ABANS DE LA V

Europe News

Catalan Independence Activists Challenge Government on Vote

Demonstration Set for Catalonia 'National Day,' Buoyed by Scotland's Example

By

Matt Moffett

connect

Sept. 10, 2014 4:44 p.m. ET

Demonstrators wave a pro-independence flag during a June protest in Barcelona. Associated Press

BARCELONA—On Thursday, tech entrepreneur Rafael Pous will take his place among an expected one million Catalan residents lining up to form a seven-mile long "V," for vote.

The display is intended to symbolize this wealthy industrial region's determination to hold a nonbinding referendum on possible independence from Spain, despite staunch opposition to such a vote from the government in Madrid.

The late-afternoon event—held on what Catalans celebrate as their "National Day"—reflects the determination of grass-roots activists like Mr. Pous. They have transformed the idea of Catalan independence from a fringe position to a mass movement that poses a threat to Spain's stability, much as Scotland's campaign for independence has unsettled the U.K.

Mr. Pous has trooped to 50 town meetings up and down Catalonia during the past couple of years, showing his PowerPoint presentation about why the region should split from Spain, even quoting from the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

His message is simple and, in a country with an unemployment rate of nearly 25%, almost irresistible: "It doesn't have to be this bad," he says. "We can do things much better on our own."

As the Nov. 9 date chosen by the local government for the referendum nears, Spain is careening toward a constitutional crisis.

Unlike the Scottish referendum on Sept. 18—the results of which Westminster has agreed to accept—Madrid calls the Catalan vote illegal. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to go to the Constitutional Court to block it.

Scots will vote on a six-word question: "Should Scotland be an independent country."

The Catalan referendum would present voters with a two-part question: The first would be whether they want Catalonia to be a state. The second, whether they want it to be an independent state.

Although the results would carry no legal weight, Mr. Rajoy has warned that the mere threat of secession of a region producing a quarter of Spain's exports jeopardizes the country's fledgling economic recovery after years of hardship.

Independence activists say the giant V is aimed less at changing Mr. Rajoy's mind than at prodding the Catalan regional president, Artur Mas, to stand up to the prime minister and go ahead with the vote.

"It's very important that Sept. 11 be a big success [to] pressure the Catalan government to hold the referendum," said Carme Forcadell, head of the Catalan National Assembly, the biggest pro-independence group.

The recent surge in the polls in favor of independence for Scotland is buoying Catalan separatists. They also have taken note of the British government's last-minute promise of new powers for Scotland in areas including taxes, spending and welfare if it votes to remain in the U.K.

Mr. Rajoy hasn't offered any inducements and many people in the rest of Spain are calling on him to dig in his heels. Catalan nationalism represents "the gravest threat Spain has faced in 30 years," said Arcadi Espada, a journalist who co-founded an anti-independence organization.

Catalan separatists say Madrid doesn't respect their language and culture, or give them a fair return on their taxes. The Madrid government says Catalonia already has more autonomy than most other regions in Spain, and that its political class just needs to put its house in order.

Besides Catalonia and Scotland, there is a long separatist tradition in Spain's Basque Country. The Basque movement has cooled, however, since its armed wing, ETA, agreed to lay down arms in 2011.

In Belgium, the separatist N-VA party, representing wealthier, Dutch-speaking Flanders, saw its support rise in elections in May.

People hold placards with the colors of the Catalan flag as they take part in a demonstration Tuesday in Bilbao in support of a Catalan vote on independence. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Catalonia had long been home to a small nucleus of separatists focused on preserving the region's linguistic and cultural identity. But with Spain's six-year economic slump, along with corruption scandals rocking the governing party and royal family, the share of the population supporting independence has about tripled to 45% since 2007, according to the Catalan government's Center for Opinion Studies. Other polls show less support for independence if Spain were to cede Catalans more control over their affairs.

"Independence offers something that nobody gives today—the building of a different future," Catalan philosopher Josep Ramoneda wrote. Independence, he added, "has the attraction of a project that is positive and bold."

Taking up the separatist banner are out-of-work people seeking a second chance, as well as credit-starved small-business owners incensed by government bailouts of failing banks. A passel of internationally renowned Catalan academics are backing a break with Spain. There are independence groups composed of regional mayors and others formed by migrants to Catalonia from other parts of Spain.

Moving more slowly to embrace secession was Catalonia's governing Convergence and Union political coalition. It came out for a split with Spain only after being jolted by a demonstration of one million people on the Sept. 11 holiday in 2012.

For unionists, the independence movement seems like a mass delusion.

"It's all wishful thinking—There will be no more unemployment, we'll live longer, we'll be taller, blonder," said Andrea Levy, a leader of Mr. Rajoy's Popular Party in Catalonia.

She said the optimistic discourse sidesteps glaring questions about an independent Catalonia's relationship with the European Union, which says newly independent states would have to reapply for admission, as well as issues such as whether Catalonia could continue to use the euro.

Ms. Levy says the independence campaign is aimed at diverting attention from a flurry of corruption scandals involving Convergence and Union. Spain has lately been abuzz about an iconic Catalan nationalist leader, Jordi Pujol, who admitted to evading taxes for three decades by failing to declare an inheritance.

Mr. Rajoy's Popular Party also played a significant, if inadvertent, role in stoking independence sentiment during a bruising battle over revising Catalonia's governing statute, which outlines the region's rights and responsibilities.

The statute had been approved by the Catalan and Spanish parliaments, and by Catalan voters, in 2006. But the Popular Party, then in opposition in Madrid, argued that the revisions went too far in conferring rights to Catalonia and sued. The Constitutional Court struck down key provisions in 2010.

In response, a group called Omnium Cultural, which promotes the Catalan language, convoked a protest. Hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Barcelona. One of them was the 49-year-old Mr. Pous, who hadn't favored independence until then.

The independence movement, he said, "is difficult to combat. It isn't one person or one organization, but thousands of people in dozens of organizations."

Some of those are among the jobless masses. Ferran Civit, a young, unemployed journalist, pulled off a logistical feat last year on Sept. 11 by organizing a 249-mile human chain. Another unemployed journalist, Anna Aroca, launched Help Catalonia, a website that translates articles about Catalonia into five languages.

Write to Matt Moffett at matthew.moffett@wsj.com