That is, there is no majority of voters in Catalonia that want independence, according to the last election.
Failing to win the popular vote, all independence parties left any ideological differences aside and united forces to obtain majority in the parliament, using that majority to push for an illegal referendum that most of the population in Catalonia didn't took seriously. They then tried to used the results of the illegal referendum, where mostly only those citizens pro-independence went to vote to try to push for independence, ignoring the will of the 53% of the voters that voted against them in the last democratic election.
All in all, a pretty good shit-show, that has resulted in a couple of politicians accused of treason and in jail or in exile.
IMO the worst parts of this are that (1) ~50% of the population has a different opinion than the other 50%, and they will need to manage to live together independently of how things turn out, and (2) Catalonia's politicians do not care about their constituents, and only appear to care about those constituents that voted for them. I personally think that's pretty shameful, and don't have any respect for any of the politicians on either side.
> IMO the worst parts of this are that (1) ~50% of the population has a different opinion than the other 50%, and they will need to manage to live together independently of how things turn out, and (2) Catalonia's politicians do not care about their constituents, and only appear to care about those constituents that voted for them. I personally think that's pretty shameful, and don't have any respect for any of the politicians on either side.
That's pretty exactly the UK/Brexit problem as well. :(
You could literally s/Catalonia/UK/g and have the sentence be 100% valid for the UK too. :)
> That is, there is no majority of voters in Catalonia that want independence, according to the last election.
Indeed, but I didn't say "a majority". This is exactly why I said "remain" would have won, Spain could have ruled it void anyway, and everyone would have been happy.
> Spain could have ruled it void anyway, and everyone would have been happy.
This would have sent the message that it is ok for public servants to ignore the will of half the people they are responsible for, and that they are above the law.
That's a dangerous message to send.
What was stupid was sending the police against the voters. That was completely unnecessary and gave the independence movement a lot of "legitimacy" in the international community.
They should just have arrested the organizers of the referendum on that same day and call it a day. Instead, they let them flee to brussels.
that's a large simplification of the problem. ¿Can Barcelona where people is less independent secede from the rural Catalonia? ¿Can the rich secede from the poor? As a matter of the actual law, only all the Spaniards can vote for a change like that, but Catalonians will never accept such thing because they will never be able to convince that the separation of Catalonia is a good thing for both sides.
