I took this photo on Montjuic last year while I was living in Barcelona.

On Sunday, the world watched as the Catalan people tried peacefully to exercise their fundamental right to expression, and their government tried forcefully to silence them.

Clashes between Spanish national police and Catalonian citizens trying to hold open polling locations or cast a ballot in the independence referendum left almost 800 injured across the autonomous region. Ballot boxes were seized and hundreds of thousands of citizens were barred from voting. The chaos of referendum day made it impossible to determine an accurate and representative result, and Catalans across the region were left disheartened and disillusioned, wondering what this moment will mean for their political future.

The events of October 1st are the climax of only the most recent political dispute between Catalonia and Spain. But the escalation of tensions through September is unprecedented, being called by the Guardian as “one of the worst political crises” in the country since Spain returned to a democracy in 1978. The extreme actions of the Spanish administration, including the deployment of the Guardia Civil; the arrests of political officials; the shutting down of referendum websites and offices, leading into the violence on Sunday, have prompted accusations that Catalan autonomy has been violated. Those old enough to remember the oppression of the Franco era, in which Catalan culture and language was forcefully repressed by the administration in Madrid for almost forty years, feel a frightening parallel to the events taking place today.

At the end of Sunday, after violent images and outcries from world leaders and activists flooded the international press, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy incredulously insisted that there had been no independence referendum in Catalonia and that the national police had acted with restraint. He asserted that the rule of law had won, that democracy had been preserved.

You will certainly find arguments dissecting why the referendum is illegal, where the Spanish constitution expressly prohibits secession, and how the Constitutional Court is justified in their ruling to invalidate the referendum. From a purely legal standpoint, these arguments are right. But Catalonia’s movement is more than an act of civil disobedience. Madrid and Barcelona are engaged in a war of ideals, one that cannot be resolved through the courts, or as Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau puts it, by “imposing a judicial solution to a political problem.” This is nothing short of a constitutional crisis.

The referendum movement was not a renegade move made by the Catalan regional government. 82% of Catalan citizens wanted a referendum. Catalonia may be divided on the question of secession, but is united in its desire to be heard. Citizens on both sides of the issue wanted the chance to express themselves: separatists to voice their desire for self-governance, and loyalists to demonstrate their desire to remain under Spain. With such a colossal majority denied the right to expression, it is no wonder why the UN Human Rights Commission has called on Spain to re-evaluate its actions.

Within the chaos of Sunday is a lesson in need of relearning: in the pursuit of democracy, we cannot equate legal to right.

Democracy is not an inalterable bureaucracy; it is the political manifestation of human freedom: the freedom to choose your lifestyle, your career, your government. It is not a law but a philosophy that espouses, above all else, the right to self-determination.

Spain is trying to hold onto its power over Catalonia using a ‘rule-of-law’ argument, but by denying Catalonia its referendum, Madrid is protecting its constitution at the expense of true democracy. And this is why its efforts will ultimately fail.

Spain may continue to exert its authority through courts and force, but it cannot hope to stop the tide of democratic expression that is surging through Catalonia. Catalans are more united than ever in their desire for a vote, and Spain’s actions have undoubtedly driven many who were once unsure of their position to seriously consider an independent Catalonia.

The world will reject the Spanish government’s justifications of constitutionality when they see what transpired in Catalonia on Sunday because it knows intrinsically what democracy is, what it looks like. It is not police smashing windows, seizing ballots, and beating peaceful protesters. It looks like citizens voting and voicing themselves, whether or not they vote for independence.

The Spanish administration might have been able to sabotage the referendum, but it will not be able to quell the people’s desire to self-determine. If Catalonia’s demand for a legitimate referendum grows, a referendum legally recognized by Madrid, peace in Spain may require a change of Constitution. At a minimum, it will require that Catalonia’s appeals for greater representation at the federal level are obliged. In Catalonia, as it is across all free societies, the people will express themselves, whether or not their government allows them to.

October 2017