Worst of Both Worlds

I voted Yes in Scotland's independence referendum in 2014, but if you ask me the position in Catalonia is a very different kettle of fish because the outcome of its own  referendum on October 1st 2017 is so hotly contested. 

Even giving the pro-independence camp the benefit of every doubt, the fact is that less than 40% of the electorate voted to break from the rest of Spain.

The Catalan Government claimed 90% support for independence based on a turnout of 43% while those in favour of a united Spain chose to highlight the fact that a majority of voters boycotted the event, on the basis that it could not be recognised under Spain's 40-year old written constitution.

So we now have a terrible mess with the pro-independence side proclaiming the result as 'good enough' to establish a new Republic while the Spanish Government obdurately hides behind the written constitution as a road block to any change and a permanent guarantor of the status quo.

I spend a lot of time in Catalonia and I have friends and acquaintances on both sides of an often fierce argument which has remained relatively friendly and good natured, up till now at least. 

But that may well change as the political temperature heats up and people convinced of the righteousness of their argument take the law into their own hands: witness the Spanish Government's attempts to disrupt the referendum and behaviour of some in the Guardia Civil, alongside pro-independence supporters blocking roads, motorways and student classes.

In my experience, the use of force does not always involve 'violence', but the use of force will always lead to violence in the end.

Catalonia is divided over the question independence which is hardly surprising really given that so many of its citizens are from other parts of Spain, and the very different priorities of people living in small towns or rural areas from those in larger cities.

But we have ended up with the worst of both worlds with one side pretending that independence is the 'settled will' of the Catalan people while the other insists that no change is possible without the agreement of the rest of Spain.