A movement that has no clothes

In fact, it wasn’t until this party’s switch in allegiance, from just nationalist to nationalist-separatist, did Catalan independence become “a crisis” in Catalonia and Spain. From that point on, every element of the Catalan state apparatus, from the laws passed in la Generalitat, to the programs broadcast in the media and articles published in print, to its school calendar and curriculum, to orders given to the local police regarding protesters, was harnessed in support of the independence process. And this is where any comparisons to other self-determination movements falls apart.

Did Civil Rights era marchers in the US have African-American state law makers, passing bills in support of their demands? No. Did protesters in Apartheid era South Africa see their “right to decide” promoted in the media, with Black South African police standing peacefully to the side? No. Were Hindu children in colonial era India educated in Hindi and taught a history that focused on their glorious pre-colonial past, and the evils of the British Empire? No. In the case of the Catalan Independence Movement and Catalan Nationalism in general, the answer to all these questions is yes, and has been for decades, because it’s an institution that engages in borderline social engineering, more than a spontaneous movement of an oppressed people.

Like all other European Nationalisms, Catalan Nationalism has co-opted the lofty language and ideals of self-determination and national liberation, to mask what is essentially a right-wing movement, driven by a corrupt elite, looking to evade all responsibility for the societal and economic problems of the region, they helped cause. Again parallels can be found with Brexiters, who blamed Europe for the negative effects of their own austerity policies, then promised national salvation through separation, and campaigned on lies. In the UK, it was the money to fund the NHS — in Catalonia, its automatic ascension as an EU member state. And in both cases, there can be no honest debate, because that would reveal the shallowness of their support, and the nakedness of their ambition.

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