“Com et dius?” the ski coach asked my tiny, scared fourth grade self.Itwasthe first day of practice of my new race team, and I had just moved to a foreign country and was far from confident in my Spanish skills and pretty sure the coach was speaking another language.
“Qué?” I asked.
“Com et dius?” he repeated. I listened closely trying to decipher his words, but still his words were unrecognizable.
“Perdon, solo puedo hablo castellano [Sorry, I only speak Spanish],” I responded.
“Cómo te llamas? [What’s your name?]” he then asked. I let out a small sigh of relief. He really was speaking a different language before, and I wasn’t that bad at Spanish. It was a small interaction, but it stuck with me through my next two years of living in Barcelona.
Natasha Salmi (that’s me!), age 9 with her ski team getting ready to race the slopes of the Catalan ski resort, La Masella. Photo by Mika Salmi
In that moment I realized that Catalan, the language spoken in the northwestern Spanish comunidad of Catalonia, shouldn’t and can’t be confused with Spanish. In all of my time in Barcelona I never questioned that Catalonia had a unique identity, separate from the Spanish one. At my school in Barcelona, we celebrated the Catalan holidays of Sant Jordi and La Merce, and learned about the legend behind the Catalan flag.
There is no question that the culture and language should be preserved and not compromised by the Spanish central government. However, what should not happen is complete independence from Spain.
The Spanish Civil War in the 1940’s ended with Franco, a right-wing dictator taking control. He made it his goal to oppress individual identities in Spain and banned the speaking of Catalan, which built the separatist sentiment in the region. In the transition to democracy in the 70s, each region of Spain was granted autonomy to run their own schools and institutions. This temporarily quelled the nationalistic streak, with Catalans beginning to run their own institutions (including public schools) in Catalan.
The 2008 financial crisis hit Spain hard, along with the rest of Southern Europe. There was widespread unemployment among young people, while Catalonia prospered as the richest region of Spain. Because of their prosperity and the unfair taxation of that wealth, in 2015 54% Catalans elected a pro-secession Catalan parliament. They made it a goal to secede from Spain.
In the most recent independence referendum in 2014, the majority of Catalan’s indicated “yes-no,” the option for ambivalence about independence. In other words, they had mixed feelings about what the future should hold. However in recent months, more and more Catalans were fighting for independence led by the pro-independence (now former) president, Carlos Puigdemont. Catalans not only point to their cultural differences with the rest of Spain but point to the fact that the Catalan economy is one of the strongest in Spain, and they give more money in taxes to the central government than they get back to run their social services.
Instead of addressing Catalan’s economic concerns, hard-right President Rajoy clamped down on Catalonia. They attempted to hold an independence referendum in September, and the Spanish government declared it illegal and unconstitutional. Madrid arrested Catalan ministers claimed that they were traitors, and federal officers reportedly injured 800 people, burned ballot boxes, and fired rubber bullets on crowds.
Almost overnight, the most prosperous region of Spain felt attacked by a nationalistic sentiment from 40 years prior that had suddenly resurfaced. In a place where it is shameful to demonstrate national pride, pro-Spain demonstrations appeared across the nation. Meanwhile Catalans were enraged and felt silenced. Soon, the Catalan President Puigdemont, was arrested and exiled.
It’s understandable why Catalans want to leave, and the emotions and tensions are running high. The Spanish government has only played into the hands of Catalan separatists, acting oppressively when before there was very minimal oppression. After declaring independence, the whole Catalan parliament was dissolved and the Spanish government took direct control over Catalonia.
But Catalans and Spaniards shouldn’t let emotions get in the way of logic.
Spanish government, you need Catalonia. Barcelona is a huge tourism draw, and it contributes significantly through taxes to the federal budget, by giving 20 percent of the country’s tax revenues, while only being 16 percent of the population. You only give them 14 percent of the budget back, meaning that six percent of their money is being used for your purposes elsewhere. All you are doing by violently lashing out is alienating people who can be incredibly beneficial to you. You cannot quell an insurrection by brute force. Put yourself in a Catalan’s shoes. Most people in the previous referendum were ambivalent about independence. If you were on the fence about independence, and then suddenly someone started to push back against you, of course you would start to hate the oppressor! Please, learn to negotiate. There are non-violent ways to satisfy the Catalans and make peace. If you want to be a united country, you must respect all of your countrymen.
Catalans, leaving will do more harm than good. Your biggest asset is your economy, and with the instability of independence and the fight for independence you are only hurting yourselves. Companies have been relocating their headquarters away from you at incredibly fast paces. After you declared independence, four major companies, including two banks, left you. While there are no specific numbers, the instability from the independence fight might turn away investors potentially wanting to work with Catalan companies. Your tourism industry, one of the biggest components of your economy, has been hit. Potential tourists have decided not to visit, and the 21,000 tourism companies have been hit with the 20% drop in tourists. Being a part of the European Union and having a stable currency is what keeps you powerful. If you were to be independent, you wouldn’t be able to join the EU immediately, which would be a major hindrance to trade. Additionally, roughly a third of your trade is with the rest of Spain; limiting that would be an additional difficulty. Yes, it sucks that Madrid is taking your taxes that you’ve worked for and giving to it to poor regions like Extremadura. However, don’t close a discussion about how to reform the system by going to the extreme and declaring independence. Continue to try to negotiate and work with Spain. You have your economy as an important card to use. Don’t destroy that card by creating instability and scaring away business.
It saddens me to see the rift between Catalonia and Spain grow as each side refuses to compromise and learn to work together. Catalonia is a beautiful place, from cultural hub of Barcelona to the clear blue waters of the Costa Brava and the snow cover Pyrenees. This conflict has and will rip apart the livelihoods of those who live and work there and alienates this incredible region from the rest of Spain. I hope that as each side grows aware of the stakes for each of them, they look for alternative ways to not continue to escalate conflict.
