Tomorrow, October 1st, is supposed to be the day on which the Catalans vote to leave Spain or stay part of it. However, the Spanish government declared the referendum to be illegal and so it is not allowed to take place. The first thought that came to mind when I read this was:
The referendum on Catalonian secession is a perfect example of this. Referenda on secession spark some interesting questions. Why are you not allowed to leave? If not, what makes a country legitimate and sovereign?
According to the United Nations, every people has the right to self-determination (strange that groups have this, but apparently individuals do not). If we take this as a legitimate notion - and let's assume Spain upholds the UN charter on human rights - what exactly is a people? Who determines when a group can be considered a nation?
If we look at the case of Cataluña, or Basque country, or the Donetsk Republic, or Crimea, it turns out that the government that is currently in power determines this. I have studied nationalism for a good amount of time and I am confident to say that most forms of nationalism are created and used by governments, not by the people themselves. It is a tool to bring people together, to make them feel that they have something in common, in order to get as many people willing to be governed under you. As many scholars have said: "Nationalism creates nations, not the other way around."
If you want to read more about this, consider reading at least the first of these books:
(Book titles are in italics)
No matter what your opinion is on the Catalan referendum, it says a lot about the Spanish government (and governments in general). States are like organisms that seek to grow in any way they can. It generally doesn't matter what the people think of this, as long as they don't physically fight back. The only reason for the state to exist is to maintain its power. If they didn't need to, they would dissolve naturally.
In my opinion, the Catalans should be allowed to leave if they want to. As a voluntaryist, I think that localization is at least one step towards bringing back the power from the state to the individual level. By secession the power will be brought back at least one level towards the individual. Although government would still be an agency of coercion, it is the least a people can do. Maybe more will follow, such as Basque country or Bavaria in Germany.
This is not an essay, but just some thoughts that came in my mind. I wanted to write them down and why not post them on Steemit to spark some more discussion.
--> Click here if you want a cool banner like mine!
--> Previous post: He said it! Ron Paul says he advocates 'Voluntarism' and has tremendous hope for the future
