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Flag of Tabarnia
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Do you know that a part of Catalonia wants to secede from Catalonia?
Yes, that's right. The Nation of Tabarnia, a very industrial and turistic area which includes the city of Barcelona.
Thousands of Catalans are determined to get Tarragona and Barcelona separated from Girona and Lleida, that is, from the independentist Catalonia.
This week was known the willingness of almost fifty Catalan businessmen to promote a referendum to get a community formed uniprovincial Barcelona and Tarragona and has no relationship with the rest of Catalonia, forming Tabarnia.
After knowing this initiative, in change.org, has begun to collect signatures to carry out the idea. So far, almost 5,000 signatures have been collected.
Why this movement?
A lot of Catalans are against Catalan independence. But the majority of this people is located in certain areas and cities.
The arguments of the Catalan independentists:
- We produce more GDP than Spain, they are stealing us with hight taxes.
- We have our own culture, our language, our identity, we were a country in the past.
- We have the right of Self-Determination
The arguments of the Tabarnia independentists:
- We produce more GDP than Catalonia, they are stealing us with hight taxes.
- We have our own culture, our language, our identity, we were a country in the past.
- We have the right of Self-Determination and the Spanish Constitution allows us to secede from the actual autonomous community which is Catalonia.
That is to say, if catalans can secede for their reasons, Tabarnians can also make it. Why?
Tabarnia claims the territory that in the past was occupied by the County of Barcelona. This county was a sovereign state in the past. In fact Catalonia exists today, thanks to the County of Barcelona.
Tabarnia has its own culture, its own traditions and its millenial history. The history of baarcelona it is very long. In fact the name Barcelona comes from Barcino. Barcino was a colony of the Romans.
But why a group of catalans from Barcelona wants to secede from Catalonia?
Because this citizens are tired of Catalan separatists. Due to the Catalan independent movement, a lot of companies have escaped from Barcelona. Tourism in Catalonia has decreased up to 70% in the last months. Catalan economy lives a very bad moment. Barcelona economy has been heaten by the separatist movement. Remember that Barcelona is one of the most visited places of the world. If Barcelona economy breaks, Spanish economy will have a very big problem. This is why a lot of Barcelona Citizens wants to breakp out from Catalonia.
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| Ciudadanos party won in the rich cities of the coast while the rural Catalonia voted for secesionist parties |
But are the Tabarnian citizens a majority?
Yes, they are. I known that because, last thursday, the 21st of december of 2017, the party Ciudadanos won the Catalan Election. Ciudadanos Party is a liberal economic party which it is against catalan independence. Most citizens who voted for Ciudadanos were located in Barcelona and Taaragona.
To make a summary, the catalan cities which are in the cost, which are very industrial and touristic voted for the orange partty (Ciudadanos), while the rural interior Catalonia voted for secesionist party, you can see that in the map in the right.
IS THIS MOVEMENT CLAIMING SOMETHING LEGAL?
Yes it is. The Catalan Referendum which catalan independentists are claiming is ilegal. But what the Tabarnian movement is claiming is completely legal. In Spain, a region cannot secede from the state, but a part of an autonomous community can secede from their own autonomous community.
In particular, Article 143 of the Constitution of the Spanish Constitution says:
1. In the exercise of the right to autonomy recognized in Article 2 of the Constitution, bordering provinces with common historical, cultural and economic characteristics, insular territories and provinces with historical regional entities may access their self-government and become Communities Autonomous in accordance with the provisions of this Title and the respective Statutes.
2. The initiative of the autonomous process corresponds to all the interested Provincial Councils or to the corresponding inter-island body and to two thirds of the municipalities whose population represents, at least, the majority of the electoral census of each province or island. These requirements must be met within six months of the first agreement adopted in this regard by any of the interested local Corporations.
3. The initiative, if it does not prosper, can only be repeated after five years.
POPULARITY
This movement has become very popular not only in Catalonia, also in all the Spanish territory, in only few weeks.
Some catalan businessman made a big campaign in the last two weeks. Citizens like this iniciative too much and a lot of people is joining to it. This movement it is running very fast. A lot of people are making portraits and several mottos defending this movement. Thousands of people from Catalonia are joining this iniciative in only ONE WEEK.
Social media is playing a mian role in this situation. A lot of economists and politicians and mass media are talking about this new movement.
Antena 3, one of the main televisions of Spain have talked recently about this movement.
Some newspapers like ABC also have talked about this movement. A lot of civil entities have also participated in this movement in the last week.
Relevant people from Catalonia like Alejo Vidal-Quadras have talked about this movement, and so many companies want to promote this iniciative, for fighting against the catalan independent movement.
IF CATALANS WANT TO SECEDE, THAT'S FINE, BARCELONA AND TARRAGONA WILL SECEDE ALSO FROM CATALONIA
NEWSPAPERS
Several newspapers talked about the Tabarnian Issue. Televisions also talked about that. During the last week, Spanish Mass Media is talking all the time about this issue. It seems to be very viral.
Televisions like LaSexta, Antena3, 324, Intereconomia, and a large etcetera have talked about his movement in a very serious way.
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| Joke made by Self Herald |
JOKES
A lot of blogs and digital media have made in the last day, several jokes about that issue, in most cases jokes related to catalan independentist politics who ask for a referendum in Catalonia, but who don't accept a referendum in Barcelona.
Sef Herald made its own jokes, also.
WHO MADE THIS MOVEMENT?
A group of catalan citizens, which are not agree with the independence of the Catalan Republic.
A lot of facebook groups movilized people to join this movement. In facebook, there is a very active group with thousands of people joining every day and supporting this movement.
TABARNIA, THE END OF CATALAN SECESSIONISM
Proponents of Tabarnia wish to distance themselves from the Catalan separatist movement and reclaim the right of a number of territories near the area of Barcelona and Tarragona to constitute themselves as an autonomous community within Spain. In the 2015 and 2017 Catalan regional elections, parties opposed to secession (mainly Citizens, PSC and PP) received a majority of votes and seats in some of these comarques (Tarragonès, Baix Penedès, Garraf and Baix Llobregat) including the city of Tarragona, but excluding the most populated Catalan city: Barcelona. They allude to a series of fiscal arguments similar to those of Catalan separatism in regards to Spain. The term "Tabarnia" is a neologism based on the names of Tarragona and Barcelona, the two Catalan provinces where support for separatism is lower, although in last Catalan election, Tarragona province showed more support for separatism than unionism.
The movement has a legal basis in the Canadian Clarity Act, according to which regions opposed to Quebecois separatism are to remain within Canada in case of a secession, as well as Articles 143 and 144 of the Spanish Constitution, which allows the formation of autonomous communities.
Political Claims
Tabarnians claim vote representation in Catalonia to be unfair across the four different provinces Lleida, Girona, Tarragona and Barcelona, resulting in unfair economic investment. Under the current electoral law, in the province of Barcelona 48.521 votes are needed to elect one representative in the Catalan Parlament for the 20.915 votes needed in Lleida, resulting in a 2.3 ratio. Tarragona requires 31.317 votes and Girona 30.048. Catalan separatists argue the current electoral law ensures political representation for areas with a lower population density while tabarnians argue the law has not been revised because historically Lleida and Girona have always had a majority of voters in favor of the separatist political parties that have kept them in government.
The same way Catalan separatist have used an interpretation of economic data to argue they have an unfavourable finance balance towards the rest of spain, Tabarnians argue Tarragona and Barcelona underrepresentation in the Catalan Parlament has resulted in unfavourable finance balance towards their region, also backed by similar interpretation of economic data.
The Tabarnia Movement is still in its early days and is too soon to know how their political claims will unfold. Some Tabarnians simply believe this movement to be a satirical response that mirrors separatist with their own logic. Some Tabarnians demand that, in case a hypothetycal referendum for Catalonia independence was held, the seven different veguerias (Vegueria) be decided separately, so "Tarragona" and "Àmbit metropolità" are not declared independent against their democratic will. Some Tabarnians have grown so tired of the catalan separatist movement, that seem committed to celebrate a referendum in october 2018 to split from Catalonia as an Spanish autonomous region wether the previous referendum takes place or not. Some Tabarnians want to be declared a new autonomous region, which they argue is legally plausible under the present Spanish Constitution of 1978.
THE VALLEY OF ARAN
Everyone of you know that between Spain and France there is a little recognized and very old country: Andorra.
Andorra is a group of Valleys which it is independent since 1278.
But inside Catalonia there is another valley, the Valley of Aran.
There, people also voted the Party of Ciudadanos, which it is against catalan independentists. So the people from the Valley of Aran also support the movement of Tabarnia. In fact, they were the ''promoters'' of this political movement. Aranese people always wanted to secede from Catalonia. It is a Valley with its own culture and language. In the Valley of Aran they don't speak only catalan and spanish, they have their own language the aranese.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARANESE REFERENDUM:
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