"When Rich Places Want to Secede" from "The Atlantic Magazine"

This article in The Atlantic touches upon the motivations behind secession in some movements.

Turns out that some nations want to become gated communities. The nationalism is a nationalism to preserve privilege.

This is the article in The Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/10/catalonia-secede-rich-region/544244/

The motivation behind these national movements isn't that different than these school district secession movements in the United States.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/white-wealthy-communities-forming-school-districts

https://urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu/2017/07/06/how-school-district-secession-worsens-segregation/#.WfWp62hSyiM

There have some people who call themselves left or liberal and who support secession movements. They are really reactionary idiots.

I haven't had time to write about secession lately because I am trying to get the city of Dallas to do the right thing in relation to getting rid of Confederate monuments which is proving to be difficult.

I need to build up a grassroots.

In the mean time it would be good for the liberal/left to realize that secession is reactionary.

These secession movements are really just gated communities. They rely on a framework of the European Union to exist so they don't face national boundaries. They just want to ditch the poorer parts of the nation. These movements would just fall apart if it was real clear that they would be outside the European Union if they seceded. Brexit may provide a salutary lesson for all these would-be secession movements.

Spain is getting changing the names of streets named after fascist leaders.

http://qz.com/850588/spain-streets-named-after-women/


The above is a link to an article at Quartz.


The focus of the article is that in some countries there is a lack of streets named after women.

So this project in Spain of renaming streets will both eliminate the fascist names and provide streets to be named after women.

I think this provides an interesting example to be emulated in the United States where we could both eliminate Confederate street names and name streets after those who have been underrepresented.

Podemos Victory Squashes Catalan Secession Advocates.

http://in.reuters.com/article/spain-election-catalonia-idINL8N1490OG20151221

In a real election, instead of a privately run event pretending to be a vote or referendum, it seems that there isn't a super majority for secession in Catalonia. From Reuters:

MADRID, Dec 20 Left-wing newcomer Podemos, which opposes a split of Catalonia from Spain, topped polls in the northeastern region in Sunday's Spanish general election, dealing a blow to Catalan separatists already struggling with divisions in their movement. 

Podemos, the only national party to back a Catalan referendum on independence from Spain although it has said it would recommend voting against secession, won 12 parliamentary seats in the wealthy region of 7 million. 

Altogether, parties opposing a Catalan split from Spain, including the Socialists, Ciudadanos and the People's Party (PP), garnered 30 seats.

That compared with the 17 seats won by the pro-independence camp - nine for leftist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and eight for centre-right Democracia I Llibertat, the party of acting regional government head Artur Mas.

There were internet claims that there was some overwhelming desire for independence in Catalonia based on a staged private event pretending to be a referendum which showed supposedly some overwhelming super majority in favor of secession. These claims are now shown to be just so many fables. (http://www.lsrebellion.blogspot.com/2014/11/81-of-catalans-vote-for-independence.html)

Also, one thing to be considered is that through the Spanish language, Spaniards are culturally connected to all of Spanish speaking Latin America. Neo-Confederates, very often enthusiasts for Donald Trump, (http://conservative-headlines.com/2015/06/trump-enters-presidential-race-with-hard-line-anti-immigration-speech/) and (http://lsrebellion.blogspot.com/2015/08/trumps-audacious-southern-spectacle-is.html) of course place no value on the culture of Latin America given their attitudes towards non-whites and Latinos. (http://conservative-headlines.com/2009/01/non-white-gangs-terrorizing-the-united-states/) and (
http://lsrebellion.blogspot.com/2008/11/mexican-gangs-now-infiltrating-kentucky.html). Neo-Confederates can't see the value in being connected to Latin America culturally.

The Catalan independence movement did plan on joining the European Union and to continue to be part of that system which is integrating national states into a European Union. Even the Catalan secessionists plan on not being an isolated nation, but part of larger supranational groups.

The Catalan secessionists are not right wing cranks planning on some isolationist republic fending off the modern world.

Secession movements are contingent on local factors. In Catalonia there was suppression of Catalan language by the Franco fascist government in an increasingly distant past. However, there are other solutions to dealing with secessionist movements, such as various accommodations.

Neo-Confederates desperately hope that secession elsewhere will aid secessionist movements here. They might give hope to those already alienated because the United States is a multi-racial democracy and not a white supremacist nation, but beyond that there isn't support for it except for cranks which includes Kirkpatrick Sales.

There is an assertion that secession is the wave of the future, but these mirages dissipate when there are actual elections such as in Scotland where secession was rejected and now in Catalonia where the leading political parties are against secession.. In Quebec secession seems to be less likely a prospect of secession each year.

When you read a neo-Confederate internet claim that some place some where is on the brink of secession it would be well to examine these claims closely. Also, examine the local history driving a secession movement. Chances are whatever is driving secession there is not likely to  be a driving force for an independent republic of Vermont or Texas or East Swampy County or 14th Street.