I grew up in a state where residents frequently petition for secession, or at least every time a Democrat is elected president. Texas accommodates groups like the Texas Nationalist Movement, hashtags advocating #Texit, and White House petitions that garner over 125,000 signatures. Most recently, a special committee of the Texas Republican Party came two votes shy of forcing a floor vote on secession at the state GOP convention. While the movement for Texas independence commands an impressive amount of commitment and resilience, it pales in comparison to the strength and popularity of such movements in Spain.
Historically, the most important and controversial independence movement in Spain centers around the Basque Country. Geographically located in the northeast of Spain, this region borders France and boasts the highest per capita income in the country. The Basque Country also claims a distinct culture, most commonly manifested in the regional language of Euskera. On a visit to San Sebastián, a resort town on the Bay of Biscay, I noticed that every sign was first and foremost written in Euskera. In fact, the city itself goes by a different name to locals: Donostia.
When I told my host mom I was going to San Sebastián, we started talking about Eusakadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), the violent Basque separatist group that existed up until 2011. As a 40-something Madrileña, she remembers when the biggest security threat in Spain was not international terrorism but local acts of terror. Since 1968, ETA has been held responsible for killing 829 people and injuring thousands more. For more than 40 years, Spain suffered through constant instances of kidnappings, assassinations, and failed ceasefires. Since the ceasefire, Basque efforts to secede have come in a more peaceful, political form.
Currently, the other significant national independence movement arises from the autonomous community of Catalonia. This historic territory is located in northeastern Spain, bordered by France, Andorra, and the Mediterranean Sea. The political movement for autonomy began in 1922 and turned into demands for independence in 2006, spurred on with referendums and popular protests.
Like in the Basque Country, the region of Catalonia has its own language, Catalan, that appears on every local sign and menu. When I traveled to Barcelona last month, I discovered that many of the apartments and stores display the Estelada, a nationalist flag used to express support for an independent Catalonia. While we were outside City Hall celebrating Barcelona’s patron saint day, a few men draped a huge sign over the side of a building with libertad (freedom) and the Estelada emblazoned on it. Even the motto of fútbol team FC Barcelona is a symbol of regional pride and identity: “Mes que un club” (more than a club).
In 2014, Catalonia held a self-governing referendum, and over 80 percent of the cast votes supported the “Yes-Yes” option to being a free, independent state. Although these votes only represented a 40 percent turnout of the Catalan population, that signifies that more than 1,800,000 people approved the referendum on independence. The renewed strength of the Basque and Catalan independence movements is relatively recent. Under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, regional differences in Spain were suppressed. Communities were not allowed to speak languages other than Castilian Spanish, nor participate in regional customs. While separatist sentiment existed in the Basque Country and Catalonia before Franco, the organized movements have had to regroup since his death in 1975. According to my host dad, the strength of the movements is recent and lies primarily with the Spanish youth.
My host parents have lived their whole lives in Madrid, and like many people here they have a strong dislike for the separatist movements. The city-dwelling Madrileños regard the pro-independence political cause as a waste of time. The regional drive for independence stands in stark contrast to the national government’s efforts to move closer to a more unified Spain and European Union.
Back in my home state, a recent poll found that 61 percent of Texas Trump voters want to secede if Hillary Clinton wins the White House. However, when the entire state is surveyed, only 29 percent support secession. The advocates for a theoretical Republic of Texas lack the widespread support for independence that the Basque and Catalan regions of Spain enjoy. With the current trend, it is possible that in a few decades there could be a new country on the European continent.
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