Secesionismo y democracia

In recent years, we have seen secessionism and its various justifications grow. Some appeal to the will, to "if I want, I'll go." Others invoke identity: "If I am different, I have the right to live apart". Still others resort to the rights of minorities, which, being minorities, could never see their reasons attended to. And finally, there are those who speak of democracy and injustice: "Since I am ignored and despised, I do not feel part of the political community". In this work, we examine the defenses of secession that move in these areas, between rights and democracy. Therefore, a review of the plebiscitary-libertarian theory is offered, which appeals to the principle of autonomy; the ascriptive theory, which appeals to the majority will (within) a community of identity; the permanent minority theory, which makes use of minority rights; and the theory of reparation, which appeals to the conditions of democracy. According to the author, none of these arguments has a firm basis in the case of our political community: arguments of principle do not work; or when they do, they are inapplicable in view of how things really are in Spain. Thus, from a left perspective situated in the enlightened and republican tradition - one committed to the ideals set by the French revolutionaries in their days of greatest democratic fervor: "Unité, Indivisibilité de la République; Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité"-, it is argued here that raising a border between fellow citizens, turning part of them into foreigners, that is, reducing the community of rights, justice and democracy, supposes a return to dark times, an erosion of the emancipatory projects inherited from the Enlightenment.