RE: If voting made a difference, they'd make it illegal... Wait.
It makes sense but you need the full picture which you don't have obviously.
For more than 30 years the secessionist regional politicians have been in full control of education in Catalonia and in a constant campaign against the rest of Spain with absolute lies. I've lived there and I know what I talk about.
So with this indoctrination from very early age in the regional schools, with all the regional media controlled by the regional government (they even have a public censorship organisation that controls what it can be said in the media) the secessionist politicians have made many Spaniards from the region of Catalonia believe that the reason for their problems is the rest of Spain when the truth is that the real reason for their problems are the secessionist politicians.
So they want to cut the breast that feeds them because they have been convinced by the regional politicians that the breast is sucking from them, instead of them from the breast. Crazy, but that is what they have managed to do after more than 30 years of indoctrination.
It is not control freaks but enforcing international law, European law and Spanish law to defend democracy and real freedom, not the misrepresented freedom used by the secessionist regional government.
Why the secessionist politicians have done this? For the oldest reason in the world, power and money. They want to be the kings of their own little country by stealing the land of Spain, but they will never ever manage to do it because Spain has the law and the reason on its side.
Land of Spain? I believe the people living there would disagree. If they are such a burden to Spain, why not let them leave? If what you are saying is true, get rid of the cancer. 8-P
Some of the people in there (and not all) could say whatever they want but Catalonia is part of the land of Spain for thousands of years, that is fact and cannot be changed.
The secessionist has been indoctrinating the people in the region of Catalonia for more than 30 years with a false history. As result, many now believe those lies that were indoctrinated in from childhood and from that comes their wrong opinions and believes now. I've lived there and I've seen their delusion.
The cancer is the secessionist politicians and they will definitely get ridden off into very appropriate accommodation for them, jail cells for conspiracy to secession. That was the fate the last time the secessionist tried to steal part of the land of Spain and now it must be the same.
Why is your name Freedom Vigilante? It seems like you're not for freedom in the slightest. European law or Spanish law is not freedom since government is an institution that can only survival through coercion.
You story is very in depth, but it doesn't matter for the issue of secession. I don't agree with a lot of viewpoints that the Catalans may have, but that doesn't mean they don't have the right to govern themselves. I know that the Catalan government won't tolerate individual freedom either, but at least the level of government will be brought down one more level towards the community and the individual.
That is the most important thing. It's not about who owes what to whom and who does better in the economy. Everyone should have the right to self-determination, regardless of the way in which this is exercised.
You are wrong, you don't know how fascist and xenophobes the secessionist politicians in the region of Catalonia are. I know, I've lived there. They do have a public entity for media censorship, you cannot go about Barcelona if a t-shirt when it is very hot in summer, you cannot do nudism in the Barcelona beaches, you cannot rent your home to whoever you want without paying the politicians, Catalonia right now are probably the most repressive politicians in Europe, and Europe, in general, is very repressive to start with.
The Spanish government is much more open and European, although they still have many things to learn from other countries.
Wow
"jail cells for conspiracy to secession"
I agree with @rvanstel, I don't get your name either.
Jailing someone, for wanting to be governed by someone else than the Spanish government seams very anti-freedom.
Please read my previous answers but basically, I'm for personal freedom, very small taxes (below 10%), complete freedom of speech, self-responsibility, no welfare state, right to own your guns, free market without any kind of regulation or interventionism, no central banks and small government whose only function should be to defend the people that elect them from external threats with the army and from internal threads with the police. A secession is an internal threat so police have to intervene and put them to jail and that fits completely with freedom because without a small amount of law it would be just the law of the jungle and that is not freedom.
"defend democracy and real freedom"
Democracy isn't "real" freedom -- it isn't even freedom. Freedom, defined as not having your rights -- to your person and property -- being invaded, is not at all what democracy offers. Democracy gives others the "right to vote" how your person and property will be invaded. It does this, by "allowing" laws to be enforced (e.g. your taxation to invade your property, and drug or sex laws to invade your person.)
To have real freedom, the individual's rights must be conserved and protected -- none of with democracy does.
I repeat what I have already said.
I'm for personal freedom, very small taxes (below 10%), complete freedom of speech, self-responsibility, no welfare state, right to own your guns, free market without any kind of regulation or interventionism, no central banks and small government whose only function should be to defend the people that elect them from external threats with the army and from internal threads with the police.
A conspiracy to secession is an internal threat so police have to intervene and put them to jail and that fits completely with freedom because without a small amount of law it would be just the law of the jungle and that is not freedom.
You defend freedom without defining it first. If freedom is not having your rights -- to person and property -- invaded, then you can't have a government, as that would be anti-freedom.
Laws are arbitrary preference rules by either "the people" or by an oligarchy/dictator, about what individuals can do with their body and property. It's inherently an invasion of those two basic human rights, thus anti-freedom.
Practically, common law (or jungle law, as you call it) can be peacefully developed through time, without need of central control (the government.) For instance, common law was that rules Ireland for many centuries, until Britain "civilized" them. But this empirical information is useless, as it doesn't matter if central law works better than "jungle law," only the latter respects basic human rights, and subsequently freedom.
You don't need to repeat your personal beliefs, but you can prove that violently imposing those belief on others, are respecting their freedom (of person and property.) An "internal threat" is just your opinion on how the world should be run, and you, by supporting it being unwillingly and violently imposed on others, are not respecting their rights and freedoms, but advocating for your own dictatorship.
It doesn't matter claiming you "support" personal liberties, if you wish for others (e.g. police) to harm people for doing something you disagree with (e.g. not paying taxes, generally disobeying unjust laws.) It's a complete contradiction.