Mikkel Høgh

Coding the web since 1999

10 Nov 2014

Catalonian independence

First, congratulations to the people of Catalonia, on their referendum yesterday. The right to political freedom is essential in any non-tyrannical society, and I find it very instructive to see how the central government of Spain is trying to deny the people of Catalonia that freedom.

The message could not be more clear. The plebs are allowed to vote on which politicians gets to lord over them from afar, and through the EU, also allowed to vote for giving more power to politicians in other countries.

They are always allowed to vote for more power to politicians. But the reverse is not at all the case. Not at all.

The plebs are generally not allowed to vote for more self-determination and less centralisation. And in the few instances they are, they’re only allowed to do so after months of intense propaganda designed to scare them into voting for the status quo. And usually, that propaganda is funded by taxes, paid by the very same people.

Rationally, it is of course not in the interests of politicians to have their power taken away, so the reason for the pushback is obvious. They don’t want anyone to apply the brakes on their gravy train.

So what happens now? Will the Spanish government get away with ignoring the legitimate demands of the people in Catalonia? I hope not. Crossing my fingers for freedom.