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Spain's Catalonian region has been threatening independence for years. But this week Catalonia voted 90 percent in favor of leaving Spain, in a vote Madrid calls illegal. But it looks like the Catalonians are going to have their independence one way or another:
That's impossible....... White people don't riot and kill one another......... According to the right wingers around here. I'm shocked I tell ya. Shocked.......
It took nearly 800 years for Spain to fight off Islam (1492 CE). & then another couple of centuries to expel or demand the conversion to Roman Catholicism of the Islamic & Jewish remnant in Spain, concluding with the forced expulsion & basically witch hunts of crypto-Jews (& any Islamics, as I recall). Plus the expulsion of Protestants, any other non-Catholics, & so on. There was the French incursion, the Spanish Civil War, & various wars & booms & busts as the Spanish Empire sought glory & to conquer Europe & the New World for Roman Catholicism & the crown.
The Spanish Civil War was terrifying - & what will Madrid do to Catalonia that Franco & the army & the church didn't already do? Will they actually put everyone - all the dissidents - to the sword? As the answer is clearly No, I would hope that the Daily Mail would quite yapping about history they're clearly ignorant of, & merely report whatever it is that they perceive.
Which given the drivel they've reported thus far, isn't going to be much. Despite all the history, Spain is a kind of myth. TMK, the loyalty of each individual in what we call Spain is first to their family & clan, then their village or town or city, then their province. Somewhere in there is Roman Catholicism, & the various cultural accretions that go with it. Somewhere in that mix is Spanish nationalism, but it balances off against the familial & provincial loyalties.
It short, it's a complicated & messy set of loyalties, playing out against a tough economy @ the national level, & also the turmoil of UK versus the ECM & all the arrangements that will be impacted by that. I think it's too many variables, & no one has a definitive answer to the future for Spain as a whole, let alone Catalonia versus the rest of Spain - if it ever comes to that. Franco would have merely declared war on Catalonia - but that's already a discarded option.
So what else does Madrid have to threaten Catalonia with? Something that Madrid can actually do, without alienating all the other provinces? & provoking an even worse crisis?
The biggest hurdle to independence is the significant portion of Catalonia that does NOT want to be independent..they did not vote..so the perception of a 'landslide' is flawed..it may even be that the majority of Catalonia would vote to stay. I get that Spain could not take the chance..of a legitimate election that they would be trapped into honoring even if the result went against them.
All sides appear to be backing off and softening..I sense a compromise..maybe autonomous status?
We'll see. The powers in Madrid from what I've read said they will use all legal means available to them which will probably include using the Spanish army, marshal law and anything is possible.
Other parts of Europe are watching closely. Corsica wants independence from France, the Venice region wants independence from Italy. There is much at stake for the EU.
If a region can simply vote for independence from a country and declare itself a new nation, it will be interesting.
We'll see. The powers in Madrid from what I've read said they will use all legal means available to them which will probably include using the Spanish army, marshal law and anything is possible.
Other parts of Europe are watching closely. Corsica wants independence from France, the Venice region wants independence from Italy. There is much at stake for the EU.
If a region can simply vote for independence from a country and declare itself a new nation, it will be interesting.
They should be allowed to do that, like part of the Ukraine.
They should be allowed to do that, like part of the Ukraine.
Well they aren't backed by the Russian military, so...
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Don't throw stones @ strangers ...
