BARCELONA, Spain (CN) — Catalan independence flags hang from balconies and in shop windows. Political slogans scrawled on walls cry out for freedom. The Catalan president's palace at the heart of Barcelona displays a banner: “Free political prisoners.” Barcelona is a landscape of political messages that take aim at one primary and old foe: Spain and its rulers in Madrid.
Spain is the country Barcelonans and Catalans live in, but so many people here feel no allegiance to Spain and despise the notion they're Spanish citizens. Nearly half of Catalans tell pollsters they don't feel part of Spain and more than 40% favor independence.
Yet a sense of resignation is creeping in. Two years after Spanish authorities violently squashed a secession referendum, hopes for independence are growing dimmer. Catalonia is an autonomous region, but does not control its taxes and is subject to Spanish laws.
When asked about independence, people are stoic but pessimistic. Flags hanging from balconies reflect the mood of this entrenched conflict: They're often faded and tattered — stubbornly displayed but worn-out looking.
“I would like to see it become an independent country,” said Olga Serrano, a young customer service employee in Barcelona. “But I don't know if it will happen.”
A new survey by the Barcelona-based Center for Opinion Studies found about 44% of people in favor of independence, a 4% drop from a year ago. Fights between pro-Catalan political parties and a sense that Catalan leaders were unprepared to actually run an independent state also have damaged the separatist movement.
Ramon Gonzalez, a 65-year-old retired fireman, said the independence drive “hasn't taken us anywhere.”
He said Catalonia was up against an economically stronger foe — with an army. He'd like to see Catalonia gain more autonomy, but he's against independence.
He likened Catalonia's attempt to break away from Spain to a card player trying to win by bluffing.
“This has been like a poker game,” he said. “You can bluff, bluff, bluff, but in the end if you don't have the four aces, you don't win. When you show your hand, you lose. This is what happened.”
The hurdles to independence are formidable. For one, Spain's constitution does not allow for the breakup of the country. Also, more than half of Catalonia's people do not favor independence, often because they come from families who moved to Catalonia from other parts of Spain to work.
Additionally, Spain's largest political parties, including even socialists, and most of the rest of the nation are opposed to Catalonia's secession drive — not least because Barcelona and Catalonia are economic engines and produce about 20% of Spain's gross domestic product. Granting independence also would be a body blow to Spain's fragile sense of national unity.
Two years ago, Catalans voted for independence in an unauthorized referendum and then saw their secessionist struggle crushed by Spanish authorities. Their political leaders were imprisoned on charges of rebellion and sedition and twelve of the movement's leaders face prison sentences in coming weeks, after a Supreme Court trial this year.
“Spain has proven to be an undemocratic country,” Gonzalez, the retired fireman, lamented. He said it was unfair to imprison the independence leaders.
Some Catalans say Spain's aggressive tactics have only made them even more anti-Spanish.