Nationalists, dictators, authoritarians and progressives all believe in a unified state under the control of a central government. To run off on your own is considered both dangerous, and fool-hearty. Rebels, radicals, and separatists reject central rule, and believe that governments that control smaller regions capable of autonomy are damaging to the ideals of freedom, and individualism. Secessionists often believe their land must depart from the motherland because government that controls in such a manner drags down the rebel area that would be better off on its own.
In the United States, when we hear about the decision in Scotland to try to leave the United Kingdom and go it alone, or Catalonia in Spain planning on a vote to leave the larger country behind in November, our thoughts immediately turn to the American Civil War, and the secession of the southern States into a confederation. What resulted from the exercise of State's Rights was a bloody civil war, where over 600,000 young men laid down their lives over the secession of those States.
The argument of secession is waged over concepts embedded in two extremes. Either, the area in question remains under the iron fist of an authoritarian centralized government, or they fly from the nest without any help and without any connection to their former national companions, exposed to the dangers of a big bad world that could crush the smaller entity in a single blow.
Polybius, a Greek political philosopher, called for a mixed Constitution for Greece. The Greek States were completely independent from each other, and practiced pure democracy. What resulted from the autonomy of the various independent Greek States was a Greek system unable to properly defend itself because it was not united enough, and chaos because the people had too much democratic mob-rule capabilities over the members of the loose union. Polybius' ideas were never implemented, and Greece eventually fell.
Where Greece failed, Rome succeeded. . . for a while. The regions were autonomous, but were joined together by a single republic centrally governed by Rome. Each sovereign area had a voice in the legislature, and the central government was restrained by the rule of law, provided for the people to see in plain view in the center of Rome's town square. Their Constitution was the 12 Tables of Law. The system worked wonderfully, creating an environment for Rome to prosper, grow, and expand her lands. But when the system moved towards democracy, and then towards oligarchy, and the legislature became irrelevant under the growing powers of the ruling class, Rome fell.
Based on the biblical standard of moderation, or as the old saying goes, "too much of a good thing won't be good for long," the Americans sought to create a system that relied on a mixed system that rejected the excesses of democracy, and also the authoritarian control of nationalism. The States remained autonomous, sovereign, and independent, but were joined together in a republic where they all participated in the governance of the union. A federal government was created, not to rule over the States, but to serve the States in order to protect, preserve, and promote the union, and the individual sovereignty of the States. The States in America have the option to secede, for they are voluntary members of the union. To require their membership would not be freedom. However, the strength of the union, and the necessity for a federal government to provide for the common defense, keeps the States in the union together. United, the States in America stand, for they understand that divided the country known as the United States of America could fall. Yet, the autonomy, and the unique individuality, of the States cannot be denied. The united States of America have found the best of both worlds, where the smaller States remain unique and autonomous, but are united under a republican system strong enough to provide for the common defense, and promote a general sense of welfare throughout the union.
Each of the States have their own flavor, their own culture, their own way of doing things, and as long as those individual nuances are not a threat to the union, or step on the toes of federal authority as granted by the United States Constitution, the States are free to be different. The unique individuality of the States is a part of what makes America great.
The uniqueness of various stateless nations around the world goes beyond what the States in North America can claim. Scotland, for example, is a completely different land with a completely different history from England. The union the countries have under the United Kingdom is a necessity for economic strength, military protection, and viability in a world where competition is fierce. The Scottish, however, have long felt like they are conquered lands, a dominion under the English, and long for the opportunity to be the independent Scotland they once were before they were pulled into a system they did not originally desire to be a part of.
Catalonia's situation is even more intense, and unique.
Catalonia is its own, but is a part of Spain. Like the States across the Atlantic, Catalonia is sovereign and autonomous. Greater self-rule is the objective. The concept of secession is nothing new in Catalonia. Secession is not something they got the idea from when Scotland recently had a vote with the same goal in mind. Secession has been in the conversation in Catalonia for generations, and longer.
Only the fear of the unknown has held Catalonia back.
Catalonia is a well established society, and a large segment of Catalans do not consider themselves Spanish. They are a part of Catalonia. They have been Catalans their entire lives. Yet, standing against the Spanish, desiring independence from a nation that has little in common with them, is being considered defiant.
A violent terrorist separatist group exists in Catalonia, as does a divided debate on the pros and cons of seeking independence. While many in Catalonia demands greater self-determination for the Basque Country region, Spain's central government has denied the nation within a nation the allowance for any kind of full autonomy. The Catalan culture and language is not understood (nor accepted) in Spain, Catalonia already has a well defined political system in place the Catalans believe to be capable of navigating the waters of self-governance, and Catalans pay more into Spain's national treasury than any other region under Spanish rule, yet receives little back for their taxation efforts.
In a world where a leviathan of global economic activity exists, could the little financial efforts of Catalonia compete? Would they be viable in the bigger portrait of world trade and deal-making? Or is the financial imbalance with Spain holding Catalonia back? Is Spain hampering Catalonia's potential economic performance?
The seven and a half million citizens, or at least a large portion of that population, believes Catalonia is ready to go it alone.
The socialists in control of Spain control Catalonia from an economic perspective. The Spanish claim Catalonia has a historical debt owed to Spain, for a history of protection, and because of Catalonia's large trade surplus with the rest of Spain. While Catalonia boasts the highest wages and production numbers, the redistribution of wealth by Spain leaves Catalans without much of the wealth they create. The products from Catalonia are popular in the rest of Spain because of their quality and price, yet the taxation against Catalonia seems more like a penalty for being a part of Spain, rather than a benefit.
The only thing that would hold Catalonia back, should they become independent, would be if they chased a more socialist governmental model than Spain has been failing under.
In the end, the harder Spain tries to kill the idea of independence for Catalonia, the more the Catalans desire being a separate cultural and economic entity. The tighter the grip, the more Catalonia works to slip through the fingers of Spanish control.
A danger does exist, however. Without Spain's larger defense force, with Islam's growing jihad across the Mediterranean, and a large population of Arabic speakers in Catalonia, how long before the Islamic caliphate turns its eyes toward a small, defenseless Catalonia? How long before Muslim immigration begins to drown the Catalan culture, and the history of Muslims in that region is revisited?
Catalonia may have the economics, and the administrative ability, to survive on its own, but can it also defend itself from the hordes of Muslims rapidly filling the banks of North Africa, and the over 750 no-go zones in France to the north?
Catalan self-rule seems inevitable to some of the folks behind the movement, and though Scotland's failure to separate from Britain did not set the precedent Catalonia hoped to ride the wave of, Catalans simply say that the precedent will just have to be set by Catalonia.
Spain's constitution, adopted in 1978, makes Spain one of the most decentralized countries in Europe, and allows for Catalan independence, say the Catalans, should the citizens want to follow that path. Catalonia already enjoys a certain level of autonomy in Spain right now. Right now the percentage of citizens wanting independence is nearly half of all Catalans, while the remaining half are split between keeping it the way it is, or for Catalonia to be fully absorbed into the Spanish national system.
This week, Spain's Constitutional Court, faced with what the Spanish consider to be a constitutional crisis, suspended Catalonia's vote scheduled for November 9, stopping just short of fully agreeing with Spain's central government, who calls the referendum for independence illegal, and a breach of Spain's constitution.
The court says it may take up to five months to decide where this should go. The clock counting down the vote in Catalonia keeps ticking, however. Many Catalans plan to go forth with the vote, with or without the blessings of the courts. In Spain's post-Franco era, a rising tide of democracy that has existed since the death of Dictator Francisco Franco, the Spanish are determined to hold together the country, because Catalonia, according to the central government, belongs to all Spanish people.
The Catalans, doubling down on their so-called defiance, plan to vote on November 9, anyway. The economic powerhouse in relation to the rest of Spain, believes they will be better off without Spain. The main opponent to Catalan independence is Spain's Socialist Party, who is demanding reforming the constitution to give more autonomy to Catalonia, but keeping the Catalans under the fold of the central government.
After all, Catalonia, if the rebellious region were to leave Spain, would take with it an awful lot of tax revenue.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Europe's Stateless Nations in the Era of Globalization: The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain - The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs; John Hopkins University
Defiant Catalans push ahead for independence referendum - U.K. Telegraph
Spanish Court Suspends Catalonia Independence Vote - Yahoo News/AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment