Venezuela and Catalonia
The Times has an interesting angle on the ongoing political turmoil surrounding the independence referendum in Catalonia which spawned millions of messages on Facebook and Twitter from social media accounts based in Venezuela.
Read the full story via the link below (which is behind The Times) paywall, but apparently these messages originated from two Russian controlled broadcasters, Russia Today and Sputnik.
"Two Kremlin-linked media outlets sent millions of messages to sow divisions in Spain before the referendum. A study by the George Washington University in the US said that the reports sent by RT and Sputnik, two broadcasters owned by the Russian government, had spread messages giving a negative image of Spain around the time of the illegal referendum last month.
"An analysis of 5,029,877 messages on Facebook, Twitter and others using the word Catalonia between September 29 and October 5 found that many were circulated by social media accounts based in Venezuela.
“The most surprising thing about the investigation has been the discovery of an entire army of zombie accounts that are perfectly coordinated and that are dedicated to sharing content generated by RT and Sputnik in digital conversations, which go from Syria and the US to Catalonia,” Javier Lesaca, of the School of Media and Public Affairs at the university, told El País.“There is evidence to suggest that the pattern of digital disruption that has been detected in digital debates about the elections in the US or Brexit has also been seen in Catalonia and that the authors of this disruption are the very same.”
"At a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels today Spain will raise the issue of Russian interference."
Seems very odd if you ask me, especially as Venezuela and Venezuelans have quite enough on their plates at the moment.
I voted Yes in Scotland's independence referendum in 2014, but if you ask me the position in Catalonia is a very different kettle of fish because the outcome of its own referendum on October 1st 2017 is so hotly contested.
Even giving the pro-independence camp the benefit of every doubt, the fact is that less than 40% of the electorate voted to break from the rest of Spain.
The Catalan Government claimed 90% support for independence based on a turnout of 43% while those in favour of a united Spain chose to highlight the fact that a majority of voters boycotted the event, on the basis that it could not be recognised under Spain's 40-year old written constitution.
So we now have a terrible mess with the pro-independence side proclaiming the result as 'good enough' to establish a new Republic while the Spanish Government obdurately hides behind the written constitution as a road block to any change and a permanent guarantor of the status quo.
I spend a lot of time in Catalonia and I have friends and acquaintances on both sides of an often fierce argument which has remained relatively friendly and good natured, up till now at least.
But that may well change as the political temperature heats up and people convinced of the righteousness of their argument take the law into their own hands: witness the Spanish Government's attempts to disrupt the referendum and behaviour of some in the Guardia Civil, alongside pro-independence supporters blocking roads, motorways and student classes.
In my experience, the use of force does not always involve 'violence', but the use of force will always lead to violence in the end.
Catalonia is divided over the question independence which is hardly surprising really given that so many of its citizens are from other parts of Spain, and the very different priorities of people living in small towns or rural areas from those in larger cities.
But we have ended up with the worst of both worlds with one side pretending that independence is the 'settled will' of the Catalan people while the other insists that no change is possible without the agreement of the rest of Spain.
Worst of Both Worlds
I voted Yes in Scotland's independence referendum in 2014, but if you ask me the position in Catalonia is a very different kettle of fish because the outcome of its own referendum on October 1st 2017 is so hotly contested.
Even giving the pro-independence camp the benefit of every doubt, the fact is that less than 40% of the electorate voted to break from the rest of Spain.
The Catalan Government claimed 90% support for independence based on a turnout of 43% while those in favour of a united Spain chose to highlight the fact that a majority of voters boycotted the event, on the basis that it could not be recognised under Spain's 40-year old written constitution.
So we now have a terrible mess with the pro-independence side proclaiming the result as 'good enough' to establish a new Republic while the Spanish Government obdurately hides behind the written constitution as a road block to any change and a permanent guarantor of the status quo.
I spend a lot of time in Catalonia and I have friends and acquaintances on both sides of an often fierce argument which has remained relatively friendly and good natured, up till now at least.
But that may well change as the political temperature heats up and people convinced of the righteousness of their argument take the law into their own hands: witness the Spanish Government's attempts to disrupt the referendum and behaviour of some in the Guardia Civil, alongside pro-independence supporters blocking roads, motorways and student classes.
In my experience, the use of force does not always involve 'violence', but the use of force will always lead to violence in the end.
Catalonia is divided over the question independence which is hardly surprising really given that so many of its citizens are from other parts of Spain, and the very different priorities of people living in small towns or rural areas from those in larger cities.
But we have ended up with the worst of both worlds with one side pretending that independence is the 'settled will' of the Catalan people while the other insists that no change is possible without the agreement of the rest of Spain.
