For 300 years we have been wary of the Catalans, fearing that they would
become powerful enough to leave us. That has made us treat them like a bonsai
(a miniature Japanese tree) smothering them with wires (without being noticed)
to grow little and under control, in a small pot with drip water. We grant them
powers, but only the most necessary ones and in any case, we keep control of
all the functions (e.g. education in Germany is run by the "Länder",
not by the central Ministry as happens here). We give them money, but just
enough to make sure they are always in debt and dependent. We give them
infrastructures, but late and always somewhat less than agreed. We give, yes.
But little, because we are suspicious that the bonsai might slip through our
hands. The truth is, we do not really understand why the ungrateful oak wants
to stop being a bonsai, when it fits so well on our shelf. But stubbornly, they
dream of becoming a tree. And as we can now see that the wires are not enough, now
we show them our axe, made of our sharpened Laws.
After
the 9-N vote, the Catalan Public Prosecutor is
under the pressure of the Spanish government and the State Prosecutor to
take legal action against the president of the Catalan government, Artur Mas,
his vicepresident, Joana Ortega and the minister of Education, Irene Rigaud,
for alleged
prevarication and misappropriation of functions, disobedience and obstruction
of duty. Their crime is to have made it possible for more
than two million European citizens to express their opinion about Catalonia's
political future as a people in a public poll on November 9th, in accordance
with basic rights of all people and peoples enshrined in the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Krystyna Schreiber
Barcelona, 20th November, 2014
Another interesting article by Krystyna:
English and German:
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