Barcelona to vote unofficial referendum for Catalonia's independence

The next Sunday, July 10th, Barcelona's citizens will vote for Catalonia's independence in an unofficial referendum, thus, with no practical effects. Barcelona Decideix (Barcelona Decides), the entity that organizes this referendum, estimates a participation between 10% and 20%, which is seen by many people as a defeat for independence supporters. So far, Catalonia's people has been divided in four main groups:

1. those who want to be Catalans in an independent state within Europe.
2. those who want to be Catalans in a Catalan state within a federal Spain.
3. those who want to be only Spanish (mainly people from Spain that came to live in Catalonia)
4. those who don't mind.

Recent attitudes of Spain toward Catalonia's culture and economy have made the size of the first group to be multiplied by 3 in 10 years. Besides, since Spanish laws seal any possibility of converting Spain into a federal state, today the main groups have been reduced to three:

1. those who want to be Catalans in an independent state within Europe.
2. those who want to be only Spanish.
3. those who don't mind.

The BIG problem today in Catalonia is that Spanish laws also forbid legal and effective auto-determination referendums, leading in a complete ignorance of what are the real sizes of the first and second group. Barcelona decideix will ask people "do you want to be independent from Spain?"; and the entity expects a participation of 10% to 20%. What would happen if the question were: "do you want to stay in Spain?". Probably, the poll would yield the same participation numbers. Why? Because this referendum is absolutely effective-less. Voting this poll means nothing. Whatever the result is, Catalonia will not change its status and this leads many people to spend their time enjoying with their families. Of course, the day after the referendum, non-independentist people will probably misunderstand that 80% of Catalans want to be Spanish, without thinking first if they had voted if the question were expressed in the opposite way.

Three days after the referendum, the Catalan Parliament will vote to pass the Law of Independence, which does not proclaim independence, but sets the basis to do so. CIU, the biggest nationalist Catalan party, is in the spotlight because they are often criticized to be hesitant toward Catalonia's independence.