"Without the Treaty of Utrecht, no one could issue judgments against Catalan"

Citadel313 years have passed since the Treaty of Utrecht, an international agreement that the Assemblea Sobiranista de Mallorca still blames on Great Britain and considers “a colonial problem unresolved” with negative consequences still today for the “catalan nation”, including the Balearic Islands.

The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, explain the sovereignists, caused Great Britain to “abandon the entire catalan nation during the War of Succession in favor of Bourbon France under Louis XIV”. From the war, the English obtained Acadia, Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay, and snatched Milan, Naples, Sardinia, and the island of Menorca from Bourbon Spain under Philip V, in addition to Gibraltar and “substantial commercial benefits such as the cession of the slave trade between Africa and America”.

According to the Assembly, the agreement promoted by the tories, the British conservative party, constituted a “treason by the English”, as they failed to comply with the Treaty of Genoa signed eight years earlier. The effects –it emphasizes– were “terrible for the entire catalan nation”, subjected since then to the Kingdom of Spain. This includes the “devastation” of Barcelona, the military occupation of Mallorca, Ibiza, and Formentera in 1715, massive repression with executions and dismemberments, confiscation of property, imprisonment, exile, banishments, the promulgation of the Nueva Planta Decrees of 1716, the extermination of the catalan constitutional order, the destruction of catalan institutions, and the plunder of natural resources. In their view, “this treason also marked the beginning of Spanish colonialism that continues today; the beginning of fiscal plunder, the arrival of foreign officials, judges, and military personnel, and the genocide against the catalan language and culture”.

Protest at the United Kingdom consulate

To make it clear, a protest gathering has been called in front of the United Kingdom consular office in Palma. The text that will be read will also be sent to the United Kingdom consulate in the Balearic Islands, and a request will be made to be able to personally deliver a "manifesto of grievances" to the current British government.

The entity wants to reproach the words of Winston Churchill in 1929, when he admitted that "the Catalans, invited to war by the allies and, above all, by England, were miserably sold with diplomatic phrases to the vengeance of Spain". "Even today it is a black page in our history", he adds.

The president of the Assemblea Sobiranista, Jaume Sastre, seeks with this action to “transmit to the British consul that England is indebted to us and must repair the disaster of 313 years ago, because still today we suffer the vengeance of the Spanish regime”. Sastre, the visible face of the movement, concludes that “the vengeance and genocide by Spanish and French colonialism in the form of fiscal plunder and with criminal sentences by the Spanish and French justice against our language, Catalan, continues more alive than ever”. “Without the Treaty, no Spanish judge could now issue sentences against Catalan”, he adds.

“What we want to make clear –Sastre emphasizes– is that we are not an internal problem of Spain, nor even of Europe, but a global one. We lost our independence when, with the Treaty, they reduced us to being a colony, and it is a grievance that has not yet been resolved”.

The professor of language and literature believes that “it is a shame that no Catalan MEP has raised the issue or taken the opportunity to denounce in their parliament that there is an unresolved colonial problem that affects us all: Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Country”. A phenomenon caused by the Treaty of Utrecht that “also affects Corsica, Scotland, and other stateless nations. It is not a question of autonomy or regionalism, but the direct consequence of a world conflict”.

The exception of Menorca

The one left out was Menorca, which, when it passed into British hands, experienced "indirect colonialism". "The English maintained the indigenous elites and did not prohibit their own language or culture. The only source of conflict was religion, as opposed to the Catholic one on the island," he points out.

This led to the flourishing of Catalan literature on the island, by Joan Ramis i Ramis and Antoni Febrer i Cardona, with works such as Lucrècia. "The enlightened Menorcans avoided the inquisition and had access to the most advanced works in Europe", at least until Spain recovered Menorca and established the Decree of New Planta.

The English interest in Menorca was primarily military, to have a naval base in the port of Mahón, in the heart of the western Mediterranean. For this reason, they moved the capital there from Ciutadella, and maintained all their own institutions and laws. This British colonialism –respectful of local traditions– means that "the historical period is not remembered with hostility on the island now, but rather the opposite". In fact, they created the "camí d'en Kane" –the first road of the era between Mahón and Ciutadella, they founded Es Castell (Georgetown), introduced gin (essential for the current horse festivals of Menorca) and "the Menorcans are proud of the Anglicisms that fill their vocabulary". They even maintain the English tradition of "Innocents' Day", on April 1st, different from what is common in the rest of the country.

In this regard, Sastre finds it "curious" that Menorca is, three centuries later, the island territory in the Balearic Islands where the English community is the smallest, with just over 2,000 residents, compared to 3,000 in Ibiza and 16,000 in Mallorca.

"Heroes" Picornell Gomila i Farragut

One of the Assembly's challenges is to “internationalize all independence movements”. With this goal, it has just paid homage to Joan Picornell Gomila (1759-1825), the Majorcan who promoted the independence of the Spanish colonies in America, and is preparing another in Menorca.

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, an act of recognition will be held for the Menorcan Jordi Farragut, hero of North American independence “against the British” and father of David Glasgow Farragut, the first admiral in the naval history of the United States.