Opinion: Catalonian Declaration of Independence is Illegal, Didn't Line up with my Pregame
BARCELONA, SPAIN - Catalan separatist leaders, led by Generalitat president Carles Puigdemont, declared Catalonia an independent republic Friday afternoon, in a move quickly rejected by the central Spanish government and other European nations. Immediately before and after the announcement, hordes of proud Barcelonians took to the streets waving the flag of independence - cheering, singing, drinking with their compatriots, and reveling in the excitement of nationalism.
Not only is a declaration of independence a flagrant violation of the Spanish constitution, it also ruined the legendary pregame plans I had set forth for that night. Five dudes in my pledge class who are studying in Norway were flying in to visit that night, and we had a huge drinking sesh planned in the AirBnB I’ve been renting for 3 months. I really wanted to show them how we party and desecrate the values of the Spanish constitution down here in Barça, so I was hoping we could live stream the Generalitat decision and take a shot for each vote before we left for the clubs. Instead, however, the vote happened in the late afternoon, as I was trapped in my Catalan language class learning how to count to 10 (deu?). As such, not only has this declaration stoked the flames of regionalism and created a fraudulent mockery of Spanish political procedure, it also highlights a disturbing trend in Catalan politics - the inability to accommodate my plans for the night.
While we were eventually able to venture out on the streets to witness the city celebrate the death of democracy, the mood was just not the same knowing we showed up to the party a good six hours late and only two shots deep. Leave it to Southern Europe to make everything as inconvenient as possible for me and my bros. I did end up getting a few dope Instagram photos, one which I captioned “Visca catalunya, Rajoy és feixista,” which I think means “Send It” in Catalan. One of my Catalonian classmates, Xavi, handed me a Spanish flag to burn, which was honestly a really valuable immersive experience that I’ll remember forever (after that and Oktoberfest, I can definitely say I’ve truly seen the world).
At the end of the day, none of this made up for the blatant crime committed by the Catalan separatists - namely - not allowing this monumental political moment to line up with me getting stupid sloshed. As such, I’m pretty fucking pissed at the Catalan people for their disrespect for their rule of law, as well as their unwillingness to postpone their declaration until I could blow at least a 0.08 and thus further insert myself into a geopolitical issue I know nothing about.
