CATOLONIA -- Give Catalonia its freedom - by Pep Guardiola, Jose Carreras and other leading Catalans - Comment - Voices - The Independent
The Catalans just want to vote. In 1773, just 59 years after Catalonia’s capital, Barcelona, was taken by the Spanish army and the region’s institutions were abolished, the Sons of Liberty led the audacious Boston Tea Party. At the core of their protest was the belief that the American colonies were overtaxed while their opinions were not taken into account in London. That action ignited the revolutionary process by which the American colonies became the United States of America, having the defense of liberty, justice and democracy as the frontispiece of its new Constitution.
The angry reaction of the British crown to the Boston events only fueled the revolt and convinced many loyalist settlers that only independence would guarantee their legitimate rights. Nevertheless, today the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is still one of the closest alliances in the world, based on shared values and aspirations between mature democracies with deep respect for rights and freedom. Old quarrels are long forgotten.
