Spain is losing the moral level of war in Catalonia. Badly. The Spanish can cry “the vote is illegal” all they like, but the Spanish government can no longer pretend to have democratic legitimacy in Catalonia or to be anything but an imperialist state governing an unwilling people by force. The vote is no longer even necessary at this point; world opinion is actively turning against Spain. Had Spain encouraged the vote and offered incentives for a No vote, it might well have won. But by fighting against it and resorting to violence – even well-restrained violence of the sort it has utilized thus far – it has significantly increased the likelihood that Catalans will vote for independence.
AP BREAKING: Catalonia referendum: Spanish police fire rubber projectiles at protesters outside Barcelona voting center.
The Catalan regional government may well be a collection of economically ignorant fools. Democracy and rule by the will of the people may well be an illusion. But people have the right to be fools and billions of people believe in the idea that the reason their governments are legitimate is due to their foundation of democracy. A government punctures that illusion at its own risk. Remember, “the law” does not actually exist in any material sense. It is merely a collective agreement, which ceases to exist when a sufficient number of people unilaterally withdraw from it.
