bcncit

I love immigration. I loved it when it was people from Spain 30 or 40 years ago and I love it now from other countries, such as Morocco, China, Pakistan or Europe, both legal and illegal. I helped illegal immigrants with their paperwork to become legal immigrants. I do believe that the avalanche of ex-pats that decided to settle in Barcelona in the last 50-years has allowed Catalans to enjoy a more cosmopolitan environment. I even hired some of these ex-pats.

I thought about twice per your request, and I'm afraid that with my support for Catalonia's self-determination rights I'm defending individual rights. Otherwise, I would become the first ethnic totalitarian on Earth who loved immigration and helped immigrants to settle.

How do you like immigration yourself? I'm asking because the Head of the Partido Popular (Spanish central government) in Catalonia hates it [1], he is a declared xenophobe and such proneness to xenophobia often permeates to other supporters of Partido Popular and similar right-wing parties.

[1] http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2015/07/28/catalunya/1438078282_...

The very same could be said about women being able to vote, same sex marriage or in the US a black guy using the same restrooms as white people or being the POTUS.

All these things were illegal by laws backed and supported by the highest, most sensible and most respected authorities back in the time, even during centuries.

But it was the determination of people to be able to make all these illegal things fully legal nowadays. This is progress.

If people wants, anything is possible. Laws are to serve people, and if they do not work, they should be changed.

People can even change a constitution.

To help you fully understand the context, the Spanish constitution was written only 3 years after a military dictatorship that lasted 40 years (2 generations) with many people afraid of the military coming back and the police charging in people's demonstrations.

I do not know if you ever have had to run in a demonstration with a policeman running behind you with a gun with a clear intent to shoot you. I did and believe me, it is really scary. You even develop a sense of foreigness for certain symbols.

The Spanish constitution can and should be changed to meet the needs of people in the 21st century. The one we have now is the bastard child of the turmoil after the military dictatorship.

Sorry, I believe I misunderstood you. I thought you were _against_ granting the right of self-determination to Catalan people, that is, the people who lives in Catalonia whatever language they speak. I did not catch that you endorsed fighting for rights.

Just wanted to clarify that I do not particularly support all Catalan Government policies, in fact, just a few of them.

There are many important other rights that need to be addressed such as the right to die with dignity (this is long overdue) or the right receiving education in your language, at least for major languages such as Catalan, Spanish, Arabic or English.

Please note that this is not an issue only local to Barcelona, this is an issue that also face people who speak Catalan, English or Arabic at home and live, for example, in Madrid and only receive education in Spanish (is that also "uniform ethnic brainwash"!?).

My guess is that authorizities in Barcelona or Madrid do not grant this right as to avoid segregation, but we will not know unless they try it and see actual segregation. The other alternative of teaching everybody evenly in all significant languages in our society (Catalan, Spanish, Arabic and English) might overwhelm kids.

I'm not sure if you have any actual experience with the Catalan education system or just read about it on the yellow press and that build your opinion to define it "uniform etnic brainwash". Would you share if you have any actual experience with it and what impact it had on you or your children?

In my actual experience, my three children have been fully exposed to the "uniform ethnic brainwash" Catalan education and IMHO, their Spanish is better than their Catalan is, even when we speak Catalan at home. They have some knowledge of English, but they have no knowledge of Arabic.

Currently, I am technically a Spanish citizen. I like people from Spain, their food and their culture, and I even find it kind of cool that they have a king, although I do not feel he is my king in any way.

When I watch a soccer game with the Spain's national team I can equally celebrate a goal scored by them or against them if I like the goal. With Catalonia's national team (who only are allowed to play once a year) or my local team FC Barcelona (I even have a season ticket) the feelings are totally different.

Also I do not feel at all the Spanish flag is my flag. To be frank, I even have a sense of foreigness when I look at the Spanish flag, possibly because it still somehow suggests repression to me.

I strongly believe that people in Catalonia should have the right of self-determination. The culture, the language, even the traits are distinct enough to deserve it, and not be bullied because of it.

That Catalan people have the right of self-determination does not mean that all Catalan people who think they should have that right would vote to leave Spain.

I am totally neutral about if the outcome of a referendum is to leave Spain or to stay in Spain (both things have upsides and downsides at short and long term), but I'm not neutral about Catalonia's people having the right of self-determination, we should have it.

What is really claimed by the Catalan's government is the right of self-determination, that is the right for people living in Catalonia to decide their future. Spain's government oppose to that right, hence the conflict.

To put in perspective, there have been other situations in the history of humanity where various stakeholders did not agree on rights being granted, sometimes even involving violence or even war. Examples are the right of women to vote or the abolition of slavery.

Thank you for clarifying.

As a Barcelona citizen, I was with the impression that Spain's central government furious attack against Catalonia people's right to self-determination was to simply to distract the fact that the central government party (Partido Popular) has over 900 politicians currently on trial with charges of corruption (more than any other party in the whole Europe).

In fact, I thought central government's current situation was great material for a potential sequel of a great movie. The sequel could be called "Wag the Dog 2" with Robert de Niro as adviser of central goverment's president Mariano Rajoy, who as you know will be forced to declare in one these trials for corruption.

So, in your opinion the best solution for Barcelona is that Spain's central government should take over and fix our housing issues in Barcelona?

Thanks in advance for elaborating on the reasons why you think it is a good idea after the chaos they created in Barcelona's airport with something much simpler as passport control.