Spain in crisis - Violence must be averted

Conversations about what might happen next in Spain and Catalonia now feature frightening references to the prospect of another bloody, disastrous civil war.

At this remove, such a possibility — a probability, according to former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind — seems utterly insane. It is not as if Catalonians are oppressed, hungry,

denied the basic protections and privileges of living in a European democracy.

Compared to many of the world’s citizens, they live in a secure, enviable environment.

That yesterday’s demonstration in Barcelona, when tens of thousands of Catalans marched in an anti-secessionist demonstration, just two days after the Catalan parliament voted for independence, passed off without any major incident, suggests, hopefully, that the possibility of violence remains remote. Hopefully, neither side will do anything to change that situation.

The march was organised by the anti-independence group, Societat Civil Catalana, and the event slogan was ‘We are all Catalonia.

Common sense for co-existence!’ Marchers carried Spanish, Catalan, and EU flags.

“We are here to show that there is a majority of Catalans that are no longer silent and that no longer want to be silenced,” said Societat Civil Catalana president, Alex Ramos.

The democracies of Europe must intervene to try to find a solution to this crisis and, most of all, avert even the slightest prospect of violence exacerbating the crisis.