Catalans to form human chain in bid for independence

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...800860290.html

Catalan Separatists to Link for Independence Cause
Secessionists Hope to Revitalize Movement With 249-Mile Human Chain

BARCELONA—Catalan independence activists want to revitalize their movement with a more eye-catching protest than a mass street rally staged a year ago: a 400-kilometer (249-mile) human chain traversing Catalonia from the Pyrenees Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea.

Secessionists in Spain's richest region are counting on the Sept. 11 spectacle, dubbed the Catalan Way Toward Independence, to help them recapture lost political momentum ahead of what could be a decisive year for their cause.

The chain, which will require at least 400,000 demonstrators to fill its ranks, will follow the ancient Roman route of the Via Augusta, snaking through canyons, beaches and farmland, as well as the streets of 86 communities. To transport demonstrators, organizers plan to deploy more than 1,000 buses, some of which will be brought from other provinces or neighboring France. Recording the event will be 800 photographers on the ground, along with a small fleet of drones and light planes in the air.

The demonstration, taking place on a regional holiday, is designed to press regional and national leaders for a referendum on independence in 2014, a year that coincides with the 300th anniversary of Catalonia's defeat by the Spanish crown after the bloody siege of Barcelona. (It is symbolically significant that participants will link hands at 5:14 p.m., or 17:14 military time.)

Catalonia, Spain's most industrialized region, has long asserted that the central government discriminates against its language and culture while siphoning off much more in tax revenue than it returns in investment. But the administration in Madrid has refused to hear any talk of a referendum, arguing that Catalonia has benefited from national policies, such as the central government's rescue of a poorly-run regional bank in 2011. Spain's painful recession has intensified the disputes over public finances—and pro-separatist sentiment in Catalonia.

This year's demonstration presents more challenges than last year's separatist rally—when some one million people flooded the streets of Barcelona—because of the daunting logistical chore of transporting participants to sparsely populated places along the route, organizers say.

"Last year we were bringing all of Catalonia to Barcelona," said Ferran Civit, a lead organizer for the Catalan National Assembly, the region's biggest pro-independence group. "This year, we're moving all of Barcelona to Catalonia."

Organizers are drawing inspiration from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where protesters formed a million-person human chain stretching 600 kilometers in 1989 to protest the oppression of those Baltic Republics under Soviet rule. Within several months, Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union, which then collapsed in 1991. Catalan organizers have flown in Baltic advisers to help them with the chain.

Catalans who oppose secession say they are offended by the implication that Spain's central government in some way resembles the Soviet Union. (article continues via link above)

Catalonian independence to me is going to occur at some point, the polling shows the population overwhelming consider themselves Catalonians rather than Spanish... so it makes sense to grant independence seeing as they want it.

Interesting developments anyway and it'll be interested to see how any potential Catalonian independence affects the Scottish referendum next year or vice versa. Two potentially new sovereign states on the way.

Thoughts?

[FlyingJesus]

Gonna cause hell for international football

[AgnesIO]

Gonna cause hell for international football

So true.

----

Really don't want the Catalans to gain independence. The divides that do sometimes exist are absolutely pathetic (if you have one Spanish accent, some will pretend they do not know what you are saying... a prime example being Andalucians in Murcia). The thing I would question, is whether Cataluña would survive by itself. Detaching from Spain would wipe huge amounts of history, but also impact their voice on an European and international level; they would have a smaller population than Switzerland (obviously a non-EU state), Austria and Belarus.

Having said that, all of those points could be laughed at given Spains pathetic economy at present, and as the Catalans would say "we've been let down".