Perverse psychological mechanisms

It is worth noting that the causes of these negative effects do not originate solely in the present. Some of them go back decades and others are centuries- old. Even more reason to remind everyone, especially the Catalans, that they should be the first to know their history. Recent history and distant history. It is true that major political –revolutionary– actions have sometimes succeeded in breaking the dynamic or the inertia of history, transforming established order into something different. But if one is to disrupt long-established currents of history, one also has to understand them. And one’s own circumstances: one’s own power, the mood and willingness of the people, also need to be known. And it is also necessary to know one’s opponent or interlocutor.

Rushing headstrong into certain types of adventures without previous consideration of all this is a reckless enterprise that a country’s leaders can ill afford. Neither in the name of the country itself nor in the name of history.

This is precisely what has happened in Catalonia.

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I repeat: the definitive outcome is still uncertain, yet some aspects are already inevitable. Aspects that will have to be offset, although we must be aware henceforth that it will be difficult. Because on the one hand they began long ago, and on the other Catalonia’s spiritual force and collective morale, as well as her political influence are in crisis.

A number of perverse psychological mechanisms have been activated. From our side, we have behaved petulantly, sometimes naïve, other times aggressive and smug, but neither of the two very smart. Petulance comes at a price, because it offends and provokes, and benefits no one.

Petulance is a defect that occasionally arises in certain Catalan circles. And it quickly leads to discouragement, depression and confusion. To a lowering of self-esteem. This is what is happening now in some sectors, which pass it on to all the others. And we must guard against this cyclical illness, which starts with conceitedness and ends in discouragement.

Outside Catalonia there are also perverse psychological mechanisms. They are fuelled by pride, sometimes wounded pride and other times exuberant pride –that is, also petulant and conceited, and resentful. Let us pause to consider resentment.

In some parts of Spain a feeling of resentment has been stirred up against Catalonia. Not merely hostility or animosity, but resentment. In the past, the economic and social advances achieved by Catalonia, in addition to the differential fact that the Catalans have defended – and the inevitable dose of self-satisfaction that exists in such cases, here and everywhere–, added to the political and moral crisis and the lack of self-esteem that the rest of Spain was experiencing, inadequately offset by an elemental feeling of pride, has given rise to resentment. And envy.

These negative feelings can be overcome, or even made positive. In Spain, this has happened to some extent. This is the positive side of no discrimination, or no less than they –they being the Catalans–, which have become a universal Spanish catchphrase. I say again, this could and does have positive aspects: emulation, the competitive spirit of the autonomies, the harnessing of human resources, the strengthening of the spirit of initiative. But it can equally have negative aspects, and it has them. That is why the anti-Catalan flame can so easily be ignited. There is a feeling of envy and resentment that is like tinder; it is highly inflammable.

Proof of it is the reaction provoked on the occasion of the debate over the Statute. Or the persistent accusation of a lack of solidarity when Catalonia – both in economic and political terms – has played a key and highly positive role in building Spain throughout the twentieth century, and above all during the last thirty years.

It is time for the responsible people both in Catalonia and in Spain to act, and to act decisively. In Catalonia, we can feel proud of what we have achieved as a collective during the twentieth century, in questions such as defending the identity of a country, forging a society, driving an economy, boosting social progress, promoting internal cohabitation, protecting ourselves constructively beyond ourselves, especially in the Spanish arena. And Spain can take pride in having accomplished extraordinary change in all respects over the last decades. And in having become a leading economic player. It would appear, therefore, that all the conditions for a good dialogue and good collaboration exist. But this is not happening now. On the Catalan side, the latest episodes of dim-witted belligerence and ignorance regarding the Spanish reality, combined with a lack of tact in political and sentimental dealings with the rest of Spain have been entirely negative. Just as has been the inability or refusal by a part of the Spanish state to contemplate the reality of Catalonia and her aspirations if not with understanding, at least with objectivity. And to refuse to recognise her contributions in economic and political solidarity.

Not long ago, Antonio Garrigues expressed the situation in these terms in a lecture at the Universidad Carlos III. And someone praised the exceptionality of such a speech. It is urgent that opinions like this should no longer be exceptional.