Catalonia, new state

Catalonia to play Tunisia in traditional Christmas friendly #football #sports

2011-11-30T03:37:00.001-08:00

Puyol in a match beetwen Catalonia and Colombia

By David Redshaw

Every player from Barcelona and Espanyol has informed the Catalan Football Federation (FCF) they will be available to represent the nation in the traditional friendly over the Christmas holiday period. This year's opposition will be Tunisia and the game will be held at the Estadio Lluis Companys - the former home of Espanyol before the move to their present Cornella El-Prat stadium - on December 30.

Eight Barcelona players (Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández, Victor Valdés, Gerard Piqué, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets, Andreu Fontàs and Isaac Cuenca) and eight from Espanyol (Sergio García, Joan Verdú, Javi Márquez, Álvaro Vázquez, Jordi Amat, Didac Vilà, Raúl Rodríguez and Kiko Casilla) have already been photographed in the Catalan selection's kit. However, the final squad will not be named until one week before the game when boss Johan Cruyff, who took the reins in November, 2009, announces his 23-man squad.

Before finalising their selection the FCF has first to negotiate with La Primera clubs to make sure their Catalan players are available for the game. For example, Valencia have Jordi Alba, Bruno Saltor and Víctor Ruiz as potential participants but Cruyff and his assistant Oscar García will also draw on players from Segunda A and Segunda B teams Gimnástic de Tarragona (Nastic), Girona, Sabadell and Barcelona B.

While Catalonia is not affiliated to either UEFA or FIFA (and by extension not allowed to take part in the World Cup or European Championships) the matches are seen more as exhibitions and almost 200 have been played since 1904. Last year's game against Honduras ended in a 4-0 victory with goals from Bojan Krkic (2), Coro and Sergio García.

http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/p6_1_11707_catalonia-to-play-tunisia-in-traditional-christmas-friendly.html

The father of the spanish constitution jokes about bombing catalan civilians #news #humanrights #ue

2011-11-04T02:44:00.001-07:00

by Cercle Català de Negocis

"I do not know how many times it was necessary to bomb Barcelona. This time things will be solved without having to do so." — Gregorio Peces-Barba

"Freedom of speech cannot be invoked to protect offensiveness and disdain towards persons, territories, and communities." — Catalan Bar Council

Last Thursday, at the 10th Convention of Spanish National Bar in Cadiz, Gregorio Peces-Barba, one of the most prominent fathers of the Spanish Constitution, joked about bombing Barcelona in a reference to Catalonia's ongoing independence process. "We are in better shape than in the past. I do not know how many times it was necessary to bomb Barcelona. This time things will be solved without having to do so."

During his speech, Peces-Barba mused in an allusion to the Catalan and Portuguese wars of secession of the 17th century: "What would have happened had we kept Portugal instead of Catalonia?" "We probably would have been better off with the Portuguese," he quipped.

Representatives of the Catalan Bar Council left the room in protest and later stated in a press release: "Respect for freedom of speech cannot be used to protect offensiveness and disdain towards persons, territories, and communities."

The Spanish Socialist Party, currently in government, considered his comments "inappropriate." No member from the Portuguese government has made any comment yet.

The Spanish politician later added in a radio interview that joking about the Catalan bombings is not the same as joking about the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War or the bombings perpetrated by the Basque terrorist group, ETA, which has recently called for a definitive ceasefire and a start of negotiations with the French and Spanish governments. Peces-Barba also told the interviewer that Catalans are "oversensitive people and should have a better sense of humor." He later apologized to those that might have felt his first words to be offensive.

As some of his Socialist Party colleagues pointed out, Gregorio Peces-Barba may have unwittingly helped the growing independence movement in Catalonia. In a recent government opinion poll, about 46% of the citizens of Catalonia said that they would support independence. Though it is one of the wealthiest and most industrialized regions in Spain, Catalonia has had a fiscal deficit of around 10% of its GDP for several decades, which makes its tax burden one of the highest in Europe. This is one of the most controversial issues between Catalonia and Spain, the other being the persecution of the Catalan language and culture since the 17th Century.

The corridor Europe needs

2011-11-03T03:09:00.000-07:00

By Miquel Valls / President of the Chamber of Commerce, Trade and
Navigation of Barcelona.

The European single market's competitiveness within the global
economy's framework requires, as a necessary condition, an efficient
transport system regarding the economic, social and environmental
costs. In this regard, prioritising the Mediterranean Corridor is the
paradigmatic example of a long-term strategy implemented by the
European Commission through its Trans-European Transport Network
proposal.

A strategy that, in the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, we share and
support, since it strengthens our commitment to foster business
competitiveness, which is the key factor in economic and social
development, here and everywhere. However, it needs to be stressed
that this is not simply to improve logistics, but it represents a firm
and decided determination to benefit the productive economy. Because
our main competitive advantage is our business network's productive
will, based on a great industrial and export tradition.

In fact, prioritising the Mediterranean Corridor relates to the shared
objective to place Mediterranean ports as the main European entry and
exit gateways for trade fluxes with the Far East, as well as to foster
logistics within the Euro-Mediterranean area. It must be taken into
account that Mediterranean ports, with Barcelona's at the fore front,
offer a great connection potential to attract trade traffic between
Asia and Europe, which currently mainly use Northern European ports
(up to 75%).

Consequently, the increase of Asian traffic attraction by Southern
European ports might represent an important contribution to the global
efficiency of the goods transport system, as the European Union seeks
to achieve according to the White Paper on Transport, published this
year. There, it is affirmed that Mediterranean ports offer a shorter
journey time and that their use might be cheaper than Northern
European routes. Roughly, it might represent saving between 15% and
20% of travel time, since three to four navigation days are being cut
off. Since navigation distances are being reduced, and the modal
distribution of land stages is optimised, fuel consumption, energy
dependence and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.

Therefore, we reach the conclusion that improving land links between
southern and northern Europe is one of the main challenges to improve
the European economy's competitiveness. And, considering
socio-economic profitability criteria, in our home, the main priority
among such unsettled links is the Mediterranean Railway Corridor. The
Corridor Europe needs.

http://www.catalanviews.com/content/corridor-europe-needs

Catalan National Teams

2011-10-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

Author: Jordi Quintana

It is widely known that we Catalans have always been supportive of all kinds of sports, even though we can't compete in most international competitions to this day. What's most surprising is that Catalonia has always been one of the first countries to introduce and cultivate the practice of sports, even in the distant past, when all the available information used to come from newspapers and from far away places where people were beginning to practice funky sports.

Catalonia's love affair with all sports has a long tradition. In the early 20th century, Catalans began to create sports associations, way before Spaniards began to do so. Amongst these, we count some of the most popular sports nowadays, like tennis, soccer, and baseball. Catalonia even was one of the founding members of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA), displaying a true interest in the practice of sports at a time when it did not have its current preeminence.

However, this desire for recognition, and the right to compete internationally, which countries like Spain, France, Germany, and even Scotland, England and the Faroe Islands have, is not recognized by the international organizations. They still deny us, mainly on political reasons, not on sports related grounds. It is true that if we had a government backing up the different associations, we would not need to find ways to participate on an individual basis.

Also, this desire is not just a selfish dream of a few self-proclaimed visionaries. Some twenty years ago, several associations working towards getting Catalan national teams (ADOC—Associació per a la Delegació Olímpica de Catalunya and Pro Seleccions catalanes) were able to gather half a million signatures in favor of Catalonia's participation in international competitions. This was at a time when the population in Catalonia was of six and a half million. Unfortunately, these efforts ended up amounting to nothing.

Catalonia has always looked for international recognition. This fact has never been put in question, not even at times when displaying Catalan symbols was plainly outlawed and punished. During Franco's dictatorship, Futbol Club Barcelona, where Messi, Iniesta and Xavi play nowadays, became the de facto representative of our national teams, mostly due to the countless encounters against eternal rival Real Madrid, which had become the regime's symbol. Although the first matches between these two teams lacked any political connotations, in time, the more they played together, the more their rivalry grew and they became estranged. This is how this enmity was created. An enmity between a team from the deep Spain, backed up by the dictatorship's establishment, and a team from the periphery, which did not only not go along with the regime's ideals, but which had become an outright rebellious team. It was thanks to this fact that Barça ended up being a symbol for a whole country, Catalonia.

At that point in history, right in the middle of a dictatorship, the Barça flag became a clear symbol of Catalonia. Displaying a Barça flag was equivalent to giving support to a repressed country. It was precisely during this time when Barça's president, Narcís de Carreras, coined the now legendary sentence: "Barça is more than a team." He said this in order to manifest that this team does not only serve its members, but a whole country.

Nowadays, this statement does not mean exactly the same. The contributions by FC Barcelona to international organizations have given the team a reputation for having great sensitivity towards charitable causes. People nowadays are allowed to display the Catalan flag in the stadiums with no consequences. However, we'd do well to remember that when the famous statement of "more than a team" is touted about at Camp Nou stadium, it's because behind this team there's a whole country that wants to go its own way.

http://helpcatalonia.blogspot.com/2011/10/catalan-national-teams.html

The Catalan school model

2011-09-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

Autor: Jose Ignacio Vila

Catalonia's education system is based on bilingual education. One of its objectives is that all pupils get a good knowledge of the two official languages, Catalan and Spanish. Wallace Lambert points out that, when a society wants bilingual people, the socially weakest language needs to prevail in school education. According to his principle, public schools in Catalonia organise mainly two programmes: a programme to maintain the family language aimed at the Catalan-speaking students, and a programme of starting linguistic immersion aimed at Spanish-speaking children. Both are supported by very positive social attitudes towards the Catalan language. However, the law guarantees families the choice to decide their children's school language during the entire initiation to reading and writing learning (8 years old). In practical terms, there are some 10 Spanish-speaking families as an average number that decide to school their children in Spanish. In the following years, the Spanish language is a school subject, both for the maintenance programmes and linguistic immersion programmes. Nevertheless, especially in the linguistic immersion programme, Spanish has an important presence in the student's informal relations as well as in the relations students keep to solve academic problems in Catalan.

Since 1990, there has been a systematic evaluation of bilingual education results in Catalonia. Regarding linguistic knowledge, there are no differences between Catalan-speaking and Spanish-speaking students in their knowledge of the Spanish language. In addition, there are no differences regarding the knowledge of the Spanish language between students from Catalan schools and those from the rest of Spain. The differences exist in relation to the knowledge of the Catalan language. At the end of obligatory schooling, as it happens in the rest of linguistic immersion programmes around the world, the Spanish-speaking students have less Catalan oral skills than Catalan-speaking students. However, there are no differences regarding the writing language skills. In fact, the Spanish-speaking students have Catalan writing skills on a level with those of Catalan-speaking students along the obligatory secondary education, after nine or more years of schooling (pre-school education and primary education). The 2009 PISA evaluation on reading comprehension placed Catalonia seven points above the OCDE average and 12 points above the Spanish average. Regarding the acquisition of knowledge and skill development of other areas such as mathematics, natural sciences or social sciences, there are no differences between the Catalan-speaking students and Spanish-speaking students.

Since 2000, Catalonia has incorporated thousands and thousands of foreign students to the education system who already represent around 14% of the population. Certainly, these pupils with very different languages are schooled in a programme of linguistic submersion because, among other reasons, the education system is not designed to develop their languages. Therefore, already since the beginning of this century, there is an important movement of educational innovation around these new students under the name of 'new linguistic immersion'. It aims to eliminate the negative effects of obligatory schooling in a programme that does not contemplate the development of their own language. It is obvious that, among others, one of the characteristics of this movement consists of recognising all the languages, and their educative treatment independently of their knowledge by part of the teachers.

Dr. Jose Ignacio Vila
Professor of Education Psychology at the Universitat de Girona (UdG)

http://www.catalanviews.com/content/catalan-school-model

A Europe of Everyone, also of the Catalans

2011-06-30T14:08:00.001-07:00

by Josep Bargalló Valls, First Minister and Minister of the Presidency of Catalonia 2004-2006

We, the Catalans, often feel uncomfortable in a turbulent European Union in constant search for a false balance. We feel out of place in a European Union unable to resolve its many crises—all born by a financial sector that expands over its capacity, then shrinks, puts out its hand and looks away. We are marginalized by European institutions that rigorously dictate over insignificant issues while leaving the field wide open and uncontrolled when it comes to topics that are, to us as citizens, of most importance.

It is true that we need a social European Union—one that is not enslaved to the interests of states and economic powers. We need a Europe of the people, of the peoples, and we can get there in many ways: with a greater subsidiarity of decision power, with a higher degree of participation, and more efficient financial regulations, with a more transparent and clear legislation to regulate the doings of banks on public and private debt and in their own activities.

But this is not all. To feel that we are a part of it, we need the European Union to embrace all Europeans as they are. For us, the language is a clear example. Beyond the difficulties of its social use, legal status and regional diversity—all of those being internal aspects—, Catalan is neither a minority language nor a lower class language. With 10 million speakers, it is the 12th most spoken in the European Union—surpassing Finnish, Maltese, Gaelic, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian or Slovenian and rivalling Greek and Portuguese. Nevertheless, Catalan does not yet enjoy the status of being fully recognized as an official European language in the institutions of the European Union. And if we argue that all languages, regardless of the number of speakers, deserve the same respect and attention from public institutions, we have to conclude as well that Catalan is not a minority language: In today's Europe of 27 states, there are 40 languages spoken by less than 300,000 people—the number of Maltese speakers, the smallest of the official languages in the Union. If Catalan was a minority language, how should we define the 28 that have fewer speakers?

And the fact that Catalan is not official in any big state—it is only official in Andorra—is, certainly, an internal anomaly, which we have to solve internally¬, but it should not be an external handicap. In the European Union, 30 million people have a first language that is not official in their country. Catalan is, in this context, I insist, a modern language. It transcends borders and it's spoken in four sovereign states—in the Spanish state, it is official in the autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia; in the Perpignan region in France; in the city of Alghero in the Italian Sardinia; and in Andorra, a small sovereign state in the Pyrenees, where it is the only official language. It is a language that has always lived close to other languages—there is not a single Catalan-speaker who is not bilingual, because they all have full competence in either Spanish, Italian or French—sometimes in a couple of them. It is a universal vehicle, a language that translates and is translated—it is the tenth most translated language in Europe; and a vehicle, also, for new technologies—it is one of the ten most used languages on the internet, and the only language with its own top-level domain, .cat. Of course, Catalan may not be an internationally "major" language, but it is certainly not a minority language, either. It is worth mentioning that it is taught in over 160 universities worldwide.

When Europe speaks of diversity, it cannot only refer to diversity among nation states, but needs to also adopt the concept of profound diversity among European societies, of real diversity, and a first urgent step in this sense would be the official recognition of linguistic realities as solid and clear as that of Catalan, a language used daily by ten million Europeans.

Therefore, as an expression of modernity, Catalan, tied to opportunities for the future and linked at the same time to a very rich and centuries-old cultural tradition, is already part of mankind's collective heritage. Catalan as a language of social integration and cohesion, Catalan as a language for the new technologies, Catalan as a language to be shared—this is the heritage that Europe has to recognize and preserve.

We would feel more comfortable in such a European Union. In a social European Union, of the people, of labour, of the peoples and of culture. One of all its citizens, without exceptions. A European Union that also would recognize the right of self-determination not just of the citizens of countries that are not part of the Union, but also of those who are.

#News: On the Spanish cultural war against the Catalans and their language

2011-06-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

Article by Antoni Ferrando

Recently some world press published horror stories about the profligate Catalans, as a threat for Spain, in the wider context of the euro crisis. Catalan budget for 2011, even with a hefty cut of 10 per cent, doesn't meet the deficit target. But this happens because that same Central Government that sets the target with one hand, blocks the funds to meet it with the other hand. Why do they do it? Probably the Catalans were expected to cut even more and demand less funding. But they will not, Catalan president Artur Mas visited Brussels recently to explain all this, and at the end of the day reality prevails: the Spanish government has still four fifths of the whole debt in its books.

That both governments, Spanish and Catalan, say they are doing the right thing, was to be expected. However, in the behaviour of the Spanish government, there are deep patterns of an irrational disrespect towards the Catalans. Irrational relative to the rational thing to do, from a State government point of view, which should be to keep the State as a working whole. Where does this irrational disrespect come from? Probably is a byproduct of a pervasive and all-encompassing ideology of Spanish nationalism, merged with the machinery of the State, regardless the ruling party of the moment. It shows in many fronts: if the awareness of the "otherness" of the Catalans remains unbearable, is because it source runs deep in the mind of the Spanish nationalist. One of the obvious signs of diveristy is the Catalan language, so it must be fought relentlessly.

In Catalonia the public basic school system works with a Catalan language immersion system, and the individual needs of students not fluent in Catalan are met individually. This arrangement effectively protects the Catalan language an avoids the social division that would create parallel schooling systems in several languages. Moreover, according to data of the Spanish Ministry of Education, the Spanish language skills of the Catalan kids are satisfactory. The European Commission praised the Catalan schooling system as a model for multilingual regions.

But reality be damned: three activist parents pursued their cause until the Spanish Supreme Court ruled (following last summer's Constitutional Court ruling) and ordered to introduce also Spanish as a second working language, and therefore the breakup of Catalan public schooling. However the rulings will be hardly enforceable: the support of the Catalans to a working school system is massive, with roughly a million students. The Constitutional Court itself is in a deep crisis, heavily controlled by the socialist (PSOE) and conservative (PP) Spanish parties, which as a matter of fact are two wings of a unique and virtual Spanish Nationalist Party.

Meanwhile, in Valencia, the new PP government has announced plans to dismantle schooling in Catalan and merge it with schooling in Spanish and English. Until now there were two lines, Catalan immersion and Spanish immersion but seeing that Catalan immersion was becoming more popular and its demand increasing year after year, currently more than 40% of parents were choosing it, could not be tolerated by the PP. There have already been massive protests against this ruling (link in Catalan).

Earlier this year the Valencian government blocked the reception of neighbouring Catalan Public television, with a totalitarian zeal more effective than any Chinese government. In times of a vast TV offer all around the world, people in Valencia are being deprived of a television channel widely popular just because it's in Catalan. Again, behind the move there was just more blatant Spanish nationalism, with its persistent unability to accept and recognize cultural diversity.

The long and consistent record of totalitarian inclinations of the Spanish nationalism, and its struggle against Catalan economy and culture, rule out any federal-like arrangement for the future of Spain and boost Catalan independentism.

Why Catalonia Independent?

2011-06-02T10:58:00.001-07:00

1) Each year, Spain took the Catalans 22 000 million in taxes that go to Spain and return to Catalonia. That means a tax plundering of 3,000 euros per person per year (12,000 euros per family of four). With independence and recover this tax plundering of Catalonia can invest for better living and to overcome the crisis.

2) More health, education and aid dependency: independence can increase with 70% of the Government's budget and invest more in education, health and aid dependency.

3) Increase in pension for the elderly: with their own state pension to be increased each year more than 2,500 euros.Allocated 6400 million euros (22,000 million of that each year we take Spain) 15% increase in pensions of widows and retirees.

4) Grants-wage for young people: with independence can create a system-salary grants for youth to excel and can concentrate on their studies and have every opportunity to progress.

5) To create jobs and ensure the future of the companies: only our own State we have first class infrastructure, eliminate the tolls, make our ports are the gateway to Asia to Europe and enjoy 'Catalonia airports and trains that connect with the world.With the end of the fiscal plundering workers enjoy higher wages, companies will pay less taxes and receive more funding for innovation and research.

6) We recover the dignity and promote our values: we are free only if we recover our dignity. No longer have to endure the scorn and insults of Spain and we can enhance our own values: work, effort, saving, initiative, entrepreneurship, innovation.

7) Build quality of a democracy: the new Catalan state can be built on a democratic basis of quality, without corsets and rumors of Franco still linger in the low quality of Spanish democracy. We can organize referendums binding, we elect provincial councils and vegueries through direct vote, approving a bill of information and transparency in public administrations.

8) We can protect the landscape and the environment: the independence to decide what we want energy model and promote renewable energy. While we can protect the landscape and environment of speculation, because the whole territory and sovereignty will be closer to the citizens can exercise greater control over the landscape and natural resources.

9) Could promote the sport and enjoy national teams: the Catalan state can compete internationally with their own sports teams, which will allow us to enjoy and thrill us with our selections. In addition, it allows us to promote the sport and allow many more young Catalan compete internationally.

Spain will not change, everything is centralized in Madrid and take and strengthen the impoverishment of the periphery to get it.

10) Spain has already decided that Madrid is the capital and center of everything and take and strengthen the impoverishment of the periphery to get it: The Spanish national project to Madrid's political and economic capital of the state price to impoverish the periphery is fully consolidated and not reversed. The process of centralization of political and economic power remains in Madrid and Spain and will work conscientiously to expedite it: everything is centralized, and multinational enterprises, infrastructure, rail, intercontinental flights, talent, research, financial institutions ... Continue to accept that Spain is a country of Catalonia will be second to end poor desindustrialitzat specializing in tourism, hospitality and second homes.

Independence is a secure process: the dangers and uncertainties of independence have disappeared.

11) Spain can not stop today, within the European Union is prohibited resort to the use of force to stop a peaceful process.Spain can no longer resort to the use of force to stop the independence of the Catalan people. The Consultation on Independence has been the best example.

13) Do not lose customers or market because the market is global: the globalization, the Spanish market has lost importance for Catalan companies and trade boycotts can not be put into practice in a global world where everyone buys based on quality / cost. The case of the attempted boycott champagne ended with an increase in exports of champagne worldwide. Today our market is worldwide.

12) Remain in the EU: the prestigious international jurists agree determined that Catalonia, Scotland and Flanders will remain in the EU when it declared independence. We are part of the EU, the Catalans have rights as EU citizens and citizens of other EU have rights guaranteed in Catalonia. The case of Flanders shows us the way: Brussels is the capital of Flanders and the EU and when Flanders an independent state is still part logically from the EU.

The only possible way forward is independence for the autonomy and federalism have failed.

13) The last sentence of CW against the statute has led to other proposals to further Catalonia are not the proclamation of independence (the economic agreement, the federal state or autonomy) are doomed to failure because most absolute needReforming the constitution and agreement of the PSOE and the PP. If PP and PSOE have not allowed a Statute of Autonomy cut as promote a reform of the Constitution to meet the Catalans with more money and power?. Only proclaimed independence is within our reach because it is the only thing that only depends on us.

The proclamation of independence is the way we use the UN to achieve the mark own state.

14) The ruling of the ICJ by the UN regarding the unilateral proclamation of independence by Kosovo has ruled that the path of unilateral proclamation to access status is lawful and fits perfectly international law. When a country like Spain does not allow the referendum or negotiation, the unilateral proclamation of independence is the way the international community has set. /Font

An independent Catalonia would avoid more budget cuts in only 2 months

2011-05-01T15:33:00.001-07:00

By Crònica.cat

According to the economist Mr.Salvador García , the 10% budget cut of the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya) is equivalent to 54 days of the Spanish fiscal spoil that Catalonia is suffering at the moment. The scholar calculates the budgets cuts comparing it to the fiscal spoil that our nation is going through, and he confirms that without the Spanish tax plundering, Catalonia could avoid the budgets cuts in only 2 months. And with the money of additional 10 months without paying taxes to Spain, and we could decreases all the taxes, the deficit and increase service levels", he guarantees. Mr. García has also pointed out that the health welfare budget cuts concretely 1000 million Euro, is equivalent to 21 days of Spanish fiscal spoil, for example.

The billion-dollar grudge match: The enormity of 'El Clasico'

2011-04-28T02:55:00.001-07:00

By Will Tidey, CNN

There are few rivalries in sport that capture the imagination like the coming together of Real Madrid and Barcelona -- a soccer match of such enormity that it has its own nickname: "El Clasico." On the field, it is a billion-dollar grudge match between the two best teams in the football-mad country of Spain. Off the field, it is a tale of two cities -- a clash of Castilian nationalism and Catalan pride; and a rivalry of cultures forged in the Spanish civil war and the reign of General Franco.

The two will clash Wednesday at Real Madrid's Estadio Santiago Bernabéu before traveling to Barcelona for the second leg of the Champions League semifinal next week. In a freak of fixture commitments, the superpowers of Spain will have met four times in the space of 18 days by May 4, giving the historic rivalry an epic new chapter.

Billion-dollar ball game

The modern-day El Clasico brings together the world's two highest-earning sports clubs -- boasting combined revenues of over $1 billion, according to international consulting firm Deloitte.

The great rivals also lead the sports world in wages. According to Sporting Intelligence, Barca paid an average salary of $7.9 million to players last season, with Madrid dishing out $7.4 million. The New York Yankees baseball team are third on the list, paying an average $6.8 million.

"Both teams (Madrid and Barca) have steadily grown their revenue streams in recent years, contributing to their on-pitch performance through investment in better facilities, players and the development of youth team players," said Dan Jones, sports business partner at Deloitte.

But while the two teams clearly share a license to print money, they have contrasting approaches to the business of spending it.

Madrid are famed for their extravagance -- with the $130 million paid to Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009 typical of their cavalier policy in the transfer market. They profess the '"Galacticos" mentality -- a team of superstars -- demonstrated by a 2010-11 squad that cost an eye-watering $689 million to assemble.

Barca are not without their big-name signings, but rely far more heavily on homegrown talent -- with the likes of Lionel Messi and Spanish World Cup winners Xavi and Andres Iniesta being products of the club's youth academy. Barca's current squad cost just $254 million to assemble.

History of rivalry

Barcelona and Real Madrid played for the first time in 1902, but the rivalry soon transcended the confines of a soccer match.

Barca came to represent the fight for Catalan independence from Spain, and a rejection of the nationalist regime that ruled the country from Madrid -- especially under the rule of Franco, who came to power at the culmination of the bloody Spanish Civil War in 1939.
"In Spain, the population of Catalonia don't consider themselves Spanish," said Adi-Oula Sebastian, editor of Barca fan site barcablaugranes.com.

"When the General Franco dictatorship forbade the use of regional dialects, the Camp Nou (Barcelona's home stadium) became one of the few places Catalans were allowed to speak their language, without having to fear repercussions."

Madrid were the all-powerful institution. They had political and royal backing -- the "Real" in their name, meaning "Royal," was a gift from King Alfonso XIII in 1920 -- and from the 1950s, boasted a collection of the world's best and most glamorous players.
Madrid fans view these games as a playful argument about the way to see and understand the country as a whole

The relationship was exacerbated by the transfer of Alfredo Di Stefano to Madrid in 1953. The Argentine was wanted by both clubs, and both thought they'd signed him. But it was Madrid who got the legendary striker, and Di Stefano duly inspired a decade of dominance at the Bernabeu.

Barca have always suspected foul play. Their official website claims a "royal decree" persuaded Di Stefano to join Madrid, and there has long been the suggestion that the establishment pushed the deal through.

"To this day supporters of Barcelona feel robbed, while Madrid fans argue the legitimacy of the deal," said Sebastian. "Imagine if Michael Jordan gave his word to sign for the Chicago Bulls, then joined the New York Knicks instead!"

El Clasico personalities

The El Clasico as we find it today is defined by two world-class players, and two world-beating coaches. It is Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo against Barca's Messi on the field, and Jose Mourinho against Pep Guardiola on the sidelines.

Is Jose Mourinho the master of mind games?

Ronaldo is the powerfully-built Portuguese winger, with speed to burn and an armory of tricks at his disposal. Messi is the pint-size Argentine genius, who took Ronaldo's crown as World Player of the Year in 2009 -- and retained the award in 2010.

"There's no-one to touch Messi at the moment. People compare him to the great Diego Maradona, and it's a fair comparison," said Tim Hanlan, author of "A Catalan Dream."

"Ronaldo is not quite on the same level, but his strength and pace can make him just as effective as Messi on his day." Both players are having prolific seasons in front of goal, with each vying to be Europe's top scorer.

Their coaches have equally impressive resumes. Guardiola took over at Barcelona in 2008, and led his team to Champions League glory in his first season in charge. Mourinho oversaw Porto's shock European triumph in 2004, and repeated the feat with Inter Milan in 2010.

"I've always loved Mourinho. Since his time at Porto I wanted him to join Madrid," said Lezra. "He's a brilliant tactician, an incredible motivator and a born winner. And his personality fits Real Madrid perfectly."

Footballing duopoly

Until relatively recently the Real-Barca rivalry was a one-sided affair. Madrid built dynasties in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued to dominate domestically and in Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Barca enjoyed sporadic success, but it wasn't until the early 1990s that they finally launched a dynasty of their own -- winning four titles in a row under Dutch coach Johan Cruyff before lifting their first European Cup in 1992.

The balance of power shifted back and forth over the next 15 years, but Barca are now in the ascendancy. Guardiola's team have won the last two Spanish titles, and claimed a third Champions League crown in 2009. Meanwhile, Madrid are without a European success since 2002.

"Barcelona are definitely on top right now. They've put together a great team, and have been playing the same style, with more or less the same players, for the last four years or so," said Lezra.

"Madrid, on the other hand, have fired managers, brought in new players and made various tactical adjustments -- not a good strategy if you're looking for long-term success."

Whether Barca can stay on stop will undoubtedly be influenced by the outcome of this year's Champions League semifinal -- the latest chapter in a rivalry as fierce and colorful as any in sport.

Who are you rooting for?

"The rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid is special because both teams are made up of superstars," said Sebastian.

"You'll be hard-pressed to find as many world-class players sharing the pitch at the same time. In football, the El Clasico rivalry is as good as it gets."

The Guardian: 'St George's Day with a Catalan twist'

2011-04-23T09:02:00.001-07:00

By Matthew Tree
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 23 April 2011

And the word was love … Sant Jordi's Day celebrations in Las Ramblas, Barcelona. Photograph: Miquel Benitez/Rex Features

The patron saint of the country in which I live is Sant Jordi, his name adapted here to Catalan just as it has been to the respective tongues of the 11 other countries that have adopted this apparent dragon-slayer as their national mascot. In Catalonia, however, far from being an occasion for patriotic breast-beating – as still seems to be the case in England – April 23, at least since the 15th century, has been revered as the dia dels enamorats or lovers' day, on which the enamoured are supposed to give a blood-red rose to their beloveds.

Towards the end of the 1920s, Vicente Clavel, a Valencian resident of Barcelona, realising that Sant Jordi's deathday coincided with those of Cervantes and Shakespeare, decided to encourage people to give books as well as roses to their loved ones, an idea welcomed with open arms by his fellow publishers.

Since then, on Sant Jordi's day (even under Franco, when the open sale of Catalan language books was banned for 39 years), the citizens of Catalonia have flocked to the centres of their villages, towns and cities to get a rose and a book for their spouses, lovers, offspring or parents. In the capital (Barcelona), things never fail to reach a frenetic apogee, with the two main Ramblas and a fair slice of the Passeig de Gràcia stuffed to the gills with potential readers on the lookout for the latest titles and the writers who are signing them, while roses are hawked by dozens upon dozens of street vendors dotted among the bookstalls.

Writers are traditionally invited to kick off Sant Jordi's Day by assembling at the central Regina hotel for a collective breakfast followed by a mass photo shoot. I personally skip this occasion (which is rush-hour crowded; besides which, I never eat breakfast anyway) and head straight for my first allocated stand. (Publishers organise between six and eight separate signing sessions throughout the day per author).

These stands are of banqueting-hall length, with the writers squeezed together like wedding guests, that is to say, within elbowing distance. Which has the advantage, sometimes, of being placed next to an author you have long been wanting to meet, and the disadvantage, on occasion, of being obliged to cosy up with someone who belongs to a pretentious clique whose work you despise (and who, almost certainly, feels the same way about you). More rare – though it has happened to me more than twice – is the unsettling experience of finding yourself next to a Catalan media personality before whom hordes are queuing to obtain his TV spin-off while in front of your own pile of volumes, written without the cameras in mind, there stretches nothing but empty paving.

Throughout the day, the inevitable spectacle of strangers picking up your book, reading through the blurb, and then tossing it disdainfully back on the pile, is offset, thank the Lord, by the pleasantness (far more common) involved in meeting many chatty, previously unknown readers.

At the end of each hour, it is mandatory to leap up from your chair and half-sprint off to the next scheduled stand. Given that the signing sessions are chronologically sandwiched – so that the author signing from, say, four to five, is supposed to start his next signing from five to six, often at a stand several hundred yards away – writers have to barge red-faced and sweating through the crowds in an attempt to defy the rules that still govern time and space.

Sant Jordi's Day ends around twilight, which is when the booksellers start to wrap up the unsold produce then stand around smoking in exhausted gaggles, while the throngs quickly thin to next to nothing and discarded publishers' flyers lie scattered on the pavements' darkening shades of grey.

By nine o'clock, it is hard to believe that for the last 12 hours, hundreds of thousands of people have shifted their way along the boulevards of Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Lleida and all the smaller towns in between: families and lovers and groups of friends eyeing covers, inspecting rose petals, exchanging books, exchanging roses, all of it, nominally at least, in the name of love: family love, couple love, erotic love. There is, indeed, nothing like Catalonia's dia dels enamoratsanywhere else on this planet. Saint Valentine, eat your heart out. /Font

The SNP and the Greens should start to build bridges, not burn them

2011-04-21T01:49:00.001-07:00

by Pat Kane ·/ 'The Caledonian Mercury'

Coming back from a few days doing media business in Barcelona to election-fever Glasgow sets up some interesting resonances in the mind. In some ways, the Catalan capital feels like Scotland about, say, five years ahead.

My conference was a cutting-edge, London-originated event about social media and journalism, with a cast list including everyone from WikiLeakers to Al Jazeera, the Guardian to Amnesty, held in a futuristic media-arts building.

Yep, as cosmopolitan as it gets – a feeling reinforced as the credit-card-ready taxis barrel you through Barça's amazing 19th century urban grid, which in any case looks like a mash-up of the best bits of Glasgow and Edinburgh's tenements and monuments.

But this wasn't just a stylish, switched-on Anywhere, but a particular Somewhere. In order for the conference to function at all, we had to wear our trilingual headsets (Catalan, Castilian and English) to understand each other. The local newspeople attending were as feisty and crusty as any of the senior hacks might be from our own Scottish national newspapers. And on the way there, I'd been listening to a podcast by the illustrious former mayor of Barcelona Joan Clos, whose vision of the city's sustainable development has led him to a senior UN position on the future of the world cities.

Want to discuss other issues? Join the debate on our new Scottish Voices forum

Of course, like Scotland (but for a lot longer), Catalonia has had a constitutional argument running that wants more national powers – macro-level tools to help realise the historic modernisme and progressive culture that has marked Catalan identity for the last century. As I returned into the mild blitz of the SNP's manifesto launch – with its flurry of actors, writers, movie-makers and general imagineers in support, and a prospectus which (whether you believe all its details or not) is undoubtedly a serious and comprehensive programme for government – the Catalonian parallels seemed obvious.

Well, let's see. Certainly a re-election of the SNP government would signify that left-of-centre civic nationalism has become the natural political expression of mainstream Scotland. Perhaps what's being instituted here is that decades-long hegemony of progressive nationalist government that so characterises Catalonian politics.

But it's fascinating to note where things are in Catalonia. A recent movement of local, city and town elections – organised from the grassroots and without constitutional "legitimacy" – has culminated in a Barcelona city vote where nine out of ten participants supported independence. Are bottom-up and community passions for independence equally as vibrant in Scotland, even if Salmond's political charisma is given another "kick of the ball"?

In Catalonia, the decision of the Spanish constitutional court to actually pull back some powers from their parliament led to clear majorities in independence polls (with Barcelona FC's head rallying to the cause; surely that's a better use of a big-city football director's energies than… well, you know).

Will some similarly ham-fisted move by the UK coalition government trigger a similar town-by-town referendum culture here? If the Salmondistas have ambitions beyond seeming like the natural managers of a devolved or federal Scotland, an "independence movement" is something they should be thinking about fomenting and supporting, when/if they return to their ministerial desks.

Yet this again indicates a deficit in the strategic and policy culture around the SNP which many commentators (such as Gerry Hassan and, more acerbically, Tom Gallagher) have pointed out. One pays due respect to the Scottish Independence Convention, pulled together by the ex-Herald columnist Murray Ritchie. The SIC has doughtily tried to create a space in which those who support a nation-state for Scotland, from a range of ideological positions, can find a way to discuss tactics towards that end (their election blog is a fine example of this).

But some of us would like to see a platform or process that allows a fully mature independence policy debate to take place – one in which the full powers of a small European nation-state are presumed, but where we can have vigorous discussions about the challenges that sovereignty faces.

For me, as I've written here and elsewhere, the most vital relationship would be between the SNP and the Greens. (I'd love to think that there were a few non-tribal social democrats in the Labour party who could join in, but that might be asking too much.) In the same way as the socialist parties (pre-Tommy Sheridan's meltdown) were able to nudge previous Holyrood administrations towards social justice, I'd like to see a strong Green contingent keep an SNP-led administration focused on the low-carbon agenda.

But I think there needs to be some moderation and wisdom on both sides, if such a relationship was to be fruitful and effective. On the SNP side, they should realise that the mix of social justice, localism and a genuinely planetary perspective on our daily lives represented by Green politics could be one of the strong elements of an "independence movement". We need a real push towards empowered communities – where people are supported to "co-create" their services, living conditions and energy. This autonomy will generate a natural ambition for wider social – in the Scottish context, constitutional – change.

Sure, football heads, transport tycoons and engineering buccaneers can get on Salmond's sustainable bus (deliberate pun) towards a planet-friendly economy – but the "reindustrialisation" of Scotland must not be misinterpreted as the "back-to-consumerism" of Scotland. We have to begin, however gently and convivially, a discussion about a change in the Scottish lifestyle that plays its part in a low-carbon society. A firm foot in the European and global discussions about green futures should arise from a good relationship with a Green cohort in Holyrood.

But on the Green party side, I think there has to be some give-and-take too – and coming back from the hustle and brio of Barcelona makes it clear what that should be. Much of the Green's policy agenda on energy generation and conservation, on examining how we are taxed locally and environmentally, on support for small enterprise and free education, are only slightly to the left of the SNP.

But there's also a puzzling modesty about their support for independence – where a stronger and clearer commitment would increase their credibility on how macro-policy could serve their ideals, surely largely frustrated under a devolution settlement.

Also, strangely for such an idealistic party, there is too much fist-waving and opposition, and very little joy and aspiration – no real flavour of the different "quality of life" that a transition to an ecologically oriented society might bring (their arts, culture and sports policy, for example, is gestural at best).

My favourite Green gurus (such as Tim Jackson, Juliet Schor and Kate Soper) try to use positive terms like "plenitude" and "prosperity", "hedonism" and "flourishing", to invoke the richness of the change towards post-consumerist living.

Very little of that uplifting language here – and not enough of the recent recognition among environmental thinkers that city and urban life, in all its mess, scale and diverse excitement, is actually one clear path to low-carbon living. Greens might need to accept that the price to pay for the SNP's no-nukes and pro-renewables policies, its high-level commitment to green economics, and its willingness to push for collective lifestyle changes, is one more bridge over the Forth.

But it's a "bridge" in a wider, deeper sense. It expresses a historic commitment to personal mobility, and "shovel-ready" infrastructure jobs, that plays well to a Scottish electorate. We're clearly enjoying our narratives of "positive" change for the country. The problem with much Scottish Green rhetoric (particularly evident in Patrick Harvie's often censorious and lecturing performances in public debates) is that it places them outside the feel-good festival.

Of course, the dice might fall completely differently in the next two weeks or so, and all this will be moot. But sometimes you have to columnise as if you were living in the early days of a better nation…

The Guardian: 'Barcelona votes on Catalan independence from Spain'

2011-04-10T14:01:00.001-07:00

Pro-independence groups hope to improve turnout, but skeptics say non-binding ballot is an exercise in futility. Pro-independence activists have organised the vote to ask citizens about Catalan independence from Madrid. Pro-independence activists have asked citizens of Barcelona whether their north-eastern region of Catalonia should seek to become an autonomous state. The Catalan capital follows in the footsteps of other regional cities, towns and villages that have held similar informal, nonbinding votes, which have given the idea of independence lukewarm approval.

Pro-independence groups behind the latest referendum said they hope to improve on the 20% turnout of previous ballots. Maria Garcia, 79, said she voted "yes" to independence to allow Catalans greater control of their own finances. "Spain's government takes more than it gives back," she said. Catalans are proud of their cultural identity – centered on the distinct Catalan language. The region also accounts for a one-fifth of Spain's economy but only 15th of its 47-million population. Catalans have long maintained they contribute more than they get credit for and that central governments based in Madrid have discriminated against them.

Along with the Basque region, Catalonia was heavily oppressed under the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship, which made it a crime to speak Catalan and Basque languages in the interest of promoting Spain as a Madrid-run Castilian-speaking country. Successive Spanish governments have gradually granted a large degree of self-rule to the regions since Franco's death and the restoration of democracy. Catalonia won even more self-rule in 2006 with a new autonomy charter, gaining control over judicial, infrastructure and other issues. However, Spain's constitutional court ruled in July 2010 that Catalonia could not legally call itself a nation, dealing a blow to a pro-independence campaign that had used "We decide, we are a nation" as its slogan.

The "Barcelona Decides" poll organisers said that since the first vote in 2009 a total of 600,000 Catalan citizens in 532 cities and towns have been unofficially consulted. The 2009 sample taken in 167 towns indicated 94% of voters favoured independence. Skeptics have called the nonbinding vote an exercise in futility. "I think the referendum is theatre put on by politicians," said lawyer Juan Jose Millan, 39. "I am not for independence, just like the majority of Catalans. Independence would not solve real problems like unemployment." /Font

Barcelona votes on Catalan independence from Spain

2011-04-10T13:43:00.001-07:00

by sgr-news

Pro-independence groups hope to improve turnout, but skeptics say non-binding ballot is an exercise in futility. Pro-independence activists have asked citizens of Barcelona whether their north-eastern region of Catalonia should seek to become an autonomous state. The Catalan capital follows in the footsteps of other regional cities, towns and villages that have held similar informal, nonbinding votes, which have given the idea of independence lukewarm approval. Pro-independence groups behind the latest referendum said they hope to improve on the 20% turnout of previous ballots.

Maria Garcia, 79, said she voted "yes" to independence to allow Catalans greater control of their own finances. "Spain's government takes more than it gives back," she said. Catalans are proud of their cultural identity – centered on the distinct Catalan language. The region also accounts for a one-fifth of Spain's economy but only 15th of its 47-million population. Catalans have long maintained they contribute more than they get credit for and that central governments based in Madrid have discriminated against them. Along with the Basque region, Catalonia was heavily oppressed under the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship, which made it a crime to speak Catalan and Basque languages in the interest of promoting Spain as a Madrid-run Castilian-speaking country.

Successive Spanish governments have gradually granted a large degree of self-rule to the regions since Franco's death and the restoration of democracy. Catalonia won even more self-rule in 2006 with a new autonomy charter, gaining control over judicial, infrastructure and other issues. However, Spain's constitutional court ruled in July 2010 that Catalonia could not legally call itself a nation, dealing a blow to a pro-independence campaign that had used "We decide, we are a nation" as its slogan. The "Barcelona Decides" poll organisers said that since the first vote in 2009 a total of 600,000 Catalan citizens in 532 cities and towns have been unofficially consulted. The 2009 sample taken in 167 towns indicated 94% of voters favoured independence.

Skeptics have called the nonbinding vote an exercise in futility. "I think the referendum is theatre put on by politicians," said lawyer Juan Jose Millan, 39. "I am not for independence, just like the majority of Catalans. Independence would not solve real problems like unemployment."

Another demonstration for Catalonia's independence

2011-04-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

It seems that Catalan independentists do not surrender to achieve the goal to get independence from Spain. Yesterday, April 2nd, another demonstration has been taken inSant Jaume square in Barcelona, the seat of the Catalan government, where hundreds of people (about 2000 demonstrators) gathered to ask the government for passing a law that will let Catalonia to unilaterally declare its independence from Spain, that is, without the endorsement of the Spanish government. Catalonia is living really bad times, as a Herald Tribune article described two days ago. Catalonia contributes with the 10% of its GDP to support poorer regions of Spain through taxes collected by the Spanish government.

The inability of Catalonia to decide the amount of taxes to transfer to Spain for solidarity leads the Catalan country to a deep impoverishment, specially in these times of crisis. The only way the Catalan government can get funds is, first, to save money by cutting public spending and, second, to borrow more money; both are bad solutions, specially the latter. The problem is that, again, the Spanish government has forbidden Catalonia to increase its debt. This difficult economical situation together with the continuous attempts from Spanish politicians and courts to gradually annihilate the Catalan identity have lead independentism to be multiplied by three during the last 10 years. The past July 10th 2010, more than 1 million people filled the streets of Barcelona during a huge demonstration to demand the right to decide. Some months later, the nationalist party CIU won Catalan elections and a new independentist party (SI) entered the Parliament. Actually, SI has been the party that has proposed the Law of Independence that people in the today's demonstration were claiming.

The Law of Independence will be discussed in the Catalan Parliament from April 13th to 14th, and it will be a decisive event to show what parties are true supporters of independence. During the past elections, CIU gained the confidence of many independentist voters, so their decision on supporting the law will be crucial for saving or hurting their credibility. /Font

Video: Catalonia's Independence

2011-04-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

The Guardian: The Catalans' quandary

2011-03-31T15:08:00.001-07:00

Author: Josep Ramoneda / The Guardian 31 març 2011

The Basque country and Catalonia have always dreamed of having their own national sports teams, much like those of the different countries of Britain. Asked about this years ago while he was still playing football, Pep Guardiola (now the Barcelona manager) responded: "Yes, the Catalan team, the Basque team, great, but what would we call the other one?"

Here Guardiola succeeded, probably unwittingly, in summarising Spain's political landscape. Calling the "other" team Spanish would effectively mean accepting that Catalonia and the Basque country aren't part of Spain. The lack of a name to encompass all of Spain except the regions or "nations" that had enjoyed statutory separation during the second republic was resolved in the 1978 constitution by multiplying the number of constituencies, creating as many as 17 "autonomous communities". The result has been a system that's highly decentralised in economic terms, yet highly centralised in respect to political decision-making.

This system was the ratified response to demands fuelled by resistance to General Franco's regime. The demands for statutory autonomy went hand in hand with the two key slogans of the transition to democracy: liberty and amnesty. The euphemism "nationalities" was adopted to denominate Catalonia, the Basque country and Galicia, while Spain was construed as an autonomous state made up by regions and these nationalities.

But the debate has remained open ever since. The historic nations have always felt their autonomy to be inadequate and have never ceased to state their case. Meanwhile, the Catalan and Basque separatist movements have continued to throb. Eta, which has now, according to official figures, killed more than 800 people, blocking the development of democracy in Euskadi (as the Basque country is called in the native language) is effectively one of the last remnants of Franco's regime that democratic Spain has had to tolerate.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero won the 2004 elections with a manifesto promoting "plural Spain". He wanted to distance himself from proposals announced by his predecessor, José María Aznar, during the latter's second term, which advocated a shift towards the end of the autonomous state. With a strong electoral base in Catalonia, Zapatero opened the way for statutory reform by dangling the carrot of a truly federal state. But he left the proposals on the shelf, and people's hopes largely evaporated when Catalonia's new statute was mutilated by Spain's central constitutional court, in thrall to the opposition PP (People's party).

Thirty years after the autonomous-community state was created, it is proving ill-suited to the aspirations of the peripheral "nations", particularly Catalonia and the Basque country. It has become clear that there is no real federal or confederal culture. And the governing PSOE (Socialist Workers' party) has refused to cede to the PP the role of redirecting the autonomous-community state.

The situation has now entered a new phase. The failure of Eta's 2006 ceasefire and the police's efforts to isolate the organisation have suffocated this last bastion of European terrorism. The people are sick of violence, and Eta no longer has support from abroad. The Basque country is preparing to live through a moment of great change, of progress towards normality – so long as the process is not thwarted by some faction of the Spanish rightwing, terrified that the organisation's disappearance will deprive them of an alibi for holding up the march of Basque independence.

The frustration born of the difficulties of securing further autonomy has also fuelled the Catalan independence movement, with polls placing support at between 30 and 50%. Where in the past this movement was marginal, its corresponding vote concentrated within one minor political party, it has now grown and spread out demographically, and the number of parties is now more like half a dozen.

Thirty years on, the question of the political makeup of the Spanish state remains open. The financial crisis has overtaken other priorities for now. The conservative nationalists now governing Catalonia again – after seven years of leftwing administration – alternate between economic orthodoxy and making subtle intimations of sovereignty to an electorate that is palpably dissatisfied with the Spanish state.

As ever, Europe appears to be the hypothetical solution. Were Europe more politically developed, less constrained by the sovereign powers of the member states, perhaps Catalonia and the Basque country – like Flanders or Scotland – would find themselves more comfortable than they are within their state-drawn lines. But all this belongs to the future of the worn-out land we call Europe, which is struggling to come to terms with losing its spotlight on the global stage. For now, Zapatero has lost the baton of plural Spain – and no one has worked out where to find it.

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia in 2010 at its highest level in 10 years

2011-03-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

Barcelona (ACN). - Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Catalonia in 2010 represented 3,952 million euros. It was almost three times as high the figures seen in 2009. It is also the highest amount in the last 10 years, according to data from the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade and its Register of Foreign Investment. The figures for FDI in Catalonia in 2010 represent 34% of the total FDI in Spain. In 2009, Catalonia only received 11%. In fact, 77% of FDI in Spain is concentrated in Madrid and Catalonia only. Madrid received 43% of FDI in Spain in 2010, far less than the 66% seen in 2009.

The Catalan Ministry of Business and Employment manages the programme 'Invest in Catalonia'. It contributed in securing 34 of the projects that decided to invest in Catalonia. Currently, this government programme is managing 189 projects in Catalonia that could finally decide to invest in there. Together they represent an investment of more than 6.5 billion euros. These figures mean that 14,260 jobs will be created and secure a further 16,216.

According to the data, Catalonia received 180% more Foreign Direct Investment in 2010. The transport and logistics sector were those that concentrated the largest investment amounts. Manufacturing, finance, real estate and electric energy also received an important investment. 96% of the productive investment in Catalonia in 2010 comes from other European Union countries. This means that FDI concentrated in one area and that the weight of EU countries has increased 14% in 2010 compared to the previous year

Catalonia resists ‘mad’ austerity

2011-03-28T14:14:00.001-07:00

By Victor Mallet in Madrid / Financial Times

Artur Mas, premier of Catalonia, has committed his administration to severe austerity, but rejected as "destructive" and "mad" the spending cuts that would be needed to fulfil the central government's 2011 deficit targets for the regions. Mr Mas, in a speech to business leaders in Madrid on Monday, also said he was promoting a "budget pact" among Catalan parties so that the region could demand a new deal from Spain to reduce Catalonia's net contribution to the national exchequer.

The robust assertion of Catalonia's immediate and long-term demands by Mr Mas – a Catalan nationalist whose Convergència i Unió party leads the government following elections in November – may worry sovereign bond investors already concerned about Spanish public deficits. Spain is one of the most decentralised countries in Europe and regional governments will have to enforce fiscal discipline if the country is to tackle its fiscal problems and calm the fears of investors.

Catalonia's stance also has implications for the future shape of the Spanish constitution. Catalonia is one of the richest and most industrialised parts of Spain and its economy is the same size as Portugal's. The region said it needed to raise €10bn-€11bn this year to cover deficits and repay earlier loans. On Monday, it signed a €400m ($564m) four-year loan from Santander, the Spanish bank, and officials said it had sold a further €400m in two-year bonds to local and foreign investors at a yield of 5.5 per cent.

Spain's 17 regions collectively overshot their centrally imposed deficit target of 2.4 per cent of gross domestic product last year, and the overall Spanish public deficit was cut as planned only because the central government exceeded its target. Catalonia's 2010 deficit under the previous regional government had reached a budget-busting 3.9 per cent of GDP, or €7.5bn, Mr Mas said, prompting his new administration to impose a 10 per cent cut in its operating costs in what he called a hard and unprecedented adjustment. "We have a tumour, but we will control it, we will prevent metastasis and we will clean it out."

However, he conspicuously failed to commit Catalonia to this year's official regional deficit target of 1.3 per cent of GDP without central government help, rejecting "destructive" cuts or "mad" ideas such as the closure of hospitals. He called for a new deal to reduce the 9 per cent of GDP that he said Catalonia transferred to the rest of Spain each year. "It's impossible that some regions should put this money on the table for ever without anything changing," he said, comparing the withdrawal of European Union aid funds for Spain in 2013 to the cuts he hoped to achieve in Catalan transfers to the rest of Spain. "What happens in Europe should happen in Spain," he said. "In Spain, people have been living beyond their means. In Catalonia, we're living below our means."

In another demand for Catalonia's control of its own destiny, Mr Mas said the region did not oppose the government's plan to privatise the airports in Madrid and Barcelona, the Catalan capital, but wanted Catalan interests to end up with control of Barcelona's El Prat airport.

Don't vote the referendum!

2011-03-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

What do you think about the video arguments for no voting on the non-official independence referendum in Barcelona on April 10th? These are the arguments used by Spanish unionists (just check any newspaper). Who is afraid of democracy? Barcelona is celebrating his catalan self-determination referendum.

The Pursuit of a Catalan State

2011-03-10T14:27:00.001-08:00

Autor: Gustau Alegret

Washinton, DC. – It is not the first time in its recent history that Catalonia has voted and approved resolutions about its self-determination right — in 1989, 1996, and in 2010 the Parliament did so. In these three cases, a majority of the Catalan MP voted and approved documents with references to the right of the "Catalan nation" to decide about its future. Since the last one in 2010, the world has seen the birth of new states which have been recognized almost right away by other country-states and even by the U.N., such as Kosovo or South Sudan. In Kosovo's case, this new European nation got its freedom unilaterally and months later it was legally endorsed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a historical sentence that ruled assuring that the "declaration of independence (…) did not violate general international law, Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) or the Constitutional Framework. Consequently the adoption of that declaration did not violate any applicable rule of international law."

Since Catalonia lost the war of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and subsequently its institutions, its people have enjoyed different levels of autonomy, but have always been part of Spain. Over the years and following democratic ways, Catalonia has recovered part of their institutions and competencies, gaining again high levels of autonomy inside the framework of another state. However, as never before today, this European nation has had such an important and serious movement of people pursuing the idea of becoming a new European nation-statedifferent from Spain.

Recently, the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled against the new Autonomous Catalan Statute, a law voted in democratic parliaments (both, the Catalan and the Spanish) and approved in referendum. The document defined competencies and the legal relation between Spain and Catalonia, but the High Court decided to cut down the Catalan autonomy levels wanted by its people. Because of that decision, more than one million people demonstrated in Barcelona on July 10th last year as a strong reaction to this sentence which goes against the will of the Catalans. Since then, more than 500 local commissions have been constituted and 50,000 volunteers have self-organized to call for a symbolic independence referendum, aimed at encouraging more Catalan citizens every day to peruse a dream of living in another nation-state inside the EU.

Now, a new resolution comes into the Catalan Parliament. One of its political minority groups, SI, is presenting a new resolution to the Chamber which goes further than the previous resolution already voted on by the Parliament. This one is inspired in the Kosovo's Parliament decision, and not only highlights the self-determination right of all nations in the world, but also gives the Catalan Government "the faculty (…) to negotiate the international recognition of the independence declaration" (art. 8).

According to this Proposed Declaration of Independence Act of Catalonia, the break from Spain would take effect after the vote and negotiations with the international community, and only if it is approved by an absolute majority of the Catalan Parliament.

Needless to say that this resolution has few chances of passing because there are not enough MP willing to vote in favor due to the parties' discipline of vote (even though most of the MP, in public appearances, have expressed their desires in favor of the independence of Catalonia). In any case, what it is true is that the only way for Catalonia to become independent is by declaring it unilaterally. Spain would never allow such a possibility — and neither did Serbia with Kosovo—, but the strength of the Catalan wiliness through democratic ways has no borders, and this desire to separate is growing every day. Without a doubt, international recognition of the new Catalan state will come right after the separation occurs. As just another recent example in the Kosovo's case: yesterday the State Department of the U.S. congratulated "the governments of Serbia and Kosovo for the first meeting of an EU-facilitated dialogue since Kosovo became independent."

Spanish Supreme Court opens the door to destroy a model of success

2011-01-07T10:47:00.001-08:00

The ruling of the Spanish Supreme Court declaring that Spanish must also be a school teaching language is going to trigger plenty of linguistic conflicts next year. The Partido Popular and Ciudadanos will lead an offensive intended to roll back the gains made by Catalans on the language front, using the ruling from the Spanish Supreme Court to encourage those who want to prevent their kids from learning the language of the place they live in on the grounds that kids at school must be tought in their mother tongue. At the end of the day, this argument leads to less language knowledge, less skills and less opportunities for their own kids. But some will swallow the bait and will fight in courts to try to dismantle the Catalan educational system, which has proved the best tool to ensure that kids know both Catalan and Spanish when they finish school.

In Col·lectiu Emma's website you'll find a highly interesting article entitled "Language immersion: a success story in Catalonia" from which I've choosen a few quotes:

"A cohesive society shares, first of all, a common language allowing its members to cooperate in building a project for their future."

"More than 100 languages are represented today in Catalan schools, and children speaking those languages at home need to be integrated fast through a common language."

"Children should, in their own interest, be able to speak the language of the country in which they live to ensure that they are not subject to discriminationin the course of their education or subsequent training and are capable of taking part in all activities on an equal basis."

"Findings such as these from academic studies and the decisions adopted in European political level should have been enough to settle the matter, but facts have never been an obstacle for Spanish nationalists, who have now turned to their own court system for help in a renewed campaign against the Catalan language."

"The negative effects of the two-track education system that some would like to impose in Catalonia can be seen in the neighboring region of Valencia, where schoolchildren are segregated according to the language they speak at home. [...] The result is a deepening split in society along linguistic lines and a retreat of the language of the land in areas where it used to be predominant not very long ago. Which sounds a lot like the scenario that Spanish nationalism has in mind for Catalonia as well." /Web

Catalunya, a team that won't make a World Cup

2010-12-27T16:07:00.001-08:00

By Andy Mitten / The National

Players in the Primera Liga are enjoying a two week winter break before the league schedule resumes on Sunday, yet several of Spain's World Cup winners will play in a game tonight in front of a capacity 50,000 crowd in Barcelona.

A Catalunya side managed by Johan Cruyff will take on Honduras in a friendly game at the city's Olympic Stadium. The Dutch legend, who has lived in Barcelona full-time since 1988, has called up Victor Valdes, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Marc Bartra, Andreu Fontas, Sergio Busquets and Bojan from Barca. The only missing Catalan player from Barca's first team is Xavi, while Villarreal's Joan Capdevila is also out.

Seven Espanyol players have also been selected, plus Catalans playing elsewhere in Spain like Atletico Madrid's Fran Merida. Those playing further afield like Cesc Fabregas are contractually obliged to put their club commitments before those of a "country" not affiliated to Fifa or Uefa.

Catalunya play once or twice a season and have done in the majority of years since the region's football foundation began in 1904. Tickets are kept deliberately cheap (most cost €10 (Dh48) tonight) to encourage a capacity crowd and younger fans who would otherwise not get to see the star names live.

Catalunya play against the other teams from Spain's other autonomous regions like the Basque country, games which attract a political atmosphere and nationalist sabre rattling in the always ultra-passionate crowd.

For other matches they play established national sides. Brazil and Argentina have both been opponents who have attracted over 90,000 to Camp Nou in recent seasons.

A 50 per cent of Catalans desire the absolute independence from Spain that would see the Catalan national team play competitively.

One of the strongest voices in the independence movement is the former Barca president Joan Laporta, who turned his skilled hand and significant ego to politics when he left Barca after seven successful years in June. He dreams of seeing Catalunya play in a World Cup finals.

Politics aside, many think that the Catalan national football side would be able to compete on the international stage, despite being drawn from a population of just seven million.

A first XI comprising of Valdes; Puyol, Pique, Capdevila, Fernando Navarro; Xavi, Busquets, Fabregas; Sergio Garcia; Raul Tamudo, Bojan would trouble any team in the world. Espanyol's batch of emerging Catalan youngsters like Javi Marquez, Didac Vila, Javi Chica and Jordi Amat would make it an excellent squad.

Cruyff qualifies as coach because he has lived in Catalunya for more than ten years, not that anyone in Barcelona doubts him. He sealed his place in Catalan hearts when he named his first child 'Jordi' at a time when the Catalan language was outlawed by General Franco.

Jordi was a Catalan name - the name of their patron saint - and the streetwise Johan always grasped Catalunya's political dimension. He knew that the name Jordi was outlawed, but General Franco's influence could not be extended to Holland where Jordi was born. Back in Barcelona, Johan tried to register the boy with the Catalan authorities, but officials refused, telling him that his son's name was illegal.

"My dad said, 'My son has a Dutch passport, I can call him what I like and his name is Jordi,'" explains Jordi. "They replied, 'That is illegal, it has to be the Spanish version, Jorge'."

"Then my dad said: 'I'm not going to make a scandal, but tell your bosses it will become a scandal.' They had to accept me because I was Dutch."

Jordi thus became the first 'legal' Jordi in decades, something he remains proud of. Along with such luminaries as Pep Guardiola, Dutch international Jordi played several times for Catalunya before retiring in 2008, one of many big names in a team that is unlikely to ever play in a major international tournament.

Long life to Catalan fiscal deficit

2010-10-25T01:59:00.001-07:00

So that's it. One year of negotiations between the Catalan and the
Spanish governments on the new financial system to, finally, reach an
agreement that will have little effect to offset the shamefulfiscal
plundering of Catalonia. The three political parties that form the
Catalan Government have accepted the agreement, though with different
attitudes. While PSC and IC rushed to say it is anexcellent financial
system for Catalonia, ERC needed a couple of days to finally give his
'yes'. On the other side, CiU, the main opposition party, sees this
agreement as arenounce and believes it is not in compliance with the
Catalan Statute.

The actual details of the agreement and the way it will be implemented
are still to be defined, and many other aspects will remain uncertain
for months. However, there's only one thing we know: the new system
will not serve to compensate the Catalan fiscal imbalance with Spain.
And from this fact, there's one straightforward conclusion: if after
one year of hard negotiation in a theoretically favorable context
(PSOE in the Spanish government needing support from other parties) we
can only manage to get a financial system that doesn't even make up
for one third of the fiscal plundering, this must be the last
financial system within the Spanish state. We need to become an
independent state unless we accept this continual extraction of
Catalan resources and wealth that threatens our future and makes
Catalonia lose economic growth opportunities in the EU context.

Font: http://www.cataloniablog.com/2009/07/13/long-life-to-catalan-fiscal-deficit/

On debt, fiscal deficit and autonomous communities in Spain

2010-10-25T01:57:00.000-07:00

This is a sound Col·lectiu Emma's reply to an article that appeared in the Financial Times about debt in Spain's autonomous regions:

We can't but agree with the FT's description of the financial straits that the Spanish autonomous communities find themselves in ("Cash-starved Catalonia turns to locals"). Col·lectiu Emma is on record ("A Public Reply to the Business Week") denouncing the tendency to create large public sectors in the regions, including Catalonia under the present Socialist-led administration. But we think that it would be unfair to blame the regions for all the country's ills, and particularly to single out Catalonia on that count.

It must be recalled that the autonomous governments now provide most public services and manage around half of total spending. And yet, their combined deficit in 2010 is estimated at around 2.4% of the national GDP, while that of the central government is closer to 9%. So the central government should by no means be let off the hook: consider, among many other examples of waste and duplication, extravagant projects like the high-speed railway, which no one expects to turn a profit any time soon, or the continued existence of whole ministries (Health, Culture, Housing) whose functions have all been transferred to the regions and that should have been scrapped accordingly.

Also, some regions are more profligate than others. Just compare the size of the civil service in Catalonia (about 8% of the working population) with the figures for Extremadura (23%) or with a Spanish average of 15%. Unfortunately, the Spanish devolution system doesn't contemplate any measure of fiscal responsibility by those who get to spend the money. Since most regions are net recipients, their governments have little incentive for wisely managing their budgets, while net contributors like Catalonia, who have no say in the way that funds are distributed, are required to foot the bill regardless.

Note that the Catalan debt (around 33 billion euros in March 2010) amounts to one and a half times the sum that the central government collects from Catalonia every year and uses for its own purposes outside the region – a total estimated at over 20 billion euros, or 10% of the region's GDP. If Catalans had a chance to devote to their own pressing needs that substantial share of their own money, their deficit could be easily squared up, and in very little time. This, more than anything else, explains the present difficulties in Catalonia, and also points the way to their solution.

International reactions to the sentence on the Catalan Statute

2010-08-30T11:38:00.001-07:00

by Catalonia Direct

Through a Catalan newspaper I read that Bernhard von Grünberg, a German deputy from the North Rhine-Westphalia landtag (one of the german regional parliaments) recently sent a letter to the leader of the European Socialist Party, Martin Schulz, urging him to involve the European Parliament to prevent another potential instability focus in Europe, especially after the Spanish Constitutional Court cut down the Catalan Statute that had been previously accepted by the Spanish Parliament. Mr Von Grünberg urged Mr Schulz to take action since winds of change seem to be blowing in the Spanish State.

Mr Von Grünberg also sent a letter to the Spanish Ambassador in Germany, Rafael Dezcallar. Mr Von Grünberg explained Mr Dezcallar the necessity to reform the Spanish Constitution to regulate the relationship and attributions of the Spanish Autonomous Communities, such as Catalonia, more clearly within the Spanish State.

First, I want to thank Mr Von Grünberg for showing interest in the situation in Catalonia. Even though I don't doubt of his good intentions I think he has misjudged Spain. He probably believes that since it is a rich country that belongs to the European Union they must have a strong democratic culture. A mistake which can only be explained with the ingenuity that most people still judge Spain. Highly probably his requests are going to be in vain and all he's likely to get from Spanish authorities is a wall of silence or some polite void of content reply.

Even though a Constitutional reform to convert Spain into a real federal state to give the nations it contains the required recognition should be the logical path to follow for a Spain that wants to remain "united" he has to understand the situation. Spain has never felt in the last several hundred years more proud and powerful than now, coming from being an chronically undeveloped and poor country to being one of the biggest economies in the world in only a few decades. Their aim has been instead to use this euphoric state to finish the job, to turn Spain into a uniform Castilian province, their 500 year old project, they obviously haven't suceeded but their pride stops them from realising this and look for an intelligent solution.

The international opinion must also undergo the same process us Catalans have gone through to understand the situation and understand that Catalonia's independence is, as of today, inevitable. First, we've done our homework, we've done everything that could be done. We tried to follow the established rules within the Spanish Constitution and change the Catalan Statute to create a more favorable situation. Catalans also were fooled into believing, that once Spain was rich and "democratic" it would understand Catalan demands for greater self government and recognition especially after decisively contributing for many decades to developing it. Not only Catalan demands have met with a wall of institutional hostility but also Spain refuses to accept any democratic paths that Catalonia has proposed, be it by reforming the Catalan Statute, Spanish Constitution or attempting to organise a referendum of independece and frustrating on the way the aspirations of the majority of the Catalan population of greater self-government.

The problem is that the image of Spain as an economic success is proving to be a mirage. Spain is, in fact, a subsidies dependent country. The size its economy has reached has been thanks to the generous European Subsidies for the last 20+ years plus the Catalan fiscal plundering, with the latter amounting to 22000 million euros every year. That has allowed them to build first class oversized and loss-making infrastructures and public services while avoiding a reform of its productive model by growing thanks to a an economy based on speculation and low added value activities that can now easily be relocated to cheaper countries. Now the only way for Spain's economy is to deflate until it reaches a balance and undergo some very painful deep reforms of its productive model if it doesn't want to get stuck in a chronic crisis but either way it is going to go through a painful recession for many years to come and this will inevitably create a focus of political instability when the problems start affecting the citizens' pockets. Problems that, let's not forget, have been underlying all these years but sooner or later were bound to come to the surface.

Hopefully, the result of Mr Von Grünberg's petition will allow him and many more people internationally to understand that the best thing for Europe is for Catalonia to become an independent state within the European Union. This not only will grant Catalans the same rights as a nation as most other European nations already enjoy but also will allow Catalonia to contribute to create a stronger Europe. Europe will gain a democratic, strong, and stable ally. A prosperous economy in the Southern European and Mediterranean areas. Thank you Mr Von Grünberg.

Spain's economic troubles spur Catalonia separatists to take new tack

2010-08-17T03:40:00.000-07:00

< A protester paints a Catalan flag on the face of another demonstrator in Barcelona during a July march for greater autonomy for Catalonia within Spain. More than 1 million people took part in the protest, police said. (Gustau Nacarino, Reuters / August 15, 2010)

By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times

Separatist sentiment has simmered for decades, fueled by belief the region's needs are given short shrift by Madrid. As austerity looms, Catalonia's independentistas are turning to economic arguments.

To Joan Puigcercos, it's all the more reason to split up.

A resident of wealthy Catalonia here in the sunny northeastern corner of the country, Puigcercos blames Spain's economic woes on the government in Madrid and what he sees as its irresponsible and discriminatory ways.

For years, he says, officials blithely spent huge sums on welfare checks and subsidies for poorer parts of Spain, using plenty of tax money from Catalonia, while ignoring the region's needs for better infrastructure and quality public services. So now when he hears Madrid preaching the need for austerity and sacrifice from all, a different solution beckons.

"Either we give in to the politics that have always happened with the Spanish government," said Puigcercos, the leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia party, "or we try to become an independent state."

Those are fighting words in a region that already holds itself aloof from the rest of Spain. But their appeal threatens to intensify during an economic crunch that deepens Catalonians' feelings of being forced to pay for the mistakes of others.

It's a problem with echoes across Europe. Drastic budget cuts to undo years of carefree spending are already tugging at the threads that knit societies together, as workers lose jobs and public services from healthcare to libraries get slashed.

But for Spain and a few other nations, the official penny-pinching also risks aggravating tensions within their borders. In Britain, Scotland chafes against its ties to England, with nationalists urging a referendum on independence. In Italy, the prosperous north throws up its hands at being yoked to, in its view, the lazy, profligate south. French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemish bicker in Belgium.

In Catalonia, separatist sentiment has simmered for decades, fueled by the belief that the region's needs and interests, as well as its distinctive language and culture, are given short shrift by the establishment in Madrid. The region already enjoys a measure of autonomy under an official arrangement with the Spanish government, but many here say it's not enough.

Now, Madrid's austerity measures loom just as Catalonia's independentistas are turning more and more to economic arguments to bolster their case.

Residents grumble that they contribute more than their fair share to the public purse, but that too little of it returns in the form of public investment or services. A 2007 study said Catalonia gave about $9 billion more in revenue a year to the central government than it got back.

In one oft-cited example, residents allege that schoolchildren in the poor region of Extremadura have more computers in their classrooms — with the help of money from Catalonia — than students here at home.

The region has long pressed for better highways and railways because of its status as Spain's biggest exporter. But infrastructure projects across the country are likely to be put on ice as part of the government's cutbacks.

"The first figures that we have seen [show] that the proportion of cutting in Catalonia is bigger than the average for Spain.... We're going to be hurt more," said Muriel Casals, the president of a Catalan cultural organization in Barcelona, the regional capital. "We've been having these kinds of blows for a long time in history, and it's for that that we are so sensitive."

Her organization, Omnium Cultural, sent a wakeup call to the central government last month by staging the biggest show of anti-Madrid feeling in years, a protest of a ruling by Spain's constitutional court that invalidated parts of the official charter granting Catalonia some autonomy.

Hundreds of thousands of residents, many of them waving Catalan independence flags, marched through the streets of Barcelona. In an act practically tantamount to high treason, some protesters wore Dutch soccer jerseys to urge on the Netherlands in the World Cup final against Spain. (The Spanish team, which included several Catalan players, triumphed anyway.)

Elections for Catalonia's assembly this year are likely to feature harsher anti-Madrid rhetoric, with the government's austerity plan offering a convenient whetstone on which to sharpen regional resentment.

"It's time to tighten our belts, but it's time for some people to do it more than others. Why? Because we have been paying for [the rest of] Spain more than others," said Oriol Pujol, the spokesman for Convergence and Union, an autonomy-minded opposition party that could take power after the elections this fall.

Up to the mid-1990s, nationalists such as Pujol relied on romantic notions of a shared identity to enlist the support of their fellow Catalans for greater self-rule, said Joan Botella, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Since then, however, hundreds of thousands of migrants from other parts of Spain have settled in Catalonia, diluting the old-fashioned sense of Catalan solidarity.

So the rhetoric calling for more autonomy, or even a referendum on independence, has shifted. Newcomers from Andalusia or Aragon may shrug at warm-hearted appeals to protect Catalan culture, but they respond to hardheaded arguments about their tax money being spent on schools or hospitals far from Catalonia.

The euro debt crisis and Spain's economic troubles, including an unemployment rate of nearly 20%, only increase the resentment.

"There are many more pro-independence people who say that the crisis wouldn't happen if we were not part of Spain," Botella said.

If Catalonians had more control over the purse strings, there would be more public investment in research and development, to keep attracting talent from all over Europe, said Puigcercos, the leader of the Republican Left, one of the political parties in Catalonia's ruling coalition.

He and others would also like to see the region's seaports and airports upgraded to handle more international traffic — to Asia, for example — which would increase Catalonia's reach as an exporter.

But as long as they remain part of Spain, many residents see little chance of this happening.

"They keep saying no," said Pujol of the Convergence and Union party. "So there's nothing to do but jump over the wall and push for independence."

henry.chu@latimes.com

Catalonia rallies for independence - Al Jazeera

2010-08-16T06:30:00.001-07:00

Tribute in Brittany to the Catalan President arrested by nazis and shot by Franco (1940)

2010-08-12T01:09:00.001-07:00

LLuís Companys wes the only elected president to have been executed in the the whole 1936-1945 conflagration.

TRIBUTE TO COMPANYS AT LA BAULE/AR BAOL

Friday next, August 13th 2010 at 11.00, a tribute to Catalan president Lluís Companys at the small square at number 1 Avenue Ploërnel in La Baule, Brittany. Companys was arrested exactly 70 years ago, on August 13th 1940, by the Nazi Military police at number 5 of that same street.

A commemorative plaque is to be placed in the square in honour of President Companys At the act a couple of pieces of music associated with historic cellist Pau Casals will be played by Serafin Poulet. The vice-President of Catalonia, Sr. JL Carod Rovira will make as speech as will the Mayor of La Baule. There will afterwards be a reception at La Baule City Hall and a popular meal. The image of President Companys that accompanies this text is called "Visca la Llibertat" and was specially commissioned for the event of Valencian artist Toni Miró feta per la comemoració.

A LITTLE HISTORY

During the year 1940, Lluís Companys, first elected president of the Generalitat of Catalonia (1934-1940) found a refuge in the Breton station of La Baule / Ar Baol. The pro-Franco police forces are after him and search in vain for him in Paris. The president of Catalonia found rest for a while with his wife and a nephew at 5 avenue de Ploërmel in the villa Ker Imor Vad which means The house of good mood.

In 2005, the son of the owners of this néo-Breton style house, a young adult in 1940, remembered meeting Lluís Companys. Why did Companys remain in La Baule instead of fleeing from the nazi invasion? Having left Paris, he thought of putting his son -suffering from a serious mental illness- at the seaside centre in Saint-Goustan in Le Croisic, a city nearby. According to some sources, Lluís Companys refused the proposal of Breton nationalist militants to leave for Ireland because his son was still in an establishment of the Paris region.

This offer is not surprising when one knows in particular the assistance brought by the Breton Yann Fouéré, as a high official, to members of the Basque government. This Breton militant had been able to provide identity papers for the Basque president, Jose Antonio Aguirre, who would reach the USA with his family after a long jounry under a false identity through Europe. The proximity of the harbour of Saint-Nazaire / Sant-Nazer and its Transatlantic connections in the direction of Cuba (1) and Vera Cruz may also be a reason of the presence of the Catalan president on the south coast of Brittany.

DOCUMENTS

The director of the Departmental Archives of Loire-Atlantique (2), spoke in 2008 of "a card is kept in the name of his wife Companys born Carme Ballester, under the temporary label 3008 /W6. This card refers to a file at present in process of classification. It is about a request for a residence permit of January 1942 with mention that she is Louis Companys' widow and that she resides in avenue de Ploërmel at La Baule".
Refusing to forsake his son, Lluís Companys will be arrested by the Nazi Military Police on August 13th, 1940 in the villa Ker Imor Vad.

The nazis are accompanied by Pedro Urraca, a Francoist agent. This sinister agent – whose file in the Spanish Interior ministry is closed to access until 2021 – was at that time in charge of a network of Franco's police officers, who tracked down – with the complicity of the French State – Catalan and Spanish republican leaders who were trying to escape. It was the Spanish Embassy Attaché who first questioned the Catalan president in the Prison de la Santé in Paris under the authority of the Gestapo. Accompanied by a German officer, Urraca led Lluís Companys to Irun to deliver him to Franco's henchmen.

If, when under the responsibility of the Germans, Lluís Companys was correctly treated, when he arrived at the Safety Head Office in Madrid, the leader of free Catalonia had to undergo five weeks of tortures, vexations and various humiliations before being transferred to Barcelona on October 3rd. After a sham trial in the Fort of Montjuïc, he was condemned to death on October 14th. Until his last breath, he was an example of dignity and courage. On October 15th, 1940 at 6 30 am, before falling under the bullets, Lluís Companys
shouted with strength and firmness "Por Catalunya!". For Catalonia!

Acts at La Baule are to be followed by others in Barcelona (15th and 17th October). The refusal by the Madrid Government authorities to allow the Catalan Dignity Commission to hold a tribute ceremony at the spot where Companys was tortured in Madrid (at present, the very headquarters of the Madrid Government in the Puerta del Sol) is being studied by the Secretariat of the Comissió de la Dignitat, which will shortly issue a statement on the question.

+ info: Josep Cruanyes, campaign director
00 34 665 72 73 29 / 00 34 625 37 06 61
www.freedom.cat / www.comissiodeladignitat.cat
.

Castells: Human Towers from Catalonia

2010-08-11T05:15:00.001-07:00

Recently, the goverment of Catalonia registered the 'Castells' in the candidate's list of the Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage. A 'Castell' is a human tower built traditionally in festivals at many locations within Catalonia. At these festivals, several 'colles castelleres' or teams often succeed in building and sustain a tower's structure for a certain length of time.

The tradition of building human towers originated in Valls, near the city of Tarragona, in the southern part of Catalonia towards the end of the 18th century. Later it developed a following in other regions of Catalonia even Majorca and, after prohibition under Franco, currently has become very popular in parts of Spain. However, the best and most skilled castellersare still found near Tarragona.

In Catalan the word 'castell' means castle. A 'castell' is considered a success when stages of its assembling and disassembling, can be done in complete succession. The assembly is complete once all castellers have climbed into their designated places, and the enxaneta climbs into place at the top and raises one hand with four fingers erect, in a gesture said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag. Theexaneta then climbs down the other side of the castell, after which the remaining levels of castellers descend in highest-to-lowest order until all have reached safety.

Aside from the people who climb to form the upper parts of the tower, others are needed to form the pinya, or bottom base of the castell, to sustain its weight. Members of the pinya (most often men) [2] also act as a 'safety net' if the tower structure collapses, cushioning the fall of people from the upper levels.

The castell is built in two phases. First, the pinya the base of the tower is formed. People forming higher levels of the tower move to a position from which they can easily get to their place in the tower. This is done slowly and carefully,[3] and as subsequent base levels are completed the castellers in the pinya determine if their base is solid enough for construction to continue. Then, when the signal to proceed is given, bands begin to play traditional music as a hush comes over spectators of the event. The upper layers of the tower are built as quickly as possible in order to put minimal strain on the lowercastellers, who bear most of the weight of the castell. The disassembly of the castell, done amidst the cheering of the crowd, is often the most treacherous stage of the event.

There is a form of the Castell, generally referred to as 'rising', in which each successive layer is added from the bottom by lifting the castell into the air, stage by stage. It is held that this form takes even more skill and strength and a great deal of practice. Four levels complete have been observed and five attempted, but it is said that the record is six or perhaps seven.

Typically castellers wear white trousers, a black sash, a bandana and a coloured shirt often bearing the team's emblem. A differently coloured shirt indicates which team a participant is in. Team Castellers de Barcelona wear red shirts whileCastellers de Vilafranca wear green shirts.

The sash (faixa) is the most important part of their outfit, since it supports the lower back and is used by other castellers in the team as a foothold or handhold when climbing up the tower. This tasselled piece of cloth varies in length and width and depends on the casteller's position inside the tower and also on choice. The length of the sash ranges from 1.5 to 12 m, and usually is shorter for those higher up in the castell. Performing castellers usually go barefoot as to minimise injures upon each other as they climb to their position and also for sensitivity when balancing and to have better feel and hold each other.

Bullfights, again

2010-07-30T14:43:00.001-07:00

by Col·lectiu Emma

The decision adopted by the Catalan Parliament on July 28 to extend to bullfights the existing prohibition of spectacles involving cruelty to animals has attracted much attention from international media.Col·lectiu Emma has already attempted to describe the circumstances surrounding this whole affair (links here, here and here) and would only like to recall now that the process that ended yesterday was first and foremost the result of a grassroots initiative promoted by animal-rights groups. There are also cultural issues involved that can be ascribed to the different sensibilities prevailing in Catalonia and in Spain. And, in the context of the traditional tensions between both societies, the matter has taken a political dimension, mostly as a result of the emotional and symbolic value that Spanish nationalism attaches to bullfights. Thus, unlike a similar law that was passed in the Canaries in 1991 and went practically unnoticed, this latest move in Catalonia has been interpreted as an attack by Catalan separatists against some basic component of the Spanish essence.

We believe that this is a triumph of civilization, and Catalans can be proud that their representatives have voted to banish such a barbaric custom from their land. We wouldn't think it necessary to make any more comments on this issue except for the furious reactions that have been observed in Spain in the last couple of days. Far from accepting an outcome that has been arrived at by democratic means, the Partido Popular plans to bring the matter before the Constitutional Court or, alternatively, to promote a state law declaring bullfights a "patrimony of cultural interest", in an attempt to override the Catalan decision. As to the press, "The nationalist farce puts an end to bullfights in Catalonia" or "The animals have won" (next to a photograph of the Catalan President and Vicepresident) are only some indicative headlines in the Madrid papers. The starchy ABC daily has gone as far as to publicize a new boycott on Catalan products that seems to be under way and, while it stops short of showing support, it appears to condone it when it warns, enigmatically, that "anything can happen when one plays with the ancestral genetics of a people" (" Cataluña quiere toros. Pásalo").

Catalans have been the target of similar abuse and reprisals before, with various pretexts, most recently as a response to the announced reform of their home rule charter – the Estatut. So such examples of irrationality don't come as a suprise in these parts, but we think that pointing them out may help foreign observers to put things in their right perspective when trying to understand the spiny relationship between Catalonia and Spain.

Spanish reactions to the ICJ's opinion on Kosovo

2010-07-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

by Col·lectiu Emma

We would like to bring to your attention some interesting reactions in Spain to the recent advisory opinion given by the International Court of Justice on the matter of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

The Court has recalled in its opinion that "during the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there were numerous instances of declarations of independence, often strenuously opposed by the State from which independence was being declared". It also states that the scope of the principle of territorial integrity, invariably invoked by States trying to outlaw such declarations, "is confined to the sphere of relations between States". And it concludes that "general international law contains no applicable prohibition of declarations of independence". The plural in "declarations" gives an indication that this doesn't only apply to the matter of Kosovo, but that it is understood to be a general principle.

In other words, a State cannot declare itself indivisible under international law. Which leaves Spain in an awkward position. By way of example, only a couple of weeks ago the Spanish Constitutional Court felt it necessary to include in its crushing decision on the Catalan autonomy Statute eight references to the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation". Today all three major newspapers in Madrid emphasize in their headlines that the International Court's opinion has no bearing on the situation in Spain. And yesterday a government spokesperson rushed to proclaim that this "can't be taken as a model for other situations that aren't comparable", in a clear reference to Catalonia, a point reiterated today by the Spanish Vicepresident.

It could be said that Spain doth protest too much. Indeed, official protestations are contradicted by the great lengths that the government has gone to in order to influence the result of the Kosovo affair. Note that Spain is one of the few EU countries that wouldn't recognize Kosovo as an independent State. And that the Spanish Foreign Ministry went as far as to dispatch a legal advisor to the Court's hearings in The Hague, defending the position that Kosovo's declaration of independence wasn't admissible under international law. Why would any country want to be so involved in the case of a small territory at the other end of Europe where it has no diplomatic or commercial interests? The fact is that no Spanish government can condone a unilateral move towards independence in another State because such a move could very well be replicated within its own borders. So, despite all claims to the contrary, the International Court's opinion has rattled some nerves in Madrid, where everyone is aware that it does have great significance for Spain and for other States with uneasy national minorities. And since a popular referendum on self-government along the lines of those envisaged for Scotland or Quebec is unthinkable given the political realities of Spain, Catalonia might well find in a unilateral declaration of independence the only means to start a peaceful process of separation.

Don Quixote was written in Catalan, not in Spanish

2010-07-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

Catalan Solidarity for Independece launched

2010-07-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

by Free Catalonia

Three key personalities from several parties have launched a call to form a Catalan Solidarity for Independence with two aims:

1) To submit a single candidacy in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Catalonia with the common goal of proclaiming the independence and subjecting it to a referendum at the next term (2010-2014).

2) To establish the Government of Catalonia to organize all the necessary aspects of the transition towards the creation of the Catalan state within the EU.

All citizens who are satisfied with this proposal we ask them to register on the website www.solidaritatcatalana.cat and organize their local municipal assemblies, constituted by the local coordinators to support the candidacy of Catalan Solidarity for Independence.

Jimmy Jump jumps again

2010-07-13T01:16:00.000-07:00

by Euro Weekly News

JIMMY JUMP, the Catalan who tried to enliven Oslo's Eurovision Song Contest in May by joining the dancers accompanying Spain's contestant, made his own contribution to the World Cup final in Johannesburg on Sunday. Just as the Spanish and Dutch national anthems were due to be played he jumped onto the pitch wearing a "barretina" – a typical Catalan headgear – and raced up to the pedestal with the trophy and tried to drape it with another barretina.

Instead Jimmy Jump – real name Jaume Marquet Cot – was jumped upon by security guards and removed unceremoniously from the pitch. A fervent Catalan nationalist as well as a fervent follower of Barcelona football club – which contributed so many players to Spain's national side in the World Cup, it was inevitable that he would turn up in Johannesburg, said insiders afterwards.

But back in Spain last Sunday night nationalisms were temporarily forgotten during countrywide euphoria after winning the World Cup although a day earlier more than a million demonstrators thronged Barcelona's streets. The protest was prompted by the Constitutional Court's conclusion that there was no legal basis for recognising Cataluña as a nation, following challenges to the region's statute of autonomy by the Partido Popular opposition party. The court's further ruling that the Catalan language should not take precedence over Spanish also came as a disappointment in a region where the Spanish language is routinely relegated to second place.

The demonstrating Catalans were calling for greater autonomy with some calling for independence from Spain. Others were demanding that Cataluña should be allowed to field its own national football and sports teams - a prospect that Jaume Marquet Cot will doubtless regard as an opportunity to be jumped at.

Catalonia Protests ‘One Nation’ in Spain

2010-07-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

by Epoch Times

While hundreds of millions watched the World Cup finals, over a million Catalans took to the streets of Barcelona protesting a verdict by the Spanish supreme court denying them official status as an autonomous nation.

The citizens of the northeastern region of Catalonia, one of the Spain's 17 autonomous regions, want to be recognized as an autonomous nation. Spain's highest court acknowledged that Catalonia as a separate nation is "a perfectly legitimate idea" but with no legal basis, reported AP.

Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party (PP) said that Catalonia's autonomy might endanger the unity of Spain. In 2006, it appealed to cancel or reinterpret 113 of the 221 articles of a Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, just approved by the Spanish Parliament and a Catalan referendum earlier that year. The PP said the articles were unconstitutional, according to the Catalan News Agency, (CNA).

Following the court's decision on Friday, Catalan will not be the official language of Catalonia. The region cannot have its own justice council, and will not have a guaranteed minimum expenditure from the Spanish government, according to CNA.

The court's decision came a day before a planned protest on Saturday where Catalonians marched under the slogan "We decide, we are a nation."

The demonstration was led by President of the Generalitat of Catalonia José Montilla; President of the Catalan Parliament Ernest Benach; and former Catalan Presidents Jordi Pujol and Pasqual Maragall, among others.

A huge 2,700-square-foot "senyera," the flag of Catalonia, preceded the procession, which flooded the main traffic routes of Barcelona.

The mayor of Barcelona called the rally "unprecedented."

The rally was sponsored by the Catalan cultural organization, Òmnium Cultural. According to the organizers, the attendants reached 1.5 million people and 1,500 organizations, while the police counted 1.1 million.

Barcelona is the main city of Catalonia.

During the dictatorship of Spanish Gen. Francisco Franco (1939-1975), the Catalan language was forbidden and books in Catalan were banned. Catalan citizens now have an increasing interest in reviving the Catalan culture and re-establishing its cultural, social, and economical connections.

Million Catalonians march for right to be a nation

2010-07-11T15:44:00.001-07:00

by 'Morning Star' (UK)

Up to a million march through the streets of Barcelona to demand greater autonomy for Catalonia and protest against a recent court ruling forbidding the region from calling itself a nation

Over a million people packed into central Barcelona on Saturday to demand greater autonomy for Catalonia and to protest against a recent court ruling forbidding the seven-million-strong region from calling itself a nation.

More than 1,000 organisations, including political parties, trade unions and cultural and business associations, took part. Protesters waved Catalan flags and marched behind an enormous banner which declared: "We are a nation. We decide."

Madrid courts recently granted sweeping new powers of self-rule to the region, which accounts for 25 per cent of Spain's GDP, but on Friday its highest court ruled that the country's constitution recognised Spain as the country's only nation, dealing a blow to efforts by Catalonia to assume that status.

The verdict came after four years of debate in which conservative and liberal judges locked horns over whether the charter went beyond the limits of Spain's system of granting varying degrees of self-rule to its 17 regions.

The Catalan region's statute of autonomy - earlier approved by the Spanish parliament and endorsed by Catalan voters in a 2006 referendum - gave the regional parliament enhanced powers in taxation and judicial matters as well as more control over airports, ports and immigration.

The court approved most of Catalonia's statute of autonomy in June but changed some of its most controversial points, which sparked the anger of the regional government.

The statute has the support of most political parties in Catalonia where a sizeable minority would like to see the wealthy region - which has its own language and distinct culture - break away from Spain.

It was one of the first initiatives of the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero which took office in 2004.

Catalans are proud of a history which until the early 18th-century linked them to the independent kingdom of Aragon.

But during the Franco dictatorship from 1939 to 1975 Catalans were forbidden to either speak or publish books in their language.

Catalonia never again will be the same: Biggest demonstration ever done

2010-07-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

One milion and half people, an extraordinary crowd crossed Barcelona's
streets on July 10th. Their slogan was clear: "Som una nació,
nosaltres decidim". ("We are a nation. We decide"). Never such a
biggest demonstration was held in Catalonia. Autonomist and
independentists marched together but Catalan flags with a star (used
to claim a Catalan state) were clearly more than Catalan flags. Never
so many Catalan independentists have marched together. You can follow
the news at BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera; France 24 and Washington Post.
Catalonia never again will be the same.

Catalonia v Holland

2010-07-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

by Nicholas John Mead
If Spain lift the World Cup for the first time in their history tomorrow against Holland, it will be seen one of two ways around the country. For those that want Spain to remain one nation, it will be seen as a victory for what the country can achieve when it comes together. For those who want to see an independent Catalonia however, the fact that so much of the Spanish team consists of Catalan players mean a Spanish victory will be greeted less than enthusiastically.

Sid Lowe highlights how important the Catalan contribution was to Spain's semi-final victory over Germany:

Spain's starting XI last night included one Madrileño (Casillas), one Sevillano (Ramos), one Asturiano (Villa), one Albaceteño (from La Mancha, Iniesta), one Canary Islander (Pedro), one Basque (Alonso) and five Catalans (Piqué, Puyol, Capdevila, Busquets, and Xavi). Meanwhile, there were six Barcelona players (Piqué, Puyol, Pedro, Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi). Seven if you include David Villa, who recently signed for them but hasn't yet played for them.

The winning goal perhaps summed it up – a corner taken by Xavi, scored by Puyol.

As Lowe points out however, there is no sign of disharmony within the team – the players seem to respect and accept each other in a way England players can only dream of. It is only within Spain that the problems start.

So would a Catalan team do well in the World Cup? With the extraordinary talent they have available, you'd have to say yes. You'd certainly put them ahead of nations such as Australia, South Korea and Algeria for example.

Of course, the contribution of Villa and Casillas in particular has been crucial to Spain's success in this World Cup but if you were to replace either with Catalans such as Bojan and Valdés, they would still be a very hot proposition.

I was in Plaça Catalunya when Spain won Euro 2008 and the lack of Catalan participation in celebrations was obvious. It was mainly foreigners and immigrants from other parts of Spain that partied long into the night giving the whole victory a rather hollow feeling.

So I suspect even a Spanish victory in the World Cup final tomorrow won't be celebrated across Spain in quite the same way as a Dutch victory would in Holland. It may only add more fuel to those who finally want to see Catalonia compete in sporting events in its own right.

At least if many Catalan's don't feel proud of a Spanish victory, they should at least feel proud of the fantastic football their players have played.

Catalonia, the irony of fate

2010-07-10T03:08:00.001-07:00

by Alejandro Ribó-Labastida.

Tomorrow Spain will play against Netherlands in its first World Championship final of football. Maybe they will win. What you don't know is that the day before, that is today, there will be a huge demonstration in Barcelona in protest of the use of the Constitutional Court's decision against some important articles of the new Catalan Statute (l'Estatut) (a kind of Catalan Constitution).

It is ironic that this manifestation of the problems of vertebration of a nation-state that has struggled from its beginning to integrate a dominating Castilian culture with its peripherical partners coincides with the biggest success in Spanish sport history. Furthermore, the core of the skilful Spanish football team is mostly composed by Catalans or people from Barcelona FC, one of the most important symbols of Catalan national aspirations. Irony of fate.

Jimmy Carter calls for catalan independence

2010-07-03T02:05:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Carter received this week the 'Catalonia's award'from the President of Catalonia, Josep Montilla.

In his speech, former President Jimmy Carter said that 9/11in 1714 was worse for Catalonia than 9/11 for the USA: “I have learnt that 9/11, a dreadful date for my country in 2001, was even worse for Catalonia in 1714.” If a referendum on the independence of Catalonia is held and should the Catalan government ask him, the Carter Foundation will send observers to evaluate whether the vote is conducted correctly and ensure that the will of the Catalan people is expressed clearly. His foundation has already participated in 78 electoral polls, but a referendum in Catalonia will not really require the presence of his observers, more needed in difficult polls where democratic guarantees are hardly present, which is not the case in Catalonia (Search The Indissoluble Unity of Spain).

In his acceptance speech of the 22nd International Catalonia Prize for his defence of peace and human rights, Carter underlined that the American and Catalan people “are very resilient and know how to recover their strength and face the future with courage.” Catalan President Jose Montilla linked the defence of democracy undertaken by Carter with the Supreme Court ruling on the Catalan Statute: “Catalonia has a deep vocation of self-rule. To govern is to take actions which will change the course of history. Catalans are a people who recognise themselves in pacts and agreements.” Carter gave thanks for this award so identified with the development of peace and human rights, which are also the values his foundation defends. He called for Catalans to be patient and to remain confident despite the Supreme Court ruling which has caused so much anguish in Catalan society and among the political class: “The unique character of Catalan social life will be admired for another thousand years. No Court can ever deny the heritage of the Catalan people.”

The Spanish Constitutional Court ruling on the Catalan Statute and its political implications

2010-07-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

by Col·lectiu Emma

On June 28th, the Constitutional Court in Madrid finally made its ruling on the charter defining the scope of self-government in Catalonia within the Spanish state, known as the Catalan Statute. With reference to several informations that have appeared in the international press on this issue, Col.lectiu Emma would like to clarify a few points, beginning with a short history of the process that has led to this outcome.

Around 2005, in the context of Spain’s untidy system of regional devolution, some in Catalonia felt that it was necessary to sort out the ambiguities present in both the 1978 Spanish Constitution and the earlier Catalan Statute, dating from 1979, and set out to draft a new charter for Catalan self-rule. All the procedural niceties as defined by Spanish law were strictly adhered to by the Catalan side: a first draft was discussed in Parliament in Barcelona, where various concessions were introduced in order to make it palatable to every political group. Then a compromise text was passed by a wide majority and duly submitted for approval to the Spanish Cortes. There it would be severely pared down by all sides, to the point that some of its original proponents expressed doubts about the wisdom of going ahead with the exercise. The major Catalan parties, however, decided to carry on with it anyway and the text as it had been sent back from Madrid was unenthusiastically endorsed by the Catalans in a referendum.

By then the customary Spanish paranoia when it comes to such matters had already kicked in, and the mere idea of a new Statute for Catalonia – never mind its content – was opposed by many on both political camps and demonized in most of the Spanish media. The general public in various parts of Spain also showed its hostility with actions like a boycott on Catalan products, and expressions of antipathy towards Catalonia often verged on ethnic hatred.

But even the watered-down text that had become an organic law of the state after being approved by both Parliaments, ratified in a popular referendum and signed by the Spanish king turned out to be unacceptable to the nationalists in Spain, and the Statute was challenged on constitutional grounds by the Popular Party (the main opposition party of the right, characterized by its extreme centralist bent), but also by the Spanish ombudsman, a holdover from the Socialist old guard.

Those who opposed the Statute from the beginning and brought it before the Court did so because they felt it was a step towards the dissolution of the state or, as they like to put it, the “balkanization of Spain”. Ironically, it was precisely the least independence-minded political groups in Catalonia – namely PSC (the Catalan semi-autonomous wing of the Spanish Socialists) and CiU (moderate center-right nationalists) – that became the main supporters of the effort to define the place of an autonomous Catalonia in today’s decentralized Spanish state. To them the new Statute, far from being a separatist or anti-Spanish project, simply aimed to find a new way for Catalans to live within Spain that wouldn’t bring about in the end their economic suffocation or their collective extinction as a people.

This was the state of affairs up until this week, when, after a gruelling process of four years, the Constitutional Court finally contrived to reach a decision. The ruling has been interpreted in different ways by the different sides. To the zealots of Spanish oneness, it only certified the breakup of Spain. Their slightly less fundamentalist coreligionists in the Popular Party claimed victory saying that, by revoking several articles and, better still, by providing a restrictive interpretation of many others, the Court had confirmed their initial misgivings about the Statute. Oddly, however, the Socialist Party also managed to claim that it had been right all along in its tepid support of the reform initiative: since only a small number of articles had been removed or altered, that proved that the Statute was largely constitutional. Those were the reactions in Madrid, where, each in its one way, everyone was ultimately satisfied with the curtailment of Catalan self-rule that the Court’s decision entailed.

The views from Catalonia were radically different. Except for the Popular Party, whose presence there is marginal, all political groups and the general public have voiced their indignation not only with the ruling itself but also with the process that has led to it.

First, because leaving the fate of the Statute in the hands of a judicial body whose pretense of political impartiality is a known farce was seen from the beginning as a perversion of the democratic process. This was never a legal matter, but a political and ideological one. Several times in the history of Spain Catalan aspirations to a larger degree of self-government have been thwarted by war, occupation or dictatorship; it is felt that this time the judicial way has been used to achieve the same purpose.

Second, because even if the number of contested provisions is small, they go to the core of the new pact with the state that Catalan unionists were hoping to attain. Its main pillars were the double need to assert a distinct national reality that, like those of Scotland or Flanders, is recognized as such throughout Europe and all too often negated in Spain; and to lay the foundation for a more equitable relationship with the central government on the economic front, overcoming the glaring fiscal imbalances that have hindered Catalonia’s development ever since the establishment of the autonomic system.

Both principles have been callously hacked in the ruling. A timid proposal to work towards some degree of fiscal equity has been summarily overturned. And to make things perfectly clear as regards national identity, the new text will contain no fewer than eight references to the “indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation” – that after decreeing that the term “nation” applied to Catalonia in the preamble has no legal value whatsoever. But, can anyone seriously believe that it is for ten Spanish functionaries to decide whether Catalonia – or Scotland, or Tibet, for that matter – is a nation?

The message from the Court, then, has been to set the limits to what Catalans can expect from their belonging to Spain, a point emphasized by President Zapatero when he claimed, as recently as July 1st, that this will mark the end of a process of political decentralization. What nobody on the Spanish side seems to realize is that the new Statute represented a strict minimum for Catalans to go ahead with the Spanish venture. If Spanish law – and the underlying politics – is used to impose new restrictions on Catalan aspirations, it is only natural that those Catalans who still had hopes of a commonly beneficial arrangement with Spain will turn their back on the institutions that have once again shown their unwillingness to find a reasonable solution to the integration of the state.

In the end, the hard line taken by Spain – today’s economically weakened, socially dislocated and politically aimless Spain – may well backfire. More and more Catalans are now joining the ranks of those who have already concluded that the Spanish way is definitely shut for them and who can see no other option but to start on a new separate road. To many Catalans today it is, in the terse words of Columbia professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin, “Spain: game over”.

More than 500.000 people for independence

2010-04-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

by Free Catalonia

More than half a million Catalans have already voted in any of the
fourth waves of questions about the independence of Catalonia that
were held in 13.09.2009 (only Arenys de Munt included), 13.12.2009,
28.02.2010 or the last one on 25.04.2010.

Over 90% has voted for the "Yes" to independence. This represents
approximately 22% of citizens who were entitled to vote, about 2.3
million, which are all registered to one of the 461 municipalities
that have made the query over 16 years and including people from
outside Spain. Both cannot vote in the Spanish "official" elections.
If we compare the last elections, it is noteworthy that the query
without having all the municipalities in the Principality (missing
more than half of the census), consultation longer than 4 of the
6-independence political parties are represented in the chamber
Catalan, a figure only exceeded CiU and PSOE Queries have mobilized
close to 30,000 volunteers who have worked without any monetary
remuneration.

The fourth wave of consultation on the independence of Catalonia has
managed to mobilize almost 20% of the electorate over 16 years (23% on
the official census). In this 25-April 1.327.575 were called to the
polls and approximately 250,000 have exercised their right to vote,
has become a 92.64% in favor of independence from Spain, only 4 , 84%
had not opted for the 2.22% of the votes were white and 0.3%, null.

Catalan villages vote for independence

2009-12-21T01:04:00.001-08:00

by DANIEL WOOLLS / ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

A smattering of villages and towns in rich, independence-minded Catalonia gave a lukewarm embrace to the idea of breaking away from Spain in a rare vote Sunday at the grassroots level.

Skeptics called the nonbinding vote an exercise in futility for the proud region centered around Barcelona, which boasts a distinct cultural identity and accounts for about one-fifth of Spain's economy but says it get does not get enough in return.

But an umbrella group of civic organizations behind the referendum saw it as a way to assert the distinct identity of what they regard as a country within a country and to pressure politicians in Madrid and Barcelona to pay more attention to them.

The vote was held in 167 pro-autonomy hamlets, villages and towns in Catalonia, home to about 7 million people.

In the end, with more than 90 percent of the votes counted - people as young as 16 and immigrants were also allowed to take part -- 94 percent favored independence, and turnout was about 25 percent, according to Ana Arque, a spokeswoman for the referendum organizers.

A massive 'yes' vote had been widely expected because the referendum was staged in pro-independence towns. The turnout figure was about half that of a vote in 2006 on a statute that gave Catalonia broad new powers of self rule.

Organizers of Sunday's vote had set a goal of 40 percent turnout. Still, they played up the result as a success.

"The people of Catalonia have chosen to form an independent state," said Carles Mora, mayor of a small town that held a similar refendum back in September.

Catalonia, along with the Basque country, is a prime example of a region oppressed under the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, which made it a crime to speak in their regional languages in the interest of promoting Spain as a unified country run from Madrid.

Since Franco's death in 1975 and the restoration of democracy, Spain has gradually granted a large degree of self-rule to regions such as Catalonia.

Catalonia won even more self-rule in 2006 with the new autonomy charter, gaining control over judicial, infrastructure and other issues and an indirect proclamation of Catalonia being a nation.

But conservatives immediately challenged the charter, and Spain's highest court is now believed to be close to issuing a verdict that might strike down parts of it. Critically, it is said to oppose the idea of Catalonia being a nation.

Angst over this pending decision was a major reason for Sunday's vote. Organizers say they plan a similar one in Barcelona and other big cities early next year.

Anti-Spanish sentiment in Catalonia can run very high. Next week the regional parliament will debate a bill to ban bullfighting. That probably has as much to do with concern over cruelty to animals as it does with a pastime associated with traditional Spain.

Sunday's paper ballots were counted by the organizers themselves, with monitors from places such as Corsica, Quebec and Northern Ireland, which have their own independence movements.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Friday "in all honesty, initiatives like this lead nowhere."

School coach Maria Teresa Montserrat, 54, said Sunday she voted for independence as a way to assert the distinct identity that many Catalans feel. "We are not better or worse than anybody else, we're just different," she said.

Beside her, townsfolk grilled "butifarra" sausages, a regional specialty, and drank white wine out of miniature wooden barrels.

Metal worker Enric Flores, 49, sheltered from the cold and rain under the stone arcade of a street market in the town of L'Arboc, population 5,000. Loudspeakers blared Motown songs in Catalan.

"Seen from the outside, life here looks very good, but we feel discriminated against," Flores said. Although the vote is nonbinding, "the government in Madrid must take this referendum into account," he added.

Antonio Duran, 53, a traveling salesman, dismissed the whole thing as nonsense. "Catalonia is an important region of Spain, but that's all," he said.

The catalan Parliament approves preliminary ban on bullfighting

2009-12-20T09:18:00.001-08:00

The spanisht tradition of bullfighting is near to disapear. The Parliament of Catalonia on Friday gave preliminary approval to a ground-breaking ban on Spain's bullfighting tradition in this nation. The ban was approved with a vote of 67 against 59 while five of the regional legislators abstained.

The ban will now enter into the legislative process and could undergo modifications before it is put before parliament in its final form. If a total ban goes through, Catalonia will become the second Spanish region to outlaw bullfights after the Canary Islands did so in 1991. The anti-bullfighting platform Prou collected 180,000 signatures to back its legal initiative, nearly four times as many as would have been needed to bring it before parliament.

Bullfighting opponents slammed Spain's 'national fiesta' as 'cowardly' while some legislators argued that its fans had the right to see bullfights even if they were a minority in the region. 'Making animals suffer for fun' did not fit in with 'the new values of the society of the 21st century,' Prou representative Anna Mola argued during the debate preceding the vote. 'Bulls cannot defend themselves,' Mola stressed. Socialist legislator David Perez, who opposed the ban, said freedom of thought was one of the hallmarks of Catalonia. Perez also criticized those who saw bullfights as representing Spanishness in the region with separatist currents. 'Those who think we will be less Spanish if we prohibit bullfights are mistaken,' he argued.

The vote launched a debate about bullfighting in Spain where opinion polls show its popularity to have declined. Only 19 per cent of Spaniards younger than 24 years take an interest in the spectacle, according to a 2006 poll. Criticism of bullfights is strongest in Catalonia, a region of 7 million residents, where the regional capital Barcelona and dozens of other municipalities have declared their opposition to the spectacle.

Two of Barcelona's three bullrings have been closed, though the last remaining one still draws crowds for top bullfighters. Opponents of bullfighting see it as a form of animal torture during which bullfighting assistants stick long darts into the animal's neck to build up its fury. In the final 'moment of truth,' the matador is expected to kill the bull with a single thrust of his sword into the back of its neck, but many bullfighters are not that skillful and wound the animal several times.

Those defending bullfights see it as an ancient and important part of Spanish culture, which has inspired artists like the painter Pablo Picasso and the US writer Ernest Hemingway. A ban on corridas would violate the basic freedoms of bullfighting fans, the Catalan bullfighting lobby said, arguing that the tradition should die a natural death if it was no longer popular.

The Catalan Formula: the Polls

2009-12-14T15:21:00.001-08:00

From News Catalonia
Saül Gordillo is a journalist and director of the Agència Catalana de Notícies [Catalan News Agency].

Perfectly acceptable turnout (30%) when you consider that it was a symbolic referendum, without any actual legal heft. Overwhelming victory for the Yes vote (94.71%). 200,000 people participated in a democratic marathon without precedent. Not only for the excellent organization, for the noteworthy civic-mindedness, for the ability to mobilize the independentists on the street, for the enormous broadminded sovereigntism that brought together all these referendums, but also for the beginning of the feeling that they suppose. Arenys de Munt was first on the trail, but what happened this weekend was much more important. Counties brimming with municipalities, and a bunch of towns besides, up to 167, including metropolitan cities as important as Sant Cugat del Vallès (25.48% turnout, with 15,048 votes).

The movement grows and the grassroots model for the referendums has multiple repercussions. Independentism organizes itself and gives a lesson in turnout, seriousness and rigour. Also of collective boldness and hope. There is a social strength that this Sunday no-one could look down on. Look what González Pons (from the PP [Conservative Political Party] said. They have no legal but much political value. They don't shift even a comma of the current legal system, but they represent a notable step forward in the struggle for the national liberties of the country. From the PSOE, in contrast, Chaves insists on sneering, now with more care from the socialists and governing Spaniards than they had with the referendum in Arenys de Munt. They got that lesson anyway.

But the true success of the 13th of December is not, despite what many analysts say, the repercussions that this may have in Madrid, in the midst of the current soap opera that is the finding of the Constitutional Court. The Estatut [Statute of Autonomy upon which the Court will render a verdict] and the finding don't matter a whit to those who voted this Sunday. The Statute has lost the focus for these, they have already moved on. This Sunday, the debate was elsewhere, it was not about the Statute so heavily edited by Moncloa [the Spanish Whitehouse]. The success of 13D, therefore, is an internal key: lose the fear, position the independentist debate on the street, in the center of the political discussion, use it as a strategic wedge in the upcoming elections (Parliamentary, local, etc.) and unbalance the two axes of Catalan politics — right-left and Catalanist-Spainist — in favor of the nation.

The other victory of 13D, following in the footsteps of what happened in Arenys de Munt, but now multiplied by the editorial in Le Monde, and the coverage by the BBC, is the widespread resonance in the global press. Which in turn had an important impact on coverage by journalists in Catalonia itself. One small push in the fight against the self-loathing practiced to date by some media outlets when they speak about independence. A victory thanks to the globalness (and to the Internet in part) and to the Catalan Formula: the polls.

The polls are the key to everything. This icon awakens no uneasiness, except in Spain, of course. Here and on an international level, as well as for a model for other nations without their own State, the Catalan solution of civilized polls is an authentic lesson. The message is very clear. We want to vote. We want to do it for real one day. Everyone. And with the real power to decide.

Barcelona will vote on Independence

2009-12-08T10:41:00.001-08:00

by News Catalonia

First it was Arenys de Munt on September 13, on Saturday, 161 towns more will add their voices, and next February and Abril the wave will grow higher, with places like Sabadell, Girona, and finally, Barcelona. The Catalan capital will also vote on independence, and this Wednesday, the citizen-led coordinator in charge of organizing the project will introduce itself. After two months of contacts and meetings, the group Barcelona Decideix [Barcelona Decideix] will introduce itself at 1pm in front of the Sagrada Família, with representatives from the different districts and organizations of the city. The referendum in Barcelona could be the final step towards independence, given the decisive weight of its population within the totality of the Principality and the immense international reaction that a referendum on independence in the Capital city would certainly have.

According to the organizers, the presentation will take place in front of the Sagrada Família, because it is a symbol both of the city and of Catalanness. During the ceremony, the date for celebrating the referendum will be declared and the Web site for the group, Barcelonadecideix.cat, will be presented.

Catalan municipalities employ a legal ruse to hold the consultation sovereigntist

2009-12-07T03:11:00.000-08:00

by Clara Blanche / El País

Unlike what happened last September with consultation on the independence of Catalonia, held in Arenys de Munt-be banned by the court to install local polls in the Town Hall, on Sunday, the 13th, many municipal offices will be used as polling stations in the 161 locations where they held a similar consultation. The consistories have used a legal device that allows them to circumvent the ban.

In the minutes that sent the delegation of the Government include the approval of the motions of consultation, but without specifying where it held.

"So far not detected any irregularity in the proceedings that have sent the municipalities and has studied the Bar of the State," he said last Thursday a spokeswoman for the delegation. On Tuesday, the delegate, Joan Rangel, has announced that for now no violations of the law.

Esquerra Republicana, one of the independentists political organizations, has plans to mobilize its leaders for consultations. Their top leaders will visit a dozen cities with mayors of training independence day of voting. The party of Joan Puigcercós wants to regain some lost ground to their constituents. Another catalan party, Convergència i Unió, for its part, does not foster the consultations, but gives freedom to its members.

Catalans would vote in favour of independence

2009-12-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

by directe.cat / 3 December 2009

A macro-survey by the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), of 2,614 people, organized by Miquel Strubell, reveals the overwhelming results: 50.3% would vote Yes in a referendum on self-determination, only 17.8% would vote against, with 7.2% undecided. It is the first time that a scientific poll reveals this data. The poll also exposed that 83% of those polled believe that Catalonia has the right to freely and democratically decide its own political future, and only 15% of the total did not.

The survey to which directe!cat had access, reveals that the principal motives of those in favor of a Yes vote are due, in certain percentages, to emotional reasons— for example, 29.6% admit that they are simply tired of Spain—, but combined with other reasons based on economics and democracy. In contrast, the group that mostly called on their feelings and personal convictions when deciding hjow to vote were those voting against independence. They believe that it would be economically unviable, and that it might generate a conflict or that the laws don't cover it.

[Translation of Graph:

Motives for voting in favor	Motives for voting against	Motives for abstaining
Base in favor: 1,276	Base against: 438	Base abstaining: 607
It would be a peaceful and democratic way: 65.7%	Feelings or convictions 60.8%	It's not my place to decide: 38.4%
Economic reasons: 62.3%	It would be unviable economically: 29.3%	Feelings or convictions: 29.2%
Feelings or convictions: 58.6%	The law doesn't allow for it: 25.9%	I would be scared of repercussions: 25.7%
Linguistic or cultural reasons: 56.4%	I would be scared of repercussions: 25.7%	The law doesn't allow for it: 20.6%
Tired of Spain: 29.6%	None of the above: 5.8%	It would be economically unviable: 18.5%
None of the above: 0.9%	Don't know: 0.9%	None of the above: 13.9%
Don't know: 0.5%		Don't know: 3.2%
No answer: 0.1%		No answer: 0.4%

The study was made on a map of six zones. By territories, the Girona counties are those that have the most affirmative votes (64.5%). Right behind them is the zone of central counties, with 64.2% in favor. The Terres de l'Ebre (63.4%) would also vote in favor, as would those of Ponent (56.3%). Under 50% there are only two zones: that of Camp de Tarragona, with 47.2% and that of Barcelona, which falls to 46.3%. It's important to note, however, that the Yes vote would be the winning option in all zones and that it is in Tarragona (25.9%) and not Barcelona (19.8%) in which there is the highest percentage of No votes for the Independence of Catalonia.

But the study also underlines one of the chronic difficulties of Catalanism and Independentism: the lack of confidence in their own ability to achieve independence. 58.1% of those polled believe that Catalonia will not get to be independent. Only 31.1% believe that it will, along with 10.7% that is not sure and thus, has no opinion.

Barcelona opened the campaign for independence

2009-12-01T01:07:00.001-08:00

by Unitá Naziunale

On Sunday 13th December 705,000 people are entitled to vote in the consultations for catalan sovereignty. In two weeks more than one hundred cities and towns will held the referendum on independence. Barcelona has hosted a ceremony this afternoon to be a 'demonstration of force' with the intervention of various figures of the Catalan social life.

Carles Mora, the mayor of Arenys de Munt where the 13th September hold the first consultation on independence, said that 'it is time to end the expose, slavery and humiliation' from Spain over Catalonia, to build 'a rich, noble and happy country « and added later that democracy always prevail:' Freedom is not for sale.'

Leader of Decidim.cat and mayor of Sant Pere de Torello, Jordi Fabregat, said that the council 'may not deny the use of infrastructure paid by citizens with their taxes « , in reference to the ban imposed by the Court of Spain, to forbid to lend municipal spaces to do the referendum.

Different catalan personalities will close the events, the most striking will be the president of Futbol Club Barcelona, Joan Laporta, ending the campaign in Vic.

Right to vote will be given to people over 16 years and « there will be no discrimination by nationality » because they are entitled to vote those citizens who are registered in the municipalities where the consultation takes place, whatever their nationality.

To enhance the transparency of the process, the organization of consultations will allow the presence of media throughout the day on 13th December, including the process of vote counting, an option recommended in UN the best practices code.

Notifications were sent to the European Commission, United Nations and to the monitoring of electoral processes institute as the Carter Center to have knowledge of the event and to send observers if they wish.

Catalonia's Dignity

2009-11-27T04:13:00.000-08:00

by Catalonia Today

In an unprecedented move, all the Catalan newspapers have joined together to issue the same statement on their front covers about the legal decision pending on the future of Catalonia. Almost three years have passed while the Constitutional Tribunal has dragged its collective feet in reaching a decision on the Catalan Estatut, the central document defining Catalonia's status and relationship with the Spanish state.

First published in 2006 and thrice democratically approved: first by voters through a referendum; secondly by Parliament and thirdly by the Head of State King Juan Carlos, the law has been batted back and forth to the point that serious doubts have been raised as to the validity of the process. It will be the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1977 that a tribunal will make a decision on a law that has been fundamentally approved by voters. Expectation is high.

One of the main causes of concern has been the the membership of the tribunal itself Out of the twelve judges that make up the tribunal, only ten are allowed to decide upon the official outcome as one (Pablo Pérez Tremps) has been disenfranchised after a deliberate move to influence the balance of the debate, and another (Roberto García-Calvo) died. Out of the ten judges able to vote, four remain in office despite losing their mandate as a consequence of the sordid disagreement between the government and the opposition over the renewal of an entity recently named by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as the 'Heart of Democracy'. A heart with hardened valves and no more than half of its parts neither free or able to reach an independent decision. This is the make up of the cassation court about to make a decision on Catalonia's Estatut.

The definition of Catalonia as a nation forms the opening part of the the Estatut. Matters of language and jurisdiction are central to the issue and have been cause of a constant friction which many people consider can only be cured through radical surgery: amputation of the Spanish state.
The Catalan press expressed concern that Catalonia has reached a cross roads and an important decision has to made about future direction. They reiterated the feeling that for too long Catalonia has been depicted by others as the thorn in the side of a strong unified Spain and underlined the annoyance caused by the continuous lack of respect shown towards its institutions, economic infrastructure, language and cultural traditions. They also pointed out that, despite this negative treatment, Catalonia has continued to make a huge contribution to the finances of the Spanish state while receiving little fiscal benefit in return.

An important part of the concluding part of this joint declaration was a warning that nobody should underestimate the determination of the Catalan people to have a satisfactory outcome to this judicial process: 'Nobody who knows Catalonia would doubt that a recognition of its identity, improvement in its self-government, a just financial agreement and marked improvement in infrastructures are, and will continue to be, pursued with due political and social vigour.'

700,000 Catalans will be able to vote for Independence on December 13

2009-11-19T03:12:00.000-08:00

by Vilaweb

Six-hundred, twenty-three thousand Catalans, at least, will be able to vote in the referendum on Independence that will be held on December 13 in more than 100 towns in the Principat* (see a pdf of the list with the population of each). Everyone sixteen or older listed in the census of those towns will be eligible to vote, regardless of their nationality. It is believed that before the list is completed, in mid November, there will be many more town included.

In the last few days, important steps have been achieved in organizing the referendums, especially in Osona, where the executive director of Osona Decideix, Alfons López Tena has formally requested that there be international observers at the referendums and there is also a plan for the represented political parties to authorize voters. Each week, meanwhile, more towns approve motions in support of the referendums in their council meetings.

Europe and the catalan language

2009-11-19T03:09:00.001-08:00

by Prof. Joan Solà
European Parliament

Dear Members of the European Parliament:

We have come here before you as speakers of a European language that at several moments in its history has dispalyed first rate production and quality. It is a language that between the XIIth and XVth Centuries, cultivated prose and poetry of great richness and subtlety in all areas of public and private life: in the Administration, science, history, philosophy, religion and literature, with figures of international projection such as Raymund Lully (Ramon Llull), Ausiàs March, Jaume I or Saint Vicent Ferrer. This diverse and rich cultural tradition is still edited, translated and commented on today by experts from all over Europe.

After the medieval period this language suffered a retreat in the public and written sphere which lasted several centuries. But as of the mid-19th Century, until the present day, it has almost fully recovered. It once again offers the international community creative works of a very high standard and has translated the most important literary works of other languages. This recovery may be almost exclusively put down to the will of different Catalan-speaking communities to conserve their language and culture and to the popular effort exerted to achieve this. Today the speakers of this language have even managed to obtain a particular language internet domain: ".cat". Only on very rare occasions have the Catalans had a political structure capable of serving this strong will to save our culture; on the contrary, the administration has generally gone against us, even strongly against us in particular periods.

The political workings of the space taken up in the past by what is today the European Union, and the very European Union itself today, have led to a situation in which this language, and the culture that it is associated with, lack the basic support that is needed to survive in the conditions dictated by today's world, in which globalization, mobility, migrations, large economic trusts and all-powerful media predominate, and in which demographically or politically strong languages push weaker ones off the board, especially those that lack suitable political backing.

Our language is spoken in four European states (France, Spain, Italy and Andorra) and has an effective quota of speakers around the eight million mark, which is greater than that of several fully acknowledged EU working languages for the simple reason that they enjoy the backing of a state, a factor that gives these languages an even more disproportionately large stability and expansive power than other languages.

The European Union has given signs of wanting to preserve the cultural and distinguishing values of the different people that make it up. But until now the Catalan-speaking communities have not been able to benefit from this will because of the strictly political circumstances I referred to above. We therefore demand the same acknowledgement and support that other languages are receieving; that is, the political and legal acknowledgement and the moral and economic backing that are vital to enable us to overcome the disadvantages we have suffered for centuries and to be able to develop our culture unhampered in the complex present-day world.

Many thanks for your attention and the good will you are without doubt going to apply to our case.

Minor languages, major importance

2009-11-15T14:13:00.001-08:00

by Michael McCarthy / The Independent

Everyone knows what we mean by a troubadour, I imagine. (A sort of generalised wandering minstrel). But the original troubadours were something specific – the first poets in Europe to write in a Romance language, one which had developed from Latin, and they began the European poetic tradition in southern France in the 12th century, writing in what used to be called Provençal (but is now referred to as Occitan).

The most famous troubadour poem is "Amor de Lonh", "Love From Afar", by Jaufré Rudel, pictured, a young nobleman who was so taken with reports of the beauty of a faraway princess – she was meant to be Hodierna of Tripoli – that he set out on a pilgrimage to see her, the legend has it, fell ill as he arrived, and died in her arms. The poem itself is mesmerisingly repetitive, and if you want to get a feel for what the original troubadours sounded like, the first two lines go like this: "Lanquan li jorn son lonc en mai / M'es belhs dous chans d'auzelhs de lonh" ("When the days are long in May, the song of faraway birds is very sweet to me").

I mention this because I spent the latter half of last week in Barcelona, covering the final session of negotiations prior to next month's international climate summit in Copenhagen, and it was too dark at the end of the working day to look at what nature had to offer in the capital of Catalonia (apart from the dismal caged birds on the Ramblas), so I found myself listening to Catalan, on the hotel room TV.

Catalan and Provençal/Occitan are very close, except that the latter seems to be slowly dying in France, whereas in Spain Catalan has never been healthier, with 10 million speakers and several TV channels, such as Barcelona's all-Catalan TV3. And I found myself watching the adverts for shampoo and insurance, and the Europa Cup match between Slavia Prague and Valencia, all in Catalan, and closing my eyes and letting the language wash over me, and thinking, is this what Jaufré Rudel sounded like?

Praise be for the survival of Europe's minor languages, and for the encouragement that the EU has given them. There are worlds locked up in each one.

A real talking point

If you have a feel for threatened species, it is hard not to have sympathy for threatened languages. In each case we are taking of wondrous, complex creations which are likely to be streamrollered by modernity. There are perhaps 6,000 languages in the world, but a mere 30 account for the vast majority of the world's people. Many are likely to go the way of the dodo – unless they fight a rearguard action, Catalan-style.

International observers

2009-11-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

Despite obstacles mounted by the Spanish government, consultations on independence for Catalonia will take place next month in 130 towns. International observers from pro-sovereignty political parties like Sinn Fein and Plaid Cymru are expected to help monitor the process in Catalonia. Delegates from Corsica, Sardinia, Scotland and Sweden will likely join in reporting on this next step toward regional autonomy for stateless nations in Europe.

Academy of Catalan Cinema asks that Catalan films be made eligible for Oscars

2009-11-11T01:24:00.001-08:00

by Barcelona Reporter

Sherak was "receptive" to the proposals from Joel Joan, president of the Catalan Academy of Cinema, but asked for consensus with the Spanish Film Academy. Joan stated that in 2011 he expects to submit an original film version in Catalan to be nominated for best foreign film at the Oscars

He met on Tuesday in Los Angeles with the president of the Academy Awards, Tom Sherak, to publicize a film in original Catalan and create a basis of dialogue to enable the Catalan cinema to be eligible for the Oscars.

Sherak was "receptive" to the proposals from Joan, but asked for consensus with the Spanish Film Academy, said sources within the Academy of Cinema Català. Joan stated that in 2011 he expects to submit an original film version in Catalan to be nominated for best foreign film at the Oscars.

After the meeting with Sherak he said that the latter's reaction to the proposal after explaining in detail the Catalan culture was "very good". "He was surprised by the number of movies filmed in the original version, this year there were over 15, said Joan.

I think to get one into the Oscars for 2010 would be fantastic, although I do not think we can achieve that. If not, in 2011. After 10 years we have enough experience to present our own movies. To get nominated for an Oscar would give wings to the Catalan and Spanish cinema in general, "said Joan.

Catalan, a minority language?

2009-11-10T11:51:00.001-08:00

by Mary MacMillan

How do we define a minority language?
Catalan is spoken by 10.8 million in 4 countries and is considered a minority language.
Gaelic is spoken by 60,000 approx. in Scotland.

Though the number of Catalan speakers is so much higher than Scottish Gaelic speakers, it maintains its minority language status because it doesn't have a state. Are they both minority languages to the same extent? (...)

Newcomers to Catalonia are not obliged to learn Catalan, however they are strongly advised to because it will impact upon their ability to find employment. The Consortium for Linguistic Normalisation is given instructions by the Catalan Parliament and aims and objectives are formulated. There are 22 centres throughout Catalonia which tailor these aims and objectives for their own area so that they can facilitate adult learning in the Catalan language. Citizen participation and engamenent is fundamental, and Catlan speakers are encouraged to volunteer to help learners of the language. Learners of Catalan say that they are made to feel very welcome and that makes it easier for them.

Catalan is the language of the community and it is not seen as the responsibility of the schools to develop the language in the home. (...)

Alicia Company from the Consortium for Linguistic Normalisation spoke about how non-Catalan speakers who move into Catalonia are supported in order to learn the language and become immersed in the Culture.

They have a mentoring system, where a Catalan speaker is paired with a non-Catalan speaker in order to help the non-Catalan speaker learn the language. There are very strong links between institutions and newcomers in order to make them feel welcome.

The culture of new citizens is to be valued and recognised, and in turn the new citizens will embrace the culture and language of the receiving community and they become part of the community's identity.

They achieve this in a variety of ways. A book has been produced by the centre in El Prat called Simbols recognises the origins of the immigrant people and the diversity of cultures, but also shows the ability of all people of different cultures to come together. It promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and sees it as a positive factor. The book looks at the different symbols of the world and what they mean to individual cultures.

Every year, parents and members of the community come together to put on a theatre production for the children of El Prat. This is performed entirely in Catalan and it shows the collaboration between parents and children and the value they place in the Catalan language and community.

The vast majority of people living in Catalonian have the will to learn and communicate in Catalan. In order to live fully within the community, in terms of work and making friends, it is not just advisable to learn Catalan, but a necessity. (...)

Today we saw in action what we had been told about yesterday and on Tuesday,

We visited two primary schools and a secondary school in El Prat and were given the opportunity to speak with teachers and see classrooms. We saw how the Immersion Classrooms operate, where children from different countries who have come to live in Catalonia after pre-school age (3-5).

New students from outwth Catalonia are taken out of class only when the whole class are doing language work in Catalan to work with the immersion teacher, which is similar to EAL provision in Scotland. Active learning and learning in context is used, not only for school vocabulary, but also to develop everyday vocabulary.

One thing which was evident was the cooperation that exists between schools, between sectors and with the community. Teachers from other schools get together regularly to share materials and professional dialogue, and they also come up with inter-school and community projects. Members of the community who have something to contribute and are Catalan speakers are encouraged to come into schools and to run or become involved in projects.

Christopher Columbus was a Catalan

2009-10-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

by Medieval News

The debate over the nationality of Christopher Columbus has kept investigators occupied ever since the man credited with the discovery of the New World died in 1506. Thought by many to be the son of a Genovese artisan, a new study by Estelle Irizarry, based on the official documents and letters of the explorer, suggests that Columbus' native tongue was Catalan and that he came from the Kingdom of Aragon.

Furthermore, Irizarrt belives that Christopher Columbus' origins are not obscure by chance, but rather the result of the famed explorer's having purposely hid the fact he was a Jew or "converso" (convert to Christianity).

Estelle Irizarry, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University, reached that conclusion after examining Columbus' writings in detail and discovering a simple but important clue that had escaped other researchers: a slash symbol - similar to the ones used in Internet addresses - that Columbus employed to indicate pauses in sentences.

That symbol, also known as a virgule, did not appear in texts of that era written in Castilian nor in writings from any other country, but only in records and letters from the Catalan-speaking areas of the Iberian peninsula, namely present-day Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

Irizarry explains, "The virgules are sort of like Columbus' DNA. They were a habit of his. Columbus was a punctuator and was one of the few of that era."

Irizarry uses that metaphor as the title of her latest book, Christopher Columbus: The DNA of his Writings, in which she pored over the language and syntax the navigator used in more than 100 letters, diaries and documents. She also found in her research of documents from that era written on the Balearic island of Ibiza that 75 percent contained virgules similar to Columbus'.

At the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, authors normally left punctuation for publishers and even Cervantes' "Don Quixote" was only filled in once and for all with periods and commas in the 19th century, making Columbus' virgules all the more noteworthy, Irizarry said.

Her book confirms some of the conclusions drawn by scholar Nito Verdera, who identified many words of Catalan origin in the writing. Irizarry thinks the future explorer grew up in a Catalan-speaking region and that explains why he did not express himself correctly in Spanish, which would have been his second language.

Proof of that is the inconsistency of his spelling, she said, noting for example that he would write "trujeron" and "trajeron" - incorrect and correct spellings, respectively, of the Spanish word for "brought" - sometimes in the same sentence. In addition, these peculiarities of his writing and other linguistic aspects associated with Ladino, a Jewish ethnolect in late medieval Spain, suggest that Columbus was Jewish, Irizarry said.

"Columbus even punctuated marginal notes and he included copious notes around his pages. In that sense, he followed the punctuation style of the Ladino-speaking scribes," the professor said.

Irizarry says her research clears up the big mystery surrounding Columbus' place of birth, which he never revealed but which different historians have claimed was Genoa, Italy; the French Mediterranean island of Corsica; Portugal; and Greece, as well as Spain. "The people who hid (their origins) more and had reason to do so were the Jews," Irizarry said, referring to the forced conversions and mass expulsions of Jews in late medieval Spain.

A scientific project launched three years ago to discover his true origins using DNA comparisons between his family and possible descendants has so far failed to provide conclusive results.

A team of scientists took samples from the tomb of Columbus in Seville and from bones belonging to his brother and son and compared them to the genetic make-up of hundreds of people living across Europe with surnames believed to be modern day variants of Columbus.

Swabs were taken from the cheeks of Colom's in Catalonia, Colombo's in Italy and even members of the deposed Portuguese royal family, who argue that Columbus was the product of an extramarital affair involving a Portuguese prince. Scientists had hoped to establish a common ancestor using standard Y-chromosome tests but they have yet to find a link.

They study may be in vain, however, as there is evidence to suggest that Columbus, who first crossed the Atlantic in 1492, may have adopted his surname later in life to disguise his true origins.

Another theory claims that he once worked for a pirate called Vincenzo Columbus, and adopted that name in order not to embarrass his relations with his new profession.
Columbus himself, when asked about his origins, used to shrug off the questions. "Vine de nada" – "I came from nothing", he said.

Click here to read an earlier article by Estelle Irizarry entitled: Three Sources of Textual Evidence of Columbus, Crypto Jew

Hotbeds of separatism in modern Europe

2009-10-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

By RIA Novosti

Today, Europe is the venue of both integration and separatist processes. Experts have calculated that in the 21st century more than 10 new states may emerge in Europe.

Basque Country is the most traditional example of European separatism. In Spain, about two million Basques live in three provinces of what is called Basque Country. It has broader powers than other Spanish regions; the living standards are above the average; and Basque is recognized as an official language. But despite this devolution deal, the advocates of secession from Spain (to be merged with the Basque-populated part of France) are not going to stop at that.

Francisco Franco was responsible for the growth of separatism - the Basques were not allowed to publish books and newspapers; conduct instruction in Basque (native name - euskara); give children Basque names or put out their national flag. Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA (Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom") was set up in 1959 as an anti-Franco party. Franco has long been dead and the Basque country has received the autonomous status, but this does not prevent the Basque terrorists from fighting. More than 900 people have fallen victim to the struggle for "independence."

Catalonia, an autonomous province in the north-east of Spain is also a headache for Madrid. Having their own language and culture, the Catalans have always stressed their separate identity in Spain. Their province enjoys extensive autonomy in Spain, a constitutional monarchy. Relations with the central government in Madrid are being regulated by a separate charter. In 2005, the new version of the charter said that the Catalans are a separate nation. However, there are dozens of parties and public organizations in the region, mostly left-wing, which are advocating cessation from Spain. Their goal is to hold a referendum on independence until 2014.

Another Spanish province, Valencia, received a new autonomous status in July 2007.

France has a long-standing experience of resisting separatism and extremism on its territory, above all in the Mediterranean island of Corsica. The Corsican national groups clashed with the French army in the middle 1970s. The Corsican Nationalist Union and the Movement for Self-Determination are the biggest and most influential among these groups. Both have combat units. In the last 25 years, the island's status was upgraded twice - in 1982 and 1990 the local authorities were given increasingly broad powers in the economy, agriculture, energy industry, transportation, education, and culture. Several years ago, French parliament recognized the existence of the Corsican nation. This decision was later cancelled as contradicting the Constitution of the French Republic.

The Breton Revolutionary Army (BRA) has operated in Bretagne, a north-western French province, since the early 1970s. The descendants of the Celts, who once came from the British Isles, do not identify themselves fully with the French, or consider themselves special among other French citizens. During censuses, many of them call themselves Bretons although put French as their native tongue. The BRA (apparently named by analogy with the Irish Republican Army - IRA) belongs to the extremist wing of the nationalist movement Emgann, which is fighting against the "French oppressors."

In Italy, the separatist attitudes are strong in the industrially advanced northern regions. The influential League of the North has so far given up its demand of secession and insists on Italy becoming a federation. There are also people wishing to see South Tirol, which Italy received after WWI, reunited with Austria.

Belgium may separate into northern Flanders (whose residents speak Dutch and are leaning towards the Netherlands) and southern French-speaking Wallonia. This confrontation between Belgium's two linguistic communities is rooted in the beginning of Belgium's independent history when the Walloons and the Flemish formed a union against the Netherlands. Having once united in the name of freedom, they have been trying to break apart for almost two centuries. Appeals for independence are growing stronger and stronger - the economically advanced Flanders does not want to "feed" the Walloon Region. The polls show that more than 60% of the Flemish and over 40% of the Walloons believe that Belgium may disintegrate.

In Britain, the separatist attitudes have moved from Ulster to Scotland. The recent Scottish parliamentary elections were won by the supporters of the formation of a new independent state from the Scottish National Party (SNP). The head of the Scottish government Alex Salmond declared that Scotland may become independent within a decade. So far, only 23% of Scots support the idea of their independence (as compared with 30% a year ago). However, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (the current British Prime Minister) warned in the press that Britain would be threatened with "Balkanization" if the 300 year-long union between England and Scotland continued weakening.

Denmark's Faeroe Islands are a semi-autonomous territory, living on the government's subsidies of almost $170 million a year. This fact is a restraint for the local separatists, although seven years ago they tried to conduct a referendum on independence.

Quiet Switzerland also has its own separatists. The Front for the Liberation of Yura has been demanding this canton's independence from the confederation for over 30 years. At one time, Yura inhabited by French-speaking Catholics was transferred to the canton of Bern with its predominantly German-speaking Protestant population. The Front's leaders admit that their chances of success are minimal.

Vojvodina is a Serbian autonomous region located some 35 km (22 miles) away from Belgrade. The Alliance of Vojvodina's Magyars, whose representatives control almost 70% of the region's territory, demand a republican status for the region, a referendum on secession from Serbia and a confederation with Hungary. Late last March, the Association asked the European Union to send a mission to study the situation. Hungarians now account for more than 40% of the region's population.

A similar scenario is developing in Romanian Transylvania (in 1940-1945 it belonged to Hungary; in 1919-1939 to Romania; and before that to Austria-Hungary). The percentage of Hungarians there already exceeds 45%. The Union for the Revival of Hungarian Transylvania, set up under Ceausescu, has already held referendums on territorial autonomy in three Transylvanian districts late last March. The local Hungarians expressed themselves for the maximal autonomy from Bucharest and independent relations with Budapest.

The "anti-colonial" raids have become more frequent in Italian Sardinia, and in the Austrian provinces of Stiria and particularly Carinthia, mostly populated by the Croatians and Slovenians. The South Albanian Greeks and the residents of the Portuguese Azores have also become increasingly active in demanding autonomy.

Kosovo, with a 90% ethnic-Albanian majority, has been formally recognized as a sovereign state by over 55 countries including the U.S. and most EU members since it proclaimed its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008.

Time: 'Catalonia Moves to Ban Bullfighting'

2009-10-23T01:33:00.000-07:00

By Lisa Abend / Madrid

Times

To understand the state of bullfighting in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, you need look no further than Las Arenas. The striking, late 19th century arena with faux Moorish arches, located near Barcelona's central Plaza de España, once pulled in thousands of bullfighting aficionados for the traditional — and gory — Sunday corrida (the Spanish word for "bullfight"). Today, it is being converted into a shopping mall.

After decades of both intense anti-bullfighting activism and benign neglect (Las Arenas hasn't hosted a bullfight since 1990), Catalonia may become the first of Spain's autonomous regions to officially ban the sport. At the end of October, the Catalan parliament will begin the first round of voting on a popular initiative that seeks to outlaw bullfighting completely — and establish one more difference between the region and the rest of Spain. If the initiative survives the vote, lawmakers can propose amendments before a final vote is held, probably by end of year.

"It's a sign of popular support for the measure that we were able to collect 180,000 signatures — three times the number we needed to present a legal initiative before parliament," says Jennifer Berengueras, spokeswoman for Prou (the word means "enough" in the Catalan language), the association that organized the campaign.

Indeed, Catalonia has long led the movement to do away with what is still referred to in Spain as the "national fiesta." In 2003, the region passed a sweeping animal-protection law that, among its many measures, restricted towns without bullrings from building them and prohibited all children under age 14 from attending a corrida by placing the equivalent of an R movie rating on the event. The following year, Barcelona's municipal government declared the Catalan capital an "anti-bullfighting city" in a nonbinding resolution; 70 other Catalan towns and cities have since followed suit.

Why are so many Catalans opposed to bullfighting? Some point to the region's generally progressive political tendencies, especially when it comes to animal rights. "As a coastal [region], Catalonia has always looked toward the rest of Europe, so certain sensibilities and ideas enter here first," explains Oriol Batista, a city councilman in Mataró, a town that was among the first to impose a no-kill law for abandoned pets.

But in this highly autonomous region, others see the rejection of bullfighting as a rejection of Spain itself — and thus a promotion, in the Manichean logic of such things, of Catalan identity. In Catalonia, after all, people dance sardanas instead of flamenco, prefer their death-defying feats in the form of castellers (human towers comprised of people standing on the shoulders of others in ever-smaller circles) and turn every Barça vs. Real Madrid match into a bout for national honor. More substantively — and controversially — the region requires all students to be educated in the Catalan language and is engaged in an ongoing series of debates with the country's central administration in Madrid over governance of the region's infrastructure. For many, bullfighting — especially given its association with the Franco regime, which promoted it as a unifying national spectacle in the 20th century — fits squarely into an "us vs. them" mentality. (Read "Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: More Than a Game.")

"Bullfighting used to be extremely popular in Catalonia," says Matthew Tree, a Barcelona-based author who writes frequently on Catalan identity. "But things change. Franco made it a bastion of fascist Spain, and that switched off a lot of Catalans. It was forced on them as this aggressively Spanish thing, and that was offensive to them."

Tree lives near Barcelona's one remaining bullring — the city used to have three — and he collected signatures in favor of the initiative to ban the sport. As he describes it, the only people who regularly fill the stands are tourists. "You get all these drunken tourists who come and yell their heads off as an animal is brutally killed. And they're only there because they think they're in a normal part of Spain, and that's what you do in Spain."

But Josep Rull, congressman for Convergence I Unio (CiU), a centrist nationalist party, objects to that depiction. "This is not about Catalonia rejecting Spain," he says. "We have our own long tradition of bullfighting. This is about Catalans rejecting bullfighting from within our own tradition because our values have changed."

CiU's deputies are likely to cast the critical deciding votes on the initiative in parliament. Although some pro-autonomy parties like the Catalan Republican Left will be voting for the motion in a bloc, the more conservative CiU is allowing its deputies to vote their conscience. And that may just be enough to pass the ban. "There are some within the party who see bullfighting as a tradition worth protecting," says Rull. "But there's a larger group — I count myself among them — that believes we shouldn't treat the torture of animals as a public spectacle anymore."

Luis Alcántara is afraid that group will be large enough to undo 11 years of work. Since 1998, he has run a bullfighting school in Hospitalet, just outside Barcelona. His enrollments were hurt by the under-14 provision of the animal-cruelty law that was passed in 2003, and these days, he has only nine students practicing their capework on an abandoned football field. He worries that the initiative will put him out of business altogether. "Nobody here really hears about us," he says. "We go to a corrida and then go home until the following Sunday, and we don't have any power. But there are plenty of Catalans who still love the bulls."

The president of FC Barcelona calls people to rise against those who mistreat Catalonia

2009-10-16T00:53:00.000-07:00

by Liz Castro /
NewsCatalonia

The president of F.C. Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has made a call to "rise up and face those who treat Catalonia with intransigence every day of the year." (audio) Laporta made the statement in a speech that he gave this morning at Montjuïc Castle, after participating in the torch march organized by Esquerra to give homage to Lluís Companys on the anniversary of his execution by firing squad. Also today, the Generalitat will ask the Spanish Supreme Court to revise Companys' sentence, so that it be nullified.

"The memory of that assassination must make us speak clearly and stop making us afraid, and it should help us act accordingly all the rest of the year," declared Laporta, who asked himself what Companys would think if he could judge what Catalonia is doing currently. And, accompanied by the president of Esquerra, Joan Puigcercós, he remarked, "They often try to silence politicans by appealing to your wish for the common good. They've tried to silence me as well, many times." (audio) Laporta also remembered the former president of Barça, Josep Sunyol, who was also executed by the Franquist regime.

Catalonia, 'political colony'

For his part, Joan Puigcercós praised Companys and defended political discourse as the tool that permits going forward in a difficult moment. Puigcercós added that "social justice" and the liberty of Catalonia is "the same thing".

Puigcercós added that "it's all downhill from here", since "the most difficult part has passed". "That resurgent Spain that seemed like it was going to be a new power in Europe," he said, "is a model that is entering a situation of economic and political crisis, like the Spain that lost its colonies in Cuba and the Phillipines." According to Puigcercós, "there remain other colonies, like Catalonia, a political colony that hopes to emancipate itself."

Petition to nullify the sentence against Companys

The government of Catalonia will meet today in an extraordinary plenary to demand from the Spanish Supreme Court the revision of the sentence against Companys. "This has been a pending matter for the Catalan government, and it comes a bit late," said Josep Cruanyes, the spokesperson for the Commission for Dignity. It required the petition of a whole range of entities to pressure the government to ask for the nullification of the sentence.

Cruanyes has asked the Catalan Executive to, if the Spanish Supreme Court does not revise the sentence, continue to demand its nullification until it succeeds. For now, the Catalan government must approve an agreement that invites the Catalan attorney general to ask the Spanish Supreme Court to revise the sentence. This is because, with respect to revising sentences, the only ones who can intervene are the defendents, their relatives, or the attorney general. In accordance with the law of criminal justice, the body with the power to settle a suit for revision, and to declare, if that were the outcome, the nullification of the given sentence, is the Spanish Supreme Court.

"The Spanish government has not done its job"

"The Spanish Executive should get involved and work toward the revision of Companys' sentence," according to Cruanyes, who thinks that the Spanish government has not done its job. He also believes that, if the Spanish Supreme Court denies the revision of the sentence, it will be the responsibility of the Spanish Executive.

The Spanish government has not made any progress toward stopping the process against Companys, despite promises made by the Vice-president, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, five years ago at Montjuïc. When she heard about the initiative by the Catalan government, De la Vega only said that she "respected" it, but that it was the courts who have the "word on this decision, and not the Spanish government". Similarly, the previous Spanish Minister of Justice, Mariano Fernández Bermejo, when he was asked a year ago, how the Spanish Supreme Court would act in case of a suit of nullification of the sentence, answered that he couldn't know and noted that the decree of the development of the law of Historical Memory was still in the State Council.

The act of moral reparation of Companys

For now, Zapatero's government has limited itself to acts of moral reparation for Companys, as the president's granddaughter, Maria Lluïsa Gally and the Interior minister, Joan Saura, asked Bermejo for a year ago. In effect, Gally finally received, yesterday in Mexico, the document of moral reparation from the current Spanish Minister of Justice, Francisco Camaño. But the ex-president's granddaughter said that the document only has meaning if it serves to achieve the nullification of the summary judgment against Companys. The Minister of the Interior, Joan Saura, sees it similarly, and said, "The reparation of Company's memory is the first step in the nullification of the sentence that condemned him."

Lluís Companys is the only European president to be elected democratically and then executed by a fascist regime. His execution by firing squad was sentenced by the War Council of General Officials, held in Barcelona on October 14, 1940, which accused him of rebellion. A sentence which has never been annulled and that the government is now asking be revoked.

The first steps, a year ago

A year ago, Saura and Companys' granddaughter met with Bermejo to ask for an act of moral reparation for the president. Among the documents they gave him were a letter from Companys' granddaughter that says her grandfather was executed because he was "the maximum institutional representation of the Generalitat de Catalonia." This was the first step so that the Spanish Supreme Court could begin the paperwork necessary for the nulllification of the military sentence that was handed down without due process.

Spain fears rise of separatism in Catalonia

2009-10-08T10:46:00.001-07:00

by Earthtimes.org

The Spanish government, the last 13th of September, downplayed a referendum organized by one village on the independence of Catalonia, fearing that it could act as a precedent and encourage separatism in the north-eastern region. Several ministers stressed that the vote had no legal value, while the conservative opposition accused Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government of being soft on separatists.

Ninety-six per cent of the voters backed an independent Catalonia in a vote organized by a separatist commission in Arenys de Munt, of 8,000 residents. Voter turnout, however, was only about 40 per cent. A court had prohibited the village from staging the referendum, but the separatist village council circumvented the ban by not participating directly in organizing the vote.

The event drew numerous media, visitors and about 100 demonstrators from the tiny right-wing Falangist movement, formerly a pillar of the 1939-75 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. The Falangists chanted slogans in favour of the unity of Spain, while about 1,000 Catalan separatist protesters defended an independent Catalonia. Some 60 Catalan villages were reportedly planning similar votes, raising the prospect of increasing separatism in the wealthy region of more than 6 million people.

"This is like an oil spill that will spread through all of Catalonia," said Joan Puigcercos, leader of the separatist party ERC. The government had sought a court order in an attempt to block the vote, arguing that it could act as a precedent. Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco on Monday described the referendum as a "stupidity" and criticized the large Catalan nationalist party CiU for having backed the "illegal" vote.

The conservative opposition People's Party (PP) accused the government of not "defending" Catalonia against separatists. The party has taken legal action to block a new Catalan autonomy status which it sees as favouring separatist strivings. Catalonia already enjoys a wide measure of autonomy, including its own police force and the right to promote its language. Support for an independent Catalonia has risen from 13.6 per cent of the population in 2005 to 19 per cent, according to official regional polls.

Some 15,000 people demonstrated in favour of independence in Barcelona on the occasion of the Catalan national day on Friday. Catalan top politicians have not followed the example of former Basque prime minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe, whose attempts to call a Basque vote on self-determination were foiled by the Spanish parliament and Constitutional Court. Catalonia does not have a violent separatist movement, unlike the Basque region, where the militant group ETA has killed more than 820 people since 1968.

Catalan Mayors Plan Independence Vote in Challenge to Zapatero

2009-10-07T02:45:00.001-07:00

By Emma Ross-Thomas / Bloomberg.com

More than 100 towns in Catalonia voted to hold referendums proposing independence from Spain, an attempt to press national leaders to heed their views. The 117 unofficial referendums will take place on Dec. 12, Feb. 28 and April 25, Jordi Fabrega, spokesman of the Decidim.cat initiative said in a telephone interview after a meeting of around 100 mayors and municipal representatives near Barcelona on Oct. 3. The movement includes representatives from all political parties except the People's Party, the biggest national opposition group, he said.

"As the constitution prohibits it, we decided to do it ourselves in a very democratic way," Fabrega said. Private entities will organize the voting to avoid legal problems for the town halls, which are not allowed to hold referendums. "There's no stopping us now."

The polls, which have no legal weight, are an attempt to exert pressure on the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to allow Catalans to decide whether they want to remain part of Spain. They will follow a similar poll in the village of Arenys de Munt on Sept. 13, where 96 percent favored independence. Described by the government as illegal and unconstitutional, the referendums may also stir unease in the capitals of other European countries such as the U.K., France and Belgium where separatists are pushing for more autonomy.

"It may cause a frisson of concern if they seem to give others what would be perceived to be false hope," said Hugo Brady, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank.

Spain's 1978 constitution ended an almost 40-year dictatorship and established a system of autonomous regions with varying degrees of self-government, including Catalonia and the Basque Country, both of which have their own police and use co- official languages. Rather then defuse nationalism, the return to democracy and entry into the European Union fueled tensions. The Basque terror group ETA has killed more than 800 people in its campaign for independence.

Catalonia's economy is the biggest in Spain, accounting for almost 20 percent of gross domestic product. Its capital, Barcelona, is home to Spain's largest gas company, Gas Natural SDG SA and third-largest lender by assets, La Caixa. Joan Costa i Font, a lecturer in European social policy at the London School of Economics, said the referendums were a "laboratory experiment to test the central state reaction," and a "first step towards a large-scale referendum backed by the Catalan parliament." More than half of Catalans favor some kind of break with the central government, according to a poll in July by the regional government. Nineteen percent backed outright independence with another 32 percent saying it should be a state within a federal Spain, the poll said.

The regional government is a coalition including Socialists and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, a republican party which favors independence from Spain and counts Welsh, Corsican, Flemish, and Scottish nationalists among its allies in the European Parliament. The Scottish administration, led by the Scottish National Party, intends to hold a referendum on independence for 2010, which First Minister Alex Salmond said Sept. 23 may include an option allowing voters to opt for greater autonomy rather than full independence from the U.K.

Catalonia pays homage to independence

2009-10-06T15:02:00.001-07:00

By Victor Mallet / Arenys de Munt
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.

A quiet country town, with an unpaved main street that doubles as a
river bed for flash floods from the hills, Arenys de Munt seems an
unlikely starting point for a revolution.

But when the town north of Barcelona held a referendum last month and
voted overwhelmingly in favour of Catalonia's secession from Spain
(with 96 per cent of the 2,671 who voted saying Yes to independence)
it spawned dozens of copycat referendum plans across the region.

A few fascist falangistas arrived in Arenys that day to demonstrate in
favour of Spanish unity and damp the festive atmosphere, while
moderate unionists stayed away – limiting the turnout to 41 per cent –
and called the vote a flawed publicity exercise with no constitutional
force.

The vote, however, reflects long frustration among Catalonia's 7.4m
inhabitants with the way their autonomous region is treated by Madrid
– and growing excitement among a passionate minority that independence
is a real possibility, whether by referendum or a unilateral
declaration of independence in the Catalan parliament.

"I think in 2010 independence can peacefully be fulfilled," says
Carles Móra i Tuxans, the mayor, arguing that wavering Catalans
(latest opinion polls show only 19 per cent want full independence)
can be persuaded to support secession if only they understand how much
they would benefit financially.

"Spain has limited us and marginalised us," agrees Carolina Moya, a
shopkeeper who runs a household goods store in the town. "Now the
government knows what all the Catalans think."

Like many Catalans, she believes that Spain takes more budget money
from prosperous Catalonia than it puts in (true) and that other
Spaniards enjoy special privileges (false). "We have to pay very high
taxes. If you go to the rest of Spain, you don't pay motorway tolls
and houses are cheaper," she says. "All this comes from the Middle
Ages. But now it's worse."

For a supposed nation in waiting, surprisingly little is known abroad
about Catalonia or its history as a Mediterranean power absorbed by
Spain.

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is neither a homage nor about
Catalonia, but a mixture of reportage and analysis of the Spanish
civil war. Among the few Catalan nationalists whose names might mean
something to foreigners today is Joan Laporta, chairman of the
Barcelona football club.

It was the global crisis that poked into flames a Catalan nationalism
already smouldering with resentments about language, culture and a
strong work ethic compared unfavourably by Catalans with the languor
of Castilians and Andalucians.

Mr Móra, the mayor, says his town and half the Catalan municipalities
are financially "ruined", in part because the central government is
not paying its share of the bills and in part because local tax income
has collapsed along with the property market.

With the €60m ($88m, £55m) transferred each day to the rest of Spain,
Catalonia could build 12 schools or eight homes for the elderly, he
says. "It's brutal; they are bleeding us . . . Now it's not about
language and literature. This is what annoys Spain. For the first time
in its history, the independence movement is coming via people's
purses."

For Diego Sánchez Simón, local head of the Spanish unionist Popular
party, that is exactly the point. Politicians such as Mr Móra, he
says, seek to distract attention from the near-bankruptcy of their
fiefs and the decline of public services by shouting about Catalan
nationalism, a phenomenon that is made worse by the approach of
Catalan regional elections next year.

Mr Sánchez calls himself a proud Catalan, but says Catalans "have this
mania for being victims, for saying that we're being robbed or
despoiled".

One of the extraordinary aspects of modern Catalan nationalism is how
little it has to do with ethnicity. More than a third of the
inhabitants were born outside the region, and many eager nationalists
(including Ms Moya) have roots in Andalucia in southern Spain, or as
far away as north Africa or northern Europe.

Still, the numerical weight of politically moderate cities such as
Barcelona means Catalan independence will be a long time coming, if it
comes at all.

Even in Arenys, not everyone thinks secession is a good idea. "It's
all nonsense and it won't go anywhere," says José López, a garage
mechanic. "I'm Spanish."

And even nationalists know it will not be easy. "It would be a good
idea, but we'll never see it," says Ms Moya. "Spain will never let go,
because Catalonia brings in lots of money that helps the other
regions."

Independence referendums in Catalonia

2009-10-03T05:20:00.000-07:00

By Catalonia Blog

After the successful referendum in Arenys de Munt many towns and cities around Catalonia have decided to join the initiative. We haven't yet figured out what the outcome of this wave of local non-binding referendums on the independence of Catalonia will be, but from my point of view it will serve at least two goals. In the first place, it pushes the independence issue up in the political agenda, forcing parties to take a position (ICV, for example, has joined PP and PSOE in several towns on the side against referendums) and boosting the public debate in the media as well as in the street, which hopefullywill keep its momentum until the next Catalan elections next year.

Secondly, these referendums force the collaboration of all those in favour of a Catalan state, from political parties (mainly ERC, CDC, CUP, Reagrupament, etc) to local entities and associations. Since we must ensure each referendum is a success in terms of participation, each of them needs close teamwork, implication and responsability, which is something we haven't cultivated much lately. Actually, despite the feeling that the number of Catalans supporting a Catalan state has been growing, we have managed to keep divided and uncoordinated. Now, every new referendum is both a challenge and an opportunity to bring people back together around the same goal, trying to forget about past differences that have made us historically weaker.

We must exercise this cooperation, make it stronger and enduring because it is exactly what we will need the day we celebrate the official, binding refeferendum. It is thus time to be generous and wise enough to put priorities first because we might very well be at a decisive turning point.

Cruyff offered job of managing Catalonia football team

2009-10-03T04:46:00.001-07:00

The Catalan football federation has offered the job of managing their regional team to former Barcelona coach Johan Cruyff, who will give his response within a few days, Catalunya Radio reported late Sunday. Cruyff, 62, has not coached at all since being sacked by Barça in 1996, after guiding the Catalan giants to four Spanish league titles and one Champions Cup in a successful eight-year spell.He played for Barca between 1973 and 1978, after leading Dutch club Ajax to three successive Champions Cup triumphs.

The national team of Catalonia, which has existed since 1984, does not compete in international tournaments but does play several prestigious friendlies every year. Opinion polls demonstrate that more than half of all Catalans would like their team to be able to play in FIFA and UEFA tournaments. Jordi Casals, the new president of the Catalan national federation, is keen to raise the profile of the team by bringing in a high-profile coach such as Cruyff.

Casals has not given details of the offer made to Cruyff, nor has he made it clear whether the job will continue to be a part-time post or become full-time. According to Catalunya Radio, if Cruyff turns the offer down the job will then be offered to current Barca coach Josep Guardiola, who was a pivotal figure in Cruyff's 'Dream Team' in the 1990s, or to Espanyol boss Mauricio Pochettino.

http://www.seleccions.cat/

Economic Crisis and catalan sovereigntism

2009-10-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

by Vilaweb on 29/sep/09

The economic crisis and the new surge of sovereigntism dominated the general policy debate** in parliament. The PSC will try to center the debate, which will be opened by José Montilla this afternoon, on the management of the economic crisis and in defense of self-government, but avoiding everything that has to do with nationalist ambitions. Esquerra, on the other hand, will look to define a nationalist profile, and CiU will try to show that its time in the three-party coalition is coming to an end.

José Montilla will open the general policy debate session at 5 in the evening with a speech in which he will look over this last year, marked by the effects of the economic crisis. It's possible that the president will want to strengthen the image of the government as manager that he has given since the retaking of his political career; in this way, Montilla will attempt to keep discussions that make his party uncomfortable in the background, like the strength and across-the-board acceptance that was won by the independentist movement thanks to the referendum in Arenys de Munt, and the debate over a possible curtailing of powers in the Estatut [Statute of Autonomy] by the Constitutional Court of Spain.

In fact, the Socialist spokesperson, Miquel Iceta, already announced yesterday that his party would omit this last matter from the debate. 'We don't believe that some topics should distract from the fundamental theme, that is the economic crisis," said Iceta, who will outline the merits of the three-party coalition: 'This was the year of the desalinization plant, of the Hospital de Sant Pau, of the tunnel of the Bracons, of the finalization of the deployment of the 'mossos d'esquadra' [Catalan police force], of the inauguration of the 'Ciutat de la Justícia' [Judicial Headquarters of Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat], of the outlying areas, of the negotiation of the financing model, of the LEC [Law of Catalan Education] and the 'Pacte Nacional per la Immigració' [National Pact on Immigration].

Artur Mas will also want to highlight the government's management of the economic crisis, but rather in an effort to demonstrate that there has been a lack of leadership. The president of CiU will make a speech in which he will offer a plan to get through the crisis and to defend self-government and to remind everyone that the constructive opposition that the party has followed permitted the passing of the Law of Catalan Education and the National Pact on Research and on Immigration.

For his part, Joan Puigcercós will speak in a more sovereigntist tone and will announce the beginning of 'an era of national aspirations'. The Republicans will try to show that their management of the government, at the side of PSC, is compatible with contributing to the path of constructing a separate State. 'It is perfectly coherent to be part of the government and to continue to demand change.'

The participation of the parliamentry groups, and the replies by the President of the Generalitat will take place tomorrow. On Thursday, the session will close with the votes on the proposals that will be presented.

Catalonia Influences in the Caribbean

2009-09-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

By IPS / Havana Times

Even without meaning to highlight it, the opening of the cultural program "Catalonian Influences in the Caribbean" evoked the various periods in which Catalonia too was a country of emigrants.

For reasons of an economic, political or other nature, the richly endowed American possessions of the Spanish crown - or the newly independent republics, depending on the historical moment - once represented the dream of a better life for many catalans. Refugees of wars and dictatorships hoped they would find their second homeland in this new world.

With the aim of recovering and strengthening the cultural and emotional bonds between Catalonia and Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations, the program "Catalonian Influences in the Caribbean" was organized by the Casa América Cataluña, considered to be the first institution of its type in the world.

The very origin of that institution was based in nostalgia, because it was started by emigrants who returned to the peninsula after the loss of the former colonies - particularly the last two, Cuba and Puerto Rico. In Barcelona they first founded the Club Americano, in 1911, the predecessor of the Casa América Cataluña.

According to Marta Nin, the deputy director of the Casa América Cataluña (CAC), this was a meeting place for "those who felt nostalgia for life on the new continent - for the coffee, the soil, the music and the conversations they would never again enjoy." It was a place where they could stave off these yearnings.

CAC is now a non-profit organization that works to spread Latin American culture in Catalonia, as well as that of Catalonia throughout Latin America. The program "began its tour in the Dominican Republic with an exhibit of the work of Catalonian-born photographer Wifredo García Doménech."

The program then traveled to Puerto Rico, where renowned catalan cellist, director and composer Pau Casals resided in 1956, and where the annual Casals Festivals have been organized ever since 1957. Organized with the collaboration of the Pablo Casals Foundation and the University of San Juan, the exhibit "Pau Casals and Life in Exile" was dedicated to his memory.

Cuba was the last stop on this journey to the Americans, though the closing of the event will be held in Catalonia in 2010. At that time, many of the peninsula's traditions and customs that continue to flourish in the Caribbean will be presented.

Upon arriving on Cuban soil, "Influences" had the cities of Havana and Matanzas as its backdrop. In Matanzas, large religious celebrations were held dedicated to the Virgin of Montserrat, the patron of Catalonia, on which is based certain lasting traditions such as the "Colla of Montserrat," the theme of a film that was also presented.

The "Colla" comes from an ancient pagan ritual related to agriculture, although this time it involved a large choir of men carrying enormous kitchen utensils (ladles, forks, knives, skillets and pans) as they sang entertaining songs. In 1895, the last procession under catalan rule was organized in Matanzas (though the festivities were reintroduced in 1902, until their permanent ending in 1925).

The attendance of these events in Cuba by Josep Lluís Carod-Rovira, the vice-president of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Marta Nin and Joseph Baragalló, director of the Ramón Llul Institute, one of the driving forces behind the program, confirmed the importance that has been placed on this cultural exchange.

In his introductory remarks, Carod-Rovira referred to "Catalonian Influences in the Caribbean" as a true success, as he went to retrace the saga of his compatriots on the island.

Inaugurated for the occasion was the exhibit "Barcelona-Havana: The Modernist Mirror." Featuring the artistry of Catalonian photographer Pilar Aymerich, this was described as a valuable work in which the artist's lens brought to light the influence of Catalonian modernism on Cuban architecture as well as decorative art, as reflected in furniture design and funerary sculpture.

It was not a random choice, because - according to specialists - the greatest developments associated with cemeteries coincided with the expansion of Modernism in Catalonia. In relation to Cuba, it was even disclosed that some of the sculptures that adorn the vaults of both Havana's Colon Cemetery and the Montjuïc Cemetery, in Barcelona, bear the signatures of the same sculptors.

Recognized Cuban architect Daniel Taboada also referred to this theme in his presentation "Catalonian Architecture in Cuba," delivered at the Casa de las Américas. The lecturer referred particularly to construction elements that Catalonian workers brought with them and that were used in reflecting the nouveau art style, another heir of Catalonian modernism.

Also presented was the book "La saga de los catalanes en Cuba" (The saga of Catalans in Cuba), by Joan María Ferrán. With a foreword by Catalonian architect Isabel Segura, the book contains information spanning from the arrival of that group in Cuba prior to 1780 to the revival of Catalan migration at the beginning of the 20th century.

In addition to deepening the understanding of the participation of Catalans in Cuban industrial, commercial and agricultural development, Ferrán documents the regional publications and associations that were created during that period. These efforts contributed to the development of the community from a cultural and intellectual point of view, and helped to provide the historical record of one of the groups from which the Cuban nationality was forged.

In accordance with the information provided by Ferrán, less than a hundred native-born Catalans live in Cuba today, with an average age of more than 75. However, 19th century Cuba was - for very diverse reasons - the "golden age" of Catalan emigration.

This same researcher asserts that between 1780 and 1830 some 50,000 people emigrated from that region to Cuba, with many others coming to the island at the beginning of the 20th century in search of fortune or to evade military service and the war.

The Catalans came late, but they took very good advantage of their arrival. Around 1830, "Catalan emigration to Cuba began to convert into an economic, social and even political force of clear importance in national life," contends writer and journalist Leonardo Padura in his article "La aventura americana" (The American adventure), originally published in the Cuban newspaper "Juventud Rebelde."

"All economic strata seemed interested in those Spaniards who, from trade with the colony, provided the lungs for the air needed for Catalonia to make the leap to industrialization; at the same time they revived the mercantile life of the island," noted the journalist.

In this way, Catalans practically directed trade from Cuba around 1850. Not only did they hand down into history famous names - such as Partagás (perhaps the best known Catalan connected to the tobacco industry), Facundo Bacardí (the father of Bacardí rum, whose legend endures even today), and Martí Torrens (whose fortune had a great deal to do with the profitable African slave trade) - but they also left us the legacy of today's García Lorca Theater.

There were also Catalans recognized for their connection with other important areas of life - individuals like Mariano Cubí Soler, founder of the "Revista Bimestre de Cuba" magazine; and teacher Juan Olivella Salas, co-founder along with Cubí of the Buenavista school.

According to the article by Padura, "The economic surge of this emigration allowed them, by 1840, to even found what would become the first association of catalans in Cuba: La Sociedad de Beneficencia de Naturales de Cataluña. Its presidency would be passed along to the most noted individuals of this nationality, and the association would physically construct new institutions - first a hospital, where one could die in peace, and later a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Moreneta, where one could cry from their nostalgia."

In fact, authorization to create La Sociedad de Beneficencia de Naturales was not granted until April 10, 1841. Its first or general meeting was held on August 1 that same year at #2 Lamparilla Street, almost at the corner of Mercaderes Street.

Catalans also settled in Santiago de Cuba, where they created social organizations such as that city's affiliate to the Sociedad de Beneficencia de Naturales de Cataluña, the Association of Catalonian Youth and its choir.

A good part of those Catalans who emigrated -the most successful- returned back home with their fortunes and contributed to the development of their native country. In this process, "throughout the 19th century, Cuba was becoming filled with Catalonian traces and Catalonia was becoming transformed by Cuban money and customs."

Perhaps among the saddest memories retained by Cubans of Catalans is that of the figure José Gener y Batet. This wealthy coffee plantation owner, as the head of the court organized by the colonial administration, was one of those responsible for the execution of the eight Cuban medical students in 1871.

Notwithstanding, there were also others who fought for the independence of the island. Among them was José Miró Argenter, possibly the most recognized of all, who reached the rank of general and was head of the general staff under Antonio Maceo.

The head and tail of the same coin - the need to emigrate in search of a better life - the presence of Catalans was unavoidably felt in Cuban society and culture, an influence that lasts as one of the diverse components of that thick and rich "ajiaco" (stew) that forms its nationality.

Barcelona village held the first referendum on independence of Catalonia

2009-09-13T14:36:00.001-07:00

The referendum asked villagers whether Catalonia, one of the most
ancients nations within Spain, should become an independent democratic
state within the European Union. Arenys de Munt, a Catalonian village
of 8,000 people in the region of Barcelona, held on Sunday a
referendum on the independence of Catalonia.

The referendum was proposed by a local movement and supported by a
Town Hall vote. It asked villagers whether Catalonia should become an
independent democratic state within the European Union. A Barcelona
court accepted an appeal lodged by Spanish Government lawyers, who
argued that the referendum violates the law which rules local Town
Halls and says that only the stage can stage referendums.

Arenys de Munt mayor claims that the referendum is legal as it was
organized by a local movement and not by the Town Hall. Far-right
group 'Falange Española' announced a demonstration in the village on
the same day as the vote but the mayor has assured it would be held in
a different place.

Finally, the self-determination referendum was held, pacefully, on 12
sept 2009. With a 41% of participation, the referendum was the first
oportunity for the catalan citizens to decide abouth his political
future. The winner: the independentist movement (96%
voted 'Yes'). Overwhelming Catalan victory in Arenys de Munt, 60 towns
decided to call other independence consultations in the next months.

By the other hand, thousands of supporters of independence marched
Friday through Barcelona to push for the creation of their own state,
few days ago (11 sept 2009). The protestors marched through the
streets of the capital of Catalonia behind a large black and red
banner that read in the Catalan language: "We are a Nation, We want an
own state."

Among those taking part in the demonstration, timed to coincide with
the Catalonian National Day, was the president of European football
champions FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta. In 2006 Catalonia approved in a
referendum an autonomy statute to give itself even greater powers but
its validity has been contested by the opposition Popular Party with a
ruling from Spain's constitutional court expected alter this year.

Language secessionism not willing to stop

2009-09-09T16:58:00.001-07:00

Time and again the unity of the Catalan language has been attacked and threatened by the spanish nationalism, but luckily enough both Spanish and Valencian tribunals have showed the evident: Catalan and Valencian are different varieties of the same language. The attempts to promote language secessionism are normally leaded by 'blaverists', spanish nationalist people. However, politicians from the two main spanish nationalist parties,PSOE and specially from PP, also are commonly involved in it.

This time, the Valencian High Court of Justice has ratified the validity of the Catalan Philology degree to accredit the knowlege of Valencian in civil service examinations, saying that there is no reason to consider the Catalan Philology degree invalid and condemns the Valencian Government to pay for all court costs of the process.

This is the fiveteenth sentence in the same direction but the PP Government doesn't seem to care about. But neither does PSOE. Both parties have agreed to hire Catalan and Valencian translators for a debate in the Senate, not much of a surprise when the official site of the Senate already distinguishes the to varieties of Catalan as if they were different languanges.

In fact, the official language academy of the Valencian Community (the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua) considers Catalan and Valencian simply to be two names for the same language. All universities teaching Romance languages, and virtually all linguists, consider these two to be linguistic variants of the same language (similar to Canadian French versus Metropolitan French, and European versus Brazilian Portuguese).

There is a roughly continuous set of dialects covering the various regional forms of Catalan/Valencian, with no break at the border between Catalonia and the Valencian Community,[citation needed] and the various forms of Catalan and Valencian are mutually intelligible even between the most eastern and western varieties.[citation needed] This is not to say that there are no differences between the two and the speech of Valencians is recognizable both in pronunciation as well as in morphological and lexical peculiarities. However, these differences are not any wider than among North-Western Catalan and Eastern Catalan. In fact, Northern Valencian (spoken in the Castelló province and Matarranya valley, a strip of Aragon) is more similar to the Catalan of the lower Ebro basin (spoken in southern half of Tarragona province and another strip of Aragon) than to apitxat Valencian (spoken in the area of L'Horta, in the province of Valencia).

What gets called a language (as opposed to a dialect) is defined partly by mutual comprehensibility as well as political and cultural factors. In this case, the perceived status of Valencian as a dialect of Catalan has historically had important political implications including Catalan nationalism and the idea of the Països Catalans or Catalan countries. Arguing that Valencian is a separate language may sometimes be part of an effort by Valencians to resist a perceived Catalan nationalist agenda aimed at incorporating Valencians into what they feel is a "constructed" nationality centered around Barcelona.[citation needed] As such, the issue of whether Catalan and Valencian constitute different languages or merely dialects has been the subject of political agitation several times since the end of the Franco era.[citation needed]

The latest main political controversy regarding Valencian occurred on the occasion of the drafting of the European Constitution in 2004. The Spanish government supplied the EU with translations of the text into Basque, Galician, Catalan, and Valencian, but the Catalan and Valencian versions were identical [10]. While professing the unity of the Catalan language, the Spanish government claimed to be constitutionally bound to produce distinct Catalan and Valencian versions because the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community refers to the language as Valencian. In practice, the Catalan, Valencian, and Balearic versions of the EU constitution are identical: the government of Catalonia accepted the Valencian translation without any changes under the premise that the Valencian standard is accepted by the norms set forth by the IEC.

Source: Catalonia Blog + Wikipedia

Self-determination in Catalonia

2009-09-09T00:47:00.001-07:00

09/09/09

Few days ago, the Catalan Government approved a draft bill that will allow Catalans to celebrate referendums on issues of special transcendence within the Catalan and local ambit. It is, as Minister Jordi Ausàs said, a law that goes as far as the Spanish Constitution permits, and represents a significant step to foment direct participation on public issues and to improve democracy in Catalonia.

These referendums, however, will have two main drawbacks. First, the Spanish government will ultimately have to give the go-ahead to celebrate any referendum and, second, the results of these referendums will be non-binding. These are certainly not minor details but again we must remember that this law will be built under the Spanish Constitution, and nobody is so naive to think Spain will never allow Catalans to celebrate binding referendums on everything we want without its authorization.

But at the same time, everybody is able to see the symbolic power that these referendums will have, and that despite its consultative and advisory character, they represent the first step towards the day in which the Catalan people will celebrate a referendum to decide its own future.

However, these days (september 09), a social entity in Arenys de Munt, a city near Barcelona, is organizing a non-binding referendum on the independence of Catalonia for the next 13th of September. The city council decided to support the referendum last June, basically by facilitating some public buildings to install the ballot boxes. One can expect the typical pro-Spanish groups (i.e. "Falange Española de las JONS", a fascist party born during Franco's dictatorship that the Spanish tribunals have never bothered to illegalize) to start a campaign against its celebration, but so far, nothing out of what should be ordinary democracy and freedom: a group of citizens plans to consult their co-citizens their opinion on a certain matter while those who still think Franco is alive make as much noise as possible to stop it.

So What? Well, unfortunately, Catalonia are still in Spain, a country that has a low level understanding of democracy. Not only the Spanish State have authorised a march of "La Falange" through the streets of Arenys the same day of the referendum, but the Spanish courts have banned the support of the city council on the referendum, and no one knows what else they might do in the coming days to stop the celebration of the referendum.

Luckily for everybody, this display of fear at the sight of regular act of democracy is yet another prove of how Spain is incapable of facing a reality it has always denied: Catalonia is a nation that will, eventually, exercise the first and basic step towards justice and freedom that consists on deciding with whom you want to share a democratic system. This decision lies at the foundations of every single democratic system, and I'm sure it will represent the theoretical core of the next processes of creation of new states in democratic areas such as Europe.

Source: http://www.cataloniablog.com/

The origins of Catalan national identity

2009-09-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

During the first centuries of the Reconquista, the Franks drove the
Muslims south of the Pyrenees. To prevent future incursions, Holy
Roman Emperor Charlemagne created the Marca Hispanica in 790 CE, which
consisted of a series of petty kingdoms serving as buffer states
between the Frankish kingdom and Al-Andalus.

Between 878 and 988 CE, the area became a hotbed of Frankish-Muslim
conflict. However, as the Frankish monarchy and the Caliphate of
Córdoba weakened during the 11th century, the resulting impasse
allowed for a process of consolidation throughout the region's many
earldoms, resulting in their combination into the County of Barcelona,
which became the embryo of today's Catalonia. By 1070, Ramon Berenguer
I, Count of Barcelona, had subordinated other Catalan Counts and
intransigent nobles as vassals. His action brought peace to a
turbulent feudal system and sowed the seeds of Catalan identity.

According to several scholars, the term "Catalan" and "Catalonia"
emerged near the end of the 11th century and appeared in the Usatges
of 1150. Two factors fostered this identity: stable institutions and
cultural prosperity. While the temporary lack of foreign invasions
contributed to Catalonia's stability, it was not a main cause. Rather,
it provided a site for sociopolitical development. For example, after
the County of Barcelona merged with the Kingdom of Aragón, to create
the Crown of Aragon in 1137 through a dynastic union, the system was
designed to mutually check both the king's and nobility's powers,
while the small but growing numbers of free citizens and bourgeoisie
would tactically take sides with the king in order to diminish
typically feudal institutions.

By 1150, the king approved a series of pacts, called the Usatges,
which "explicitly acknowledged legal equality between burghers…and
nobility" (Woolard 17). In addition, the Catalan-Aragonese gentry
established the Corts, a representative body, comprised of nobles,
bishops and abbots that counterbalanced the King's authority. By the
end of the 13th century, "the monarch needed the consent of the Corts
to approve laws or collect revenue" (McRoberts 10). Soon after, the
Corts elected a standing body called the Diputació del General or the
Generalitat, which included the rising high bourgeoisie. The first
Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Corts of Barcelona in
1283, following the Roman tradition of the Codex.

In the 13th century, King James I of Aragon conquered Valencia and the
Balearic Islands. Subsequent conquests expanded into the
Mediterranean, reaching Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Naples and Greece,
so by 1350 the Crown of Aragon "presided over the one of the most
extensive and powerful mercantile empires of the Mediterranean during
this period" (Woolard 16). Catalonia's economic success formed a
powerful merchant class, which wielded the Corts as its political
weapon. It also produced a smaller middle class, or menestralia, that
was "composed of artisans, shopkeepers and workshop owners" (McRoberts
11).

Over the 13th and 14th centuries, these merchants accrued so much
wealth and political sway that placed a significant check on the
Aragonese crown. By the 15th century the Aragonese monarch "was not
considered legitimate until he had sworn to respect the basic law of
the land in the presence of the Corts" (Balcells 9). This balance of
power is a classic example of pactisme, or contractualism, which seems
to be a defining feature of the Catalan political culture.

Along with political and economic success, Catalan culture flourished
in the 13th and 14th centuries. During this period, the Catalan
vernacular gradually replaced Latin as the language of culture and
government. Scholars rewrote everything from ancient Visigothic law to
religious sermons in Catalan (Woolard 14). Wealthy citizens bolstered
Catalan's literary appeal through poetry contests and history pageants
dubbed the Jocs Florals, or "Floral Games." As the kingdom expanded
southeast into Valencia and the Mediterranean, Catalan followed.

The medieval heyday of Catalan culture would not last, however. After
a bout of famine and plague hit Catalonia in the mid-14th century, the
population dropped from 50,000 to 20,000 (McRoberts 13). This
exacerbated feudal tensions, sparking serf revolts in rural areas and
political impasses in Barcelona. Financial issues and the burden of
multiple dependencies abroad further strained the region.

In 1410, the Aragonese king died without leaving an heir to the
throne. Finding no legitimate alternative, leaders of the realms
composing the Crown of Aragon agreed by means of the Compromise of
Caspe that the vacant throne should go to the Castilian Ferdinand I,
as he was among the nearest relatives of the recently extinguished
House of Barcelona through a maternal line. The new dynasty began to
assert the authority of the Crown, leading to a perception among the
nobility that their traditional privileges associated with their
position in society where at risk. From 1458 to 1479, civil wars
between King John II and local chieftains engulfed Catalonia.

During the conflict, John II, on the face of French aggression in the
Pyrenees[10] "had his heir Ferdinand married to Isabella of Castile,
the heiress to the Castilian throne, in a bid to find outside allies"
(Balcells 11). Their dynastic union, which came to be known as the
Catholic Monarchs, marked the de facto unification of the Kingdom of
Spain. At that point, however, de jure both the Castile and the Crown
of Aragon remained distinct territories, each keeping its own
traditional institutions, Parliaments and laws. This was a common
practice at this time in Western Europe as the concept of sovereignty
laid in the monarch.

With the dawn of the Age of Discoveries, led by the Crown of Castile,
the importance of the Aragonese possessions in the Mediterranean
became drastically reduced and, along the rise of barbary pirates
predating commerce in the Mediterranean, the theater of European power
shifted from the Mediterranean basin to the Atlantic Ocean. These
political and economic restrictions impacted all segments of society.
Also, because of the locally bred social conflicts, Catalonia
squandered in one century most of what it had gained in political
rights between 1070 and 1410.

Nevertheless, early political, economic and cultural advances gave
Catalonia "a mode of organization and an awareness of its own identity
which might in some ways be described as national, though the idea of
popular or national sovereignty did not yet exist" (Balcells 9). Other
scholars like Kenneth McRoberts and Katheryn Woolard hold similar
views. Both support Pierre Vilar, who contends that in 13th and 14th
centuries "the Catalan principality was perhaps the European country
to which it would be the least inexact or risky to use such seemingly
anachronistic terms as political and economic imperialism or
'nation-state'" (McRoberts 13). In other words, an array of political
and cultural forces laid the foundations of Catalan "national"
identity.

Llobera agrees with this opinion, saying, "By the mid-thirteenth
century, the first solid manifestations of national consciousness can
be observed." Indeed, 13th and 14th century Catalonia did exhibit
features of a nation-state. The role of Catalan Counts, the Corts,
Mediterranean rule and economic prosperity support this thesis. But as
Vilar points out, these analogies are only true if we acknowledge that
a 14th century nation-state is anachronistic. In other words, those
living in Catalonia before latter day nationalism possessed something
like a collective identity on which this was to be based, but this
does not automatically equate to the modern concept of nation, neither
in Catalonia nor elsewhere in similar circumstances during the Middle
Age.

The Corts and the rest of the autochthonous legal and politic
organization was finally terminated in 1716 as a result of the Spanish
War of Succession. The local population mostly took side and provided
troops and resources for Archduke Charles, the pretender who was
arguably to maintain the legal status quo. His utter defeat meant the
legal and politic termination of the autonomous parliaments in the
Crown of Aragon, as the Nueva Planta Decrees were passed and the King
Philip V of Spain of the new House of Bourbon sealed the
transformation of Spain from a de facto unified realm into a de jure
centralized state.

Effects of Catalan fiscal deficit

2009-09-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

Macroeconomic effects of Catalan fiscal deficit with the Spanish State (2002–2010)

by Jordi Pons-i-Novell and Ramon Tremosa-i-Balcells

Centre d'Anàlisi Econòmica i de les Polítiques Socials,
Facultat de Ciències Econòmiques,

Universitat de Barcelona (UB)

In recent years Catalonia has ceased to be the most dynamic Autonomous Community (AC) in the Spanish state. Catalan economy, which was traditionally considered the 'factory of Spain' in the 19th and 20th centuries, shows that at the beginning of the new century tourism and construction has replaced industry and services in Catalan productive structure. Thus, in 2000 Navarra was the first Spanish AC considering the percentage of employment engaged in the highest value-added manufacturing sectors. At the same time Madrid was the first Spanish AC, when considering the percentage of employment occupied in intensive knowledge services (Eurostat, 2002). This fact can be attributed mainly, among other reasons, to globalization impact on the Catalan economy (Vives, 2002) and to the actual political structure of the Spanish state: the limited autonomy of Catalan government can not hold up the continual fiscal deficit with the Spanish state and implies the non-existence of a real regulating Catalan power over economic activity.

Considering the first reason mentioned above, it is important to notice that the EU enlargement process implies that Catalan industry is beginning to lose some of its most labour-intensive manufacturing sectors. It has been estimated that half of Catalan manufacturing sectors will be seriously affected by the removal of multinational investment and production to EU candidate countries and other emerging countries (Gual, 2002). On the other hand, the non-existence of a real regulating Catalan autonomous power implies that regulated activity sectors move from Catalonia to Madrid. For example, to be near the real and effective policy-maker, the Catalan pharmaceutical industry is relocating to Madrid, where financial services and multinational central offices have been concentrating in recent years.

However, EU enlargement is not necessarily bad for the Catalan economy. For example, some multinational investment which since 1986 have been choosing Catalonia, will relocate to the emerging countries; in this instance Catalan integration in the EU has been extremely positive for Catalan industry. Thus, as a supplier of large industrial multinationals, there have appeared in Catalonia thousands of small and medium size Catalan manufacturing enterprises. And even some of these, having increased their size, have become Catalan industrial multinationals which invest abroad (Fontrodona and Hernández, 2001). In this way, 1999 was the first year in which Catalan industrial investment abroad was larger than foreign industrial investment in Catalonia (Molina, 2002). Thus, the European economic and monetary integration process would have specially benefited Catalan economy: from 1993 the convergence in interest rate (which remained at 15% during the period 1988–1993) and the peseta's depreciation (which was artificially appreciated in that period) would principally have benefited industrial and exporter Spanish regions as Catalonia. This benign monetary policy executed in Spain since 1994 would have had a significant unequal territorial effect (Tremosa and Pons, 2001), which at the same time would have been the main reason for the spectacular growth of Catalan exports between 1994 and 19981 (Costa and Tremosa, 2003).

On the other hand, and in spite of Catalan autonomy, the centralism of the Spanish state negatively affects the Catalan economy. Fiscal policy is still concentrated in European States, and Catalonia is a 'richer region' of a 'poor country'. With a GDP per capita of 99% of EU GDP per capita average in 2000, similar regions in France are net receiver regions of EU funds and French State funds, while Catalonia is a net taxpayer in the EU and in the Spanish state. Thus, there are interterritorial redistribution policies of the Spanish state that affects specially Catalan economy, which has been continuously its main AC contributor. In this way, there is a significant academic consensus in Spain, considering that fiscal imbalance of Catalonia with the Spanish state has supposed a systematic outlay of wealth estimated between 7–9% of Catalan GDP in recent years (Castells et al., 2000). Spanish public investment in Catalonia has been, in the last 50 years, lower than the Spanish average (Castells, 2002).

Table 1. Catalan fiscal deficit with the Spanish state–fiscal
deficit in current million euros

Year % GDP Deficit

1986 7.5 2722.6
1987 8.0 3269.5
1988 7.3 3359.6
1989 8.9 4687.9
1990 8.8 5180.7
1991 8.9 5745.7
1992 7.5 5198.8
1993 4.5 3185.4
1994 6.0 4627.8
1995 5.6 4693.9
1996 6.3 5607.4
1997 8.1 7723.0
1998 7.8 7969.4

Sources: 1986–1994, Colldeforns and Martínez (1999);
1995–1998, López and Martínez (2000).

Year % GDP Deficit

1995 0.9 700.6
1996 2.2 1871.2
1997 4.9 4390.0
1998 5.4 5194.0
1999 7.7 8032.9
2000 8.8 10 035.4
2001 8.9 10 746.4

Source: Alcaide and Alcaide (2002).
Note: Catalan GDP data is not exactly the same as provided
by IDESCAT.

Table 2. Regional GDP per capita in the EU and candidate
countries in PPS (Purchasing Power Standard)–EU-15
average^100

1996 2000

Madrid 101 110
Navarra 98 105
Basque country 92 101
Catalonia 99 99

Source: Eurostat (1999, 2003).

The development of modern Catalanism

2009-09-03T16:52:00.001-07:00

The 'Renaixença' (Renaissance) was a cultural, historical and literary movement that pursued in the wake of European Romanticism the recovery of the own language and literature. As time went by, and particularly immediately after the fiasco of the Revolution of 1868 (led by the Catalan general Juan Prim), the movement acquired a clear political character, directed to the attainment of self-government for Catalonia within the framework of the Spanish liberal state.

Like most Romantic currents, the Renaixença gave historical analysis a central role. History, in fact, was an integral part of Catalonia's "rebirth." Texts on Catalonia's history—inspired by the Romantic philosophy of history—laid the foundations of a Catalanist movement. Works like Valentí Almirall's Lo Catalanisme, Victor Balaguer's Historia de Cataluña y de la Corona de Aragón and Prat de la Riba's La nacionalitat catalana used history as evidence for Catalonia's nationhood. According to Elie Kedourie, such claims were common in 19th century nationalist discourse because "the 'past' is used to explain the 'present,' to give it meaning and legitimacy. The 'past' reveals one's identity, and history determines one's role in the drama of human development and progress" (36). Publications of histories thus "explained" why the Catalans constituted a nation instead of a Spanish region or coastal province.

At the heart of many of works of the Renaixença lay a powerful idea: the Volk. Indeed, the concept of Volk (pl. Völker) played a vital role in mainstream Catalan Romantic nationalism. It has its origins in the writings of German Romantics like Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and, most notably, Johann Gottfried Herder. Herder was one of the first intellectuals to reject Enlightenment thought by proposing an alternative philosophy of history. An integral part of his thought was particularlism—that is—the belief that a person "cannot define himself except in terms of a particular religion, a specific language, a communal pattern of feeling" (xix). Any group sharing these cultural particularities constituted a Volk. Beyond this, argued Herder, each Volk has a spirit (geist), one that could not mix with others because it was unnatural and unauthentic. In his introduction to Herderian thought, Frank. E. Manuel describes the Volk as follows: "[w]hen Herder analyzed the creation of a genius he considered it as an expression of the Volk spirit [Volksgeist]: a man could not think freely in all possible forms and languages—he was born to one only. If a man tried to assimilate what was not his natural Volk spirit, he would never be able to give utterance to a harmonious song, for its bastard quality would obtrude", (xx).

Put another way, Herder viewed every Volk as an organism manifested in a "national character," which was determined by its physical surroundings, historical environment and ordained by God. This last point is crucial in understanding the Volk as an organism. Like many Christians, Herder believed that each individual had a soul, that is, a divine essence. But Herder took this idea a step further by applying it to Völker. To him, each Volk had a "soul—an individuality or personality of its own—and suggested that this was expressed through what might be called culture" (Penrose and May 170). Clearly, this line of thought would appeal to an oppressed people with a strong collective consciousness. What made it more potent was its resonance amongst nationalist groups in regions that held autonomy in the Middle Ages, such as the diverse peoples living in the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires. The Herderian or Romantic stress on group particularity, historical analysis and the incompatibility of different Völker did not bode well for large multi-ethnic states. The idea that a particular Volk cannot "mix" with another undergirded many of the philosophies that developed into full-fledged nationalist movements. Catalonia was no exception.

The concept of Volk entered Catalan intellectual circles in the 1830s, stemming from the emphasis on the region's medieval history and philology. It first appeared in the writings of Joan Cortada, Marti d'Eixalà and his discipline, Francesc-Xavier Llorens i Barba, intellectuals who reinvigorated the literature on the Catalan national character. Inspired by the ideas of Herder, Savigny and the entire Scottish School of Common Sense, they asked why the Catalans were different from other Spaniards—especially the Castilians (Conversi 1997: 15) For example, Cortada wanted to determine why, despite its poor natural environment, Catalonia was so much more successful than other parts of Spain. In a series of generalizations, he concluded that the "Catalans have succeeded in developing a strong sense of resolution and constancy over the centuries. Another feature of their character was the fact that they were hardworking people" (Llobera 1983: 342). D'Eixalà and Llorens held a similar understanding of the Catalan national character. They held that that two characteristics particular to Catalans were common sense (seny) and industriousness. To them, "the traditional Catalan seny was a manifestation of the Volksgeist," one which made Catalans essentially different from Castilians (Llobera 2004: 75).

The early works on the Catalan Volk would remain on paper long before they entered politics. This is because the Catalan bourgeoisie had not yet abandoned the hope of spearheading the Spanish state (Conversi 1997: 14). Indeed, in the 1830s, the Renaixença was still embryonic and the industrial class still thought that it could at least control the Spanish economy. Notions of Catalonia's uniqueness mattered little to a group that believed it could integrate and lead the entire country. But this all changed around 1880. After decades of discrimination from Spanish elites, Catalan industrialists buried their dream of leading Spain. As Vilar observes: "It is only because, in its acquisition of the Spanish market, the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie did not succeed either in securing the state apparatus or identifying its interests with those of the whole of Spain, in influential opinion, that Catalonia, this little "fatherland," finally became the 'national' focal point", (1980: 551)

This switch of allegiance was particularly easy because the idea of a Catalan nation had already matured into a corpus of texts about the region's "uniqueness" and Volksgeist. Inspired by these works of Romantic nationalism, the Catalan economic elite became conscious of "the growing dissimilitude between the Catalonia's social structure and that of the rest of the nation" (Vilar 1963: 101). Consequently, Romantic nationalism (and the Volk) expanded beyond its philosophical bounds into the political arena.

In the last third of the 19th century, Catalanism was formulating its own doctrinal foundations, not only among the progressive ranks but also in the conservative, and at the same time it started to establish the first political programmes (e.g. Bases de Manresa, 1892), and to generate a wide cultural and association movement of a clearly vindicatory character.

In 1898, Spain lost its last colonial possessions in Cuba and the Philippines, a fact that not only involved an important crisis of confidence, but also gave an impulse to political Catalanism. The first modern political party in Catalonia and Spain was the Lliga Regionalista. Founded in 1901, it formed a coalition in 1907 with other Catalanist forces (from Carlism to Federalists), grouped in the so-called Solidaritat Catalana, and won the elections with the regionalist programme that Enric Prat de la Riba had formulated in his manifesto La nacionalitat catalana (1906).

Barça, the reflection of political abnormality

2009-09-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

by Victor Alexandre

Catalonia is the land of repeated questions. Our inability to solve our problems over the course of centuries has caused us to continuously debate questions that normalized communities have long overcome. We ask ourselves, day after day, about our identity, our language, our rights, our symbols... This alone, the simple need to break free from this vicious circle, could already justify the reclaiming of our political independence. Barça, of course, is not beyond this issue; rather, as the years go by, the debate about its extra (more than just athletic) dimension has not changed. And it doesn’t matter that Barça has been shown to be more than a simple club, with evidence expounded by different thinkers in articles, books, or doctoral theses. It doesn’t matter because our collective immaturity leads us to endlessly ruminate on the same themes, so that we seem to be reflecting when in reality we are only buying time so that we can avoid making any decisions.

And so, let’s say it again: Barça is more than just a football club because it represents a nation without a state, a people who lack legal recognition and an international presence. This is how it was during Franco’s reign and this is how it continues in the supposed Spanish State of autonomies. It is logical, then, that Barça continues to be vessel into which we channel all of our frustrations. Their victories are our victories, and their defeats our defeats. This explains why a million people took to the streets to thank the team for attaining the League of Champions, but it also demonstrates our extreme degree of infantilization; we don’t realize that this joyous outburst is caused by the very same element that we experienced under Franco: Catalonian subordination to Spain.

More than a clubIt’s true that there has been a “re-Catalanization” of Barça since the arrival of president Joan Laporta. Without him, Joel Joan would never have been able to cry out “Long live free Catalonia!” from the center of the stadium, nor would there have been a Correllengua such as the one held last year. But Catalonians have failed to move on to adult subjects, and this same lack of maturity and social recognition, as paradoxical as it seems, has helped construct the base of Barça’s extra-dimensional relevance. That is to say, the greatness of the club, and the importance that we attribute to it, are inseparable from our political abnormality. Barça is more than a club because we are less than a nation. If we could realize that independence is not a privilege but a right, and that we don’t need to ask, but to exercise, we would also realize that the team’s victories are a poisoned apple that distances us from our national responsibilities. And it is these—not a sports club—that we must rally to internationally display the Catalan nation.

Until this happens, Barça will be submissive to all kinds of pressure. Remember, for example, the presence of the King of Spain and of Spanish prime minister Rodriguez Zapatero sitting in the box of the stadium in Saint-Denis in Paris, as the president of Catalonia—who had not even been invited—was left behind; or the suppression of the players’ speeches on the day of the celebration in Camp Nou. It goes without saying that it wasn’t the game that really interested the King of Spain or Zapatero, but the message that their presence sent to the world: that Barça is a Spanish club and that their triumphs and trophies are Spanish as well. As for the celebratory speeches, the company in charge of sound has explained that there were five microphones available and their equipment was in perfect condition. This claim, naturally, shed clear light on the political pressures—internal and external—that the club received to avoid the danger that someone might say “no” to the fraud of the Statute or make some reference, direct or indirect, to the Catalan Contries. All of this leads us to note that the “re-Catalanization” of FC Barcelona, as vibrant as it seems, can hardly turn the club something that it isn’t: an authentic national selection.

Unity in diversity

2009-09-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

Gennadi Kneper, Ina Mettjes, & Lisa Muench

(...)The fundamental principle of the European Union is unity in
diversity. This slogan implies that a European citizen considers
himself to be just as Spanish, German, English or Polish as he
considers himself to be European. The idea that one person holds two
identities also exists on a national level. The possession of two
identities is a common characteristic of all nations especially those
with a federal structure like the United States or Germany. A Texan
has a totally different mentality than a New Yorker, but both of them
have the American flag flying in their front yard. This double
identity exists in the United States just as it does in Germany. A
woman that was born in Bavaria calls herself Bavarian in other parts
of the country but when going abroad she refers to herself as German.
She doesn't deny either identity – the Bavarian or the German.

"Each community with a common identity is an 'imagined community'. It
only exists because a certain number of people create this community
as part of their reality. This means that Catalonia would no longer
exist once the people stop identifying themselves with Catalonia",
states Michael Weigl, PhD, political scientist at the
Ludwigs-Maximilian-Universtität in Munich. "Movements longing for
independence always signal the existence of two different and crashing
constructions of identity". Applied to the case of Catalonia, this
would indicate that the Catalan people only consider themselves as
Catalans and not as part of an imagined community called Spain. They
do not have the feeling of being Catalan and Spanish at the same time.

Why do so many Catalans fail to reconcile those two identities? The
repeated loss of autonomy and the wounds of suppression during
Franco's rule are immense. No more than thirty years have passed since
Catalan was permitted as an official language. The heavy footprint of
the Franco regime remains upon many of the older generations, leaving
traces of fear and animosity toward the Spanish state. For those with
this experience, there is the distinct impression that not enough was
done to counter the crimes committed during the dictatorship. This
perspective is not aided by the fact that many of those who were
involved in the crimes of the Franco regime remain active in today's
politics. The Catalans still consider their identity to be endangered.
It will be impossible for these individuals to accept a Spanish
identity until they feel that their Catalan identity is secure.(...)

The high price to be part of Spain

2009-08-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain
By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

Unlike many nations in Europe that have flourished due to the creation of a nation-state, Catalonia exists despite a unitary and centralist Spanish state that has repeatedly tried to eliminate it as a separate cultural entity. In this context, the mainstream Catalan nationalist movement - in particular, since the end of Franco's dictatorship's attempt at linguistic genocide - has traditionally focused on cultural and linguistic promotion. At the same time, it has allowed a damaging fiscal relationship with Spain to develop that might have led to a civil uproar in other countries. Years of permanent centralism have atrophied the perception of reality of many Catalans, making them accept this administrative relationship as perfectly normal even when it goes against their interests. Today, culturally-focused policies are insufficient.

Catalan politicians need to ensure the continuity of the culture and language, but they also need to inform Catalans openly that they are paying a high price to be part of a unitary Spanish state. They have to make all Catalan citizens aware of the fact that, in the name of a questionable solidarity, the current fiscal imbalance results in serious public under-investment that will hurt their economy. And, more importantly, they need to tell them that this is a problem that affects all Catalans equally: first-generation and tenth-generation Catalans; Catalan-speakers, Spanish-speakers and Arabic-speakers; employers and employees; men and women; students and retirees. It is urgent that Catalans realize that only with a new administrative structure can Catalonia be competitive in the international markets and guarantee better public services, modernization of its infrastructure, social cohesion and economic growth. Among all possible options, it is independence that makes more sense economically, particularly in the context of globalization and the European Union.

Why? First, secession would guarantee that the existing unfair fiscal imbalance would be eliminated. Second, an independent Catalonia would result in a smaller more efficient public administration. Third, a Catalan state would still have access to international markets in a free-trade world. Finally, full independence would mean a direct voice in the international forums that so much influence their lives.

No referendum on the question of independence will be a fully rational exercise. Independence from Spain is not simply a matter of economics or administrative rationality. Identity issues, in Catalonia and elsewhere, are highly complex. Some might want to be part of Spain even with an unfair fiscal treatment; others might want independence even if the cost is high. However, this does not negate the fact that economically, independence would not only be viable, but also significantly advantageous. Catalans might want to vote from their pockets rather than from their hearts.

Catalonia and the European Union

2009-08-31T16:31:00.001-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain
By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

The process of European integration, supposedly based on the principle of subsidiarity, has long been at the center of the European stateless nations' ambitions to increase their degree of political autonomy. It is argued that talking about secession in the context of European integration is senseless because this process should lead to the disappearance of current borders and nation-states as we know them today. It is claimed that Europe will naturally become a loose confederation of independent regions.

These expectations are, however, proving unrealistic. Indeed, the principle of subsidiarity creates a perception problem: While for the majority of E.U. states (with the notable exception of Germany) it applies only to the relationship between the European Union and its member states, for these stateless nations it also fully applies to their administrative relationship with their respective states. Thus, in Catalonia the process of European integration has raised expectations of higher levels of political power that are not being matched by reality. In fact, expressions such as "Europe of the regions," so often heard in Barcelona, are rarely used in Madrid. Because for virtually all state governments, the E.U. project is to be built on the existing nation-states and the transfer of political power to the regions should never undermine the pivotal role of these central governments. The development of the current European Convention, which is drafting an E.U. Constitution, appears to confirm such position. Plus ça change ...

Even though the E.U. nation-states are not willing to give more power to their regions in the name of the principle of subsidiarity, the process of elevating state responsibilities to the European supranational level is clearly undermining their own raison d'être. The Spanish state has given up its sovereignty in key areas such as trade policy, antitrust regulation, environmental legislation and - through the European Monetary Union - monetary policy. Today, the number of functions that it undertakes for Catalan citizens has significantly diminished. In this context, it is legitimate for Catalans to ask themselves whether the remaining attributes of the Spanish central government (e.g. fiscal policy) could not be better managed by the Catalan government, one closer to them, with greater knowledge of their needs. The evidence shown above in relation to the fiscal imbalance seems to indicate that Catalonia would be better off if it could undertake those directly itself.

The process of European integration also provides a significant argument for the independence of Catalonia, Flanders or Scotland: administrative efficiency. The maintenance of the state's intermediary role between the European and local powers results in higher transaction costs that hamper economic development. Particularly in federal or semi-federal states like Spain or Belgium, keeping a central state that has less and less to offer to its citizens is becoming more expensive to maintain and very complex to manage. Thus, secession appears as an economically desirable option because it would result in lower costs and complexity that would reduce the burden carried by the Catalan economy.

We have seen how the European Union is calling into question the existence of old centralized European states such as Spain. In this context, becoming a small less bureaucratic state within the European Union would result in increased economic efficiency. It would also be the best way for Catalan interests to be represented in the process of European construction - as opposed to being represented by a Spanish government that has repeatedly refrained from defending important Catalan interests (e.g. language official recognition). Finally, the European Union is de facto lowering the potential cost of independence by providing Catalonia with a free trade area, as well as saving the need to incur costs such as creating a new currency.

Stateless nations and globalization

2009-08-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain
By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

It is often heard in Europe that it does not make sense to talk about the secession of stateless nations in the context of globalization. It is claimed that in an era of fading borders and boundaries, it is not the time to build new ones. This type of conventional discourse results in avoiding an open and objective discussion about the possibility of an independent Catalonia, Basque Country, Scotland, Flanders or any other European stateless nation.

As shown by Harvard University professor Alberto Alesina and his colleagues, the reality is rather the opposite: "Trade liberalization and political separatism appear to go hand in hand." The increase in free international trade directly relates to the economic viability of new states. Globalization makes the independence of Catalonia more viable because it guarantees access to international markets. Likewise, it makes secession much more desirable for the health of its economy, as fewer bureaucratic layers would increase Catalan competitiveness in global markets. In a context of international trade restrictions, large countries enjoy economic benefits because political borders determine the size of the market. In this context, small nations such as Catalonia find belonging to a larger state such as Spain to be in their economic interest because it gives them access to a larger market. Thus, from a purely economic point of view, being part of Spain has benefited Catalonia.

In a world of increasingly free trade and global markets, this rationale is no longer valid. Relatively small cultural, linguistic or ethnic groups have the possibility to benefit from creating new political entities that trade in economically integrated wider areas. With its own state, Catalonia could benefit from improved administrative efficiency and still have access to foreign markets in which to sell its products. In other words, free trade is a good substitute for a political union as a way to access bigger markets in the context of globalization.

It is important to highlight here that small countries appear to be among the main beneficiaries of freer trade. That should not surprise us if we look at the small European countries that have traditionally been active traders, like the Northern Italian city-states and the Low Countries. Professor Alesina has suggested that population explains a third of a country's openness to trade (i.e. trade relative to GDP). A study by the World Trade Organization (WTO) of 127 countries (both developed and developing) finds a clear relationship between the size of a country and its openness to trade. While the benefits of being a small country (e.g. easier to manage, greater homogeneity, specialization) remain, the drawbacks are decreasing with free trade and new technologies.

In addition, globalization is also compromising many of the traditional functions of mid-sized countries such as Spain, making them less desirable to their citizens - in particular, to differentiated groups such as the Catalans. On the one hand, these states are not big enough to solve global problems involving issues like international terrorism, international capital movements, regulation of transnational corporations, the HIV/AIDS epidemic or global warming. On the other hand, they are still too large to solve local problems. If Spain is not big enough to tackle global problems and not small enough to properly deal with Catalan specificity, then it should change or disappear. So far, it has shown no willingness to change. As professor Sala-i-Martín puts it: "at the end of the day, states and governments should serve the people and not the other way around."

The viability of an independent Catalonia

2009-08-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain.
By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

Many Catalans do not support secession because they believe that it would not be economically viable. Yet thus far, there are no convincing arguments to support such a statement.

The argument that Catalonia is too small to be an economically sustainable independent state is incorrect. Not only is there no serious economic theory arguing that a country's economic success requires a minimum size, but the evidence suggests a different reality. Looking at the ten countries with the highest GDP per person in the world shows that the Catalan proverb "the good marmalade is in the small pot" is applicable to economics: Eight out of the ten richest countries in the world (measured by GDP per capita) have a population equal or lower to that of Catalonia's six and a half million inhabitants. Another element of the economic inviability speech refers to the availability of natural resources: An independent Catalonia will not be able to prosper because it does not have sufficient natural resources. Again, this logic is flawed.

There is no established correlation between natural resources and economic prosperity: Though there are examples supporting this relationship, such as Norway; there are others refuting it. Oil-rich Venezuela has proved that abundant resources can lead to economic disaster if improperly managed, while a relatively poor country in terms of resources, such as Japan, is one of the richest in the world. The use of natural resources is indispensable for economic development and a country that wants to grow will need to obtain them. The way to do so efficiently is through international trade, not giving up political independence to a larger country.

A central theme in the anti-secessionist economic discourse is based on the fact that Spain is the main market of Catalonia. Thus, seceding from Spain would result in an economic catastrophe because Catalonia would lose its main market. The flaw in this argument is that there is no reason to expect Spanish trade embargoes or a boycott of Catalan products, particularly in the E.U. context. Secondly, Spanish citizens buy Catalan products due to their quality and price and not for some abstract Spanish national solidarity. Therefore, as long as secession does not increase the prices or lower the quality of Catalan products, no loss of market should occur. Finally, this argument overlooks an important reality: It is normal for a country that its main market is a neighboring country, particularly in the case of small countries. The Netherlands and Denmark's largest trading partner is Germany; Belgium's is France; Portugal's largest market is Spain, yet there is no suggestion that Portugal reunite with Spain.

Critics of secession can rightly argue that being part of Spain makes economic sense because it allows Catalonia to share the costs of public goods of the military, diplomatic representations, etc, among forty million people instead of six and a half million. Although this is undeniable, it overlooks two facts. First, the huge regional fiscal imbalance shows that today Catalans are paying for these services twice what they would pay in a separate Catalan state. Second, the cost of some of these public goods (e.g. monetary system, antitrust regulation) is being transferred to the E.U. supranational level (i.e. financed by all E.U. citizens).

In conclusion, there is no objective economic reason to believe that a hypothetical Catalan state should not be viable from an economic perspective. If Slovenia has performed well since seceding from Yugoslavia with its much smaller and less diversified post-communist economy, an independent Catalonia should also be able to do well economically. In the end, the success of a Catalan state will depend on its own government. Independence will be good for Catalans only if the Catalan state would be able to pursue sound macroeconomic policies that foster growth and economic welfare. While it is uncertain how well a Catalan government could manage its economy, we know that the performance of the Spanish government over the last century has been overall poor. Moreover, as independence would mean getting rid of the aforementioned fiscal imbalance with Spain at once, a Catalan state would enjoy significant room to maneuver.

What solidarity?

2009-08-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain

By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

The central argument supporting the past and present fiscal imbalance between Spain and Catalonia is a so-called inter-regional solidarity. There are also other less convincing arguments such as the populist claim that Catalonia has a historical debt to the rest of Spain, or the economically mistaken opinion that such a fiscal imbalance is necessary as a means to finance Catalonia's large trade surplus with the rest of Spain. Let us focus on solidarity. The current inter-regional solidarity system has major structural flaws that have to be recognized.

First and foremost, no solidarity system can compromise the economic health of the 'donor,' as the current one is doing. Second, the current system was designed when disparities between Spanish regions were much higher. Now, after 20 years in the European Union, this has changed significantly. Indeed, in comparing Spain to other E.U. countries we see that the regional differences in Spain are not as abysmal as claimed. Countries such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy have more substantial inter-regional disparities. Third, supporters of the status quo ignore that Catalonia, though rich, has one of the highest rates of intra-regional income disparity in Spain, both territorially and socially.

These disparities are not tackled effectively under the current system. In this respect, it is important to highlight that if Catalonia were an independent state within the European Union, roughly half of its territory would be designated as a preferential area for E.U. structural funds. Catalonia is currently considered as a single unitary entity by the European Union and thus, given its overall level of income, is not eligible for these funds. It is in this predicament that significant parts of Catalonia that require public investment do not receive public aid neither from Madrid nor from Brussels.

Sala-i-Martín has referred to an interesting example that illustrates well the character of the present Spanish solidarity system. In 2000, the GDP per person in Catalonia was 21.9 percent higher than the Spanish average. In comparison, the GDP per person of the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León was 7.6 percent lower than the Spanish average. On the basis of this income differential, one could argue that there is a need for some kind of inter-regional transfer. The surprise comes when we assess the extent of these transfers: Catalonia's Income per capita (after redistributions) was 4.3 percent higher than Spain's average, while Castilla y León's was 9 percent higher. In other words, despite producing over 30 percent more, the redistribution system results in Catalans ending up with a lower income per capita than Castilian-Leonese people.

This supports the argument that the Spanish inter-regional transfer system is neither fair nor economically beneficial, but creates a welfare dependency that harms entrepreneurship and growth in the poorer regions.

The fiscal imbalance between Spain and Catalonia

2009-08-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain

By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

The long history of Spanish centralism has resulted in Catalans, as opposed to other regions of Spain, traditionally valuing private initiative rather than the state in order to develop. This has led to Catalonia being a relatively rich and dynamic region within Spain, a country that is relatively poor by E.U. standards. Catalonia has a strong net of small and medium businesses and many micro-entrepreneurs. Containing about 16 percent of Spain's population, it provides about 20 percent of its GDP and one-third of the total industrial production and exports. The region contributes about 25 percent of Spain's total taxes, but public investment in Catalonia is scarce when related to either population or GDP contribution. The regionalized investment of the Spanish state in Catalonia from 1982 to 1998 represented only about 8.5 percent of the total.

Spain's central government controls tax collection and decides the distribution of the fiscal revenues throughout the country. So Catalans pay taxes to Madrid in exchange for public expenditure in the region. The difference between what is paid by the region and what is received back in the form of public spending is the fiscal balance, which can be positive (a 'fiscal surplus' for Catalonia) or negative (a 'fiscal deficit' for Catalonia).

Calculating the fiscal balance is not an easy task. There are technical difficulties: Many public services that benefit Catalan citizens are not provided directly in Catalonia but from Madrid (e.g. army, ministries) and so valuing this is complicated. As well, the Spanish central government appears not to make available all necessary data, although it is in theory obliged to do so according to a resolution from the Spanish Parliament. However a number of studies in recent years have estimated the Catalan fiscal balance with Spain, showing not only a deficit (i.e. pays more than it receives back) but one of the highest of any region in the European Union. I refer to this situation as the fiscal imbalance.

These studies estimate the Catalan fiscal imbalance with Spain to be between 7.5 percent and 10 percent of the Catalan GDP i.e. for every 100 euros of income created yearly in Catalonia, between 7.5 and ten never return. In absolute terms, the deficit is between about 6.7 billion and about 9 billion euros or around 1,240 euros annually per capita (using the median of the estimates, 7.9 billion euros).

This is a highly abnormal situation when comparing Catalonia to similar regions in other E.U countries. First, if we compare it to regions that have similar levels of per capita GDP, we find that it has by far the largest fiscal imbalance among its E.U. peers. Nine out of fourteen comparable regions - e.g. Aquitaine in France; Scotland in the United Kingdom; Umbria in Italy; and the Southern region in Sweden - enjoy fiscal surpluses in their respective states. In those carrying a fiscal imbalance (e.g. Lisboa-Vale do Tajo in Portugal), it is nowhere higher than 3 percent. A second useful exercise is to compare Catalonia to regions whose income per capita is approximately 20 percent higher than the average of their respective state, as is Catalonia's. These areas include Ile-de-France, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, South East England, Stockholm, Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy. In this case, only the two Italian regions have a comparable fiscal imbalance - a situation that has created an unprecedented political uproar, mainly articulated through the Lega Nord political party, which is resulting in the reorganization of the Italian Republic through the process of so-called devolution.

The fiscal imbalance has been sustainable in the past because of Spain's relatively closed economy. However, it is not sustainable in the context of globalization. Catalonia will never be globally competitive if it has to carry such a heavy fiscal burden. Catalan companies pay high taxes, only to receive few public services and low infrastructure investment. High taxes result in making the region less competitive, the low level of investment in infrastructure lowers productivity. Not only does it hamper economic growth and the modernization of the Catalan economy, but it also impoverishes Catalan citizens and damages their social and territorial cohesion. As Columbia University professor Xavier Sala-i-Martín puts it: the fiscal imbalance is "the major challenge facing the Catalan economy for its development in the next 25 years."

Sala-i-Martín has shown that if the Catalan fiscal imbalance had been reduced by one-third over the last 25 years, assuming that the freed funds had been fully invested in infrastructure and education (leading to a higher growth rate), Catalonia would now be a frontrunner in Europe in per capita income - second only to Hamburg, London and Luxembourg. These are missed opportunities. Today, the independence question aside, the unfair fiscal treatment remains an enormous problem for Catalonia. As such it needs to be addressed in an open and informed way. Unfortunately, this is not happening.

On the one hand, many people seem to have lost their sense of reality after so many years of permanent centralism. On the other hand, many politicians and commentators fear openly talking about an issue that has become 'politically incorrect' in Spain. They do not want to be compared with the Italian right-wing xenophobic Lega Nord, which has used such type of arguments in a highly demagogical manner.

In any case, one thing is clear: the fiscal imbalance is a key argument supporting secession. A fully independent Catalonia would not have to pay taxes to Madrid that are invested elsewhere. Instead, it could invest them to the benefit of Catalonia.

Catalonia: An overview

2009-08-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain (II)

By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

With roughly six and a half million inhabitants, the Autonomous Community of Catalonia is larger than four of the current fifteen member states of the European Union (Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg ) and than seven of the ten new countries joining the E.U. community in 2004. It has approximately the same population and surface area as Switzerland.

Catalonia has an ancient history. Greeks, Romans and Phoenicians have all left their mark in the country. Arab influence was also notable, though less than in other parts of Spain as Arab rule was brief. In the Middle Ages, as a central component to the Crown of Aragon, it became one of the most important powers in the Mediterranean Sea. In the 15th century, it was united with the Kingdom of Castile through a royal marriage. Yet the result was not a common state, but a confederation of states with separate parliaments, laws, and language. In 1640, the War of the Harvesters was fought against the increasingly centralist Castilian government. At the same time, Portugal (then also attached to Castile) fought for independence and won. Instead, Catalonia lost the war and was forced to cede its northern part to France. During the War of Spanish Succession in the 18th century, Catalonia supported the Habsburg pretender to the Spanish throne, who favored a federalized Spain, against the French Bourbon claimant, the future Philip V of Spain. Once again, Catalonia lost, and as a consequence, the new Bourbon king wiped out all Catalan institutions and forbade the official use of the Catalan language. This effectively ended the Catalan state structure and began a process of cultural assimilation that continued until the 20th century.

The Catalan national conscience reemerged in the 19th century, as nationalism surged throughout Europe. Initially a culturally focused movement that looked back at the medieval epoch of political glory and cultural and literary richness, it soon developed into a regionalist movement demanding greater political autonomy. During the early 20th century before the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, Catalonia enjoyed partial self-rule on various occasions and a Catalan Republic within the Iberian federation was proclaimed twice. However, with Franco's victory in 1939, one of the darkest periods of Catalan history began.

Gen. Franco's dictatorial regime is key to understanding Catalonia today. While all Spaniards were victims of Franco's ruthless and institutionalized violation of human rights, Catalonia suffered a cruel and systematic attempt at cultural annihilation. It endured repression of individual and collective cultural rights, such as the prohibition of the use of the Catalan language, the public denial of the Catalan identity and the punishment for cultural expression.

The arrival of democracy in 1975 initiated a process of recuperation of the Catalan institutions, culture and language. Today, Catalonia has the highest level of self-governance that it has enjoyed since the Bourbon dynasty came to power three centuries ago. The Autonomous Government and Parliament have substantial responsibilities in areas such as education and culture, its own health care system, its own police, etc. After Germany and Belgium, Spain is the most decentralized country in the European Union, with the Basque Country, Navarre and Catalonia as the most autonomous regions.

Language is central to understanding Catalonia's identity. Having survived three centuries of repression from Spain, it still has a vibrant and sophisticated literary scene and its language is used by about eight million, known by ten million and widely spoken at all levels of society. It is spoken not only in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands (Autonomous Communities where it has the same legal status as Spanish), but also in the eastern part of Aragón, the Principality of Andorra (where it is the only official language), the historically Catalan territories of southern France and the city of Alguer (Alguerho, Italy). In fact, Catalan is more widely spoken than a number of other official E.U. languages, like Danish, Finnish, Slovak, Slovenian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Maltese. Yet it does not enjoy recognition by E.U. institutions, as all Spanish governments have consistently ignored Catalonia's demand to press for this. There are numerous radio and TV channels, newspapers and magazines in Catalan, and, more than eight million books are edited in Catalan every year. This recovery of the Catalan language - thanks to a vigorous language policy and hefty funding - might look impressive by many counts. However, it faces very serious threats and is a main concern for many Catalans. Catalan is the weaker language in a bilingual society where Spanish is equally spoken.

Apart from its long-standing literary tradition, Catalonia has shown a high level of cultural creativity over the last century. Many painters (Dalí, Miró, Tàpies), architects (Gaudí, Bofill), musicians (Granados, Savall, de Larrocha) and opera singers (Carreras, Caballé) confirm Catalonia's standing in art and culture. It still is a center of imaginative talent in areas like design, fashion and architecture, particularly focused in Barcelona, the capital.

Catalan independentism

2009-08-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

Catalan independentism is a political movement which supports the independence of Catalonia from Spain and France. It is sometimes extended to the so-called "Catalan Countries", the whole Catalan-speaking domain.

The Estelada flag, in its blue and red versions, has become its main symbol.

Some Catalanist authors argue that first precedents of Catalan independentism may date back as far as 1640, with the unsuccessful first Catalan Republic after Reaper's War, and subsequently during the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in the modern sense, the first political parties which started defining themselves as separatists were created between the 1920s and the 1930s in Spanish Catalonia. The main separatist party created at this time was Estat Català and its branch called Bandera Negra, others independentist parties born from Estat Català were: Nosaltres Sols, the Partit Nacionalista Català and the Partit Català Proletari.

After the Spanish Civil War, members of Estat Català and Nosaltres Sols founded the Front Nacional de Catalunya which became the main pro-independence party. However, one might argue that modern Catalan independentism was actually born in the 1960s with the Partit Socialista d'Alliberament Nacional (PSAN). Since then, the pro-independence movement has assumed a mostly left-wing political trend and has often shifted its focus from "independence for Catalonia" to "independence for the 'Catalan Countries'". By the 1970s, the PSAN split into several factions, and many other groups appeared, including the armed organization Terra Lliure.

In the 1980s, the Moviment de Defensa de la Terra (MDT) became the major pro-independence political group but this too became divided by the end of the decade. During the 1990s, existing political parties such as Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and the linguistic-national initiative Crida a la Solidaritat progressively evolved towards a more pro-independence stance.Modern Independentism Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) is currently the only organization campaigning explicitly for independence represented in the Catalan Parliament.

They won a 7.86% of the total Catalan votes in the last 2008 general elections. A number of members and voters of Convergència i Unió (CiU), the party with the majority of seats at the catalan parliament also give less explicit support to independentism. Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya has attracted since 2007 a number of independentists into its ranks by means of the Casa Gran del Catalanisme, a project which, among other causes, includes the defense of the self-determination of Catalonia. Also in the left wing party Iniciativa per Catalunya are several members that support independentism.

Other independentist smaller parties or coalitions, without present representation in any parliament, are Estat Català, Unitat Nacional de Catalunya, Endavant, the PSAN, the MDT and the CUP. There are also youth sections such as the Maulets, el jovent independentista revolucionari or the Coordinadora d'Assemblees de Joves de l'Esquerra Independentista, and the students' organizations SEPC and FNEC.

In recent years Catalan independentism reasons have received modest support from individuals coming from a broader political spectrum other than the usual left or far-left Catalan nationalism. This phenomenon includes the liberal economist Xavier Sala i Martín , also liberal economist Ramon Tremosa Balcells, that will lead CiU's ticket for the European parlament in the 2009 election, lawyer and FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta or the jurist and former member of the Consejo General del Poder Judicial Alfons López Tena.

The think tank Cercle d'Estudis Sobiranistes, led by the jurists Alfons López Tena and Hèctor López Bofill was founded in 2007; it has since lobbied that has summoned a number of lawmakers, professors, businessmen, professionals, economists, journalists and intellectuals for the cause of Catalonia's independence.

The latest additions to the independentist movement are the CUP (Candidatures d'Unitat Popular), with a growing presence in all the territory, and Reagrupament party, with the catalan ex-minister Joan Carretero. The PDD (Plataforma pel Dret a Decidir) and 10 Mil.cat are another popular, influent and active platforms.

Europe's Stateless Nations in the Era of Globalization

2009-08-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

The Case for Catalonia's Secession from Spain.

By Josep Desquens / The Bologna Center Journal of International Affairs

"The life of the Catalan is an act of continuous affirmation [...] It is because of this that the defining element of the Catalan psychology is not reason, as for the French; metaphysics, as for the Germans; empiricism, as for the English; intelligence, as for the Italians; or mysticism, as for the Castilians. In Catalonia, the primary feature is the desire to be."

-- Jaume Vicens Vives, Catalan historian

Many citizens of Flanders in Belgium, Scotland in the United Kingdom and Catalonia in Spain do not consider themselves merely part of a region but an independent nation that has no state of its own. Greater self-rule is the central objective of the so-called nationalist political parties characteristic of these European regions and the possibility of secession has been part of their politics for years. Yet while secession is mentioned as one option for the future, mainstream parties perceive it as a utopian formula rather than a viable alternative. This results partly from a genuine allegiance to the existing states by many of these regions' residents, but also from the fear of the unknown and a surprising lack of information about the economic costs of remaining part of these states and the potential economic benefits of independence.

Current conventional wisdom in the European Union and the United States sees the issue of secession as something outdated or even dangerous. Mainstream politicians, diplomats and academics tend to present it as a senseless option at a moment in history where the focus is building a united Europe and a free-trade world. The thought of the wars in the former Yugoslavia makes many fear such an option. However, the situation in Catalonia, Flanders or Scotland is not comparable - these stateless nations are well-established democratic societies that respect human rights and free-market economies within the European Union. Thus, Catalans, Flemish or Scots cannot ignore that full political independence remains a serious option for them. The desire for secession needs to be objectively analyzed and the costs and benefits properly weighed.

Many Catalans do not consider themselves Spanish but exclusively Catalan. Such feelings raise eyebrows in other parts of Spain, Europe and elsewhere, but are widely accepted as legitimate within Catalonia. The key goal of Catalonia's main political party, Convergència i Unió (CiU), which has governed the region for more than twenty years, is to gain higher levels of self-government. It defines itself as Catalan nationalist (or Catalanist) and frequently refers to the Catalans' right to political self-determination. With this party's support, the Catalan Parliament declared fourteen years ago that it would not renounce this right. Yet it does not seek full independence from Spain. Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, which does publicly support full independence and is Catalonia's fourth largest political force, held about 9 percent of the vote in the last regional elections. Polls on the issue reflect that a much higher percentage of the population sympathize with the idea of secession.

In Spain, this is a hot topic. The Autonomous Government of the Basque Country unveiled a "Sovereignty Plan" last year which calls for a referendum on the issue of self-determination once there is an end to the violence of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), the region's separatist terrorist group. The central Spanish government in Madrid is strongly opposed, arguing that the Spain's Constitution does not foresee the right to self-determination for any part of the country. Recently, CiU made public a plan to reform Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy that reaffirms the right to self-determination, claims Catalan representation in various international organizations and demands sole control of areas such as immigration and tax collection, among many others, which are today responsibility of the Spanish central government.

There are broadly three main arguments for the independence of Catalonia. The first is that since the Catalan cultural and language is neither understood nor accepted in Spain (and so neither protected nor fostered), the best way forward is an independent state. This results from three centuries of linguistic and cultural discrimination, which reached its pinnacle under Gen. Francisco Franco's 36-year dictatorship. The second one says that a well-defined political entity such as Catalonia should be mature enough to govern itself with its own voice in the European Union or the United Nations in order to address the problems specific to it. Finally, there is the belief that Catalonia would be better off economically by seceding. In particular, proponents of the last argument refer to the fact that Catalonia pays much more into Spain's central treasury than it gets back (subsequently referred to here as the fiscal imbalance) and to the excessive bureaucracy resulting from the current administrative arrangements.

The economic arguments are contested. Some believe an independent Catalonia would not be economically viable; others argue that it does not make sense given that globalization and the European Union have brought about the blurring of borders. But only a few seem willing to undertake a serious economic assessment of an eventual secession, as this has become a "politically incorrect" issue in Spanish politics.

The purpose of this article is to show that there are sound economic and administrative arguments supporting the case for Catalan independence and that there are no objective reasons to believe that a Catalan state could not be viable from an economic perspective. Secession would mean getting rid of the current fiscal imbalance with Spain, which has seriously hampered Catalonia's growth and endangers its future economic performance. It would also mean simplifying the current oversized bureaucracy and having a direct voice in international forums. Moreover, I will argue that the processes of economic globalization and European integration are creating a new reality that reinforces, rather than weakens, the case for secession. Overall, evidence indicates that from an economic perspective, independence is the best solution for the people of Catalonia presently.

I will not touch upon the cultural arguments and I will not discuss whether an independent Catalonia would be morally legitimate or historically justified. Though there are strong historical and cultural arguments that justify going it alone, one could also argue that there are many others that support being part of Spain.

What's Catalonia?

2009-08-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

Catalonia is an old european nation. Today, Catalonia is nation whitin Spain. But in the past, Catalonia has been one of the greatest nations in the world. Catalonia has had the first parliament, much before England, and had the first United Nations when all the authorities of Catalonia, in the Eleventh Century, met in a city of France, at that time Catalonia, to speak about peace.

Today, Catalonia is an autonomous community of the spanish state, but there is significant catalan nationalist sentiment present in a part of the population of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Valencia and the Balearic Islands, which ranges from the desire for independence from Spain expressed by Catalan independentists, to a more generic demand of further autonomy. However, the social catalan independentism is growing in the last times, iniciating a long political process.

'Catalonia, new state' try to inform abouth this independence process began with the return of the democracy.

What's Catalonia?

The Catalan culture started to develop in the Middle Ages stemming from a number of these petty kingdoms organised as small counties throughout the northernmost part of Catalonia. The counts of Barcelona were Frankish vassals nominated by the emperor then the king of France, to whom they were feudatories (801–987).

In 987 the count of Barcelona did not recognize the frankish king Hugh Capet and his new dynasty which put it effectively out of the Frankish rule. Two years later, in 989, Catalonia declared its independence. Then, in 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona married Queen Petronila of Aragon establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with the Kingdom of Aragon which was to create the Crown of Aragon.

It was not until 1258, by means of the Treaty of Corbeil, that the king of frankish formally relinquished his feudal lordship over the counties of the Principality of Catalonia to the king of Aragon James I, descendant of Ramon Berenguer IV. This Treaty transformed the region's de facto independence into a de jure direct transition from French to Aragonese rule. It also solved a historic incongruence. As part of the Crown of Aragon, Catalonia became a maritime power, helping expand the Crown by trade and conquest into the Kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and even Sardinia, Sicily, Corsica, Naples and Athens.

More later, the catalan king Ferdinand II of Aragon, married Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1469; retrospectively, this is seen as the dawn of the Kingdom of Spain. At that point both Castile and Aragon remained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, Parliaments and laws. Political power began to shift away from Aragon toward Castile and, subsequently, from Castile to the Spanish Empire.

For an extended period, Catalonia, as part of the former Crown of Aragon, continued to retain its own usages and laws, but these gradually eroded in the course of the transition from feudalism to a modern state, fueled by the kings' struggle to have more centralized territories. Over the next few centuries, Catalonia was generally on the losing side of a series of local conflicts that led steadily to more centralization of power in Spain, like the Reapers' War (1640–1652).

In 1714, Catalonia lost his independence in the War of the Spanish Succession, which began when Charles II of Spain (the last Spanish Habsburg) died without a successor in 1700. Catalonia, as the other territories which used to form the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages, mostly rose up in support of the Habsburg pretender Charles of Austria, while the rest of Spain mostly adhered to the French Bourbon claimant, Philip V. Following the fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714, the 'special status' of the territories belonging to the former Crown of Aragon and its institutions were abolished by the Nueva Planta decrees, under which all its lands were incorporated to Crown of Castile, as provinces, into a united Spanish administration, as Spain moved towards a centralised government under the new Bourbon dynasty.

In the latter half of the 19th century, Catalonia became an industrial center; to this day it remains one of the most industrialised parts of Spain. In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia gained and lost varying degrees of autonomy several times, receiving its first statute of autonomy during the Second Spanish Republic (1931). This period was marked by political unrest and the preeminence of the Anarchists during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939).

They were also active throughout the early 20th century, achieving the first eight-hour workday in the world in 1919. After the defeat of the Republic in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) which brought General Francisco Franco to power, his regime suppressed any kind of public activities associated with Catalan nationalism, Anarchism, Socialism, Democracy or Communism, such as publishing books on the matter or simply discussing them in open meetings. As part of this suppression the use of Catalan in government-run institutions and in public events was banned. During later stages of the Francoist régime, certain folkoric or religious celebrations in Catalan were resumed and tolerated. Use of Catalan in the mass media was forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950s[12] in the theatre. Publishing in Catalan continued throughout the dictatorship.[13]

After Franco's death (1975) and with the adoption of a democratic Spanish constitution (1978), Catalonia recovered political and cultural autonomy. Today, Catalonia is one of the most economically dynamic nations of Spain. The Catalan capital and largest city, Barcelona, is a major international cultural centre and a major tourist destination.

This historical nation has gradually achieved a greater degree of autonomy since 1979. The Generalitat holds exclusive jurisdiction in various matters including culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments while it shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government in education, health and justice.