The images of a half-empty parliament during the referendum law vote illustrate how Democracy and Catalonia have gone their separate ways. Democracy is not the law of the majority, but the protection of the minority.
“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”
- George Orwell, 1984
Catalonia may be closer than ever to being independent, but it is increasingly far from embodying the democratic evolution that many of its supporters would have us believe. The secessionists have used a slim majority to approve the referendum and transition law, without any regard for legal safeguards and democratic norms. The images of a half-empty parliament during the votes, while a MP removed the Spanish flags left behind by members of the opposition, illustrates how the secessionist movement and democracy have gone their separate ways. With the full support of the president of the Parliament, a position that ought to be impartial, the road was left open for a referendum to be called for 1 October, and for less than a half of Catalans to decide on the future of the rest. Mr. Rajoy´s government in Madrid says it will not allow it, as both the referendum and the laws approved to enact them are unconstitutional. But as the 1 October nears and appeals for dialogue make no progress, both sides seem to be in route for a head-on clash.
Just ends can never justify unjust means
Recognizing that nationalism often springs from the wounded pride and sense of humiliation of a people is important. But the sense of humiliation alone cannot explain the sharp increase in support for independence in Catalonia – from 15% in 2009 to 41% in 2017. A severe economic crisis, a populist narrative blaming Madrid for every failure and a well-oiled propaganda machine offers a better – and more plausible – explanation.
Catalonia may be closer than ever to being independent, but it is increasingly far from embodying the democratic evolution that many of its supporters would have us believe.
The conservative party – Partido Popular – refusal to accept the symbolic recognition of Catalan nationality in 2006 and the Constitutional Court´s decision to deny it on 2010 lit a fire that has been burning ever since. The decision was quickly followed by a demonstration in Barcelona and by Mr. Artur Mas – PdeCat, former Convergencia – victory in the following regional elections. The same politician who back in 2002 classified independence as an old-fashioned and rusty concept had had a change of heart: Catalonia should begin its national transition. And so it did. Demonstration after demonstration, provocation after provocation. First in 2012, when thousands demanded a nation of their own. After, in 2014, when thousands demanded their right to decide. And by the end of the year, when an unofficial referendum was called, in which only 33% of Catalans participated.
But elections in September 2015, however, saw the secessionist coalition fall short of their electoral objectives. Less than 50% of the votes gave them no legitimacy to open the door for an independence process. They had recognized that themselves before the elections. Regardless, the secessionists decided that 48% of the votes were now enough to call for a referendum on independence. Although 61% of Catalan are against a unilateral referendum and only 41% want Catalonia to be independent, nothing seems to dampen the secessionists from going to the last instances to impose their will. Ramming the referendum and transition law through Parliament may have successfully provoked Madrid and opened the floor for populist manipulation of what democracy is and what a democrat does and doesn’t do. But it has also deprived the secessionist movement from any legitimacy it may have ever had. For in democracies, just ends can never justify unjust means.
Perverting democracy
A half-empty Parliament is the perfect representation of what is happening in Catalonia. The secessionists have 72 seats, but only 48% of the votes. Yet, 48% is enough as the President of Parliament is a zealous secessionist and most institutions have chosen their cause over citizens. This allows for the 48% to bypass the Constitution and the Statue of Autonomy of Catalonia, and to grant themselves prerogatives they don´t have. This, according to Catalan secessionists is being a democrat. Rejecting this logic implies not being one. The referendum has been, thus, reframed as a simplistic narrative: either you´re with us or against us. Beyond a debate of ideas and solutions, it´s a contest between political agitators and the abstract values they hold dear. But nation-defining decisions cannot be imposed by less than half of the electorate. Defending that every Spanish is entitled to participate in a referendum deciding the future of Catalonia is certainly debateable. But Catalan authorities apparently are no interested in a proper referendum whatsoever: they just seem interested in putting a stamp of popular approval to something they have decided on their own.
A half-empty Parliament is the perfect representation of what is happening in Catalonia.
Regardless, it´s worth reminding every democrat, home and abroad, that referendums are not a democratic tool per se. Not every decision reached by a majority rule is necessarily democratic. Checks and balances and separation of power exist for many reasons: one being to avoid that decisions that can negatively affect minorities are approved. That´s why the procedure to reform the Constitution differs from the procedure required to pass a simple bill. That doesn’t make it less democratic. It makes it democratic.
Celebrating a referendum under these circumstances would be a dereliction of everything a parliamentary democracy and a referendum ought to stand for. It violates international law, international principles, domestic law and regional law. It does not meet the necessary formal requirements required by any serious consultation: an electoral law approved (and debated) by a significant majority, a neutral convening authority, a clear separation of power and a minimum participation for the referendum to be valid. How can we talk about a democratic referendum if it does not respect legal guarantees and democratic principles?
Referendums are not a democratic tool per se. Not every decision reached by a majority rule is necessarily democratic.
A political solution
The polarization that surrounds this process raises many questions, but asserts one thing: this process it will leave a very ugly scar. And both parties are to blame for it.
On one side, there are those willing to gamble with the future of their region, their families and their constituents for the sake of power. Promising more jobs, a better healthcare system and automatically entering the European Unions is a fantasy. Promising to put an end to corruption, a bad joke. On the other side, we have technocrats disguised as politicians which treated as a legal problem a political one: Mr. Rajoy has failed to do something about a problem that escalated during his time in office.
How can we talk about a democratic referendum if it does not respect legal guarantees and democratic principles?
The secessionists’ strategy was to provoke an overreaction from Madrid. And they have succeeded. The state has taken control of Catalan finances, several members of the team responsible for organising the referendum have been arrested, the official referendum website has been taken down, more than 6 million referendum leaflets and posters were confiscated and Spain´s top prosecutor has begun investigation the mayors who have agreed to facilitate the celebration of the referendum, after the Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the referendum law.
But make no mistake. Mr. Rajoy´s and his government incapability to deal with this crisis doesn’t exonerate the Catalan government and Catalan institutions of violating the rights and freedoms of all Catalans. Democratic norms are above emotions and politics. They are certainly above opinions and personal allegiances. But Mr. Puigdemont´s Government, the Catalan Parliament and the local police forces – the Mossos d’Esquadra – have openly taken sides. And they have left half of Catalans without a government, without a Parliament and without a police force. Going against the rule of law and the Constitution to celebrate a referendum that lacks the necessary guarantees and hasn´t set a minimum level of participation is an exercise in irresponsibility. Disallowing the celebration of this referendum, in these circumstances and within the existing framework, is the right thing to do. The image of consensus over the referendum, that the secessionist forces tried to create during Catalonia´s regional day, doesn’t exist. 61% of Catalan are against a unilateral referendum. And only 41.1% of Catalans support independence.
Mr. Rajoy has failed to do something about a problem that escalated during his time in office.
Mr. Rajoy should resist the urge to suspend Catalonia´s autonomy by applying article 155 of the Constitution. This would fall right into the secessionists plan, and it would fuel the misinformed notion that Catalonia is being repressed and Madrid is just being intransigent. Catalonia is a free society. It manages its education policy, its hospitals. It has its own police, its own media. Catalonia is not Kosovo. And it has not been invaded like Ukraine. Spain, contrary to what has been voiced by Mr. Puigdemont, it´s a democratic state. Being one, the Catalan President should by now be aware, requires you to safeguard the coexistence between all members of society and protect the freedom of every citizen. Not just those that think like you. What is at stake is the coexistence between Spaniards. And between Catalans. The voice of a Catalan citizen waving the Spanish flag is just as important as the voice of the Catalan citizen waving the Estelada. Less than 50% of the electorate – despite holding a simple majority – cannot start a revolution.
The voice of a Catalan citizen waving the Spanish flag is just as important as the voice of the Catalan citizen waving the Estelada.
Fortunately, far more unites us than divides us. The terrible attacks this summer in Barcelona should serve to remind us that we live in open, cosmopolitan, and free societies. And that is in these societies where we want to keep on living. Catalans should be allowed to vote, but not like this. Laws and electoral procedures do exist for a reason: to protect citizens from arbitrary decisions. Spain is not attempting to gag 7.5 million people by force, as Mr. Assange suggested in Twitter. And it’s certainly not afraid to hear what they have to say. What the Spanish government is afraid, like everyone that believes in Democracy, is of those that claim to champion freedom and human rights, while they undermine them. Democracy, wrote Albert Camus, is not the law of the majority, but the protection of the minority.
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