Of all the mind-numbing feats of political gymnastics that the hard-left had to perform during the Cold War, none was trickier than explaining how some nations seeking independence (such as the Palestinians or the Kurds) were viewed as brave freedom fighters and liberators, while others (the Baltic nations) were revisionist, nationalist scum that sought the destruction of the working class. The circle was never really squared, and the ensuing bickering was one of the reasons the left was so beset with factionalism and splits. As one of more celebrated socialists in British politics, Tony Benn, once said “there are too many socialist parties and not enough socialists.”
Yet the problem of some nations being more deserving of independence, or autonomy, than others, remains. And it is a problem that now has to be dealt with in Romania, where the inhabitants of the Szekely Land (the counties of Covasna, Harghita and Mures) yesterday began voting in a demonstrative and unbinding referendum on the creation of an autonomous government.
The knee-jerk reaction of the authorities in Bucharest was as unanimous as it was predictable. Government and opposition, far-right and far-left all called the referendum unconstitutional, invoking Romania as a ‘unitary state’ that could not be broken up.
So there.
