I'm sorry, I'm probably a little late for the conversation.
As far as I can understand, one of the central themes of this discussion is to establish the degree or proportion of genuineness of pro-independence protests. Clearly this is not an easy task.
In my opinion, in the absence of the ability to read people's minds and/or lack the virtue of clairvoyance, we can only speculate based on the recognition of patterns and our ability to connect information.
What patterns can we recognize that make us think of a manufactured protest?
To be honest, I don't find any significant. I had the opportunity to witness firsthand a protest with a good degree of spontaneity in my country in 2001, where millions of people in different parts of the country took to the streets to beat pots and pans demanding that the president resign. There was no violence, there was no looting, and the slogan was practically a single one, "Everyone get out!" (referring to the political class). I don't see anything in the protests in Catalonia that makes me think of anything like this.
I think this is no small matter. Spain is (perhaps along with Hispanic America) the last bastion of Catholicism (albeit in symbolic terms) and possibly at this point the only reservoir of the values of early Christianity. IMHO the fall of the Spanish Empire meant the substitution of these spiritually valuable legacy by a pragmatic moral, empty and based on material progress. The destruction of Spain is perhaps the last (maybe at a symbolic level too) step in stripping the human race of that divine connection that makes possible, at least in potential terms, the development of human consciousness.
As far as I can understand, one of the central themes of this discussion is to establish the degree or proportion of genuineness of pro-independence protests. Clearly this is not an easy task.
In my opinion, in the absence of the ability to read people's minds and/or lack the virtue of clairvoyance, we can only speculate based on the recognition of patterns and our ability to connect information.
What patterns can we recognize that make us think of a manufactured protest?
- The participation of Soros and its foundations: it seems a difficult task to prove through Internet searches whether this participation is materially significant or not; it is also not difficult to imagine that guys such as Soros have the capacity to finance various causes in a furtive or hidden way. Now many of us ask ourselves, why would he do it? Personally, I think it would seem silly to believe that Soros is the little eye at the top of the pyramid of the $1 bill. IMHO Soros is probably just looking to earn a lot of money to increase his power and consequently be in a position to earn a lot more money and then increase his power again... and etc. What motivates him? God knows! The important thing for me is that his presence alone sets off the first alarm.
- The absence of a primary and massively accepted cause as the basis for the claim of independence: we see people demanding independence for a matter of regional/cultural pride, we see others demanding it for the fascism of the Spanish government, others find the penalty imposed on Catalan leaders unfair, and others want Spain to stop draining the pockets of the Catalans,... I imagine there must be at least half a dozen more reasons. Normally a spontaneous protest arises from a defined detonator and the slogans that they enunciate in the streets (at least at the beginning) tend to be uniform and cohesive. As far as I can see, this is not the case in the protests in Catalonia. It is true that the sentence to the Catalan leaders was the trigger, but after that event, at least for me, there is no main cause that unites all Catalans.
In general, when I see a handful of largely unrelated causes that are all channelled under the same flag, I tend to suspect that someone/something behind is manipulating all these wills. Did the seed of separatism exist in all these people before? Well, possibly yes, but that seed might never have sprouted if a certain favourable "environment" had not been generated for this to happen. What is the probability that the favourable environment will be generated naturally for ONE seed to bloom? I would say it is reasonably high. What is the probability that several different favorable environments are naturally generated for 3,4...or N different seeds to flower at the same time? I would encourage myself to say that it is quite low. - The outbreaks of violence (perhaps provoked by a small group of people) that then trigger police repression and the consequent victimization of Protestants. We have seen this modus operandi too many times not to recognize it. Cutting streets, closing airports, destroying public space, normally forces the police to go out and repress; it is a maneuver almost as stupid as it is perfect, and 99% of the time it works.
To be honest, I don't find any significant. I had the opportunity to witness firsthand a protest with a good degree of spontaneity in my country in 2001, where millions of people in different parts of the country took to the streets to beat pots and pans demanding that the president resign. There was no violence, there was no looting, and the slogan was practically a single one, "Everyone get out!" (referring to the political class). I don't see anything in the protests in Catalonia that makes me think of anything like this.
I think this is no small matter. Spain is (perhaps along with Hispanic America) the last bastion of Catholicism (albeit in symbolic terms) and possibly at this point the only reservoir of the values of early Christianity. IMHO the fall of the Spanish Empire meant the substitution of these spiritually valuable legacy by a pragmatic moral, empty and based on material progress. The destruction of Spain is perhaps the last (maybe at a symbolic level too) step in stripping the human race of that divine connection that makes possible, at least in potential terms, the development of human consciousness.
