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posted by
janrinok
on Friday September 08 2017, @06:25PM
from the then-the-Basques,-and-then-...? dept.
from the then-the-Basques,-and-then-...? dept.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41191327
Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy says he will ask the courts to revoke a law passed by the Catalan regional government to hold a referendum on independence. He described the vote, planned for 1 October, as illegal.
Earlier, state prosecutors said they would bring criminal charges against Catalan leaders for their endorsement of the referendum.
The pro-independence majority in Catalonia's parliament passed the referendum law on Wednesday. Spain's wealthy north-eastern region already has autonomous powers but the regional government says it has popular support for full secession.
See also:
- Will Catalonia try to secede from Spain this year? [Jan 2017]
- Catalan independence: Plan for quick split from Spain after vote [Jul 2017]
- Catalonia's push for independence from Spain [Nov 2015]
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Spain Trying to Stop Catalonia Independence Referendum
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TOO BAD YOU CAN'T BUY a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth spin
real fast and freak everybody out.
-- Jack Handey, The New Mexican, 1988.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 08 2017, @07:54PM (2 children)
That might be dicey for Spain vis-a-vis the EU. Maybe better informed people can chime in here, but I recall the EU constitution paying a lot of lip service to self-determination.
If Catalonia secedes and succeeds, will Brittany and Scotland follow?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Friday September 08 2017, @08:57PM (1 child)
The EU Constitution may pay lip service to self-determination, but in reality the EU seems to poo-poo the idea. They weren't supportive of Scotland's independence referendum at all, threatening Scotland with not being part of the EU, though one of the main reasons Scotland wanted out of the UK was so they could have better ties to the EU.
It would be interesting to see a wave of independence movements succeed in the EU: Scotland, Catalonia, Brittany, Basque territory, perhaps more places like Galicia and Wales too. Most of these places seem to be very pro-EU, they just don't want to be under the particular country they're in; it's a lot like various new-state proposals in the US, such as Jefferson. In theory, the EU should do better with more smaller countries that have less internal friction and their own regional autonomy, but are all committed to the overall EU concept, just like the idea behind the founding of the USA. For competing with the rest of the world, European nations would in theory do better as part of a strong federal republic, but there aren't many examples of federal republics being successful with such large differences in cultures and languages between their member-states.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Unixnut on Friday September 08 2017, @09:19PM
> but there aren't many examples of federal republics being successful with such large differences in cultures and languages between their member-states.
Two come to mind for me. Russia (whose full name is the "Russian Federation"), and India, both of which have multiple cultures, religions and languages within them.
Russia is interesting because it has federal states, autonomous regions, and allied states who remain independent, so it is a bit of a "pick and mix" of how integrated you want to be. Perhaps that is why it managed to grow so large, yet still not disintegrate after many centuries.
India doesn't have that, but it has been able to successfully corral 150 different languages and cultures into one "country" as such (and as some Indians explained to me, there is a large difference between the different groups, in behaviour, culture, religion and language).
Of course, it is never plain sailing, and there is always some kind of conflict or disputes between groups, although in both cases of Russia and India, the disputes were primarily with those who followed the Islamic religion, and who generally have a bit more trouble than most integrating peacefully with others.
I guess it depends on what you define as "successful" really. Also, the only federation of a single language and culture (officially) is the USA, and pardon me from saying, but it seems there is a lot of discord and disagreement within the country. Could just be human nature to argue and fight and generally compete against others, whether internally or externally.