The
EU bombed Serbia for weeks for not accepting the break-away of Kosovo
and yet is silent about a state where you have the local and national
police forces fighting.
Why
isn't NATO bombing Madrid for 78 days? - fmr British diplomat
4
October, 2017
Former
British diplomat William Mallinson told
RT that a major part of the problem involving the Catalan crisis is
"the
enormous size of the European Union and globalization" which
brings about the "slow
destruction of the nation state itself.”
This
undermining of the nation state causes
the "smaller parts getting irritated."
Mallinson
then drew parallels between what is now happening in Spain to past
events when NATO opened a relentless offensive on Yugoslavia and the
capital Belgrade over the question of Kosovo independence.
"Why
isn’t NATO bombing Madrid for 78 days, because the situation is
similar in very many ways."
“In
fact, Kosovo is even more a part of Serbia than Catalonia [is to
Spain.] Let’s remember in the Middle Ages joined when Ferdinand and
Isabella joined all those bits of Spain together. Let’s remember
that Spain is a united country but it is a conglomerate. We also must
remember this dangerous knock-on effect. This is going to feed Basque
anger more and more. And of course, other parts of Europe, possibly
even the Walloons in Belgium, not to mention Scotland,” he
continued.
Mallinson
suggested a possible solution to the ongoing crisis is to "throw
out the hotheads and get Mr. Rajoy to talk to the leaders of
Catalonia to try to come to some kind of temporary compromise while
everyone gets together and try to put a stop to these deleterious
effects of globalization and the destruction of the nation state."
"Keep
the interfering people out,” he
emphasized.
Nigel
Farage says Catalonia referendum shows how the EU treat voters
CrossTalk:
Catalonia Rising
RT
The people of Catalonia went to the polls seeking independence. The Spanish state reacted with force against peaceful voters. Still again the question arises: What is the EU’s commitment to democracy? And who is allowed self-determination?
The
Catalan crisis could cause the collapse of Spain
Fifteen
years ago, I was best man at my good friend Marc’s wedding in the
rural areas of Catalonia, and I came to understand Catalonian
nationalism firsthand
Andrew MacLeod
4 October, 2017
Just
in my lifetime, Spain has been ruled by a military dictator, restored
a monarchy, restored democracy, experienced a military coup, had a
terrorist separatist organisation kill innocent civilians, joined the
EU, joined the euro, just escaped a near financial collapse, and had
a king abdicate.
Read
with this historic context, Spain is in a much more perilous shape
than you may think. And with this past weekend’s Catalonian
referendum, Spain became just a little more fragile. It may not be a
basket case of a country, but nor is it an island of stability.
Catalonia
sits in the north-east of Spain, bordering France, and includes one
of Spain’s tourist gems: Barcelona. Catalonia has its own history,
language and culture and is granted both “nationality” status and
autonomy within the Spanish Constitution. It is also a region with a
long history of nationalist politics.
I
was best man at my good friend Marc’s wedding in the rural areas of
Catalonia 15 years ago, and I came to understand Catalonian
nationalism firsthand. I remember fondly trying to talk with Marc’s
father, who refused to speak Spanish, only Catalan and a bit of
French. He didn’t speak English, I didn’t speak Catalan and my
French was pretty poor but, with copious amounts of Catalan red wine
and cava, we found a way to communicate.
He
was and remains still a proud Catalonian. His son Marc represented
Spain in swimming and also represented Catalonia in national
competitions
Over
this past weekend, the regional government held a referendum on
Catalonian Independence, yet the Spanish government declared the vote
unlawful. This past weekend I have been in touch with Marc as he,
along with several of his friends, volunteered to guard polling
stations. They were guarding them not from thugs or criminals, but
from the Spanish police.
Marc
has sent me – and social media has been full of – images that
appear to depict Spanish police kicking non-violent protesters,
throwing them down stairs and breaking into buildings. On video, it
looks like Spanish police are holding back Catalonian police who have
sought to intervene to help Catalonian voters.
Can
you ever imagine a scenario were Australian Federal Police and
Victorian State Police were in a stand-off against each other? How
frightening that would feel. And this is what is happening in Spain
right now.
Under
the Spanish government’s direction, and following a Spanish court’s
ruling that the vote was illegal, Spanish riot police managed to
forcibly close 93 out of around 2,000 polling stations. The Spanish
minister responsible for policing said that the national police acted
within their powers.
Regardless
of what one thinks of either the legality of the vote, the rights and
wrongs of separation, or even the rights and wrongs of the actions of
the Spanish police, one does not convince a people to stay within a
country by beating them into silence.
It
may well be true that on a strict reading of the Spanish
constitution, dissolution and a referendum are unlawful. It may be
true that in one reading of Spanish law, all Spaniards would have to
vote on a region’s independence, not just Catalonia.
However,
Australia has an “indissoluble Commonwealth”, yet we allowed a
referendum in Western Australia, not all of Australia, for their
independence in 1933. Even though the vote passed, WA stayed within
the country.
In
1995, the Canadians allowed Quebec to vote to secede, not all of
Canada. Quebec voted to stay, albeit just. In 2014, the British
allowed Scotland to vote on independence, not all of the UK. Scotland
voted to stay.
After
the events in Kosovo in 1999, the EU, including Spain, declared that
only Kosovo had to vote on their independence, not all of Serbia.
So
even if the Spanish government is legally correct, is the current
action either politically smart or even consistent with the majority
of international practice?
It
is hard to mount an argument that in a democracy people should be
forced by police to stay away from polling stations and not exercise
their free will. It is hard to see how the weekend’s actions will
result in a lower demand for independence and a strengthened Spanish
state. Quite the reverse.
In
my discussions with Catalonian people, I found in the past that many
don’t want independence, but they do support the right to vote. Yet
some I have spoken to over the past 36 hours have changed their view.
“If
the central government is too afraid to hear our voices,” said one
formerly pro-Spain voice, “I no longer want to part of this
country.”
Over
on the north-west coast, in Spain’s Basque Country, other
independence-minded people are watching closely. ETA, the Basque
terrorist group, has been respecting a ceasefire for many years. But
will they now?
Successful
modern democracies are built on government’s respecting the will of
the people. Successful modern unions, like Canada, Australia and the
present-day UK, are built on ensuring that the regions want to stay
part of the country, not that they will be forced to stay part of
that country. Spain should have gone the persuasion route, not the
force route.
When
a government needs to resort to violence that pitches a central
government police force against a regional government police force,
things can get very ugly very quickly indeed
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