Catalonia's President Carles Puigdemont has offered his own supporters, those in Catalonia who are sceptical of independence, the Spanish people, the European Union and the Madrid regime, an elegant solution to a long burning issue.
During a speech in which Puigdemont was widely expected to proclaim a full declaration of independence, he instead offered a declaration of intent, one which carries the penultimate goal of establishing independence through negotiations. While the time-frame of such negotiations is not yet clear, Puigdemont indicated that he is willing to allow for an extended period of discussions while he pursues what he called his "mandate" for independence.
While the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and even the Spanish King intervened to state that the Catalan exercise in democracy had no legitimacy on constitutional grounds, one must realise that all constitutions, like all currencies not pegged to a metallic standard, are only valid if a consensus of peoples are willing to bestow them with legitimacy. The United States for example, violates its constitution on a daily basis and this is now accepted as a status quo. Just ask the detainees in Guantanamo Bay about the sanctity of the US constitution.
In this sense, the Catalonia referendum on independence was equally a referendum on the legitimacy and more specifically, the lack of legitimacy of Spain's perennially controversial 1978 constitution.
Comment: It will be interesting to see how the Madrid responds to this recent clever move by Puigdemont. The Spanish prime minister seems to be reflecting the overall confusion in Madrid by
demanding the Catalonian president "clarify" whether Catalonia has actually declared independence or not. Is Madrid truly just confused, or is the Spanish government just being deliberately obstinate towards what seems to be a sensible approach by Puigdemont? Who can argue with wanting to work together to come up with a solution? Apparently the prime minister and whoever is giving him his orders want no discussion at all. Even the EU thinks
solving the issue through dialogue is the best way to go moving forward. It's time for the Spanish government to do just that and stop trying to fix the situation through violence and strong-arm tactics. They have apparently spent too much time watching how the US Empire tries to solve problems. All that does is create more problems and more anger.
Update: Madrid has
announced that it has given Catalonia 5 days, until October 16, to clarify the situation over independence. Clearly the Spanish government has no interest in dialogue.
Comment: It will be interesting to see how the Madrid responds to this recent clever move by Puigdemont. The Spanish prime minister seems to be reflecting the overall confusion in Madrid by demanding the Catalonian president "clarify" whether Catalonia has actually declared independence or not. Is Madrid truly just confused, or is the Spanish government just being deliberately obstinate towards what seems to be a sensible approach by Puigdemont? Who can argue with wanting to work together to come up with a solution? Apparently the prime minister and whoever is giving him his orders want no discussion at all. Even the EU thinks solving the issue through dialogue is the best way to go moving forward. It's time for the Spanish government to do just that and stop trying to fix the situation through violence and strong-arm tactics. They have apparently spent too much time watching how the US Empire tries to solve problems. All that does is create more problems and more anger.
Update: Madrid has announced that it has given Catalonia 5 days, until October 16, to clarify the situation over independence. Clearly the Spanish government has no interest in dialogue.