As the Wall Street Journal writes on Wednesday, the push for independence in Catalonia is driven by the middle class. And while yet to explode in similar dramatic fashion, similar grievances can be found in Northern Italy and the prosperous German state of Bavaria:
Catalonia’s middle class has emerged as the bedrock for separatist sentiment, fueled by accusations that the rest of Spain drains—and wastes—tax revenues from a region proud of its banks and industrial prowess.
The widespread belief among Catalans that Madrid saps money from the wealthy northeastern region is one of the main propellants of an independence movement that has brought Spain to the brink of a constitutional crisis. That sense of grievance among the region’s middle class means the pressure for secession will remain high even as Carles Puigdemont, leader of the separatists, opened the door Tuesday to talks with Madrid.
“Catalan independence is a middle-class revolt,” said Andrew Dowling, a historian at Cardiff University in the U.K. “Middle-class Catalans think independence will bring them a better life, while working-class people tend to think their life won’t get any better with independence.”
While the revolt of the middle class has exploded to dramatic effect in Catalonia, that cohort has also voiced its dissatisfaction elsewhere in Europe, including Northern Italy and the prosperous German state of Bavaria.
Indeed, as Spengler wrote for Asia Times last week, Catalan’s independence movement is the genuine article, involving the whole of civil society. It is hard to imagine that Puigdemont’s move to suspend independence will be the last chapter in this drama:
The conduct of the Catalan independence referendum was a thoroughly organized insurgency involving the whole of civil society, from the region’s Catholic Church to the organs of public safety. Unlike the failed independence movements of Quebec or Scotland, it was not a top-down affair promoted by a small political elite with the sentimental support of a popular minority. Unlike Italy’s Lega Lombarda, it was not a regional lobby fighting for more control of tax revenues. Catalan’s independence movement is the genuine article.
The article premise is wrong: Ciutadans the most outspoken political party against independence that openly claims they are Spanish has won in the the most advanced provinces and urban (Barcelona and Tarragona), they have won in the ten most populated cities in Catalonia. In fact Ciutadans has won the elections. Nationalists parties have won in the provinces of Lérida and Gerona which are the rural areas of Catalonia.
The Catalan parliament seat allocation is flawed, they do not take into account the percentage of population of Barcelona province which is much higher than the percentage of seats they have in the the partliament. If seat allocation were fair the anti independence parties would have won the elections.
The Catalan banks and insurance companies together with more than 3000 firms have fleed Catalonia specially to Madrid but also other regions of Spain because of the independent process.