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Catalan nationalism and a return to the past – DW – 10/20/2017

Politics

Barbara Wesel

Commentary

10/20/2017 20 October 2017 Madrid wants to limit the Catalan autonomy 9002 9002 June, while Barcelona still insists on independence. But do nationalists really want a return to the 18th century? Commentary by Barbara Wesel.

https://p.dw.com/p/2mDsy

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Catalan independence demonstration in Barcelona, ​​October 17 Photo: Getty Images/AFP/L. Gene

As was to be expected, the Spanish central government carried out its threats: the authorities in Madrid activated Article 155 of the constitution, which allows to significantly limit or completely eliminate Catalan autonomy. The situation became so tense that the country’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was forced to intervene in what was happening in Catalonia: he announced his intention to “restore the violated constitutional order.” At the same time, Barcelona, ​​for its part, is also not ready to revoke the so-called “Declaration of Independence” signed by Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont. All this is reminiscent of a mass collision of cars due to fog on the freeway.

An absurd political error

In this particular case, the fog is political. What is happening in Spain is an example of a complete lack of art of public administration. Mariano Rajoy, who has no political instinct, behaves like a lawyer who is only interested in the letter, not the meaning of the law. The head of the Spanish government lacks flexibility and emotional intelligence. Even a few months before the current events, he had to prevent a further escalation of the conflict and its spiraling out of control. And repressive measures – for example, the arrest of both leaders of the separatist movement – only lead to an even greater intensity of passions and contribute to the further rallying of the movement.

Barbara Wesel

At the same time, the Catalan regional government behaves at least as absurdly: the local authorities are guided solely by ideological considerations and act stubbornly and, above all, irresponsibly. The authorities in Barcelona are fatally reminiscent of the student parliament: fiery speeches, heroic resolutions and no word about the consequences. Their assessment of the situation is simply irrational. Independence fighters do not appear to be intimidated by the fact that many businesses are leaving Catalonia, nor by the slowdown in economic growth. They are not embarrassed even by the decrease in the number of tourists. A great goal justifies any sacrifice.

The politics of self-determination and the struggle for power

But what is this nationalism in the name of which barricades are erected in Spain? On the one hand, we are talking about the policy of self-determination. A similar trend is observed all over the world: its characteristic features are an orientation towards secession and arrogance towards neighbors. Fuel is added to the fire by populists who skillfully stir up passions, as well as deftly spread propaganda and skillfully manipulate the public through social networks.

On the other hand, behind this lies also the banal lust for power experienced by politicians in Barcelona. Members of the Catalan regional government are comfortably seated in their chairs, having so far been able to easily disassociate themselves from allegations of corruption. Carles Puigdemont wants to turn from a second-rate president into a real head of government, take part in summits and become a significant figure in the international arena.

Looking back, not forward

The problem, however, is that it all doesn’t fit together. As the main argument in favor of their national identity, the separatists cite the lost battle of 1714, when the Spanish king took Barcelona by storm, suddenly attacking the city.

The last time Catalonia was independent was two hundred years ago, and many believe that now is the time to correct this historical injustice. What is happening is reminiscent of the Balkan wars, the UK’s exit from the EU and all the irrational outbursts of historical fantasies.

However, how exactly should the separation of the region take place? Catalonia is Spain’s economic powerhouse and has been successful globally as well. At the same time, this is possible only within Spain and the EU. Large enterprises en masse withdraw their headquarters from Barcelona – an unstable legal situation and outbursts of nostalgic emotions are useless to them.

The region lives and works in the 21st century, but looks back to the 18th century, during the reign of King Philip V. Such twine cannot last long. The fighters for the independence of Catalonia will have to make an unambiguous choice in favor of the present, otherwise they will indeed become historical losers.

By Barbara Wesel, columnist DW

This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author. It may not coincide with the opinion of the Russian editors and Deutsche Welle in general.

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Independent Catalonia entrepreneurs are not satisfied0003

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Indirect introspection.

Why is there so much interest in Catalan events in Russia

The Catalan theme turned out to be extremely indifferent to the Russian audience, while the main leitmotif, oddly enough, also has to do with democracy. A “failed” democracy leads to instability, so the Catalans and Spaniards should be sorry: they no longer have the instability that we have. The price of stability is not discussed. Among other things, this approach contributes to maintaining the negative dynamics of relations between Russia and the European Union

Spain is in the grip of a crisis related to its territorial structure. In Catalonia, whose authorities have consistently sought secession since 2005, a referendum was held on October 1 on the region’s secession from the country. The central authorities of Spain have repeatedly warned the regional elites that the planned referendum is unconstitutional, actively opposed its holding and does not recognize its results. Nevertheless, on 27 October, the Catalan Parliament voted for independence from Spain; the central government in response announced the resignation of the government of the region. There is still no strategy for resolving the conflict; on the contrary, it is escalating.

What arguments do the Catalan and central Spanish elites use to justify their positions? Why did the Catalan theme turn out to be so significant for Russia and become an indirect way of introspection? And can the crisis in Catalonia affect relations between Russia and the EU?

Playing with the “democratic argument”

In the Catalan conflict, both sides – Barcelona and Madrid – turn to democracy, claiming to defend its ideals. The arguments on both sides generally make sense.

The authorities of the region believe that the people had their say in the referendum, and this is democracy in action, and the most genuine one at that. Back in January 2013, at its first session, the Catalan Parliament adopted a resolution according to which the Catalan people have legal and political sovereignty, and the institutions of the Spanish state (in particular, the decisions of the Constitutional Court) prevent the democratic expression of the collective will of the Catalan people. Such a picture – a brave minority fighting against the tyranny of the majority – is understandable to many, and not only in Spain: one need only look at Russian blogs to see that the Catalan independence fighters have many sympathizers.

On the other hand, the Spanish national authorities declared (in full accordance with the country’s Constitution) the referendum illegal, and the country’s Prime Minister Rajoy called it a mockery of democracy. It directly follows from this that the state security forces during the referendum and after it acted in strict accordance with the decisions of the state judiciary, ensuring the observance of the law and the protection of the rights and freedoms of all citizens. The Catalan authorities, according to Madrid, have absolutely no respect for the basic standards of democracy.

It is understandable that Barcelona’s appeals to the ideals of democracy are unusually exciting in Europe (and around the world) for those who consider the referendum, an instrument of direct democracy, as the only yardstick, the basis of a democratic order, above which there is nothing. Proponents of this approach are often insensitive to details. In fact, we do not know how many citizens of Catalonia are really in favor of secession (let alone how many citizens really understand the consequences of this move, tactical and especially strategic). The referendum held does not provide grounds for drawing conclusions of this kind. However, this is not very important for the supporters of “true” democracy – “the people speak”, everything else is secondary. Such a populist primitivization of the very complex order that is democracy seems to me extremely dangerous, especially since such approaches to democracy are spreading more and more around the world.

Unfortunately, Madrid’s approach to the Catalan problem does not reduce, but, on the contrary, increases the degree of conflict. Appeals to the rule of law, unconditional respect for institutions (the Constitution above all) as the cornerstone of democracy are certainly true, but in the presence of even a latent (not to mention open) conflict in a democratic state, they are clearly insufficient. It is necessary to create and maintain incentives to comply with the obligations to follow the accepted rules (that is, to respect institutions), and this requires flexibility and the ability to find compromises, which is a thousand times more difficult than declarations and suppressing conflict when the situation gets out of control. I like what Professor Fernandez-Armesto writes: “Democracy is not the despotism of the majority, it is a system of consensus that attracts, considers and respects the opinions of significant minorities. There is no doubt that there is now a sizeable minority in Catalonia that is in favor of independence. It can even get several million votes. It should be taken seriously by ensuring the goodwill of the rest of the country, openness to dialogue and the promise to find acceptable solutions to concerns in the realm of law, justice, peace and love that is Spain.

Catalonia for Russia: long live stability!

It would seem that what Russia cares about what is happening in Catalonia, except for those not very many who regularly travel to the region on vacation or do business there? However, there is a point, Russian society turned out to be extremely not indifferent to the fate of Catalonia and Spain as a whole. It seems that Spain is very close to Russia, and it seems that Russia is affected by what happened almost more than the European Union. It is interesting that while the country’s authorities show a very restrained reaction, speaking from the position of preserving the country’s territorial integrity, society, primarily the media and Internet bloggers, is incomparably more excited.

There are several arguments in the discourse. First, and this is expected, the conversation that “everything that is bad for the EU is good for us.” In general, the argument is extraordinarily large-scale: the success of Barcelona can start the process of the collapse of national and supranational formations of Western civilization. In a less general form, this position sounds like this: let the whole EU split, then there will be a lot of participants in the European Union, and this is beneficial for Russia. The union will become even more fragmented, and one of the participants (and most likely, more than one) will treat Russia with loyalty and understanding and will definitely vote against anti-Russian sanctions. (It is interesting here: supporters of this position initially consider the EU a weak, marginal player, but indirectly admit that it is capable of consolidated actions. Does this mean this player is not so weak?) Moreover, the Catalan history may be a turning point after which the world in principle, it will look differently at Crimea, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Donbass.

Secondly, there is a camp of supporters of direct democracy, defenders of the interests of the minority at any cost, even at the cost of violating common institutions. The brave Catalans were not afraid to vote at the call of their hearts, the Spanish security forces committed a massacre. Here, the words of the head of the Catalan government, Puigdemont, are abundantly quoted about the “day of hope and suffering”, when the citizens of the region “won the right to declare an independent state.” (I would like to draw your attention to this: not the right to hold a referendum on independence, but the right to “declare an independent state. ”) I must say that this camp is not only Russian. True, its Russian part talks about the value and authenticity of direct democracy abroad, but in no way on the territory of their own country.

Finally, another popular and also quite predictable idea: this is the kind of democracy the West was trying to impose on us. In this case, the behavior of the central Spanish state is discussed, more precisely, the repressions used by its representatives – the use of batons and rubber bullets, direct violence against citizens. The consequences of repression are discussed: a very large number of wounded and injured. In fact, we are talking about the fact that the Spanish democracy can not cope with their regions, is not able to control them or negotiate with them. Hence the increased aggressiveness. The comment of Goncharov, President of the International Association of Veterans of the Alfa anti-terror unit, is characteristic: “The actions of the police in Catalonia can be described as real lawlessness and violence against the people. Against this background, I would like to say to everyone who accuses our law enforcement agencies of allegedly too tough actions: look at the Catalan police and say thank you to our policemen. Compared to them, our police act more than adequately – they simply detain those who provoke the crowd. Thank you. First of all, for the clearly expressed idea: everything is known in comparison, our power structures are much more humane. Just like our version of democracy (democracy again!). It does not generate major conflicts and (no longer generates) political protests. We have the main thing – stability, and this is the main gain.

It is clear that this is a trick, and a rather crude one. No order, either democratic or authoritarian, is immune from conflicts. And coercive measures are also used in various types of regimes. It is important that democracies and non-democracies have fundamentally different sources of stability and incentives for development. In addition, we know that democratic regimes themselves are very different from each other and, yes, the actions of democratic governments are not always effective and reasonable. But these “details”, although the most important ones, are not very interesting to the general public, especially when there is living material for comparison: how they have and how we have.

Russia-EU relations: what Catalonia can change

Relations between Russia and the EU, at least in their political part, are frozen; suffice it to say that Russia-EU summits (and this is the main platform for discussing a common agenda) have not been held since 2014. In the current situation, it is at least unreasonable to count on a sudden change for the better in the negative dynamics of recent years. In addition, it is quite clear that the crisis in Catalonia is not an event of the scale that can fundamentally change something in the relationship between the two largest players in Europe. In principle, it cannot, but the confrontation between Madrid and Barcelona certainly has some effect on the state of these relations.

Moscow officially announced at the end of September that Catalonia’s attempts to achieve independence are exclusively an internal affair of Spain and the Russian authorities have no intention of interfering in this situation. In response, Spanish Ambassador to Russia Ibáñez described Russia’s position on the Catalan problem as “irreproachable”, thanked Moscow for understanding the situation and noted that the Spanish authorities did not confirm the information about the Russian trace in the organization of the referendum in Catalonia. So, Moscow’s position: separatism in Catalonia is an intra-Spanish problem. Interestingly, Brussels adheres to exactly the same position (although the events in Catalonia are unpleasant news for the EU). No matter how much the head of the autonomy, Puigdemont, calls on the EU to mediate in negotiations with Madrid, the EU clearly and consistently adheres to the position that was formulated immediately after the referendum: the Catalan problem is an internal affair of Spain, which it must solve on its own. In addition, the President of the European Parliament, Tajani, clearly outlined the opinion of the EU member states on this issue: “It should be clear to everyone: not a single European country recognizes the independence of Catalonia. ” And this, by the way, means that Catalonia has no prospects for joining the EU, since this requires recognition and consent to the entry of all EU member countries without exception.

However, the commonality of positions on Catalonia does not in the least bring Russia and the EU closer in principle. On the contrary, the rise of separatism in one region of Spain (that is, in one of the countries – members of the EU) is interpreted quite freely – as a characteristic of the European Union as a whole. The events in Catalonia immediately – and for the umpteenth time recently – actualized the theme of the “end of Europe”, that is, the European Union. The argument is this: the example of Catalonia can serve as a worthy example for other regions of European countries prone to separatism. The words of the former French Prime Minister Valls that an independent Catalonia could be a signal of this kind, especially in these times of great risks, wander from one source to another. However, “may” does not mean “will” at all.

In addition, the comment about the Catalan situation by Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, posted on the social network, is indicative: “I watch and read what is happening in Catalonia. And Europe will tell us something about the referendum in Crimea and respect for human rights? All these European summits, extending sanctions against Russia, after the events in Spain and the reaction of Brussels to them, will be similar to Brueghel’s “Parable of the Blind.” The crisis in Catalonia, therefore, becomes another item from a long, long list of “evidence” of the EU’s incapacity, weakness and, in general, historical doom. In this case, the “incapacity” of the EU has not one, but even two confirmations: firstly, “this is what is happening with them”, and secondly, “the EU is inactive”. It is clear that such an interpretation of the events in Catalonia, while not having any decisive influence on the general nature of relations between Russia and the EU, nevertheless objectively works to make the current dynamics of relations irreversible.

Between two ideas

The outbreak of the conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish state, in the form in which it occurred, was not exactly expected, but at least did not become too unexpected. First, in complex democratic decentralized systems, it is quite possible to expect that any region (or regions) will require a revision of agreements with the center or even secession from the country. The history of Canada and Quebec can tell us a lot. Secondly, the Catalan elites have been following the chosen path for more than a decade.

Both parties to the conflict appeal to defend democratic principles. So, in the democratic country of Spain, which is a member of the Union of Democratic States (EU), one of the regions is trying to secede using the mechanism of direct democracy. At the same time, the Catalan elites absolutize the idea of ​​the “voice of the people”, ignoring other extremely important dimensions of the modern democratic process. The authorities of the central state do not show the ability to negotiate and reach a compromise, meanwhile, this ability is one of the foundations of democracy. It’s a pity, but it happens, and the example of the conflict between Catalonia and Spain tells us not about the shortcomings of the democratic order in principle, but about what happens when they try to revise the “contract” between the center and the region unilaterally, and not by agreement of both sides .

The Catalan theme turned out to be extremely interesting for the Russian audience, while the main leitmotif, oddly enough, also has to do with democracy. “Incapable” democracy leads to instability, so the Catalans (and the Spaniards) should be sorry: they no longer have the instability that we have. The price of stability is not discussed. Among other things, this approach contributes to maintaining the negative dynamics of relations between Russia and the European Union.

This publication has been prepared as part of the European Security Project, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK).

the following author:

• Irina Busygina

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as an organization does not take a common position on social and political issues.