Catalan villages vote for independence

by DANIEL WOOLLS / ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


A smattering of villages and towns in rich, independence-minded Catalonia gave a lukewarm embrace to the idea of breaking away from Spain in a rare vote Sunday at the grassroots level.

Skeptics called the nonbinding vote an exercise in futility for the proud region centered around Barcelona, which boasts a distinct cultural identity and accounts for about one-fifth of Spain's economy but says it get does not get enough in return.

But an umbrella group of civic organizations behind the referendum saw it as a way to assert the distinct identity of what they regard as a country within a country and to pressure politicians in Madrid and Barcelona to pay more attention to them.

The vote was held in 167 pro-autonomy hamlets, villages and towns in Catalonia, home to about 7 million people.

In the end, with more than 90 percent of the votes counted - people as young as 16 and immigrants were also allowed to take part -- 94 percent favored independence, and turnout was about 25 percent, according to Ana Arque, a spokeswoman for the referendum organizers.

A massive 'yes' vote had been widely expected because the referendum was staged in pro-independence towns. The turnout figure was about half that of a vote in 2006 on a statute that gave Catalonia broad new powers of self rule.

Organizers of Sunday's vote had set a goal of 40 percent turnout. Still, they played up the result as a success.

"The people of Catalonia have chosen to form an independent state," said Carles Mora, mayor of a small town that held a similar refendum back in September.

Catalonia, along with the Basque country, is a prime example of a region oppressed under the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, which made it a crime to speak in their regional languages in the interest of promoting Spain as a unified country run from Madrid.

Since Franco's death in 1975 and the restoration of democracy, Spain has gradually granted a large degree of self-rule to regions such as Catalonia.

Catalonia won even more self-rule in 2006 with the new autonomy charter, gaining control over judicial, infrastructure and other issues and an indirect proclamation of Catalonia being a nation.

But conservatives immediately challenged the charter, and Spain's highest court is now believed to be close to issuing a verdict that might strike down parts of it. Critically, it is said to oppose the idea of Catalonia being a nation.

Angst over this pending decision was a major reason for Sunday's vote. Organizers say they plan a similar one in Barcelona and other big cities early next year.

Anti-Spanish sentiment in Catalonia can run very high. Next week the regional parliament will debate a bill to ban bullfighting. That probably has as much to do with concern over cruelty to animals as it does with a pastime associated with traditional Spain.

Sunday's paper ballots were counted by the organizers themselves, with monitors from places such as Corsica, Quebec and Northern Ireland, which have their own independence movements.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Friday "in all honesty, initiatives like this lead nowhere."

School coach Maria Teresa Montserrat, 54, said Sunday she voted for independence as a way to assert the distinct identity that many Catalans feel. "We are not better or worse than anybody else, we're just different," she said.

Beside her, townsfolk grilled "butifarra" sausages, a regional specialty, and drank white wine out of miniature wooden barrels.

Metal worker Enric Flores, 49, sheltered from the cold and rain under the stone arcade of a street market in the town of L'Arboc, population 5,000. Loudspeakers blared Motown songs in Catalan.

"Seen from the outside, life here looks very good, but we feel discriminated against," Flores said. Although the vote is nonbinding, "the government in Madrid must take this referendum into account," he added.

Antonio Duran, 53, a traveling salesman, dismissed the whole thing as nonsense. "Catalonia is an important region of Spain, but that's all," he said.

The catalan Parliament approves preliminary ban on bullfighting

The spanisht tradition of bullfighting is near to disapear. The Parliament of Catalonia on Friday gave preliminary approval to a ground-breaking ban on Spain's bullfighting tradition in this nation. The ban was approved with a vote of 67 against 59 while five of the regional legislators abstained. 

The ban will now enter into the legislative process and could undergo modifications before it is put before parliament in its final form. If a total ban goes through, Catalonia will become the second Spanish region to outlaw bullfights after the Canary Islands did so in 1991. The anti-bullfighting platform Prou collected 180,000 signatures to back its legal initiative, nearly four times as many as would have been needed to bring it before parliament. 

Bullfighting opponents slammed Spain's 'national fiesta' as 'cowardly' while some legislators argued that its fans had the right to see bullfights even if they were a minority in the region. 'Making animals suffer for fun' did not fit in with 'the new values of the society of the 21st century,' Prou representative Anna Mola argued during the debate preceding the vote. 'Bulls cannot defend themselves,' Mola stressed. Socialist legislator David Perez, who opposed the ban, said freedom of thought was one of the hallmarks of Catalonia.  Perez also criticized those who saw bullfights as representing Spanishness in the region with separatist currents. 'Those who think we will be less Spanish if we prohibit bullfights are mistaken,' he argued. 

The vote launched a debate about bullfighting in Spain where opinion polls show its popularity to have declined. Only 19 per cent of Spaniards younger than 24 years take an interest in the spectacle, according to a 2006 poll. Criticism of bullfights is strongest in Catalonia, a region of 7 million residents, where the regional capital Barcelona and dozens of other municipalities have declared their opposition to the spectacle. 

Two of Barcelona's three bullrings have been closed, though the last remaining one still draws crowds for top bullfighters. Opponents of bullfighting see it as a form of animal torture during which bullfighting assistants stick long darts into the animal's neck to build up its fury. In the final 'moment of truth,' the matador is expected to kill the bull with a single thrust of his sword into the back of its neck, but many bullfighters are not that skillful and wound the animal several times. 

Those defending bullfights see it as an ancient and important part of Spanish culture, which has inspired artists like the painter Pablo Picasso and the US writer Ernest Hemingway. A ban on corridas would violate the basic freedoms of bullfighting fans, the Catalan bullfighting lobby said, arguing that the tradition should die a natural death if it was no longer popular. 

The Catalan Formula: the Polls

From News Catalonia
Saül Gordillo is a journalist and director of the Agència Catalana de Notícies [Catalan News Agency].

Perfectly acceptable turnout (30%) when you consider that it was a symbolic referendum, without any actual legal heft. Overwhelming victory for the Yes vote (94.71%). 200,000 people participated in a democratic marathon without precedent. Not only for the excellent organization, for the noteworthy civic-mindedness, for the ability to mobilize the independentists on the street, for the enormous broadminded sovereigntism that brought together all these referendums, but also for the beginning of the feeling that they suppose. Arenys de Munt was first on the trail, but what happened this weekend was much more important. Counties brimming with municipalities, and a bunch of towns besides, up to 167, including metropolitan cities as important as Sant Cugat del Vallès (25.48% turnout, with 15,048 votes).

The movement grows and the grassroots model for the referendums has multiple repercussions. Independentism organizes itself and gives a lesson in turnout, seriousness and rigour. Also of collective boldness and hope. There is a social strength that this Sunday no-one could look down on. Look what González Pons (from the PP [Conservative Political Party] said. They have no legal but much political value. They don't shift even a comma of the current legal system, but they represent a notable step forward in the struggle for the national liberties of the country. From the PSOE, in contrast, Chaves insists on sneering, now with more care from the socialists and governing Spaniards than they had with the referendum in Arenys de Munt. They got that lesson anyway.

But the true success of the 13th of December is not, despite what many analysts say, the repercussions that this may have in Madrid, in the midst of the current soap opera that is the finding of the Constitutional Court. The Estatut [Statute of Autonomy upon which the Court will render a verdict] and the finding don't matter a whit to those who voted this Sunday. The Statute has lost the focus for these, they have already moved on. This Sunday, the debate was elsewhere, it was not about the Statute so heavily edited by Moncloa [the Spanish Whitehouse]. The success of 13D, therefore, is an internal key: lose the fear, position the independentist debate on the street, in the center of the political discussion, use it as a strategic wedge in the upcoming elections (Parliamentary, local, etc.) and unbalance the two axes of Catalan politics — right-left and Catalanist-Spainist — in favor of the nation.

The other victory of 13D, following in the footsteps of what happened in Arenys de Munt, but now multiplied by the editorial in Le Monde, and the coverage by the BBC, is the widespread resonance in the global press. Which in turn had an important impact on coverage by journalists in Catalonia itself. One small push in the fight against the self-loathing practiced to date by some media outlets when they speak about independence. A victory thanks to the globalness (and to the Internet in part) and to the Catalan Formula: the polls.

The polls are the key to everything. This icon awakens no uneasiness, except in Spain, of course. Here and on an international level, as well as for a model for other nations without their own State, the Catalan solution of civilized polls is an authentic lesson. The message is very clear. We want to vote. We want to do it for real one day. Everyone. And with the real power to decide.

Barcelona will vote on Independence

 
First it was Arenys de Munt on September 13, on Saturday, 161 towns more will add their voices, and next February and Abril the wave will grow higher, with places like Sabadell, Girona, and finally, Barcelona. The Catalan capital will also vote on independence, and this Wednesday, the citizen-led coordinator in charge of organizing the project will introduce itself. After two months of contacts and meetings, the group Barcelona Decideix [Barcelona Decideix] will introduce itself at 1pm in front of the Sagrada Família, with representatives from the different districts and organizations of the city. The referendum in Barcelona could be the final step towards independence, given the decisive weight of its population within the totality of the Principality and the immense international reaction that a referendum on independence in the Capital city would certainly have.
 
According to the organizers, the presentation will take place in front of the Sagrada Família, because it is a symbol both of the city and of Catalanness. During the ceremony, the date for celebrating the referendum will be declared and the Web site for the group, Barcelonadecideix.cat, will be presented.
 

Catalan municipalities employ a legal ruse to hold the consultation sovereigntist

by Clara Blanche / El País


Unlike what happened last September with consultation on the independence of Catalonia, held in Arenys de Munt-be banned by the court to install local polls in the Town Hall, on Sunday, the 13th, many municipal offices will be used as polling stations in the 161 locations where they held a similar consultation. The consistories have used a legal device that allows them to circumvent the ban.

In the minutes that sent the delegation of the Government include the approval of the motions of consultation, but without specifying where it held.

"So far not detected any irregularity in the proceedings that have sent the municipalities and has studied the Bar of the State," he said last Thursday a spokeswoman for the delegation. On Tuesday, the delegate, Joan Rangel, has announced that for now no violations of the law.

Esquerra Republicana, one of the independentists political organizations, has plans to mobilize its leaders for consultations.  Their top leaders will visit a dozen cities with mayors of training independence day of voting. The party of Joan Puigcercós wants to regain some lost ground to their constituents. Another catalan party, Convergència i Unió, for its part, does not foster the consultations, but gives freedom to its members.

Catalans would vote in favour of independence

by directe.cat / 3 December 2009


A macro-survey by the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), of 2,614 people, organized by Miquel Strubell, reveals the overwhelming results: 50.3% would vote Yes in a referendum on self-determination, only 17.8% would vote against, with 7.2% undecided. It is the first time that a scientific poll reveals this data. The poll also exposed that 83% of those polled believe that Catalonia has the right to freely and democratically decide its own political future, and only 15% of the total did not.



The survey to which directe!cat had access, reveals that the principal motives of those in favor of a Yes vote are due, in certain percentages, to emotional reasons— for example, 29.6% admit that they are simply tired of Spain—, but combined with other reasons based on economics and democracy. In contrast, the group that mostly called on their feelings and personal convictions when deciding hjow to vote were those voting against independence. They believe that it would be economically unviable, and that it might generate a conflict or that the laws don't cover it.



[Translation of Graph:


Motives for voting in favor
Motives for voting against
Motives for abstaining
Base in favor: 1,276
Base against: 438
Base abstaining: 607
It would be a peaceful and democratic way: 65.7%
Feelings or convictions 60.8%
It's not my place to decide: 38.4%
Economic reasons: 62.3%
It would be unviable economically: 29.3%
Feelings or convictions: 29.2%
Feelings or convictions: 58.6%
The law doesn't allow for it: 25.9%
I would be scared of repercussions: 25.7%
Linguistic or cultural reasons: 56.4%
I would be scared of repercussions: 25.7%
The law doesn't allow for it: 20.6%
Tired of Spain: 29.6%
None of the above: 5.8%
It would be economically unviable: 18.5%
None of the above: 0.9%
Don't know: 0.9%
None of the above: 13.9%
Don't know: 0.5%

Don't know: 3.2%
No answer: 0.1%

No answer: 0.4%

The study was made on a map of six zones. By territories, the Girona counties are those that have the most affirmative votes (64.5%). Right behind them is the zone of central counties, with 64.2% in favor. The Terres de l'Ebre (63.4%) would also vote in favor, as would those of Ponent (56.3%). Under 50% there are only two zones: that of Camp de Tarragona, with 47.2% and that of Barcelona, which falls to 46.3%. It's important to note, however, that the Yes vote would be the winning option in all zones and that it is in Tarragona (25.9%) and not Barcelona (19.8%) in which there is the highest percentage of No votes for the Independence of Catalonia.



But the study also underlines one of the chronic difficulties of Catalanism and Independentism: the lack of confidence in their own ability to achieve independence. 58.1% of those polled believe that Catalonia will not get to be independent. Only 31.1% believe that it will, along with 10.7% that is not sure and thus, has no opinion.

Barcelona opened the campaign for independence



by Unitá Naziunale

On Sunday 13th December 705,000 people are entitled to vote in the consultations for catalan sovereignty.  In two weeks more than one hundred cities and towns will held the referendum on independence. Barcelona has hosted a ceremony this afternoon to be a 'demonstration of force' with the intervention of various figures of the Catalan social life.


Carles Mora, the mayor of Arenys de Munt where the 13th September hold the first consultation on independence, said that 'it is time to end the expose, slavery and humiliation' from Spain over Catalonia, to build 'a rich, noble and happy country « and added later that democracy always prevail:' Freedom is not for sale.'


Leader of Decidim.cat and mayor of Sant Pere de Torello, Jordi Fabregat, said that the council 'may not deny the use of infrastructure paid by citizens with their taxes « , in reference to the ban imposed by the Court of Spain, to forbid to lend municipal spaces to do the referendum.
Different catalan personalities will close the events, the most striking will be the president of Futbol Club Barcelona, Joan Laporta, ending the campaign in Vic.

Right to vote will be given to people over 16 years and « there will be no discrimination by nationality » because they are entitled to vote those citizens who are registered in the municipalities where the consultation takes place, whatever their nationality.


To enhance the transparency of the process, the organization of consultations will allow the presence of media throughout the day on 13th December, including the process of vote counting, an option recommended in UN the best practices code.

Notifications were sent to the European Commission, United Nations and to the monitoring of electoral processes institute as the Carter Center to have knowledge of the event and to send observers if they wish.