February 5: trial against the separatists begins
* The right to secession is recognized internationally only under certain conditions, essentially colonial, military-occupied territories and areas where people and civil rights are not recognized. The UN secretary in 2015 explained amongst many other things that „Catalonia does not belong to an area without self-determination and does not have the right to self-determination“. [1]
* Even in European constitutions, there is no right to secession. Thus, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled in a constitutional complaint in 2017: „For secessionist aspirations of individual states, there is no room under the basic law. Therefore they violate the constitutional order.“[2]
* The separatists themselves will not allow any secession in Catalonia. They react almost hysterically to corresponding announcements of the Tabarnians (Barcelona and Tarragona) to split off from Catalonia, should Catalonia break away from Spain.
* In this respect, the defendants were guilty of seeking an unauthorized secession. To what extent this attempt is punishable does not seem to me to be important - just think of the ridiculous back and forth of Puigdemont in explaining / not declaring independence.
* It seems more important to me that the defendants obviously acted in accordance with a minority albeit a large minority in Catalonia. It looks like, this big minority shall be sued.
* If the Spanish judiciary is now strictly applying the law against the separatist leaders, why did they not intervene when the separatists themselves systematically disregarded even Catalan laws? The constitution stipulates that Catalonia has three official languages. These laws have been constantly broken by the application of the Inmersion (Lessons ony in Catalan, not in Spanish) in the educational centers/schools.
In schools the kids are systematically indoctrinated by having to use school books that have falsified/rewritten history to promote separatism. Why was nothing done there?
* Would it not be better if the Spanish government finally enforced the Catalan law in Catalonia together with the Spanish speaking majority and dismissed the lawsuit against the separatists? The separatists are just waiting to portray themselves as victims and martyrs again.
* How far will the miserable cries of these „martyrs“ detract us from the real problems of Catalonia and Spain, just as the Brexit debates are distracting from the real problems in the EU and Britain?
[1] http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20151030/54438498099/ban-ki-moon-catalunya-derecho-autodeterminacion.html
[2] https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2016/12/rk20161216_2bvr034916.html
to an area... and does not have