EXPAT OBSERVATIONS: THE VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE
/It's the eve of Catalonia's vote (or maybe not) for independence and there's a strange feeling in the air all over Barcelona. No one has any idea what's going to happen tomorrow. Will there even be a vote? How is Madrid going to respond? Surely there will be protests and demonstrations, but to what end? Will things get violent? Will we still be living in Spain come Monday morning?
The referendum was announced before we moved here, but as far as we've been concerned, it's mostly existed as background noise for the last year. People make sideways reference to it on occasion, but it's never broached in casual conversation; politics in general is a taboo topic in Spain — the deep, divisive wounds of the Civil War still too fresh and polarizing — and it's something best avoided. (Even close groups of old friends may never, ever discuss which side of this issue they're on.)
But in the last few weeks, the referendum has most definitely pushed its way to the foreground. City buses have big ads encouraging a "Si" vote. The red and gold striped Catalan flag can be found atop cookies in bakeries, draped across balconies, and wrapped around the necks and waists of energized, protesting youth. Cringe-worthy separatist graffiti is popping up all over the sides of beautiful old buildings. An impromptu pro-independence parade just went by our front door, complete with a marching band. And at precisely 10:00PM, everyone in the neighborhood will go out onto their balconies and bang on pots and pans for 15 minutes — as they've been doing every night for two weeks.
One of the most curious aspects is that — unlike every election I've lived through in the U.S. — there aren't two sides highly publicizing their cause. I haven't seen a single "No" poster or anyone loudly and publicly discouraging a vote for independence. The closest form of counter-protest I've seen is the flying of the Spanish flag — which seems benign enough (we are in Spain, after all), but which sends a strong and biting message. (And most of the people flying these flags are from other parts of the country.) It seems to be almost traitorous to both be Catalan and publicly anti-independence.
But there are definitely "No" people. I've talked to lots of them. And one of the things they're most upset by is Madrid's trying to stop the referendum altogether. Many of them really wanted the chance to vote — and to vote "no." But now voting isn't going to be easy, if it happens at all. Google had to shut down its polling station locator app, and Madrid has threatened to arrest municipal officials who allow voting in their cities. So to be certain, the people who turn out to vote tomorrow — if they are able — will not be a representative sample of Catalonia's population. They will be highly motivated (likely in the "Si" direction) and willing to incur the risks of taking part in an illegal referendum.
I honestly have no idea what and who is right or wrong here, nor do I think it's my place to judge. It's been impossible to nail down the exact, truly compelling justification for independence — Catalans will give you dozens of different, complicated, emotionally-laden reasons — but I think it's something a foreigner just can't truly understand. However, I do know for sure that this is another bullet on the list of "really regrettable and totally polarizing" moments from the last 24 months — and another where it's difficult to envision an easy, healing path back from this brink.