More than five million Spanish Catalans will be voting in
parliamentary elections on Sunday, and many are expected to favour
pro-independence parties. Thousands of Catalans also live on the
French side of the border - they won't have a vote but they are still
closely involved.
In Laroque des Alberes there is a road named after Marshall Joseph
Joffre, the World War I soldier whose victories are recalled on
streets from Paris to Nice.
Like towns and cities across the country, Laroque has a Rue du 14
Juillet and a Place de la Republique as well.
But there is one difference. Whereas French street signs are usually
blue and white, in Laroque the text is bright red, set against a rich
yellow background - the colours of Catalonia.
This bustling place with a rough-and-ready bar sitting just around the
corner from a Michelin-starred restaurant and three bakers competing
for business, is just a few miles from the Spanish border.
Or to be more precise, the border with Catalonia, where a
well-established nationalist movement has a support base that is
rapidly growing.
Historically the Principality of Catalonia straddled the modern
border. But after the French beat Spain at the Battle of Dunkirk in
1658, a treaty ceded the northern parts of Catalonia to the French
crown, and the area has remained under the control of Paris ever
since.
But in Laroque and communities across the region, locals have never
forgotten their heritage.
The Sardana, a rather languid, complicated Catalan folk dance, is
performed in the Place de la Republique. And the Catalan language has
never died, even though for a period it was illegal.
At Claude's bar, where local rose wine is dispensed in brightly
painted jugs filled from large plastic barrels, a group of older
residents sit outside in the autumn sunshine, their conversation
flipping between languages.
Around 30% of the population here speak Catalan, with more than 50%
able to understand it.
It is just a short drive to Perpignan - the second biggest Catalan
city, after Barcelona.
The surrealist artist Salvador Dali, born across the border in
Figueres, called Perpignan's railway station "the centre of the
world". He would sit in its cool ticket hall seeking inspiration.
A few blocks from the station are the local offices of the CDC, the
Catalan political party that leads the coalition in power, in
Barcelona. But it is a force here as well, with 30 elected
representatives, including nine mayors.
"The French government is too centralist," says Jordi Vera, leader of
the French part of the CDC, and a Perpignan city councillor. "Paris is
500 miles (800km) away. Barcelona is our capital."
It is much closer. When a long-awaited new high-speed rail link
finally starts running across the border next year, the journey
between the two cities will take less than an hour.
In Barcelona the CDC wants Catalonia to determine its own future, away
from Madrid, and with independent membership of the European Union.
Upwards of one and a half million marched earlier this year in support
of independence. But even if Catalonia eventually becomes a sovereign
state, Vera does not see Perpignan and the surrounding area becoming a
part of it - ceding from France is not on the agenda.
"What we want is a new relationship so that business, trade, transport
and tourism can be co-ordinated across the region," he says.
There is much to gain. This is one of the poorest parts of France -
Catalonia is one of the richest parts of Spain.
Vera asks me how I think the Scottish will vote in their referendum in
2014, before continuing: "This is an historic time for the Catalan
people. This region is a laboratory to test how a Europe of smaller
states might work."
He too drifts between French and Catalan in his conversation. "Catalan
could become an official language of the European Union," he says.
"That would mean France would finally have to recognise it."
Paris might also have to rethink what it calls this area. Currently
the departement (administrative region), stretching from mountainside
to shining Mediterranean is officially titled the Pyrenees Orientales.
Also officially acceptable is "Le Pays Catalan", the Catalan Country.
"A rather patronising French confection," one of the drinkers in
Claude's tells me. "Northern Catalonia is the preferred title of those
who seek closer ties with Barcelona."
From the outskirts of Laroque, you can look across the vineyards to
Canigou, the 9,000-foot (2,700m) mountain peak that holds special
significance for Catalans.
Snow has fallen over night, but is quickly melting away. I am told of
the groups of Catalan schoolchildren, brought across an international
border in order to climb one of their nation's geographical icons.
"But why doesn't everyone speak Catalan?" asks one child, shocked at
the dominance of all things French.
But in recent years, more and more houses here have started displaying
bright red and yellow flags, Catalan specialties take pride of place
in local traiteurs (restaurants) - and the Sardana is being danced
with a new enthusiasm.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20444110
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