Thoughts on what's been going on between Spain & Catalonia?

The recent independence referendum (even if Spanish police tried to prevent people from voting) has only 40% of catalan population asking for independence. I wouldn't force independence on the whole of them.

Even the way the referendum went down is controversial. Not a lot of Catalans voted, how the majority didn’t make up for the support of independence, Spanish police hostility and suppression of votes, how the decision is considered unconstitutional, and then all the complications of earning sovereign recognition and status.

Maybe the Catalans will eventually succeed on this one or maybe they won’t. It’s hard to say.

Still, they didn't even vote.

I just think they'd have been more successful if they proposed a confederation of states similar to Swiss model (I'm not naming the US because I find more similarities with a country with 4 official languages), with Basque region being another state for instance. It'd be more acceptable for all the people involved.

I think that's dubious. In the past polls have swung both ways and the reason the referendum got so much approval seemed to be that a) people felt part of a huge movement and b) they voted because of the dickish behavior of the central government which put them over the edge on the matter. I think the anti-indepence people are merely more silent about it. I have not seen an actual pro-independence argument that convinces me. The most spoken language is spanish, not catalan, only 50 % can even write catalan. They have autonomy already, they have their own TV stations, they are (aside from recent events) not marginalised or surpressed, they merely pay more than they would want to and they're still the most prosperous region (which would be comparable to Baden-Würtemberg in Germany, they also always paid more than they received in Germany, they are the only region to do so here btw and they're bigger than Catalonia but they don't seek indepence) and actually Madrid (and also one other region I believe) gets screwed harder by the distribution. I mean they have been part of Spain for like 500 years, The region I live in has been part of Germany for 150 years, we do not have our own TV stations (we share one with 4 other states) and an independence movement is virtually non-existent (though we do have the European Centre for Minority Issues which is situated here because the situation here is a positive example, I'm also part of a minority myself).

I'd much rather we have a Europe of Regions. You cut down the national government to cultural institutions and then give regional governments aswell as the EU government more powers (a little more like the US - or Switzerland - in structure but still overall very different and without your stupid first past the post system). This would solve such problems, unite Europe and still alow for regional specific stuff. It's also a lot more honest to European history at large than national states which are a construct of the 19th century.

The tension in Cataluña... I just can't imagine but one thing I'm sure, many countries, especially mine should take note, acknowledge our lack of balls and actually do something, there's been countless speeches, statements and many words, tweets and so on but no action, at least we can take what's happening as an example and not be a passive society.

Well, I hope that everything could work out for the best there.