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| Catalonia tales: your views on the vote for independence | Catalonia tales: your views on the vote for independence |
| (4 months later) | |
| Susan Webb, 60, an endocrinologist at a teaching hospital | Susan Webb, 60, an endocrinologist at a teaching hospital |
| Her name may sound English but she's Barcelona born and bred, albeit with interesting antecedents. For the first time in her life she is likely to vote pro-independence on Sunday. | Her name may sound English but she's Barcelona born and bred, albeit with interesting antecedents. For the first time in her life she is likely to vote pro-independence on Sunday. |
| "My father was a Londoner, an engineer, who came here almost immediately after the end of the first world war, found a job with a Canadian-run electricity company then called Barcelona Traction, and stayed," she says. | "My father was a Londoner, an engineer, who came here almost immediately after the end of the first world war, found a job with a Canadian-run electricity company then called Barcelona Traction, and stayed," she says. |
| "My mother was born in Monte Carlo where her father – from the Lake District – was working for Cook's the travel agents, and educated in Nice. She trained as a nurse and came to Barcelona in 1947 to learn Spanish. They met when she got a job at the then Foreign Colonies Hospital here; my father was in charge of the electricity supply." | "My mother was born in Monte Carlo where her father – from the Lake District – was working for Cook's the travel agents, and educated in Nice. She trained as a nurse and came to Barcelona in 1947 to learn Spanish. They met when she got a job at the then Foreign Colonies Hospital here; my father was in charge of the electricity supply." |
| While the family spoke English at home, Susan grew up speaking Spanish and, from the time she started studying at medical school, Catalan. She got Spanish citizenship when she was 21, married a Spaniard (she is now divorced), and says that after spending her entire life here, she feels "absolutely both Spanish and Catalan". | While the family spoke English at home, Susan grew up speaking Spanish and, from the time she started studying at medical school, Catalan. She got Spanish citizenship when she was 21, married a Spaniard (she is now divorced), and says that after spending her entire life here, she feels "absolutely both Spanish and Catalan". |
| She has keen memories of the first big pro-independence rallies in Catalonia in 1977, soon after the death of Franco. But her sympathy for the independence cause has grown slowly, over the years, and she has only really become convinced in the past couple of years. | She has keen memories of the first big pro-independence rallies in Catalonia in 1977, soon after the death of Franco. But her sympathy for the independence cause has grown slowly, over the years, and she has only really become convinced in the past couple of years. |
| "As a child," she says, "I didn't really understand. I felt Spanish; to me I was born in Spain. Up until quite recently, to be Spanish or to be Catalan felt to me like pretty much the same thing. But now if you asked me, I'd say I'm Catalan." | "As a child," she says, "I didn't really understand. I felt Spanish; to me I was born in Spain. Up until quite recently, to be Spanish or to be Catalan felt to me like pretty much the same thing. But now if you asked me, I'd say I'm Catalan." |
| What's changed her mind? "I'm just fed up with Madrid, this centralist government, always mistreating us, financially, economically, culturally," she says. "The last straw was when they referred our constitution, approved by the Catalan parliament, that they'd promised to accept, to the constitutional court, which blocked it. | What's changed her mind? "I'm just fed up with Madrid, this centralist government, always mistreating us, financially, economically, culturally," she says. "The last straw was when they referred our constitution, approved by the Catalan parliament, that they'd promised to accept, to the constitutional court, which blocked it. |
| "But there's also the fiscal deficit; the fact that we pay out so much more than we get back. That Madrid motorways are free and Catalonia's all have tolls, and they've raised our tolls to keep theirs free. If we had control of our own taxes, I think that would be good." | "But there's also the fiscal deficit; the fact that we pay out so much more than we get back. That Madrid motorways are free and Catalonia's all have tolls, and they've raised our tolls to keep theirs free. If we had control of our own taxes, I think that would be good." |
| She's heard Artur Mas, she says, "and found myself listening, with interest. And there's the fact that support for independence has risen so sharply here, from 20% a few years ago to 50%, 60%, 70% now. There's a mood." | She's heard Artur Mas, she says, "and found myself listening, with interest. And there's the fact that support for independence has risen so sharply here, from 20% a few years ago to 50%, 60%, 70% now. There's a mood." |
| So on Sunday, having voted centre-left, even Green all her life, she's preparing to cast her vote for Mas. "The independence march on 11 September was an incredible experience," she says. "I called one of my sons, who lives abroad, and said I thought I'd been part of an historic occasion. It's … exciting. But now I have to think practically. | So on Sunday, having voted centre-left, even Green all her life, she's preparing to cast her vote for Mas. "The independence march on 11 September was an incredible experience," she says. "I called one of my sons, who lives abroad, and said I thought I'd been part of an historic occasion. It's … exciting. But now I have to think practically. |
| "I don't agree with everything [Mas's] CiU stands for. But I really feel the helpful vote, if we're going to stop this mistreatment from Madrid, is going to be to lend my vote to the CiU so we can move forward, for the sake of Catalonia." | "I don't agree with everything [Mas's] CiU stands for. But I really feel the helpful vote, if we're going to stop this mistreatment from Madrid, is going to be to lend my vote to the CiU so we can move forward, for the sake of Catalonia." |
| • Jon Henley is travelling through Catalonia this week in search of more #Cataloniatales. Follow him on twitter on @jonhenley and on this page, which will be updated regularly with the stories he hears. | • Jon Henley is travelling through Catalonia this week in search of more #Cataloniatales. Follow him on twitter on @jonhenley and on this page, which will be updated regularly with the stories he hears. |
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