Majority of Catalans favoring secession?
Though their language and culture were brutally repressed by the dictator Franco for decades, the Catalonians have bravely persisted as a distinct people. Now they may be on the threshold of achieving self-determination:
About 30 percent of 700,000 eligible voters in 170 towns and villages in Catalonia voted on the question of whether Catalonia should become an independent state within the EU, the organizers said, Reuters reports.
Early results showed that almost 95 percent of those who voted wanted Catalonia to leave Spain.
"This has been a powerful event that is going to push us toward independence," referendum campaign spokesman Uriel Beltran told Reuters.
Public opinion surveys have showed different results considering that Catalonia has had a high level of autonomy since 2006.
Three years ago Catalonians voted for the new statute which regulates relations between Catalonia and Spain and contains a preamble defining Catalonia as nation.
In 1900, there were 55 sovereign nations in the world. Today, there are 195, with dozens of active secessionist movements. Trend-spotting, anyone?
posted by Old Rebel @ Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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4 Comments:
There is a lot of friction between Madrid and Bercelona. At the Bercelona football games you never ever see a Spanish flag - only the Catalan flag. And Catalans make a point of speaking their language to you when you go there - especially if you are Spanish. lol the government people I taught in Madrid had hard feelings towards the Catalans and vice versa. Even though they are practically independent already, I don't think the status quo can persist. The king is the only thing holding it all together, I would say. Once this particular king dies (and he's getting pretty old) it might come unglued. He's popular for saving the democracy there, but his son is not so popular and the institution of the monarchy itself is not so popular. So I see big change ahead.
PalmettoPatriot,
Then there's the autonomy/secession movements in Castille, Galicia, and Andalusia.
Italy has the Northern League, Germany has the Bavarian movement -- old borders are being challenged everywhere.
The nationalist movement in Galicia is not so strong. And the movements in Castille and Andalusia as well as Valencia are tiny. The strongest are in Pais Vasco (with almost half the people wanting independence) and Cataluna (with maybe a third to a half wanting independence. The Northern League in Italy is not so much a secessionist party any longer - they are more popularist now.
PalmettoPatriot,
Understood. But the fact that they're culturally based is important, and may well fuel a full-blown independence -- or autonomy -- movement soon.
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