The difference between Catalonia and Scotland

I couldn't agree more with those who claim that the case of Scotland bears no comparison to Catalonia's. Specifically, there is a difference between the UK and Spain and, to be more precise, between the Treaty of Union (1707) and Spain's Decretos de Nueva Planta --the Nueva Planta decrees (1) of 1716. As the name suggests, the United Kingdom is a union of kingdoms that --under England's leadership-- has always recognised its internal diversity. In contrast, the Spanish project is a failed attempt to erase the history of the various kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula and to forge a common entity, in the mould of Castile but with universal pretensions. This attempt quickly went off the rails with Portugal's independence in 1640.

From this point onwards, it's all different. If Scotland becomes an independent country, the English will still be English, because the notion of britishness is a legal and political one. However, spanishness incorporates a strong element of identity, strengthened by the providential role of Spanish as a common language. This means that, nowadays, Spaniards cannot picture their own identity without Catalonia and the Basque Country, which to them aren't entities in their own right. Unlike the English, Castilians laid the groundwork for the present conflict the day when they decided to commit national suicide in order to homogenise the idea of Spain. That's why in Scotland the referendum isn't such a big drama: Scotland will still be recognised as a nation after September 18, regardless. And that's why so much more is at stake in Catalonia on November 9.

__________________

(1) N.T. The Nueva Planta decrees by Philip V—the first Bourbon king of Spain— suppressed the institutions and laws of Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands, embedding these regions in a new and nearly uniformly administered, centralized Spain.