Alwaght- Amid heated rivalry between the two US presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, the country is witnessing a new movement– a group of Californians running the separatist Yes California Movement.
The Russian news agency Sputnik reported that the pro-independence Californians scheduled to hang banner displaying a sign of friendship between the Californian separatists and Russia. But they failed to do so as just before hanging the police arrived and prevented them. The 9-meter long banner carried a message: “California and Russia are permanent friends.” This was enough for the US police to disallow hanging the banner of a group that claims friendship with Washington’s top enemy, Moscow.
How did everything begin?
A political movement, the Yes California Movement has stated its goal to be separating California state from the US and creating an independent country. Taking cue from the Scotland's independence movement, Yes California Movement announced existence in December 2015. Louis J. Marinelli was picked as its leader as he was also among its founders. In an interview with the Vice magazine, Marinelli has said his movement aimed at obtaining a gradual independence from the US.
Main goals of the Californian separatists
- Promoting the independent Californian identity
- Striving after gaining financial independence from the US
- Prioritizing California interests over US interests
- Moving administration of California to Sacramento as its capital
– Working to present California to the world as an independent country
- Boosting the local government along with gradual transition of power
The movement, which is active beside a registered political party as its official political wing, has stated other objectives including establishing independent healthcare system, independent financial markets, amending the justice system, and trying to eliminate the violence by the police and security forces.
Who are its leaders?
The current chair of California National Party is the lawyer Theo Slater. He has been chair of the party since January 2016. But Marinelli is leader of the separatist civil movement in California. The Yes California Movement said it has scheduled to hold political independence referendum in 2019. The 30-year-old Marinelli was also member of Californian state legislative body. He himself was born in Buffalo, New York. He moved to San Francisco in 2011 and started activism for independence since then.
What are the arguments with Washington?
The separatist movement’s differences with Washington cover a wide area. Perhaps the most important difference is ideological and affected by views of its leader Marinelli who was in Russia from 2007 to 2011 as an English language teacher. Before his return to California, he said that he was disappointed with the US political system, and that he was interested in renunciation of his American citizenship and seeking Russian citizenship. Nevertheless, he returned home and started pursuing goals in full conflict with Washington’s policies.
In terms of foreign policy, the secessionist movement is at odds with Washington. It condemns sending US forces abroad and argues that militarism wastes a huge amount of the country’s cash.
There have been no official stances on relations with the Israeli regime by the movement’s leaders but the experts suggest due to its conflicting policy with Washington, it is unlikely that it holds close relations with Tel Aviv.
The outlooks for the movement
Perhaps the weakest point of the separatist Yes California Movement is its reliance to a just one person as theoretical leader. The movement is very efficiently under influence of its young leader Louis J. Marinelli. This reliance to person can be a real weakness for the Californian separatists.
On the other side, under California National Party, the movement took part in the California inter-state elections but won only a bit more than 6 percent of the votes in contest against the Republicans and Democrats. Although this is considerable for a party that is only one-year-old, the movement has a long way ahead to become widespread.
The movement said it will reach the threshold needed for holding independence referendum up to 2019. Although wining any referendum is out of sight for the movement, even meeting the threshold by gathering signatures can be considered a victory for Yes California Movement.
