A leader in a first-world, industrialized country supports the dismantling of his home country. He has a base of constituents who, according to polls and even (contested) elections, represents a majority of their respective region’s population. Yet his attempt to lead his democratic people into a separate state that is of the apparent majority interest is met with indictments of treason and sedition.
The world stands by and observes with little intervention from neighboring European countries and little to no acknowledgement from the United States. Trump, Brexit, Erdoğan, and Macron. An international establishment and a revolt of those left behind in the push for globalization. A shortsightedness and inability of federal and parliamentary governments to successfully transition from industrial nation states to an intelligence economy and articulate the the growing pains and changing circumstances that accompany it.
If a democratic majority cannot exercise its right to choose, and is rather squashed by a bureaucratic hand fearful of the rising tide of discontent and angst, I ask: what is a Country?
“Mr. Puigdemont’s televised speech was carefully calibrated and he didn’t refer explicitly to the new independent republic that separatists say was created Friday afternoon—a nod to the legal challenges that he could face in coming weeks. Spanish prosecutors have raised the possibility Mr. Puigdemont and some of his officials could be charged for sedition or rebellion for the bid to split with Spain. Mr. Puigdemont has previously acknowledged he could face imprisonment for his independence push.”
Grant McClernon 