A Fight for Catalonia, Whatever That Means

BARCELONA, Spain — The question of secession that is being put to voters in Spain’s Catalonia region on Sunday is being seen as a political confrontation between Madrid and Barcelona, or Spain versus Catalonia.

Such a portrayal overlooks the social complexities and growing cleavages within the region of Catalonia itself, the lack of agreement in Madrid about how to respond to the secessionist movement, and the extent to which the debate over secession has also provoked irrational emotions that cannot be explained in political or economic terms.

In fact, as politicians on both sides have raised the stakes, they have forced a vast number of citizens to take sides in a dispute over national identity in which they had zero interest seven years ago when I arrived in Spain.

Back then, in speaking to people who were starting to struggle because of Spain’s financial crisis, I found that many couldn’t comprehend why politicians were awakening the demons of nationalism rather than solving more pressing issues like corruption and the country’s growing income inequality.

Source https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/30/opinion/catalonia-spain-independence.html