We ignore the happenings in Catalonia at our peril, ‘we’ meaning the citizens of Europe. The first question an observer wants to know is ‘what do the Catalonians want?’. Well, we know they want independence from Spain, but that begs the question why?

I suspect that as with Brexit, there are multiple reasons. Some go back hundreds of years into the origins of the Spanish state as it is today. Some are about money, ‘why should we pay into the system more than we get out?’, some are about national pride, some see themselves as defending democracy, and there some facists in there as well.

The actions of the Spanish government during the referendum, placed the Catalan cause firmly on the high moral ground through it’s use of excessive and unecessary force.

So where will Catalonia go from here? Perhaps stepping back and taking a world view would introduce some clarity. We have seen the rise of shall we say, nationalism; a pride in one’s country, normally reserved for sports, song contests and the occasional war.

In North Korea we see national pride operating at almost every level of society, even into primary schools. At this extreme, nationalism becomes a powder keg that explodes into war, as seen in the Spanish Civil War in the last century, or WWII that followed. But I would love to read an essay by a physciatrist on what brings about national pride in an individual. Humans are well known for their loyalty to ‘the tribe’ whether in the football stadium, a school sports day (come on reds!), or an irrational obessession with symbols of national identity, like a flag. Follow the flag! Really?

Flags are all over Barcelona. I know because I was there the week before the referendum.

The North American Native people have a saying; ‘it is easy to be brave from a distance’. How true this is. We all fantasise about how we would do something against a protagonist, but rarely do when we get close.

That’s the thing with Catalonia. On it’s borders are benign European countries, unlikely to take up arms against them. But supposing France was Russia. Russia, who so ably moves into those ‘Russian speaking’ micro-states which were once Soviet satellites; Eastern Ukraine, Crimea. Where next? Estonia, Latvia? The People’s Republic of China has been playing the same game for decades, as we all saw by the varied national costumes in the opening parade to the Chinese hosted Olympic Games.

With a big bad wolf next door, I doubt Catalonia would be so keen to leave Spain and Europe, because in the end, war is a consumation devoutly not to be wished. Especially if you have no military forces. Would it still be part of NATO if independent? Lawyers please!

Somalia wished for and obtained indepence but has quickly been consumed by hostile neighbours.

This was one of the considerations not voiced very loudly if at all, in the debates prior to the Brexit vote. ‘What about National Security?’ Does Britain really want to lived next door to a divided or at worst disintegrating Europe? Do the Catalans?

There is an old adage, ‘united we stand, divided we fall.’ It’s so old it’s in Aesop’s Fables, only there it’s a bunch of sticks which are stronger than individual sticks. Corny, well used, old fashioned, yes, all of the above, but also true. And such an ‘inconvenient truth’ has been ignored because waving a flag and putting on uniforms are so much better at rousing emotion; emotions such as national pride. If you don’t believe me, watch footage of the Games of the XIth Olympiad in 1936. You might recognise someone on the podium, Chancellor Hitler I think was his name.

I wonder what happened to him?