Referendum in Catalonia
There's quite a lot to say about it, and I fear that if I try to touch all the relevant points I will never write this post.
But I want to write something, and I would like to highlight what I consider to be the most important.
Most of the people in Catalonia want to vote. They don't necessarily want to become independent, but they do want to vote about it. There's little magic in knowing that, we don't lack polls, and the numbers are all around 80%. That's not a voice to silence. And from Catalonia they have demanded it for a long time. Yet, there's absolutely nothing in the horizon that suggests that's going to happen in our current system.
It should be obvious that's unfair and antidemocratic.
The fact that the local government called for a referendum that is illegal according to our current system is nothing compared to the fact that people that want to decide for themselves are systematically silenced.
The response of the central government and their puppets has been a show of carelessness and dumbness. Plus all the actions and the forces they have mobilized an immense waste of resources. More importantly, the deployment of a flood of police to stop people from voting, that has predictably resulted in violence, is profoundly unfair and antidemocratic.
Not to mention such actions please few people, and contribute as nothing else could to make people wish for independence. I can certainly sympathize with being a republic and as far as possible from this deeply corrupt government which is a continuous source of shame for Spaniards.
I was in Sol today in a demonstration in support of the right of Catalans to vote. I wasn't alone! The square was packed of people, many more than what I expected.
There were a couple of things that pleased me particularly.
Quotes from Voltaire and Wilde, the classical and still mostly not understood “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.” and “Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.” Dear classicals, you're quite to the point.
A couple of German Erasmus students asked a girl next to me, who seemed to be a foreigner too, about the situation and the meaning of it all. She answered beautifully all their questions, and explained different aspects in a quite joyful and pleasant way.
The day is over. The struggle will go on. It's not my wish to convince anyone. But I wish to highlight what's at stake: whether we have a society shaped to the will of the people or we have one that rules in spite of what people want.
We should strive for listening to others and having people's opinion count more. Laws are an instrument for the people. Unfair laws should be challenged and disobeyed. Nobody should decide for us.