Catalonia voters decide on push for independence from Spain

Associated Press ^ | 09/27/2015 | Harold Heckle and Joseph Wilson

[E. Pluribus Unum]

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Voters in Spain's Catalonia region cast ballots Sunday to decide if pro-secession parties will get a majority in the regional parliament and a mandate to push for independence or whether they will fall short in an outcome that would probably quell secessionist fervor for years.

Secessionists have long pushed for an independence referendum, but Spain's central government refused to allow it - saying such a vote would be unconstitutional. So the pro-independence parties pitched the vote for regional parliamentary seats as a de facto plebiscite.

"Today is a great win for democracy in Catalonia," said Artur Mas, Catalonia's regional leader, after he cast his vote. "We have surpassed all the obstacles placed by the Spanish government. Now, Catalonia faces its own destiny."

[buwaya]

Catalan was dying out on its own long before Franco had anything to do with it. It was deliberately revived, as was Basque, early in the 20th century.
Franco squashed the 20th century trend to separatist nationalism, because he was a Spanish Nationalist, and because the separatists made deals with the desperate Republican government. It all came back after Franco.
One reason for separatism now is that the Spanish government, since it joined the EU, has been unable to shield the Catalans and Basques (their manufacturing industries) from foreign competition with tarriff barriers; that, plus the guarantee of a protected national market, was part of the unwritten deal keeping them in the union.

[Night Hides Not]

I live in Valley Ranch/Irving, but my favorite hangout is the Lost Oak Winery in Burleson. It’s a great place to decompress.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Franco squashed the 20th century trend to separatist nationalism, because he was a Spanish Nationalist, and because the separatists made deals with the desperate Republican government”

Squashed, but not killed.

[buwaya]

I’ve often thought, and IIRC, this is a bit of a conventional idea in Spain, that Spain stayed together as long as it had an empire. There was something in it for all parts of Spain. When Spain lost the richest remnant of its empire, Cuba, in 1898 there wasn’t much reason left to stay together other than tarriff protections, under the conventional wisdom of the day. The EU changed that, but the resulting prosperity kept everyone happy enough for a couple of decades. But the good times went bad and the fundamental benefits of unity aren’t there anymore.