Journalists and opinion-makers have a responsibility to inform and explain, not to divide and contribute to the escalation of conflict.
A legacy that never went away has risen to the surface in Catalonia. And it explains why the independence movement in Catalonia will not be broken easily. Catalana.
Otherwise mainstream politicians have stacked the deck against any possibility of negotiating over legitimate political demands. The Spanish judiciary meanwhile turns the law on its head to quench dissent.
The recent conviction of several Basque youths with heavy sentences and the charges against Catalan politicians reveal the political nature of justice in Spain.
West Papuans have it much harder than Scots or Catalans. In West Papua it is illegal to fly the independence flag. Español
Facilitators, middlemen, discrete openings so that both sides could start to talk to – and not scream at – each other again and try to reach a compromise, are these now European dirty words?
Isn’t it the case that fellow Europeans not only have the right to comment on the affairs of their neighbours but that doing so is a political virtue which ought to be cultivated?
It is time for the Spanish establishment to realise that their country, like any other democracy, can’t be maintained harmoniously only by threatening the use of force and prison sentences.
It is difficult to see why actions taken by the government in Madrid ought to be regarded as a curb on dissent, and not as a preservation of the country’s constitutional order.
By equating Kosovo with Catalonia, Spanish leaders reveal themselves as unable to distinguish between legitimate aspirations for self-rule and destabilizing separatism.
In Catalonia, there has long been no other option: independence is the only remaining route to social justice after Spain’s dismissal of all attempts at dialogue over the years.
Carta abierta al presidente de la comisión, Jean-Claude Juncker, y al presidente del consejo Europeo, Donald Tusk, cc. Vice-Presidente primero Frans Timmermans. English. Catalan.
