Trying to explain Catalan Seperatism

What's happening?

A large proportion of people in Catalonia want independence and the Catalan regional government has called a referendum on 1st October 2017 and the Spanish government has refused to let it happen, claiming it's illegal under the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

Who are the Catalans?

They are people from Northern Spain with their own language, culture and (some) of their own public institutions.

How did it get to this?

The short version is that after various rebellions and civil wars Catalan autonomy has been curtailed over time. The worst being the most recent episode where under Franco (a Spanish arch-nationalist) Catalan culture was basically driven underground as the language was banned in public.

It's complicated because...

Since Franco's death in 1975 there has been democracy and a new constitution however, the transition happened in a strange way. Basically, democracy was reinstalled by King Juan Carlos I (Franco's anointed successor) trolling Franco by promising to maintain his authoritarian form of government. When crowned the King then rescinded on leading to a new constitution and elections. Now the constitution of Spain is where this whole thing gets interesting. It was written collaboratively by legal experts all over Spain before being put to the public in a referendum which was widely supported and then ratified. The nation overall (including the Catalan people) voted 97% in favour of it. This is the biggest factor against the Catalans as they actively participated in forming the very barrier to their aspirations as it states explicitly that no action can be taken to break the unity of Spain. The constitution can only be changed with a two thirds majority government vote on an amendment. That is very unlikely to happen.

How did it get to this?

There are various reasons that some people want Independence from Spain. Mainly it comes down to not feeling Spanish. It also can't be denied that in recent years Madrid has tried to scale down Catalan autonomy in favour of more centralised government starting from 2006. This has led to a breakdown of communication and relations between the two entities. This has been further exacerbated by large-scale corruption cases in both the Spanish and Catalan government and the 2008 financial crash. The most recent situation is the result of a standoff between Mariano Rajoy's government in Madrid and Carles Puigdemont's Catalan Genrealidad in Barcelona.

What's happening now?

Well, in Barcelona where I live there's a noticeable sense of tension. It's mostly in the background but it's there mostly in the shape of posters encouraging people to vote on the 1st of October as well as daily cacerolazo (banging pots and pans in the street to signify civil indignity).

What should happen next?

Realistically the two sides need to reach a consensus. People like Puigdemont should back down a little but so should Rajoy. Realistically it needs to be recognised that due to Catalonia's unique nature they should have a deal similar to the Basque country which grants autonomy to the region to collect its own taxes which it then pays a stipend to the central government. This is rather than the current system where the government collects the taxes first before delivering the cut it feels necessary to the region (a major point of contention for many Catalans who feel they don't get enough investment locally for the higher taxes that they pay). That said Catalonia is still part of Spain, a very distinct and unique part but part of it all the same. Spain is already a diverse country with individual style and traditions in all of the 17 Autonomous communities but they all have a shared history and have worked together for over 500 years. It is also very telling that the current issue of independence only really gained traction after the 2008 crash when before Catalonia seemed comfortably part of the country.

What will probably happen next

I have very little faith in the diplomatic abilities of Mariano Rajoy,  Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and other members of the right-wing Partido Popular (People's Party). They are not only poor diplomats but are also obstinately stubborn when it comes to issues of Spanishness and national identity. This is why the government of Spain and Catalonia have often been at odds in the last 8 years. However, while I've criticised Madrid it is fair to say that Puigdemont is playing a game with Rajoy by being just as stubborn and capitalising on the poor public perception the Catalan people have of Rajoy's government, who they see as corrupt and autocratic or even fascist at times (the PP was founded by some key Francoists, most notably its founder Manuel Fraga)

Who's right?

That's a very difficult question to answer. To give my own opinion, both the mouthpieces of the two sides are wrong for very different reasons. Now to state my own bias: I am not in favour of Catalan independence (in so far as becoming an independent sovereign republic). That said, however, I do have some sympathy with some of the separatists due to their current treatment by the Spanish govt and I think fundamentally there should be a referendum to let people voice their opinion but it should be done right and not in the way that Puigdemont is pursuing it. Rajoy could have sorted the issues at the beginning of his premiership quickly and there wouldn't be so much bad feeling between the two sides.

As you can see it's a truly messy situation with both sides having justifiable grievances. I tend to believe that some type of common sense usually prevails and that will probably involve a half-way house deal being agreed. A very simple solution would be to hand more powers to Catalonia restoring the pre-2006 statuses. However, I can't always be sure of such things. Despite being mostly on Spain's side I am disappointed and agog at Spain's terrible terrible handling of the situation and feel that this will only seed more division over time.

Disclaimer: 
This is by no means a totally in-depth or expert look at the matter. I am not myself an expert in Catalan history or politics but over the last 3 and half years of living in Catalonia, I have been able to learn quite a lot about the issue at hand from a little of my own superficial research and talking to locals on the matter. For full disclosure, I am also primarily against the idea of an Independent Catalan republic as I feel it's unnecessary and probably wouldn't work as well as people think (keeping consistent with my views on Scottish independence and Brexit where I'm very much in favour of the maintaining the status quo). This is my bias and while I have tried not to let it influence my description I can't completely discount it from affecting my account.