Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
A quiet country town, with an unpaved main street that doubles as a
river bed for flash floods from the hills, Arenys de Munt seems an
unlikely starting point for a revolution.
But when the town north of Barcelona held a referendum last month and
voted overwhelmingly in favour of Catalonia's secession from Spain
(with 96 per cent of the 2,671 who voted saying Yes to independence)
it spawned dozens of copycat referendum plans across the region.
A few fascist falangistas arrived in Arenys that day to demonstrate in
favour of Spanish unity and damp the festive atmosphere, while
moderate unionists stayed away – limiting the turnout to 41 per cent –
and called the vote a flawed publicity exercise with no constitutional
force.
The vote, however, reflects long frustration among Catalonia's 7.4m
inhabitants with the way their autonomous region is treated by Madrid
– and growing excitement among a passionate minority that independence
is a real possibility, whether by referendum or a unilateral
declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament.
"I think in 2010 independence can peacefully be fulfilled," says
Carles Móra i Tuxans, the mayor, arguing that wavering Catalans
(latest opinion polls show only 19 per cent want full independence)
can be persuaded to support secession if only they understand how much
they would benefit financially.
"Spain has limited us and marginalised us," agrees Carolina Moya, a
shopkeeper who runs a household goods store in the town. "Now the
government knows what all the Catalans think."
Like many Catalans, she believes that Spain takes more budget money
from prosperous Catalonia than it puts in (true) and that other
Spaniards enjoy special privileges (false). "We have to pay very high
taxes. If you go to the rest of Spain, you don't pay motorway tolls
and houses are cheaper," she says. "All this comes from the Middle
Ages. But now it's worse."
For a supposed nation in waiting, surprisingly little is known abroad
about Catalonia or its history as a Mediterranean power absorbed by
Spain.
George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is neither a homage nor about
Catalonia, but a mixture of reportage and analysis of the Spanish
civil war. Among the few Catalan nationalists whose names might mean
something to foreigners today is Joan Laporta, chairman of the
Barcelona football club.
It was the global crisis that poked into flames a Catalan nationalism
already smouldering with resentments about language, culture and a
strong work ethic compared unfavourably by Catalans with the languor
of Castilians and Andalucians.
Mr Móra, the mayor, says his town and half the Catalan municipalities
are financially "ruined", in part because the central government is
not paying its share of the bills and in part because local tax income
has collapsed along with the property market.
With the €60m ($88m, £55m) transferred each day to the rest of Spain,
Catalonia could build 12 schools or eight homes for the elderly, he
says. "It's brutal; they are bleeding us . . . Now it's not about
language and literature. This is what annoys Spain. For the first time
in its history, the independence movement is coming via people's
purses."
For Diego Sánchez Simón, local head of the Spanish unionist Popular
party, that is exactly the point. Politicians such as Mr Móra, he
says, seek to distract attention from the near-bankruptcy of their
fiefs and the decline of public services by shouting about Catalan
nationalism, a phenomenon that is made worse by the approach of
Catalan regional elections next year.
Mr Sánchez calls himself a proud Catalan, but says Catalans "have this
mania for being victims, for saying that we're being robbed or
despoiled".
One of the extraordinary aspects of modern Catalan nationalism is how
little it has to do with ethnicity. More than a third of the
inhabitants were born outside the region, and many eager nationalists
(including Ms Moya) have roots in Andalucia in southern Spain, or as
far away as north Africa or northern Europe.
Still, the numerical weight of politically moderate cities such as
Barcelona means Catalan independence will be a long time coming, if it
comes at all.
Even in Arenys, not everyone thinks secession is a good idea. "It's
all nonsense and it won't go anywhere," says José López, a garage
mechanic. "I'm Spanish."
And even nationalists know it will not be easy. "It would be a good
idea, but we'll never see it," says Ms Moya. "Spain will never let go,
because Catalonia brings in lots of money that helps the other
regions."
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