Catalans Campaigning for Independence March in Barcelona
By RAPHAEL MINDER

BARCELONA, Spain — More than half a million pro-independence Catalans on Friday took over one of Barcelona’s main avenues, as their separatist leaders began their latest attempt to break loose from Spain.

The march was held on Catalonia’s national day, but it was also the start of campaigning for a regional parliamentary election on Sept. 27 that Catalonia’s main separatist parties are presenting as a de facto vote on independence after agreeing to run as a joint list of candidates.

Speaking here on Friday ahead of the march, Artur Mas, the Catalan leader, said the election was a make-or-break chance for Catalonia to become a new European state. He called on the Madrid government to grant Catalonia the right to secede if separatist parties secure a parliamentary majority.

“We cannot lose this opportunity,” Mr. Mas said during a joint news conference with the other main separatist leaders. “When you take a risk, you can win or you can lose, but if we accept the defeat, we also ask that others accept the victory.”

The Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, however, insists that a parliamentary election cannot be equated with an independence referendum that Spain’s judiciary declared invalid last year. Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party recently introduced an overhaul of the Constitutional Court that would give the court greater powers to suspend from office Mr. Mas and other Catalan officials found to be infringing the Constitution.

Under the Spanish system of proportional representation, separatists could win the most seats without having an absolute majority of votes.

Friday’s kickoff of the election campaign puts the difficult issue of Catalan independence back at the top of the national political agenda, two months before a national election.

For the past four years, Catalans have turned their national day into a separatist show of force, converging on Barcelona from smaller towns across the whole region. The standoff between Mr. Rajoy and Mr. Mas started in 2012 as a dispute over the tax contribution that wealthy Catalonia should make to poorer regions of Spain. Mr. Mas then turned his frustrated demand for fiscal concessions into a full-fledged drive for independence.

“I wasn’t asking for independence five years ago, but I’ve come to the conclusion that our situation with Spain can’t improve any other way,” said Esther Puig, the owner of a small cosmetics company, who traveled about 20 miles to Barcelona to join the march.

The protesters formed a giant arrow, to symbolize the direction that Catalonia is taking toward nationhood. “I want to defend my rights, and that includes the right to decide to become a state,” said Jacqueline Tomàs.

If Catalan separatists win a parliamentary majority, they then plan to form a transitional government and set up the tax agency, central bank and other structures required for Catalonia to operate as a new European state within 18 months.

“We’re not asking for the moon. We’re simply asking for what others have,” Mr. Mas said.

Still, even with an election win, a secessionist government would then also have to convince Brussels and other European nations that Catalonia can join the European Union — even without Madrid’s approval. During a recent visit to Madrid, David Cameron, the British prime minister, suggested that Catalonia would have to reapply for European Union membership, joining the end of a list of existing candidates.

Despite such stumbling blocks, Mr. Mas suggested that the European Union would seek to accommodate Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people that represents 16 percent of Spain’s population and has attracted investments from over 5,000 multinationals, most of them European. “We know Europe will do its best to let us be where we want to be, in the European Union and the eurozone,” Mr. Mas said.

加泰隆尼亞爭獨立 百萬人塞爆西班牙街頭

西班牙加泰隆尼亞自治區十一日在首府巴塞隆納舉行大規模遊行，爭取脫離西班牙獨立，並冀望獨派政黨在廿七日地區議會選舉中贏得多數席次。當地警察說有一百四十萬人參加，但中央政府說只有五十五萬人到場。示威群眾揮加泰隆尼亞紅黃旗幟，高呼「獨立」穿越巴塞隆納主要街道，遊行人潮綿延五公里，有人在街頭表演疊羅漢。

一七一四年九月十一日，加泰隆尼亞被併入西班牙統治；三百多年後的同一日，數萬人上街遊行要求獨立。西班牙副總理桑塔馬利亞批評加泰隆尼亞自治區政府主席馬斯將國家紀念日變成「競選活動」。

西班牙三個月後將國會選舉，加泰隆尼亞九月廿七日則將舉行當地議會選舉。上周民調顯示，獨派候選人可望在議會選舉中贏得大部份席次。若果真如此，馬斯矢言推動十八個月的脫離藍圖。西班牙保守派總理拉霍伊堅持國家應保持統一，反對自治區獨立和舉辦公投。

馬斯將月底選舉視為「獨立公投」，希望仿效蘇格蘭與加拿大魁北克獨立公投模式。不過，這些公投的結果都是否決獨立。民調顯示，多數加泰隆尼亞人希望公投，支持與反對獨立者勢均力敵。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/world/europe/catalans-campaigning-for-independence-march-in-barcelona.html

2015-09-13．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯陳韻涵