Thank you sharing for some thoughtful comments again, David Cearley.

“The situation and the responses by non-Catalan Spanish people offers some striking similarities to racial tensions and protests here in the US, and every one of our exchanges has brought up additional parallels. […] I see the same kind of talking past each other, the same language coding, the discounting of emotions, defense of the police, claims that their anger is baseless, and delegitimization of the protesters at every turn.”

I’m still unconvinced that there’s much in common between the conflict in Catalonia and racial tensions in the US. To me, what you describe (“talking past each other”, “the discounting of emotions”, etc) applies to so many social conflicts or political clashes… it’s not very meaningful in itself. I think we could find many of those ingredients in very different types of conflicts, from The Troubles in Ireland to The Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong. But you may be right.

“Based on a few Google searches, Catalonian culture, and place, appears to be very long and rich, and well documented history. They even have their own language.”

What constitutes “a people”, and how much of a “distinctive” history, and for how long, makes “a people”, is terribly subjective. Within Spain, it would be fair to say that Andalusia has a rich and unique History, too. Same about other regions, like the Canary Islands, Galicia, etc. Some of those territories were “independent” to some degree at some point in History. In Spain there are four official languages, plus a handful of unofficial ones. Italy has more than 30 living languages (it has more languages than official regions). In the world there are ~1,353 living languages spoken by 100,000 people or more. In many corners of the world, it’s easy to collect enough traditional songs and dresses, and local dishes and legends to make up a “nation”. Languages and dialects abound, too.

“Half the citizens of a state don’t show up to vote on a referendum unless they honestly believe the state has done a poor job of representing their interests.”

I agree. That’s what happened on 1 October. The institution which organised and called the “referendum” was not the Spanish government, but the Catalan government alone. Half of the Catalans believe exactly what you said: that their government does not represent their interests. That’s why they boycotted the event.

“Can you tell us WHY they feel that way?”

I am no expert, but in my article I tried to hint at some reasons why all this is happening. Diversion tactics from the separatists to distract public opinion from their own corruption and fuck-ups. The desire of incompetent politicians to strengthen their power in an independent country. A desperate attempt at invalidating Spanish justice, which is prosecuting them and their predecessors and mentors. A lot of publicly-funded manipulation and Historic whitewashing in media organisations and public education for a couple of decades. Remnant hatred, originating back from the Spanish Civil War and up to the Democratic transition during the late ’70s and early ‘80s. Marxist propaganda and Fascist nostalgia, polarising society in a vicious circle. Old complexes between regions in Spain (industrialists vs. peasants, Europeans vs. localists, those who developed industries during the dictatorship and those who provided illiterate migrants to work the factories). A great deal of political Manichaeism, simplistic answers, populism. Anti-liberal policies entrenched in the public governments in the last years.

“Worse, the EUs support of the Spanish government is delegitimizing that organization as well. The impact will ripple across Europe. […] I’m sure the Basque separatists are watching all this closely as well.”

That’s part of the problem: setting a (wrong) precedent. Yes, the Basque Country could be next. As you say, Europe, which faces similar issues in many places, is watching closely. We risk splitting up successful democracies in smaller territories. And Europe is weak enough as it is now. Secession may be the right move in some cases/regions, of course — but not everywhere and by default. Catalonia starting a domino effect could lead to some disastrous decisions that are very difficult to recover from.