About independence movements and why they are so popular?

Kimmo Huosionmaa

The area-parliament of Catalonia is talking about independence very seriously. And today we are making questions about those things, and the question is why those movements become so popular, that they are giving a declaration of independence. But we must realize that those movements are not a new phenomenon in the politics. There are always been movements, what are willing to cut the relationships to another country, but they did not become public until now. The internet has been given also for little groups change to get publicity.


When we are talking what might happen ten or fifteen years ago, those movements will not get their voices in the mind of the people. Those men and women who talked about independence that decade ago marked as political clowns. But when the government started to use violence against those people, they became in the front of the public eye. Violence just made people fear the police, and that drives them to give their support to those independence movements.


But what makes those movements so effective in the political field. They are led by young actors, who know how to utilize social media and the Internet. When we are talking about political violence, those parties or movement represented every action what police does, and where that movements symbols seen as a strike against their movement. It's very good symbol for them when policeman hits protesters in the front of that areas flag.


The politicians who want to give the declaration of independence for that area will say to people, "those cops are using the violence against that flag". It's same where riot started, or what was the reason for violence. The only thing that has an influence in people mind, is a picture where policeman strikes peaceful protester with a baton. It's very same to every people has that protester got a gun or knife couple of seconds before. They just see a picture where heavily equipped police stand in the front of that protester. And the only thing that has an influence is what people see.


Violence is a terrible weapon against political movements. If somebody dies in those fights between police and protesters, will those political movements get martyrs? And that might conduct the situation, where that independence movement starts to radicalize its politics. That is not the very nice road. Sometimes those movements will start to use violence against the government, and the evolution will get all-state into violence. The terror is thing what nobody wants, and violence is a strong reason to ban that movement from political field and make it membership illegal. If some movement takes fire bottles to their hands it gives the government the reason to begin massive police actions against it.