The problems and disagreements between Catalonia and Spain are as diverse as their nature. In themselves, they could all have a political solution. But they won't, because there can't be any dialogue between Catalonia and Spain.
The power relations are clear. Spain is the state, with all its instruments and powers. Catalonia, on the other hand, is embodied primarily by its citizens; a substantial portion of the population is very mobilised and the vast majority agrees to accept collective decisions. The most interesting aspect uncovered by opinion polls is not the social base of the pro-independence movement, but the majority's willingness to accept collective decisions: a true national consensus. Resting on its mobilised, debating citizens, Catalonia also has its own administration, albeit limited and conditioned by the State.
This is no easy struggle for either party and, naturally, both pay a price. Not just Catalonia. It should be noted that Spain pays a price, too. The political success of the 9N vote confused and baffled Spanish society, and it enraged and humiliated important sectors.
If anyone in a position to solve the conflict wanted to do so, they would seek mediators who would soon make an unexpected discovery: besides their political and financial differences, Spain and Catalonia are living in two dramatically different historic times.
As far as the State and the power are concerned --here you should picture a king's court-- what's going on in Catalonia is "a political problem". The powers of the court can't understand the deep historic roots of Catalonia's national claims because denying them has always been in their best interest. Now they are the victims of this deliberate ignorance: even if they wanted to, they still wouldn't understand what's up with the Catalans.
This lack of mutual understanding is not caused by the fact that they speak two different languages --whereas in Madrid they don't speak Catalan, in Catalonia they do speak Spanish-- but by living two different histories. While the State powers see it as another outbreak of a classic Spanish problem that's pushing the political regime to the brink, for the Catalans this is a collective predicament that forms part of their agonising national history. The difference is that Madrid is doing a terrible job of facing a political problem, but a determining majority of Catalan society is fighting for its historic existence.
Not long ago, the Spanish vice president travelled to Barcelona and happened to attend a local event where the Catalan president was also expected. This caused a protocol dispute: which of the two individuals had to be given preeminence? The Spanish vice president could not understand what the Generalitat means and she thought it was just another administrative job of the State. She can't understand that, when the current president refers to himself as the 129th head of an institution that dates back to 12th or 13th century, he actually believes it and, to him and to many other Catalans, it is very real. Shielded by the comfort of the state, with its argument and its celebrations, Spanish nationalism can't imagine that president Mas obtains his reality from the memory of presidents Macià and Companys in the 20th century. As they believe their own nationalistic stereotypes, they think that Catalans are driven merely by a financial gain and their concern for the Catalan language is a load of worthless nonsense. A former socialist minister said so much not long ago: "the Catalan language is useless". They aren't aware of the validity of antecedents such as the proclamation of the Catalan Republic, for example.
Madrid (and, therefore, Spain) doesn't know and can't understand the weight of historic memory within stateless human communities. In addition, these events are --at the very least-- as real as the daily invocations of Isabella and Ferdinand, and the five centuries of "national unity" that we get from the state and the political parties. And also of the glorious and exemplary Transition, our latest myth.
The battle for History is critical in any process of nation-building. It certainly was so for Spain's nationalist historians, from Modesto Lafuente to Menéndez Pidal, as well as for Valentí Almirall and the Basque and Galician historians.
Nowadays, TVE's "Isabel" (a TV series) summarises perfectly well how essentialism and Madrid's spirit have become the unrivalled national ideology in Spain. We were raised in this nationalism and they still use it to indoctrinate generations of Spaniards, both in schools and especially in the main parties, their governments and Madrid-based media, who are impervious to any languages apart from Spanish and English. The other national cultures remained locked up in their territory and the conscience of a single, monolingual nation is the only experience that the Spanish population has had. Because it is undeniably evident that Catalans exist and people have quickly started talking about federalism when only a few months ago nobody in Madrid wanted anything to do with it, we will start hearing songs in Catalan. Who know, perhaps in Basque and Galician, too.
Spanish president Zapatero tried to make room for a new Catalan Charter in a final attempt to update Spain's exhausted Constitution. This caused Spain's right to stir up Spanish nationalism. We must remember that the Rajoy-led street petitions against the Catalan Charter actually ventured into the realm of explicit anti-Catalan xenophobia. But the rejection of Catalonia's bid was fuelled by a deep ingredient of Spanish nationalism: the anti-catalan sentiment. Decades after General Franco's death, nothing has been done to educate the population on the existence of national and cultural diversity. Madrid's spirit has prevailed.
While it existed, ETA was a catalyst for a united, centralised Spanish nation that stood up to terror. For the last four years, Catalonia has been the instrument that has kept the Spanish united. Staying together against an enemy at home rather that embracing an integrative, common project is a perversion of civic life.
In Catalan society we can find a very clear and credible argument for sovereignty, independence and having their own state. In Spain there is no collective project whatsoever. This is the primordial ingredient to start any talk of a nation. Apart from a national football team, Spain hasn't got a collective project. The reality is that Spain is a state without entity and national direction, while Catalonia is a stateless nation.
Indeed, for as long as Spain remains incapable of changing its national culture towards Catalonia or any other of its nationalities at home, the only choice is to put up with each other, as the famous Spanish nationalist thinker used to say (1). And putting up with each other means reaching agreements. Even if they don't feel like it, that's what they will have to do, at the very least.
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1 N.T. The author refers to Ortega y Gasset.
