, the latest year for which figures are available, Catalonia provided 19.49% of the federal government's tax revenue yet received only 14.03% of its spending. It is that discrepancy, says Catalonia's president, Artur Mas, that explains the region's deficit. Mas has called for a fiscal reform that would enable his government to collect its own taxes and turn over a designated amount to the central state, rather than the other way around. The economic crisis has also increased pro-independence sentiment in less concrete ways. As small businesses--once a mainstay of the Catalan economy--find it harder to survive and young people find it increasingly difficult to find jobs, independence is viewed as a panacea.
On Sept. 11, it seemed as if everything was fine. As hundreds of thousands of people wrapped themselves in independence flags and danced their way down the Via Laietana and the Gran Via, the mood was markedly festive. But a darker reality lay just beneath the surface. "The frustration is enormous," says Montserrat Guibernau, a Catalan academic. "Secession was always unthinkable in Catalonia. But it's precisely at moments like this that the unthinkable can occur."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2124411,00.html#ixzz26jmZR1S6
Sept. 11 always brings Barcelonans into the streets to dance the sardana, sing for their enemies' blood in the anthem "Els Segadors" and chant political slogans in celebration of their national holiday, the Diada de Catalunya. But this year a new intensity colored the Catalans' nationalist fervor. A pro-independence march, which has never before drawn more than 50,000 people, pulled in a crowd estimated by city police at 1.5 million. And every newspaper in the city carried the results of a new poll that revealed a once unimaginable transformation: half the population of Catalonia supports secession from Spain.
It wasn't always thus. Unlike the Basques, whose support for independence from Spain has run high for generations, most Catalans have traditionally favored greater autonomy over outright secession. The recent surge in secessionist support is closely tied to Spain's economic crisis. Although Catalonia is the wealthiest region in Spain, it is also the most heavily in debt, running a fiscal deficit of 8%. In 2009, the latest year for which figures are available, Catalonia provided 19.49% of the federal government's tax revenue yet received only 14.03% of its spending. It is that discrepancy, says Catalonia's president, Artur Mas, that explains the region's deficit. Mas has called for a fiscal reform that would enable his government to collect its own taxes and turn over a designated amount to the central state, rather than the other way around. The economic crisis has also increased pro-independence sentiment in less concrete ways. As small businesses--once a mainstay of the Catalan economy--find it harder to survive and young people find it increasingly difficult to find jobs, independence is viewed as a panacea.
On Sept. 11, it seemed as if everything was fine. As hundreds of thousands of people wrapped themselves in independence flags and danced their way down the Via Laietana and the Gran Via, the mood was markedly festive. But a darker reality lay just beneath the surface. "The frustration is enormous," says Montserrat Guibernau, a Catalan academic. "Secession was always unthinkable in Catalonia. But it's precisely at moments like this that the unthinkable can occur."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2124411,00.html#ixzz26jmZR1S6
Abend, Lisa. "Catalonia's Call for Secession." Time. 24 September 2012: 14. Print.
