The question is not "who is Catalan" administratively, which is well reflected in the Statute (which we did not vote for, but which is in force): officially, they are "Spanish citizens who have administrative residence in Catalonia". Then come the less administrative definitions. The most famous one, formulated by President Pujol: "A Catalan is anyone who lives and works in Catalonia... and wants to be". This definition (valid for me) bypasses the requirement to go to the police station and to know what is on your ID card, which, on the other hand, is the official criterion. This last criterion is sufficient, however, to make the water crystal clear: if this were the case, Mariano Rajoy would not have come out to question the Frenchness of French players or José María Aznar would not refer to "a national majority" to refer to parties like PP, PSOE or Vox (excluding the rest, who would not be "national"). The administrative definition, therefore, does not end the debate but begins it. Perhaps it is sufficient for mentalities that are in favor of maximum openness, multiculturalism, and minimal identity differentiation, for whom the paper should be enough and even obtaining it should be very easy. And I must admit that the law, in effect, is the space of greatest objectivity: if the Statute says this, this is gospel. The problem is that for many years we have not gone to mass, that God's law has many buts, and that even gravity we should talk about. Laws change, in theory, according to parliaments. And, secondly, laws do not always tell the truth and even less so the whole truth. If that were the case, Catalonia is not a nation. A concept that the immense majority of Catalans identify as true, but which, legally, is not recognized anywhere. Like Galileo's theories in his time, indeed.
Are there degrees of Catalan identity? Of Spanish identity? Of English identity? I would say that we all know there are: to begin with, a newcomer not yet familiar with society and customs would approach the minimum level, while the famous "eight surnames" could be identified with the maximum level (without this necessarily entailing privileges or discrimination). The degrees are there, and hence the debate, and hence the problem: my degree of Spanish identity, for example, perfectly resembles that of an immigrant who has just arrived in a community and has obtained the paperwork, but who neither feels, nor recognizes, nor wants to feel identified with the flag that the document of supposed "identity" states. To make ourselves understood, I am a woman trapped in a man's body, but despite this anomaly (which I may or may not resolve), I am a citizen. And this is the point: to what extent do we uncouple the condition of citizen, completely or partially, from affiliation. From the feeling, from Pujol's "and wants to be it." If I played for the Spanish national team, for example, I would be like those French national team players who didn't sing the anthem... oh, sorry, there isn't any player in the Spanish national team who sings it either. Nobody is unaware that, as an independentist (that is, as a Spanish citizen of a degree close to zero), I have fewer rights than other Spanish citizens. I have a much higher risk of persecution, espionage, inspection, discretionary accusation, etcetera. And less possibility of applying my political program, even if it wins. It doesn't matter, that's what emancipations are for: the fact is that this matter of equality of citizens' rights is so relative that it becomes false. We independentists, not immigrants, are living proof that having a nationality does not confer the same rights but a diverse and select gradation in their application. It is not the caliphate that threatens my rights as a citizen, or simply as a person: it is the “national majority”, and has been for more than 300 years. This is why Catalonia must be exemplary in the recognition of rights. It should have a voice and vote in the capacity to absorb immigration, and in setting the conditions for integration, yes, but then it must be perfect and immaculate in recognizing the rights of citizens. Whether people feel more from here, or less, depends in large part on how respected they feel (obligations aside, as I have already said). Gradations of nationality exist, and of course they do, but they serve to do sociology and politics. Even to make policies. On the other hand, with rights, please, let's not play.
