A man with a pro-independence flag poses in front of the Palace of the generalitat of Catalunya. A judge in Madrid has ordered eight members of the deposed Catalan government to be remanded in custody pending possible charges over last week’s declaration of independence, while Spanish prosecutors are seeking a European arrest warrant for the region’s ousted president, Puigdemont. Credit: Courtesy of TNS
The situation in Catalonia has captured the world’s attention as it grows more tenuous, and on Friday it will be the focal point of an Ohio State roundtable.
Professors from Ohio State and one from Indiana University will hold the “Catalan Crisis” discussion with students Friday from 4-6 p.m. at Page Hall. The event will be moderated by Ignasi Gozalo-Salellas, an associate professor in Spanish and Portuguese who is Catalan himself. It will focus on the question, what’s next?
“Originally it was an internal event for the Spanish and Portuguese Department,” Gozalo-Salellas said. “The point we are at now in this political and social process, my opinion is that we need to open it to other fields and make a wider approach to the question.”
One of the professors Gozalo-Salellas will be introducing at the roundtable is Richard Gunther, professor emeritus in political science, whom Gozalo-Salellas said will bring a more scientific approach to the question.
Gunther described the situation in Catalan as a “crisis” for Spanish democracy, claiming it is a minority in Catalonia that favor independence.
“After having gone through a process of decentralization in which regions like Catalonia have been given a tremendous amount of self-governing authority this was still not enough for the minority that are in favor of independence from Spain,” he said.
Gunther said the recent news that 90.5 percent of Catalans voted for independence is misleading because the turnout was only 43 percent. By comparison, the current arrangement between Spain and Catalonia, voted on in 1978, was also approved by 90.5 percent of individuals, but turnout was 68 percent.
“There is absolutely no clear consensus in favor of independence,” Gunther said. “Yet that was strongly pushed by the leader of the Catalan government.”
Gunther said the blame for the current mess did not, however, belong to only the pro-independence side, but also to Madrid, the seat of government in Spain.
“We got into this situation as a result of miscalculations and mistakes by both sides,” he said.
Gunther said the ruling party in Catalan had made a mistake with its strong push for independence, which is not as widely supported as it would lead the public to believe.
On the other hand, Gunther said Madrid had made a mistake by calling out the national police in response to the independence vote, further polarizing opinion in Catalan.
Dorothy Noyes, a professor in English and comparative studies who focuses on folklore, will be at the roundtable, offering insight on the human element.
Gozalo-Salellas said Noyes brings a focus on culture to the discussion, which is crucial when discussing the Catalan region.
“It is fundamental, in order to understand nationalisms in Europe,” he said. “The question of culture is very important.”
Noyes said a big part of the Catalonian push for independence is that the feeling of being in a group is powerful and creates a natural division, saying that for every Ohio State there is a Michigan.
“Those people out marching in the streets, it’s a really powerful feeling,” she said. “The feeling of joy and power and righteousness that makes it easy to feel that there is a very strong us, and it also makes it easy to feel that there is a ‘them.’”
Gozalo-Salellas said the question of what is next cannot really be answered, as the answer will probably change day-to-day — for example, a Spanish judge on Oct. 26 sent eight separatist leaders to jail — but Gozalo-Salellas felt the social movement could not be stopped in the long run.
Noyes struck the same tone when talking about the future, and noted Spain’s similarities with the U.S. in terms of political polarization.
“It’s hard to see anything but a lot of ambiguity in the immediate future,” she said. “There is a great deal of social division that is growing more and more polarized.”
However, Noyes said that is a good reason for Ohio State students to attend because the situation in Catalonia is a microcosm of what is happening in Western democracy at large.
“Democracy gives you an idea that you should make the world according to your vision of it,” Noyes said. “We tend to forget we have to live around other people who have a different vision of it.”
