One and a Half Million

One and a half million people marched for Catalan Independence in Barcelona on 11 September, Catalunya’s National Day, La Diada.  If I had gone, it would have been 1,500,001.

I would have liked to have gone in order to show my support.  But I’m not sorry I stayed home.  I show my support in other ways, ways that right now, I find more suitable.  The march was immensely crowded and in fact many of the people at the starting point never left it.  For three hours they were stuck there because there were so many people they couldn’t move.

Barcelona was an ocean of Catalan flags (senyeres) and estalades, the Catalan flag with the star, the symbol for Independence.  It was an event for all ages, young, old, families with children.  I watched it on television and it looked like a party.  Everyone was happy, making music, making castells, making their voices heard chanting Independence, creating no disturbances.

The march was organized by a non-partisan organization called Assemblea Nacional Catalana.  Many politicians attended the march, but partisan symbols were not much on display.  This was a unifying event for everyone who wanted Independence for Catalunya and it was all the better for it.

One of the reasons people feel compelled to march is that they are not allowed to vote.  Although Spain claims to be a democracy, it is illegal to have a referendum on the subject of Independence.  It’s unconstitutional.  For that matter, seceding is unconstitutional.  So exactly what the Catalans (or Basques) are supposed to do is a matter for speculation.  I suppose one option is what some Basques did within the terrorist organization ETA.  I am grateful that the Catalans prefer to march.

Artur Mas, the President of the Catalan Regional Government, the Generalitat, went to Madrid two days after the march to voice Catalan sentiment regarding Independence to the Spanish government.  He did not go to an official meeting of the Parliament, but held a public conference.  Neither the President of Spain nor any of his cabinet ministers attended.  There was, however, an official representative from the monarchy.

The Spanish government sent no one to listen.  And they have made almost no comments at all concerning either the huge march or the question of Independence for Catalunya except to say that a Referendum is unconstitutional, seceding is illegal, Catalans should be more solidary, and there are other matters more important to pay attention to.  If you were a Catalan, what would you think of that?

Catalans pay their taxes to Madrid and then Catalunya gets some of that back to carry out the responsibilities of the autonomous community, including health care, education, social services, police, etc., much like the individual states of the United States.  The rest of the money gets distributed to other, supposedly poorer autonomous communities.  The problem has been that those other communities have been receiving a disproportionately greater share than what Catalunya gets back, so that Catalunya is being systematically reduced in its capacity to maintain services and drive a viable economy while other communities enjoy the benefits. 

 

I can’t help thinking of the goose that laid the golden egg story.  You would think Catalunya would get its fair share back if not extra, since this is one of the few places in Spain where any wealth is generated although it won’t be for long if its businesses keep being hammered.  But maybe logic has nothing to do with it.  There is a real antipathy for Catalans in Spain which I saw for myself on my first and only trip to Madrid.  Spain seems to want Catalunya but without any Catalans in it.  And in fact, years ago, Franco orchestrated large migrations of Spaniards into Catalunya to achieve exactly that. 

Everyone was at the march.  The firefighters had a contingent with a banner, Bombers per la Independencia.  The Catalan police were there with a banner, Mossos per la Independencia.  Celebrities, politicians from all but one political party, young people, parents, children, grandparents were there.  Artur Mas, the President of the Generalitat wasn’t there but he said it wouldn’t be appropriate for him in his official capacity to go.  His wife, however, was there.  Pep Guardiola, beloved former trainer of the Barcelona futbol team was in New York and couldn’t be there, but he sent a video where he quietly repeated the official slogan of the march “Catalunya, nou estat d’Europa.”  My friend Trini was there and took photos. She also designed a slideshow that shows the ambience of the day and is set to wonderful Catalan music which you can find at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMQC0yv_52M&feature=plcp.  And last, but not least, she kindly sent me some photos so I could post them because as you know, I was the only one who wasn’t there.

 

Independence and Diversion

Momentum is building for the March for Independence that will take place in Barcelona on 11 September, Catalunya’s National Day.  So many people are going that all the private bus companies have run out of buses for that day.  Seven hundred buses will be bringing people from every town and village to the capital.  Tickets for many of them have already been sold out.  In addition to private buses, the cities of Girona and Figueres have also contracted for two special trains that will transport an additional 1000 independenistes.  I will not be among them.  I received several offers to march together from blog readers (thank you!) but have decided to stay home that day and cheer on the crowd (sincerely) from my living room while I watch them on TV.

The official banner for the march has been unveiled.  It says Catalunya, a New Nation of Europe.  Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, the head of one of the right-wing Catalan political parties, today changed his mind and decided he would attend the march since, he said, it was not about independence.  Why he would say that I cannot fathom.  I’ve been wondering how many people will march.  Tens of thousands?  I’m sure it will be massive and can now feel a bit off the hook since Duran i Lleida will be there to take my place, even if his motives for going are a mystery.

N.B.  I've been thinking about it and have revised my estimate.  I think there will be at least one million at the march.  Let's see if I'm right! 

*****

Barcelona and Madrid have recently been rivals (yet again) in their bids to have the new EuroVegas built in their municipalities.  It makes no sense to me that the Catalans would want such a thing.  It’s not news that the Vegas casinos are closely tied to mafias.  Why invite gambling dens, mafia, and the prostitution business that comes with them to your house?  But two days ago a Madrid spokesman said that the Americans have decided on Madrid for the new venue. 

Not to be left behind, today the Catalan Generalitat came out with the news that Catalunya was going to be the site of the new Barcelona World.  This is a theme park that will be bigger than anything built before and will create 20,000 new jobs.  La Caixa, Catalunya’s largest (stable) bank owns the land and the major investment comes from a Spanish billionaire businessman.  It will include themed areas representing different parts of the world, hotels, restaurants, and casinos.  At least casinos will be only a minor part of this new development.  And unlike EuroVegas that was going to be built on agricultural land near the Barcelona airport, Barcelona World will be built adjacent to Port Aventura, a theme park on the coast near Tarragona, on land that is already laid out for development, albeit that was supposed to be housing units before the current economic crisis hit.  I’m not thrilled with either of these projects, but I think that Catalunya will be much better off with the more benign, family-oriented Barcelona World than it would have with a Las Vegas imitation.  When it’s built, I won’t be going to that either.

March for Independence

The movement for Catalan Independence from Spain is growing.  I thought that would be a good idea soon after I first moved here in 2001 when the movement was much smaller than it is today.  It’s obvious that the Catalans have the own language, culture, and history, and being part of Spain they have difficulty enjoying and expressing them.  But culture aside, it only took a few months of life here to see that I and everyone who lives, works, or does business here would be better off if Catalunya were an independent state and not part of Spain.

Once I started to get the hang of the language, I could see, watching the news, that Catalan business and the Catalan economy was suffering under Spain.  To do business here meant paying for tolls on roads that are mostly free in the rest of Spain.  To import merchandise into the port of Barcelona meant, in some cases, having to wait extra days for the paperwork to go to Customs in Madrid.  By that time, certain merchandise was spoiled…. or had died.

Then there is also the matter of the dislike many Spaniards have for Catalans and the repressive, even abusive attitude of the central government towards Catalunya.  I often wonder why, if the Spanish hate Catalans so, why they are so adamant that they not secede.  But of course, that’s obvious.  Catalunya is the Goose that Lays Spain’s Golden Eggs and they would miss robbing her of her wealth.

Now more than ever, Madrid is using the current economic crisis to drain Catalunya of its economic wealth and its future economic potential.  And because it has become so overt and apparent, even to those who don’t really want to see it, many more people now are falling behind the idea of Independence.  In a way, it’s reminiscent of the Americans when they decided that they were being ripped off by England and decided to free themselves of the oppression.

What I find most disturbing is that the Spanish government will not allow a referendum so that Catalans can vote to see if, as a group, they actually want Independence.  It doesn’t seem acceptable, in a democracy, not to allow people the basic right to hold a referendum and vote on a subject of interest to themselves.  But that’s yet another thing I noticed when I first came to Spain.  More than half of the population of Spain votes for the PP, the current right-wing political party in office.  Not only is the PP a right wing party, it is the direct descendent of Franco’s fascist government.   Franco was an ally of Hitler.  Spain didn’t enter into the Second World War, but Hitler provided aircraft to help Franco bomb Spanish cities.  It was the Lufthwaffe that bombed Guernica for Franco.  Unlike Spain as a whole, in Catalunya, the PP gets only a small percentage of the vote. 

When the issue of a referendum came up recently in political circles, a Spanish general threatened to send the army if Catalunya dared to hold referendum.  This is an amazing thing for a high-ranking military person to say in this day and age, here in a so-called modern country of the European Union where if you are not a bona fide democracy, you are not admitted to the Union. 

Lately there are been marches in support of Independence, and I participated in the one in Figueres.  I was happy to show my support, but I was not happy to be at the march.  It wasn’t that big, some few hundred people, but of all those few hundred, I seemed to be the only one there walking alone.  I walked alone for an hour, until the march ended and the speakers started, at which time I felt I had done my part and went home. 

There will be a much bigger march in Barcelona on 11 September, Catalunya’s National Day.  I imagine there will be tens of thousands there, maybe more.  In Barcelona, in 2001, I participated in the march protesting the American invasion of Iraq.  That march had a million people.  I went alone.  A march of a million people is not a nice place to be alone.  In America maybe someone marching near you would start up a conversation and all of a sudden you’d be with someone else or with a group.  Or maybe I’m just dreaming.  In any case, that doesn’t happen here.  Here everyone was walking in groups of friends and family – people they knew and with whom they had come.  No one does anything alone and people don’t speak to strangers (nor nod hello when passing on the street).  I wanted to do my part but I felt very much an outsider.  It was very crowded, I felt overwhelmed, squished, and isolated among a million strangers.  After less than an hour I felt I had done my bit, left and headed back home.

So I’m not sure I will go to Barcelona on 11 September.  I’m still thinking about it.  But if I don’t go, my heart will be there with the Catalans who want their freedom.

****

Rather than try to argue my opinion on Catalan Independence, I’m supplying a couple of links to articles by people who know more and can explain things much better than I can, for anyone who is interested.  I have my opinions, but I’ve never been good at arguing them.  The first is about the general economic mess in Spain and how the central government is abusing Catalunya.

http://emma-col-cat.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/whats-really-going-on-in-catalonia.html

This second is a very interesting article on hatred in Spain from the same blog:

http://emma-col-cat.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/the-world-should-be-paying-attention-to.html 

Catalan Castles

On 11 September 1714 the Catalans, who had supported the Hapsburg claim to the Spanish throne, surrendered to the Bourbon victor. Oddly, this monumental defeat marks the national day of Catalunya. La Diada is celebrated with flags, wreaths commemorating the heroes of that war, speeches, Catalan poetry, and music. Last night I listened to the annual La Diada address of the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), and later today I plan to go to dance sardanes, the Catalan national dance.


There is talk and there are posters proclaiming that Catalonia is not Spain, and if anything supports that sentiment, the sardana surely does. Compared to the iconic Spanish national dance, flamenco, it is at the opposite end of the dance spectrum. Everyone knows what flamenco music sounds like and what the dance looks like – fiery, almost violent, full of sexual innuendo and manifesting individual pride. Contrast that with the sardana, and you would assume that the two dances came not only from different countries and cultures, but possibly from different planets.

To dance the sardana is to bob up and down, doing one of only two patterns of steps, sometimes with arms down and other times with arms up, in a circle, with no partner required, no evident leader, no individualism, no fire, and definitely no sex. It is staid, some think it is boring, it is danced totally in unison, it has no variety. But when done well, a circle of dancers looks like one living, bobbing organism, and I happen to like that. It is symbolic of what you see a lot of here – community spirit.

Another excellent symbol of community spirit is the uniquely Catalan sport called castells. Castell means castle in Catalan -- you could say these are castles or human towers. The towers can reach as many as ten storeys. Each storey is made of people who have climbed up onto the shoulders of those below while accompanied by the music of gralles, a whiney-sounding flute that sounds like a sick seagull.

Castells are formed on a square base of four very formidable men, who use their arms to lock themselves into an extremely tight position that will directly support the tower. The weight of as many as nine human storeys, each of two, three, or four persons, will go up above them and will bear down directly on them. The core four are then surrounded by others – dozens of people, sometimes over a hundred -- who hold onto them and each other and provide the buttressing to help the four anchors withstand the weight and pressure from above. This construction is called a pinya, literally a pine cone or a pineapple. To fer pinya (make a pinya) means to work or band together towards some common end. Sometimes a second pinya is formed above the first. Bear in mind when you look at the photos that you do not see the base pinya in the sea of people on the ground.

Once the pinya is deemed solid (by the cap de colla, the director or head of the group) the persons who will make the tower begin to scramble up. Storey by storey they set themselves up, each layer climbing up the backs of those before them and doing it all to the traditional music played by a drum and gralles (small wooden flutes). The castle must be made as quickly as possible – the whole thing takes three or four minutes -- for the weight bearing down on those below cannot be withstood for long. The castle is finished when the top person, called an anxaneta who is usually a small child about 7 years old, holds up his or her hand to signal completion, but the whole thing is not concluded until those who went up all climb back down.

When I watch them make castells, whether in person or on television, they give me goose bumps and inevitably make me cry. It’s an incredible cooperative effort, so suspenseful to watch, and I always find it very beautiful and moving.

This is THE typical Catalan sport, unique to Catalunya, and is one of the things that sets it apartment from the rest of Spain where the equivalent sport is to torture and murder bulls. Ironically, I took these photos at a special competition that was held at the Tarragona bullring a few years ago! When I wrote on this blog some months ago about the move here to forbid bullfights, someone posted a comment saying that the Catalans are against bullfights only because they want to appear different from other Spaniards. But I beg to differ. Catalans ARE different. Their national sport, the castells, and their national dance, the sardana, contrasted with bullfighting and flamenco, typical in the rest of Spain, demonstrate that difference perfectly. In both there are no stars, no soloists. Both are cooperative efforts of people doing something together and in the making of castells, it is for the simple pleasure of creating something wonderful that lasts only a moment.

Making castells is a popular sport in Catalunya -- children and mature adults all belong to the teams.  It is not nearly as big as soccer, but important enough to be covered regularly in newspapers and on radio and TV. Many towns have a team, the bigger towns sometimes have more than one. They hold competitions throughout the season where they earn points for the difficulty of the construction and whether or not they put it up and then brought it back down without mishap. They always participate and are a highlight in the festes. Castells are one of the grand cultural manifestations of Catalunya.  There is a video on UTube about the castells, narrated in Catalan, if you don't understand Catalan you can still enjoy the images.  If you want to take a look it is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N6gYDTXk1U