20/05/2016 00:00
You can see why support for Catalan independence continues to grow as a result of the bully-boy tactics of the government in Madrid. The government in its wisdom has decided to ban Catalan pro-independence flags in the stadium during this weekend’s Cup Final clash between Barcelona and Seville. As a direct result, nationalists have decided to hand out thousands of Scottish flags. "We’ve chosen this symbol because it highlights the different treatment that Catalonia receives from Spain, compared with the UK government’s treatment of Scotland," the nationalists said in a statement. The government denied that the move was politically motivated.
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Madrid is increasingly out of touch with the needs of Catalonia. The more it tries to clamp down on an understandable wish for a vote on separate government, the more extreme will become the opposition. Nobody will give way so there will be many years of increasingly serious conflict; in the absence of mutual agreement a split is inevitable BUT it is going to be a painful and extreme separation that may take decades and which will cause great social harm before being resolved. I see no other path.
I will quote an article from The Guardian where Asifa Hassam writes : "The legislation pledged a “disconnection from the Spanish state” to establish a Catalan republic, putting separatists on a collision course with the central government." As you note the pro Catalán are called separatist and freedom of speech should always be applied reasonable, for there are many organizations and groups who subversive goals against the government or the populous have barred them to exercise the article 20.1 A particular organization from the Basque region and many others come to mind. May be the flag banning is bad taste in this particular case, however the central government attempts to emit a message, and it choose that particular way to do it.
Georgi: banning things, as Jason rightly points out, only adds fuel to the fire. That's what Franco used to do, remember? Freedom of expression is a democratic right as stated in article 20.1 of Spain’s Constitution, and harms no-one, whether you are pro- or anti-. Even the PP leader in Catalunya, who is hardly pro-independence, thought that it was ridiculous to try to ban the flag. Tell me where Spain's “constitutional laws” support doing so.
This thread is going to start to get interesting !
Separatism symbols are rightfully banned. And that's non called bully tactics, but good governance. One could hardy refer to supporters of Catalán Independence as nationalists, as the nation is one and it's called Spain. Madrid need to put more restrictive measure in place to ensure that the constitutional laws of Spain are adhered to.
I couldn't agree more! Fortunately a judge has today overthrown the decision of the Delegada del Gobierno in Madrid and supporters will be allowed to enter the stadium with an 'estelada' if they so wish. To deny that the decision to ban the flag was politically motivated is nonsense.