text: On primordial I don 't believe in single identities , but there are root identities such as being a Basque , a Catalan , a Kurd , or an Occitan , especially when there is a need to assert such a root identity against a larger , sometimes more smothering polity or culture .
  
  ###
  
  The presence of a smothering culture makes those of root identities more likely to assert themselves .