seven communities, one language
eurocatalan newsletter
Independence: what do the new Catalans think about it? issue #20 - october 2013
FURTHER READING
The Role of Immigrants
Ricard Zapata-Barrero
What role will immigrants play in a future Catalan state? A
welcoming territory par excellence, we are facing a unique
scenario, as this is the only example in Europe of a nation
and state-building process that is happening simultaneously
with migration. This historical distinction allows Catalonia
to use the structure of opportunities it already has to better
integrate immigrants and better accommodate their diversity
of languages, cultural practices and religions. Catalonia will be
the only European nation that is designing the blueprint of its
own state with its immigrants. In this particular area, therefore,
Catalonia can bring innovation to an EU that, at the outset,
tends to see others based on exclusionary criteria, and is built
on a protective logic of states from the 19th and 20th centuries,
which interprets diversity as an unanticipated abnormality in
the course of history.
In a Catalan state, common public culture, which has already started to take shape, is the foundation of a
dynamic concept of political community that has four main pillars 1) the Catalan language, 2) democratic
values of co-existence within diversity based on the fair and equal treatment of the population, 3) respect
of human rights regardless of one’s origin or legal status, 4) the commitment to explore the advantages of
diversity on a deeper level, providing spaces for interaction that project the image of a cohesive society and a
“civic culture of diversity.”
As a public communicative force, Catalan remains the principal differentiating symbol of a multilingual people
that ensures the social and economic development of Catalonia. At the same time, cosmopolitanism is the
foundation of the identity of this project and it plays a very positive role in the fields of international trade and
diplomatic relations as well as the exchange of knowledge and science.
In this context –of the forming of a state within a context of increasing human mobility– immigration policy is
one of the most visible tools for managing national sovereignty for a new Catalan state within Europe.
Although it is true that immigration policies are comprehensive –as they cover almost all areas of everyday
life, all public sectors without exception and all phases of a person’s incorporation into a territory–, it is also
true that they have certain inherent qualities that are directly related to the management of the borders of this
national community, since these policies stipulate who can enter, how many people can stay with territorial
boundaries and the criteria adopted in terms of national belonging. Thus, the key element of a new Catalan
state would be to have a clearly defined border theory, and this definition should be based on a conception of
national community that distinguishes it from (and unites it with) other European states. This also includes the
coding of individual rights and duties, such as the right to vote and the criteria for access to Catalan citizenship.
In all of these cases, immigration policies are about national identity.
Having its own state will also require Catalonia to strengthen a particular type of action that it has not had
the opportunity to practice. We are referring to the crucial task of diplomatic action with the EU, asserting
Catalonia’s positioning throughout the complex process seeking a minimal harmonization of national legislation
and policies. We are also referring to Catalonia’s entry as a global player in bilateral negotiations with countries
of origin, which means a link between trade, work and immigration, and a visa policy as a means to regulate
human mobility.
In its current context of dependency within the Spanish state, Catalonia has already exhausted all resources
for designing its own path. The immigration philosophy that has been followed up until today is characterized
by its pragmatic nature, a political logic that seeks to avoid conflicts, and just as important, its ability to
close the gap between immigration management and Catalonia’s national project. It was remarkable to see
the incorporation of the Catalan Way from the 2001-04 Program and its renovation with the Statute, the
National Pact for Immigration and the llei d’acollida (Law on Reception, or welcome law), and it is important
to recall that, from the beginning, this action supposed a strengthening of the connection between immigration
policies and linguistic policies. We believe that this focus has been possible thanks to the responsible attitude
of all political leaders and of civil society in general, and we believe that it should be further strengthened
though discourse and actions, especially in a context of an economic crisis, uncertain institutional responses
and a democratic national transition process. Without a doubt, immigration policy will be part of the initial
foundation of the future Catalan state.
First published in Diari ARA.
Photo: Ricard Zapata-Barrero (Diari ARA)
Translation: Margaret Luppino