Catalans today will express their collective vision for Catalonia's political future. Voters will indicate whether they believe Catalonia should become an independent state, whether it should become a state within an ostensibly federated Spain, or whether they prefer the political status quo as a regional government short of federation.
This is not nearly as straightforward as it sounds. If you think for instance that the mechanics of Sunday's vote will resemble Scotland's September referendum, you would be wrong. Scots were presented with the choice of independent statehood. Catalonia's vote is non-binding, and voting booths will be manned by some 40,000 volunteers. Spain's central government has denied Catalonian access to the official census, so the voter roll will be created on the day itself - a makeshift process inspired by Election Day voter registration procedures used in several U.S. states.
Importantly, and also different from Scotland, the non-traditional procedures for Sunday's process were created not by choice, but out of necessity. Why? Because Catalans have been told that they cannot formally express their opinion on the issue - the Spanish government claims that the Constitution forbids it. Their collective civic expression as part of a formally organized, non-binding referendum has been deemed illegal in Madrid. Citing freedom of expression, millions of Catalans will participate anyway, via a less formal, participatory process, to make their voices heard. But how did it come to this?
Like Quebec in Canada, or Scotland in the United Kingdom, Catalonia is a proud nation situated within a larger state. It has a history, culture and institutions that are all its own. The Usages of Barcelona, a set of rights and responsibilities developed in medieval Catalonia, predates even Britain's Magna Carta. The Usages gave form to institutions of governance that were well ahead of their time. Located in the northwest Mediterranean, Catalonia has a history as a trading nation and a melting pot. Its institutions reflect that tradition and have historically emphasized the universal values of peace, social justice and freedom, with a strong focus on self-government as the guarantor of those traditions. (See late cellist Pau Casals' speech at the United Nations for a brief but moving comment on that history.)
That self-government is under threat. The tools indispensable to its exercise are being gradually blunted by Madrid's drive for centralization. It is important to note that Catalonia, while legally defined as an autonomous community in Spain, lacks some of the basic tools of self-government that an American state or Canadian province enjoy. Spain is not a federal state, and there is no concept of dual sovereignty similar to that exercised in other federations. The Catalan government has limited tax-raising authority and limited control over key local infrastructure such as Barcelona's port and airport. Industrial policy is similarly handcuffed by central control. Ditto for the university system. Now even nominally decentralized policy portfolios such as health and education are subject to increasing regulation and a steady stream of central directives, the sum of them intended to return Spain to a homogenized and centralized state that tolerates neither economic nor cultural diversity.
The 2006 Catalan Statute of Autonomy was meant to address Catalonia's self-government deficit. The statute was approved by the Catalan parliament, the Spanish Congress, and an overwhelming majority of voters in a Catalonian referendum. Catalan leaders meticulously followed the rules, negotiating in good faith for a number of years and granting important concessions along the way to achieve a historic consensus agreement. But in 2010 Spain's Constitutional Court gutted many of the negotiated competencies. For Catalans, this was a humiliating setback, and it catalyzed the process that culminates now with Sunday's gathering.
The Catalan government and Catalan citizens protested vociferously against the Constitutional Court decision. Arguing that Catalans have the right to determine their own political future, a million people crowded the streets of Barcelona shortly after the decision was made public. There have been three subsequent million-person marches, all to no avail. The Catalan government tried to negotiate another, humbler arrangement with the Spanish government - a deal on fiscal autonomy. It was rejected. It then attempted to negotiate an agreement on the ground rules for a self-determination referendum, similar to the Edinburgh Accord signed by David Cameron and Alex Salmond. Again Madrid refused. Since 2010, the Catalan government and its citizens have received two answers to every one of their requests: The first answer has been "no." The second, silence.
Catalans, left with few choices, will express their opinion on Sunday via a volunteer-led participatory process, and their message will be loud and clear. Catalans have a voice on their political future, and as citizens they have a right to express it. The government has a duty to respect, listen, and respond to that voice.
