The
future of the EU at stake in Catalonia
A
new paradigm has been coined right inside the lofty European Union:
'In the name of democracy, refrain from voting, or else'
Pepe
Escobar
3
October, 2017
Fascist
Franco may have been dead for more than four decades, but Spain
is still encumbered with his dictatorial corpse. A new paradigm has
been coined right inside the lofty European Union, self-described
home/patronizing dispenser of human rights to lesser regions across
the planet: “In the name of democracy, refrain from voting, or
else.” Call it democracy nano-Franco style.
Nano-Franco
is Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose heroic shock troops
were redeployed from a serious nationwide terrorist alert to hammer
with batons and fire rubber bullets not against jihadis but …
voters. At least six schools became the terrain of what
wascorrectly
called The
Battle of Barcelona.
Extreme
right-wingers even held a demonstration inside Barcelona. Yet this
was not shown on Spanish TV because it contradicted the official
Madrid narrative.
The
Catalan government beat the fascist goons with two very simple
codes – as revealed by La Vanguardia. “I’ve got the
Tupperware. Where do we meet?” was the code on a prepaid mobile
phone for people to collect and protect ballot boxes. “I’m the
paper traveler” was the code to protect the actual paper
ballots. Julian Assange/WikiLeaks had warned about the world’s
first Internet war as deployed by Madrid to smash the electronic
voting system. The counterpunch was – literally – on paper.
The US National Security Agency must have learned a few lessons.
So
we had techno power combined with cowardly Francoist repression
tactics countered by people power, as in parents conducting sit-ins
in schools to make sure they were functional on referendum day. Some
90% of the 2.26 million Catalans who made it to the polls ended up
voting in favor of independence from Spain, according to preliminary
results. Catalonia has 5.3 million registered voters.
Roughly
770,000 votes were lost because of raids by Spanish police.
Turnout at around 42% may not be high but it’s certainly not low.
As the day went by, there was a growing feeling, all across
Catalonia, all social classes involved, that this was not about
independence any more; it was about fighting a new brand of fascism.
What’s certain is there’s a Perfect Storm coming.
No pasarĂ¡n
The
“institutional declaration” of overwhelming mediocrity
nano-Franco Rajoy, right after the polls were closed, invited
disbelief. The highlight was a mediocre take on Magritte: “Ceci
n’est pas un referendum.” This
referendum never took place. And it could never take place
because “Spain is a mature and advanced democracy, friendly
and tolerant”. The day’s events proved it a lie.
Rajoy
said “the great majority of Catalan people did not want to
participate in the secessionist script”. Another lie. Even before
the “non-existent” referendum, between 70% and 80% of
Catalans said they wanted to vote, yes or no, after an informed
debate about their future.
Crucially,
Rajoy extolled the “unwavering support of the EU and the
international community”. Of course; unelected EU “elites” in
Brussels and the main European capitals are absolutely terrorized
when EU citizens express themselves.
Yet
the top nano-Franco lie was that “democracy prevailed because
the constitution was respected”.
the constitution was respected”.
Rajoy
spent weeks defending his repression of the referendum by invoking
“the rule of law such as ours”. It’s “their” law, indeed.
The heart of the matter are Articles 116 and 155 of a retrograde
Spanish constitution, the first one describing how states of alarm,
exception and siege work in Spain, and the latter applied in “order
to compel the [autonomous community] forcibly to meet …
obligations, or in order to protect the … general interests.”
Well,
these “obligations” and “general interests” are defined by –
who else, Madrid and Madrid only. The Spanish Constitutional Court is
a joke – it couldn’t care less about the principle of separation
of powers. The court congregates a bunch of legalistic
Mafiosi/patsies working for the two parties of the establishment, the
so-called “socialists” of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’
Party) and the medieval right-wingers of Rajoy’s People’s Party
(PP).
Few
outside Spain may remember the failed coup of February 23, 1981 –
when there was an attempt to hurl Spain back into the long dark
Francoist night. Well, I was in Barcelona when it happened – and
that vividly reminded me of the South American military coups in the
1960s and 1970s. Since the coup, what passes for “justice” in
Spain never ceased to be a mere lackey to these two political
parties.
The
Constitutional Court actually suspended the
Catalan referendum law, arguing that it was violating the –
medieval – Spanish constitution. This disgraceful collusion is
crystal-clear for most people in Catalonia. What Madrid is
essentially up to amounts to a coup as well – against the
Catalan government and, of course, against democracy. So no
wonder the immortal civil-war mantra was back in the streets of
Catalonia: “¡No pasarĂ¡n!” They shall not pass.
Brussels
does demophobia
Rajoy,
thuggish, mediocre and corrupt (that’s another long story), lied
even more when he said he keeps the “door open to dialogue”. He
never wanted any dialogue with Catalonia – always refusing a
referendum in any shape or form or transferring any powers to the
Catalan regional government. Catalonia’s regional president, Carles
Puigdemont, insists he had to call the referendum because this is
what separatist parties promised when they won regional elections two
years ago.
And
of course no one is an angel in this hardcore power play. The PDeCaT
(the Democratic Party of Catalonia), the main force behind the
referendum, has also been mired in corruption.
Catalonia
in itself is as economically powerful as Denmark; 7.5 million people,
around 16% of Spain’s population, but responsible for 20% of gross
domestic product, attracting one-third of foreign investment and
producing one-third of exports. In a country where unemployment is at
a horribly high 30%, losing Catalonia would be the ultimate disaster.
The demophobia of Brussels elites knows no bounds; the historical record shows EU citizens are not allowed to express themselves freely, especially by using democratic practices in questions related to self-determination.
Madrid in effect subscribes to only two priorities: dutifully obey EU austerity diktats, and crush by all means any regional push for autonomy.
Catalan
historian Josep Fontana, in a wide-ranging,
enlightening interview,
has identified the heart of the matter: “What, for me, is
scandalous is that the PP is whipping up public opinion by saying
that holding the referendum means the secession of Catalonia
afterwards, when it knows that secession is impossible. It is
impossible because it would mean that the Generalitat would have to
ask the Madrid government to be so kind as to withdraw its army,
Guardia Civil and National Police from Catalonia, and to meekly
renounce a territory that provides 20% of its GDP … so why are they
using this excuse to stir up a climate reminiscent of a civil war?”
Beyond
the specter of civil war, the Big Picture is even more incandescent.
The
Scottish National Party is sort of blood cousins with
Catalan separatists in its rejection of a perceived illegitimate
central authority, with all the accompanying negative litany. SNP
members complain they are forced to cope with different languages;
political diktats from above; unfair taxes; and what is felt as
outright economic exploitation. This phenomenon has absolutely
nothing to do with the EU-wide rise of extreme right-wing
nationalism, populism and xenophobia – as Madrid insists.
And
then there’s the silence of the wolves. It would be easy to
picture the EU’s reaction if the drama in Catalonia were happening
in distant, “barbarian” Eurasian lands. The peaceful referendum
in Crimea was condemned as “illegal” and dictatorial while a
violent attack against freedom of expression of millions of people
living inside the EU gets a pass.
The
demophobia of Brussels elites knows no bounds; the historical record
shows EU citizens are not allowed to express themselves freely,
especially by using democratic practices in questions related to
self-determination. Whatever torrent of spin may come ahead, the
silence of the EU betrays the fact Brussels is puling the strings
behind Madrid. After all the Brave New Euroland project implies the
destruction of European nations to the profit of a centralized
Brussels eurocracy.
Referenda
are untamable animals. Kosovo was a by-product of the
amputation/bombing into democracy of Serbia by the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization; a gangster/narco mini-state useful as the host
of Camp Bondsteel, the largest Pentagon base outside of the US.
Crimea
was part of a legitimate reunification drive to rectify Nikita
Khrushchev’s idiocy of separating it from Russia. London did not
send goons to prevent the referendum in Scotland; an amicable
negotiation is in effect. No set rules apply. Neocons screamed in
vain when Crimea was reunited with Russia after shedding tears of joy
when Kosovo was carved out of Serbia.
As
for Madrid, a lesson should be learned from Ireland in 1916. In the
beginning the majority of the population was against an uprising. But
brutal British repression led to the war of independence – and the
rest is history.
After
this historic, (relatively) bloody Sunday, more and more Catalans
will be asking: If Slovenia and Croatia, the Czech Republic and
Slovakia, the tiny Baltic republics, not to mention even tinier
Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta, can be EU members, why not us? And a
stampede might be ahead; Flanders and Wallonia, the Basque country
and Galicia, Wales and Northern Ireland.
All
across the EU, the centralized Eurocrat dream is splintering. It’s
Catalonia that may be pointing toward a not so brave, but more
realistic, new world.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/catalonia-independence-five-things-to-think-about/5611607
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