There are about half of the population of Catalonia that doesn't agree with you.
but I still can't understand how holding a referendum can be illegal in a modern democracy.
This is not a referendum to ask about sideways width. It's about asking people if they want to commit a crime: secession.
Some say that Catalunya can't decide whether they want to be a country, and I don't understand that neither
It's very simple. Constitution says that sovereignty is in the nation as a whole, so a part of the nation can't simply vote to leave. That's the case for most civilized countries, so hardly a surprise.
This is like saying that Brexit should have been voted by all Europeans.
No, it's not. You are comparing denouncing an international treaty with trying to overcome the government.
Is there any legal technicality that I'm missing?
No, you are missing the elephant in the room.
There have been plenty of scandals, but all are hidden because of this.
Also there is a complete blockage to alter the constitution and there's no negotiation on their part to open the process and make it more inclusive. They are using Catalans as scapegoats in order to win votes in other regions, as they have always done.
I'm seriously tired of being treated, by the Spanish press -guided by the main parties-, as an insolidary nutjob that doesn't conform to the rules. Specially when Catalonia is one of the most solidary regions (giving more to the state than we receive). But we are "guilty" of speaking another language, of thinking differently, of voting differently, of whatever shit they dare accuse us.
I'm sick of it all.
And I'm not into politics, so I cannot fathom how burned are the people that are into politics.
That's some assumption, considering the main party promoting the secession had their party HQ confiscated for their corruption.
"Also there is a complete blockage to alter the constitution"
No, there isn't. There is a perfect legal form to do it.
"Catalonia is one of the most solidary regions (giving more to the state than we receive)."
No, it WAS. Now the rest of Spain is supporting Catalonia using the FLA ("Fondo de Liquidez Autonómica" or "Autonomous Liquidity Fund").
"I'm sick of it all."
More sick are the majority of Catalans who don't want the secession.
Audiencia Nacional does not approve of confronting Spanish president with of the main conspirators detained for illegal funding of their party. [0]
An Hacienda (taxes) expert finding clues about this illegal funding. [1]
Ex president of Castilla la Mancha's regional goverment dies before testifying in a corruption case [2]. There have been lots of deaths of people about to testify in diferent corruption cases.[3]
75% of the money the goverment put to rescue the banks is now considered as lost.[4]
"They report that there are 38% of severely dependent and large dependents without attending"[5]
And some other things that are debatable (and some that are not. I'm not negating that the governing party in Catalonia has been corrupt too, if it were for me lots of current and past politicians should be in jail.
> "Also there is a complete blockage to alter the constitution"
> No, there isn't. There is a perfect legal form to do it.
Yes, a way that is completely impossible right now. Specially because it depends on who has majority in the goverment, and those in power use FUD to keep being in power.
>Now the rest of Spain is supporting Catalonia using the FLA ("Fondo de Liquidez Autonómica" or "Autonomous Liquidity Fund").
I had to search what FLA is. That is a credit line that can be used by regional goverments [6]. That means it has to be payed back.
Catalonia is the region that most money brings to the table with 18.9%, more than even Madrid with 18.8% (2016)[7] But it's not he one with more investment (12.78% if you run the numbers)[8].
>More sick are the majority of Catalans who don't want the secession.
I didn't want independence, but I now want it, thanks to the words and actions of centralist people and politics. If you are saying that the majority doesn't want it because in 11 september's parade there was only 1 milion people and there are 6.5 milion more that weren't there... that doesn't compute (I wasn't there either).
[0]http://www.eldiario.es/politica/Audiencia-Nacional-Barcenas-...
[1]http://www.publico.es/politica/gurtel-perito-hacienda-confir...
[2]http://www.elmundo.es/espana/2017/09/07/59b0fab8ca47418b038b...
[3]http://www.abc.es/espana/abci-muertes-y-suicidios-larga-list...
[4]http://www.elmundo.es/economia/2017/09/07/59b1092e22601dad19...
[5]http://dependencia.es/denuncian-que-hay-un-38-de-dependiente...
[6]https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fons_de_Liquiditat_Auton%C3%B2...
[7]http://www.elnacional.cat/ca/economia/catalunya-economia-esp...
[8]http://www.elmundo.es/economia/macroeconomia/2017/04/04/58e3...
EDIT:
Sorry, I didn't (and don't) have time to search for links in English. They are all in Spanish but one, that it's in Catalan (but has Spanish and German translation).
If there was any innacuracy in this post I'd rather have conversation than untold negativity.
Nobody knows if they are a majority or not. At least, unless they can vote about it, of course.
And please, don't give me polls.
True, but at the same time, it was the Catalan Government who started the secession process, and they have plenty of corruption to hide too. And if they manage to become an independent country with their own judicial system, then they might get away with all the past corruption. Maybe that's the actual motivation.
The worst is the unspoken tension that this has created between me and my Spanish friends.
I'm quite sad :(
Don't forget PDECAT, for them it is also a smokescreen
By the way, polls show that people in favor of having a referendum is majority. A lot of people agree to have a referendum when they themselves would vote no to independence. They are different things
> This is not a referendum to ask about sideways width. It's about asking people if they want to commit a crime: secession.
Secession is a crime? Tried Scotland or Quebec to commit a crime?
Czech Republic and Slovakia are criminals?
So I guess that as a concession to the still strong fascist powers, the Constitution stated that is a crime to attempt to break the "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".
This doesn't make sense in the 21st century, I think, but that's the way it is.
The Spanish Constitution is based in a very broad agreement, from Communists to the Far-Right Wing.
Then that agreement (the Constitution) was voted by all the Spanish People and received an immense support.
See the table here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_constitutional_referen...
I'm not opposed to the referendum, but those places are not under the rule of the Spanish constitution.
You are confusing two meanings of the word. There is the meaning of breaking a country for whatever reasons. Like Sudan, or the USSR or Yugoslavia. There is another meaning: the crime of secession that tries to break a country by force and against its legitimate authorities, that often ends in a blood bath.
First meaning is not the same as the second.
They don't agree with independence, or with having a referendum at all? Just curious, I haven't been following it closely.
When a lot of corruption cases started to arise a few years ago, the local govern party had to ally with a far left separatist organization that demanded the referendum. So here we are.
The elephant in the room is what I just wrote. A referendum to vote to commit a crime is a crime. And secession is not a walk in the park. Spanish government passivity might have given that impression, but at some moment, it seems to be now, things will start to get very serious.
A rebellion is always legal in the first person, such as "our rebellion." It is only in the third person - "their rebellion" - that it becomes illegal.
