The independence of Catalonia: jumping on a bandwagon

On 11 September 2013 hundreds of thousands of people formed a human chain to demand the secession of Catalonia from Spain. This well organised and largely peaceful display of patriotic fervour coincided with celebration of Catalonia’s national day, Diada, and aimed to return the attention of the international media to the issue of Catalan independence. “Mission accomplished” claimed the organisers and sponsors of the event, including the Catalan regional government Generalitat. They describe Catalonia’s independence process as an accelerating train that will not stop until it reaches the inevitable final stop of independence. Nationalist political leaders and commentators have already warned (the rest of) Spain to clear the path and not to interfere or a crash of trains is to take place. The latest opinion polls and mass mobilisations suggest that many Catalans have taken their estelada flag and jumped onto the train with the hope of leaving Spain and the economic crisis behind. However the final destination may not match the idyllic depiction passengers were given before the trip. Worse even, there are great (and increasing) risks of derailment of the train to independence.