Paulino Rivero, president of the Canary Islands region, has called a referendum on large scale drilling for oil, to be held on November 23. The question is: "Do you think that the Canary Islands should change their environmental and tourism model for gas and oil exploration?" The two choices seem a bit overstated but that's beside the point. I'd like to read the question again in the light of Article 1.2 of the Spanish Constitution; in other words, "national sovereignty is vested in the Spanish people". Notice the nuance: the phrase is "national sovereignty", rather than just "territorial sovereignty". The former concept includes the latter and is also broader. It is precisely Article 1.2 that appears to make the Catalan referendum impossible. What about the one in the Canaries? According to the Spanish government, it's a problem of "who is vested with the power" and that's why they won't allow the consultation. Are we positive that this is the actual reason? I don't think so.
Let's say that underneath the territorial waters of the Canaries lie huge oil reserves whose mining is profitable and so on. Likewise, let's assume that the people of the Canaries oppose the idea of removing those resources from the spot where they have been sitting for millions of years because they believe that this would jeopardise their environment and tourism. In fact, several years ago they held a referendum on the island of El Hierro whereby the area's potential for tourism was severely restricted in order to preserve the traditional farming economy (which, by the way, I think is a great idea). The issue is this: would the decision of the people in the Canary Islands affect Spain's sovereignty, understood as something that goes beyond mere territoriality? It obviously would and it would have nothing to do with the famous powers. Let's imagine Spain as a self-sufficient country in gas and oil, with a radical change in GDP, balance of trade, etc. Such a change would have a thousand-fold greater impact on Spain's real sovereignty than giving up the tiny islet of Perejil to Morocco.
In the 21st century it is common to speak of "food sovereignty" and "energy sovereignty" in a matter of fact way and not as a metaphor or a hyperbole. A significant number of the problems affecting the former Soviet republics, including the Ukraine, stem from the fact that territorial sovereignty does not go hand in hand with energy sovereignty. Moscow's gas tap forever looms over these nations the same way as oil imports condition Spain's economy completely or the economy of any other country that is dependent on this resource. Therefore, this fact is anything but an anecdote. It affects the people of the Canaries, but it also affects you and me. In fact, it's likely to hit us harder than the people of the Canaries, who wouldn't be affected by the drilling and, later, the possible extractions, because we live in a heavily industrialised part of the world. Does this mean that all of us, Catalans included, should get to vote in the poll called by Mr Rivero? According to Rajoy's government and in the light of Article 1.2, we should: sovereignty --in this case, energy sovereignty-- concerns us all. Therefore, the only democratic solution is for all of Spain to vote on the matter. The trouble is that nearly everything affects nearly everyone. And "everyone" also includes the rest of the people in the EU, which would result in having to hold European-level referenda every couple of weeks.
19th century sovereignty --merely territorial-- has very little to do with the same concept in the 21st century, which borders with intangibles as important and ethereal as cyberspace. For instance, when the .cat internet domain was approved, Catalonia's sovereignty was strengthened at the expense of Spain's. 21st century sovereignties are a tad more complex than the ancient ones and the PP and the mouldy politics that it represents should come to grips with this. Even if you and I are directly affected, we shouldn't have a say in what the people in the Canaries decide. The same applies to Catalonia's standoff with Spain or any other political subject that demands something as simple as respect and freedom. Catalonia's independence would affect Spain, indeed, just like the reunification of Germany affected all of Europe and Belgium's split would have consequences elsewhere. However, it's unreasonable to expect the entire solar system to revolve around Article 1.2 of the Spanish Constitution. I would find that excessive.
