argia.eus
INPRIMATU
What is independence like?
Karmelo Landa @karmelolanda 2024ko urtarrilaren 31

The independence of Euskal Herria and Catalonia is the object of study abroad. The University of Nevada, in Reno, USA, has just published an important book Pro-independence movements in the Basque Country and Catalunya, under the responsibility of three experts: Xabier Irujo, Queralt Solé and Antoni Segura. It brings together the work of thirteen teachers and researchers to explore the path to independence of the two aforementioned nations and to propose comparisons with cases from other nations such as Scotland, Quebec, Flanders or Greenland. The possibilities of independence are analysed in depth and, when the possibilities are measured in the conclusions, there are some that appear to be certain: “The creation of Basque, Catalan and Scottish republics in Europe is inevitable, it is a matter of time.”

Such an optimistic approach contrasts with the analyses and assessments coming from elsewhere. The official sociological studies of opinion, both at the state and autonomous levels, repeat over and over again that, after the experiences of the last decades, both in Catalonia and in the Basque Country, the desire for independence is declining among the citizens. Having heard this, the Spanish President-in-Office exalts the virtues of his negotiating and inclusive policy.

The arguments of the dominant States and their servers do not convince us, but they do accuse a large group of subordinate citizens.

These studies of the current State and the related entities are not reliable, as they make very interested readings. The research and results offered in this book are much closer to reality, even to the possibilities of the future. First, they do not cheat on the premises of the object of study or on the main arguments. For example, they say that independence cannot be a unilateral decision, but book experts demonstrate that the formation of these imposing states was unilateral and imposed by violence in all cases. In Scotland from 1707, in Catalonia from 1707-1716, and from 1789 in Iparralde and after 1833 in Hego Euskal Herria. Consequently, the liberation of these oppressive states and the constitution of a state of its own is logically a unilateral decision. According to the Declaration of Independence of EE.UU. in 1776, “when it is necessary to undo the political ropes that have united one people with another, nations have the right to freedom.”

The arguments of the dominant States and their servers do not convince us, but they do stimulate, counteract, make a large number of dependent citizens. That is what happens to us, unfortunately. Not only those on the street, but also politicians, university professors, communicators, researchers, opinion leaders, etc., are softened, molded, added to these dictates of the authorities, say mothers and assume official lies.

Not for nothing, in the United States, the most credible studies about our independence are published. Not few local experts and politicians “said independence but now I say coexistence”, or when we hear “I defended the state but now better the new status”. Remember that what happened in the Gernika bombing also had to be clarified by good historians abroad, while the locals, including some from Gernika, said that there were “a few dead”, or that it was “the German Nazis”.

We have to bring independence. How? Attend to reliable experts and follow our being, our personality and our heart.