Opinion or 'obiter dictum'...

It's not often I post twice in a day...This weekend there has been an important development in the possible increased autonomy of Catalonia. This said, NOBODY has said a word...I have spoken (since Friday last) with about 100 Catalans...give or take a half dozen, and not one [NOT ONE!!!] has breathed a single word about today's (just!) vote; everyone knew it was going on but it was a non event; obviously lots of news though:

El País: "el país ha ganado" y en Cataluña "se ha acabado el victimismo". En su declaración, Maragall se ha dirigido "al resto de España" y ha dicho que a partir de ahora se abre una etapa de autogobierno "larga, positiva y más cómoda" para Cataluña dentro del Estado.

...and in a related article: Con el 97% de los votos escrutados, el sí obtiene el 73,91% de los sufragios y el no el 20,75%. Así, la proporción sería de cuatro votos a favor de la reforma por uno en contra. Los partidos contrarios al texto, PP y ERC, no han conseguido aunar un 28% de noes, que es la suma de las dos formaciones en las últimas autonómicas. La participación, que está siendo discreta pero es mayor de lo que parecía en un principio, ronda en estos momentos el 50% de los electores....numbers are in English too (!!) ...basically 97% votes counted on a +/- 50% turnout; 74% 'yes' (we want the Statute) and 21% said 'no' (nearly 8% less than last time)...although not strictly the same situation, this is comparable to a 21% Conservative Party plus Plaid Cymru combined vote against an accepted draft for a statute of autonomy for Wales.

AP: Sunday June 18, 2006, By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer:
"BARCELONA, Spain (AP) The wealthy, semiautonomous Catalonia region gained sweeping new powers Sunday to run its own affairs, according to preliminary results of a historic referendum that some fear could leave Spain's government cash-strapped and powerless. With nearly 45 percent of the votes counted, 74 percent of voters approved the blueprint and just under 21 percent rejected it, the Catalan government said. Turnout was about 48 percent. The region considers itself a nation within a nation. At stake in the referendum are a bigger slice of tax revenues collected in Catalonia, a say in the appointment of judges and prosecutors to courts run from Madrid and an indirect proclamation of Catalonia as a "nation". [line breaks removed]
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Or..."Catalonia statute has been the subject of bitter dispute between regional and national political parties for more than a year, centring on a phrase that says Catalonia perceives itself as "a nation"...Compromise on that phrase in the final statute was eventually rejected by both ends of the political spectrum - the right-leaning Popular Party (PP), which says it is a threat to Spanish unity, and the Catalan nationalist party Esquerra Republicana (ERC), which says it does not go far enough."...from Al Jazeera. ...and finally from the beeb.

Of course there are many reasons for the low 50% turnout, the sun is out, the sky is blue; the beaches beckon and the World Cup is getting exciting...plus of course apart from De Rossi seeing red, the unrelated Rossi saw checkered...and 100,000 plus plus saw him do it - and probably half a million (me included) heard him - in what was a veritable, old fashoined crash-o-thon.!...all things considered no wonder hardly anyone went to vote! My opinion...only bad will come of further seperation; Catalan 'nationalism' is growing, not fading.

S.O.