Many in the EU and especially those who hold powerful positions
for years complain of an "EU-fatigue" or a fatigue among the citizens
to participate in the political process, which is reflected in constantly
declining voter turnout.
And now since there are aspirations for sovereignty
resulting in the drawing of new borders in various regions within the EU, just
think of the imminent referendum on the secession of Scotland from the United
Kingdom, in which the Scots try to free themselves from the burden of having
been forced into the union with London for more than 300 years, or think of
this week's (9/11, 2014 ... note the fateful date for this event) in Barcelona,
where peaceful protest for independence of Catalonia from Spain took place with
1.5 million demonstrators on the streets of Barcelona. These events make
leaders and decision-makers within the EU worry, just as if they feared any
tendencies to self-determination within their own countries, which could be
stimulated because of the momentums in Scotland and Catalonia. Do the powerful
fear the voice of the people?
My position is, to respect the wish of the
people for self-determination and cultural identity represented in their
government, as long as it is consistent with human rights, which is beyond
dispute in the cases of Scotland and Catalonia in their strive for
independence. A crystal clear Yes to an independent Scotland and an independent
Catalonia, if there is a majority of people in each of their regions voting for
independence.
Rather, it is to be regarded as highly
problematic when, as in the case of the central government in Madrid, and their
rejection of the referendum for independence of Catalonia from Spain scheduled
for November 9, 2014. The desperate proclamation of the Spanish central
government in Madrid, declaring the Catalonian referendum for independence for
illegal, is seen to be highly anachronistic and just reflects Madrid's imperial
claims for further dominance over the rest of Spain and in particular over the
economic power house Catalonia.
On the contrary, it is only an expression
of democracy that individual regions have the governments they want and which
reflect them culturally, and that they do not have to accept the government as
a foreign rule they have out of anachronistic reasons from any colonial
heritage. My plea is crystal clear, and goes for the democratization and
self-determination of the people and takes a stand against repressive foreign
rule or archaic domination by governments which do not represent the majority
population anymore.
Even if regions like Scotland or
Catalonia, or others shown by the domino effect for self-determination within
the EU, after their separation from their former countries they belonged to
often in a long and hated forced marriage, don't decide to join the EU after
they became independent, this is to respect by decision-makers in the EU, if
they take the right of the majority population for self-determination
seriously.
Each of these cultural entities within
countries must be admitted to choose the government they want. However, it is
regarded as probable that, given the geographical location of regions like
Scotland and Catalonia within the European continent, these cultural units, if
they don't aspire to apply for full EU membership they will have close economic
and cultural ties with the remaining EU Member States. So, it's primarily all
about drawing new lines (borders) within the EU or about to hold close ties
with these regions like the EU has with the EU-EFTA collaboration with
Switzerland and Norway.
When it comes to non-EU members, the EU
seems to be far less squeamish, just think of the secession of Kosovo from the
Republic of Serbia. The Kosovo emerged only by massive intervention by the EU
and the USA, and so it could come to its rightful self-determination. A
tendency becomes visible when it comes to the process of readjustment of the
self-determination of the peoples that are under foreign rule, in the
resolution of the multiethnic state of Austria-Hungary into its respective
successor states and in the decolonization of many areas around the world from
its colonial powers. When Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into the Czech
Republic and in the Republic of Slovakia on the 1st of January 1993 this represents
a role-model for a peaceful and successful separation process of two
ethnicities and language groups.
Similarly to that, now also other ethnic
groups located within the EU ask for their self-determination, which is, of
course, to respect and to be hold in referendums for independent states, if
that's the will of the people. Potentially, there are still many break-ups and
detachments to come that go far beyond the EU, just think of that one third of
the population of Turkey are Kurds. The Kurds, working for the foundation of
their own soverain state since the beginning of the 20th century, are also
living in Syria, Iraq and Iran. But the boundaries are in many places only a
mirror of old and outdated power politics that are no longer tenable in the light
of self-determination of the people. If one looks further beyond the borders of
the EU, there are analog examples such as Chechnya, Transnistria, Palestine,
Tibet or Kashmir, just to name few.
Within Europe, there is South Tyrol, which
achieved at least through the efforts of Austria, a far-reaching
autonomy status within Italy, after it was annexed by Italy after the First
World War with the allowance of the Allies. Therefore there is no anticipated
need for an independent state of South Tyrol, in the case of South Tyrol today.
Another case is the Turkish part of Cyprus in the 1970s originated in a bloody separation
war from Greek Cyprus under the auspices of Turkey which holds a protecting
power.
A currently burning question is also the
bloody ethnic conflict in the Ukraine. In the light of self-determination it is
an actual question to which extend the regions within Ukraine with a majority
of Russian speaking people also have the to be given the choice for
self-determination, that means a status of autonomy within Ukraine, if not even
an "Anschluss" to Russia. But in the light of Vladimir Putin's claim
to support the self-determination of the Russian population in Ukraine, and to
be seen as credible and not to use double standards, Putin would require a
radical change of course in his attitude towards the self-determination of the
Chechen population in the North Caucasus. This self-determination Putin denies
to the Chechens with massive force, while he tries to enforce with heavy weaponry
the ethnic self-determination for the Russian population in Ukraine, since the
expected benefits of the new Russian land bridge between the Crimea and
mainland Russia through the construction of a fragile bridge over the Sea of
Azov as a link from Russia to the Crimea seems Putin not to be enough. The
blue print for the bloody take-over of territories with significant Russian
populations was Putin's war in Georgia 2008 in which large parts of Georgia's
territory were annexed by Russia. In any case, a violent intervention by
foreign countries should be rejected because they lack a free political
democratic process resulting in conducting referendums and accepting their
results.
Ergo, it should be pointed out that any
ethnicities integrated into
another country represents a special case, and needs to be respected and
represented by its country they live in and need to be given the right to
choose to express their feeling of being part or not to be part of the country
they live in, what can be dissolved, in giving them an autonomy status within
the countries they live in or they choose to establish their own soverain
country based on their cultural identity or they join a neighboring country
they feel affiliated to.
Because only the process of unleashing the
people from an unwanted community and this freeing of previously bound energy,
results in new potentials for dynamics in economic and cultural developments
for the given country. And thereof any necessary political collective
relaxation emerges which the region needs for its economic development. These
political relaxation processes are bottom-up and follow a different logic than
top-down processes of political decision-makers who try in vain for decades to
maintain traditional power structures by top-down measures. Here it would be
appropriate by the policy makers to pay attention to bottom-up processes of
cultural identity and to support them and to respect as much as they can, to
build self-determination as well as passion for politics, even if it thereby
results in new borders. The potential released from this stress decreasing
processes turns into the benefit for all people in the end. All these processes
of finding ethnic identities and new forms of political sovereignties are simpler
within the EU, which gives these specific regions the option to reorganize
themselves in new states and staying under the democratic and economic shelter
of the EU at the same time.
Dr. Dr. Immanuel Fruhmann
Head of the Institute for Systemic Stress Management
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen