The Case for Catalonia's Independence

I welcome this opportunity to discuss with you the main reasons why the independence option has overtaken the classic pro-federal model that for many years had appealed to many Catalans (as a way of indicating their dissatisfaction at the state of affairs). Thank you Dr. Dowling for your invitation, and also Dra. Susana Beltrán for sharing the floor. Playing in a «neutral» venue makes it easier to keep the debate at an academic level and style: back home debates like this one can easily get quite heated!

To read the whole paper, please click below on "Més informació" 

Denunciation by the Elected Representatives of the Catalan People before the United Nations, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe

We the undersigned holders of elected offices, who represent a significant majority of the citizens of Catalonia in the Parliament of Catalonia, in the European Parliament, in the Spanish Parliament, and in the municipal governments of Catalonia, address ourselves to the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to denounce the Spanish state for violating the right of the Catalan people to decide their political future by preventing the exercise of democracy through a referendum or internationally recognized vote.

1. For reasons of democratic legitimacy, the people of Catalonia possess political and legal sovereignty, and therefore recognize their own right to decide their political future for the following reasons:

    a) The people of Catalonia, throughout their history, have demonstrated and exercised democratically their will to govern themselves, with the aim of furthering the progress, well-being and equality of opportunity of all citizens, and of reinforcing their own culture and collective identity.

    b) Self-government in Catalonia is also based on the historic rights of the Catalan people, on their centuries-old institutions of government, and on Catalan legal tradition.

    c) In recent years, in the interest of greater democracy, a majority of Catalan political and social forces have undertaken measures to transform the current political and legal framework. The most recent of these measures was the reform of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy approved by the Catalan Parliament in September 2005 and subsequently debated, modified and approved by the Spanish Parliament, and finally approved by the citizens of Catalonia in a referendum held in June 2006. Four years later, the Spanish Constitutional Court altered it substantially, contravening the will of the people. In so doing, the Court made evident its partisanship, acting as though it were a parliamentary body and thus violating one of the fundamental principles of democracy: the separation of powers and the independence of the branches of government.

    d) Since that time, Catalonia has been governed under a Statute of Autonomy that is not the one approved by its citizens. On 10 July 2010, Barcelona was the scene of a demonstration that brought together more than a million citizens protesting the ruling of the Constitutional Court.

2. Since then, the Catalan people, either directly or through their political representatives, have repeatedly expressed their wish to decide their political future:

    a) On September 11 2012, Catalonia’s national day, the central streets of Barcelona saw the largest demonstration in the history of Catalonia. Its theme was “Catalonia: a new European state.” On the same date in the following two years, the citizens of Catalonia continued to demonstrate their capacity for organization and mobilization with the Catalan Way of 2013, an unbroken 400-kilometer human chain the length of the country; and in 2014 by filling the two main arteries of the capital with a human mosaic of the Catalan national flag stretching for 11 kilometers in the shape of a V.

    b) On November 25 2012, elections to the Parliament of Catalonia produced an unequivocal mandate: the exercise of the right to decide Catalonia’s political future. The will of the Parliament of Catalonia is expressed in the “Declaration of Sovereignty and the Right to Decide of the People of Catalonia”, approved in January 2013 with the support of more than two thirds of the members of Parliament. The Spanish government appealed this declaration to the Constitutional Court, which partially annulled it.

    c) During the month of September 2014, 96% of the 974 municipal governments of Catalonia approved, in plenary session, declarations of support for the Parliament and the Government of Catalonia to hold a nonbinding referendum on 9 November 2014.

3. The Catalan Parliament and the Government of Catalonia have followed all necessary steps for fulfilling the democratic mandate that emerged from the elections of November 25 2012, and have assiduously followed, at every stage of the process, the principles of democratic legitimacy, dialogue, negotiation, legality, and social cohesion, as set forth in the Declaration of Sovereignty:

    a) In December 2013, the political forces favorable to the exercise of the right to decide agreed on the date of November 9 to hold a referendum, and on the question to be voted on by citizens.

    b) In April 2014, a delegation of MPs nominated by the Parliament of Catalonia approached the Spanish Parliament with a request for transfer of the authority to hold a referendum on the political future of Catalonia. The Spanish Parliament denied this request.

c) In September 2014, the Parliament of Catalonia approved by a wide margin a law governing nonbinding referenda. Within this legal framework, the President of the Generalitat signed the decree convoking the nonbinding referendum of November 9. The Spanish government appealed both the law and the decree to the Constitutional Court. The Court agreed to both appeals, and suspended both the law and the decree pending deliberation on their constitutionality.

d) Because it was no longer possible to vote on November 9 in accordance with the Law of Nonbinding Referenda, a process of citizen participation was initiated so that citizens may express their opinions. The Spanish government also appealed this process to the Constitutional Court, which again acted in accordance with the government’s dictates and accepted the appeal.

4. The position of the Spanish government contravenes both international practice characteristic of plurinational democratic states and international law, for the following reasons:

    a) First, it is contrary to the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada which, in its ruling of 20 August 1998, indicated that although the Canadian Constitution made no reference to the right to self-determination, the democratic principle that inspires it justified a referendum on this question, with the understanding that both interested parties agreed to peaceful negotiation of the consequences, even if the referendum resulted in a vote in favor of secession. These same principles led to the agreement between Great Britain and Scotland to hold a referendum on Scottish independence in September 2014.

    b) Second, it is contrary to the basic principles of the International Agreement on Political and Civil Rights. In its ruling of 22 July 2010, the International Court of Justice clarified the right of peoples to self-determination, concluding that international law contains no prohibition of this right. This decision has made it possible for peoples and political communities to choose their political future democratically in the 21st century through new practices of self-determination.

For these reasons, we put before the United Nations, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe the following:

   1. That Catalan institutions of government, with the support of a majority of the citizens of Catalonia, have pursued all legal avenues in order to hold a referendum, binding or nonbinding, on Catalonia’s political future, including the possibility of independence.

   2. That there is on the part of the Spanish government a demonstrated lack of political will to engage in dialogue and negotiation, and a permanent refusal to make it possible for the Catalan people to exercise their right to decide.

   3. That the accumulation of difficulties imposed by the highest-level political and judicial institutions of the Spanish state, which have consistently rejected all proposals from Catalonia, is indicative of a political and democratic involution clearly intended to weaken Catalan self-government. This involution is clearly expressed in all policy areas: political, jurisdictional, financial, social, cultural, and linguistic.

   4. That we have a legitimate right to undertake all necessary political and legal actions that allow us to ascertain the majority will of the Catalan people regarding their political future and, subsequently, to act in accordance with this democratic mandate.

For all these reasons, in accordance with the democratic principles that inspire the United Nations Charter and subsequent international agreements and treaties guaranteeing the right of peoples to decide their political future, we appeal to the United Nations, to the European Parliament, to the European Commission, and to OSCE to take all necessary actions to guarantee that the citizens of Catalonia are able to decide their future democratically.

Barcelona, 5 November 2014

Background information on the November 9 ballot in Catalonia

In 2003 89% of the MPs in the Catalan Parliament decided to propose a new regional constitution ("Statute of Autonomy") for Catalonia, given the gradual recentralisation of powers in Madrid since the first Statute was adopted in 1979, and the new needs that had emerged over time. In September 2005 they agreed on a new text which satisfied parties across the whole spectrum except for the Spanish People's Party (which had comefourth in the 2003 election) and which they regarded as falling within the terms of the 1978 Spanish Constitution.

The Spanish Parliament made such cuts to the draft Statute that one of the main parties actually called for a No vote in the binding referendum to ratify it in Catalonia, and the lack of public enthusiasm for the resulting text was reflected in the relatively low turnout, just under 50%.

The Spanish People's Party, which had opposed from the start any increase in the level of devolution, took the Statute to the Constitutional Court (the only Statute to be thus questioned, since the 1978 Constitution had become law). Four years later (June 2010), and after numerous leaks to the press and internal politicking, the Court deemed significant aspects of the Statute to be unconsitutional, thereby obliterating the binding nature of the referendum.

Since then there have been two elections in Catalonia, in 2010 and 2012, to redress the institutional crisis. Since 2012 there has been a clear electoral commitment, and a broad parliamentary mandate, for a vote to be held on the future of Catalonia. In December 2013 a clear majority of the Parliament agreed on the question to be put (those opposing the idea of a vote had refused to take part in the discussions) and the date: November 9 2014.

The Spanish government refused to apply the provisions in the Constitution to allow this to take place as a referendum, so the parties supporting the vote agreed to enact Catalan legislation on popular ballots other than referendums (as foreseen in the 2006 Statute). The Government issued a decree (calling this ballot) on the very day the law was published. The law had been subjected to stringent legal scrutiny and not a single amendment was proposed to the bill.

In an unprecedentedly short space of time the Spanish Government challenged the law and the decree before the Constitutional Court, which in accordance with corrent legislation temporarily suspended the decree. Much to the Spanish government's relief, the Government decided to respect the temporary suspension, which made it impossible to hold the ballot in the form originally planned.

In response, and in a reaffirmation of its electoral commitment, the Government announced a ballot, to be held on the same day, in accordance with an as yet unannounced legal framework governing processes of citizen participation. Despite strong calls for disobedience from the other parties (to go ahead with the November 9th ballot as planned, despite the Constitutionaol Court's ruling) the Government has reestablished the consensus, at least until the day after the ballot. There will be 1,255 schools (where people will be able to participate), and 6,430 ballot boxes in 941 of the 947 local districts (only six local councils have refused to cooperate, and nearly all amassed in the Catalan Government palace, in Barcelona, on October 4).

				Els alcaldes catalans dónen suport al 9-N i comença la G... Més de 900 alcaldes de tot Catalunya han vingut aquest dissabte a Barcelona per lliurar al Palau de la Generalitat els certificats de les mocions de suport a la con...
				View on veinsperlaindependenc...	Preview by Yahoo

 

20,000 volunteers were needed to assure the ballot. By October 24 there were 35,348 enrolled. Moreover, thousands of civil servants have offered their support, outside their working hours.

The Spanish government's initial reaction to this new ploy was one of scorn and derision. A few days later, however, it decided to ask its lawyers, and the Council of State, for their opinion as regards the new November 9 ballot. Quite deliberately, there is no written evidence in any official document as regards the organisation of the event, so experts agree that it is absurd for the Spanish government to try and bar it, when no written, public decision yet exists.

catala

CATALANITZA EL TEU PROGRAMARI
Clica aquí per obtenir versions en català de LibreOffice, Firefox, Catalanitzador de Softcatalà, Traductor Softcatalà, Adobe Reader...
Softcatalà és una associació sense ànim de lucre, registrada inicialment el 1998 com a tal a Mallorca, l'objectiu bàsic de la qual és fomentar l'ús del català a la informàtica, Internet i les noves tecnologies.

POSA'T L'ORDINADOR EN CATALÀ
Si vols posar en català el teu ordinador descarrega els corresponents programes aquí (Microsoft). 

TWITTER EN CATALÀ
Clica aquí per catalanitzar el teu compte twitter. A més, comprovaràs quins usuaris que segueixes s’han passat al #twitterencatala.
Twitter: segueix @encatala

WICCAC (Webmàsters Independents en Català, de Cultura i d’Àmbits Cívics) 
Una agrupació de webmàsters que hem creat les nostres webs; que som independents, és a dir, que no estem lligats a organismes oficials ni entitats comercials ni professionals ni grups polítics; que tenim propòsits culturals o cívics... i que treballem en català.

Fes-me un comentari per afegir més enllaços d'aquest estil!

CONSULTATION « ILLÉGALE » OU SOURDE OREILLE INCONSTITUTIONNELLE ?

Le manque de dialogue du gouvernement espagnol avec les autorités catalanes ne devrait surprendre personne, car M. Rajoy avait fait campagne à l'époque avec son parti pour collecter des signatures à l'encontre du Statut d'autonomie de la Catalogne afin de provoquer que la Cour constitutionnelle se prononce contre le Statut catalan – ce qu'il a d'ailleurs réussi. N'est-il pourtant pas paradoxal de constater que, lors de l’approbation de la Constitution qu'ils sont si fiers de défendre maintenant, M. Rajoy et le Partido Popular avaient fait campagne justement contre cette même Constitution ? Belle sorte de dialogue prémonitoire !

CONSULTATION « ILLÉGALE » OU SOURDE OREILLE INCONSTITUTIONNELLE ?

Le président du gouvernement espagnol ne cesse de dire à tort et à travers qu'il est ouvert au dialogue pour parler de tout sauf d'une consultation qu'il qualifie d' « illégale ». Serait M. Rajoy en train d'ignorer l'article 10 de la Constitution espagnole (l'article introducteur du titre I, Des droits et des devoirs fondamentaux), dont le paragraphe 2 dit : « Les normes relatives aux droits fondamentaux et aux libertés que reconnaît la Constitution seront interprétées conformément à la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme et aux traités et accords internationaux portant sur les mêmes matières ratifiés par l'Espagne. »¹ ?

Pour éclaircir cette question allons voir ce que disent sur cette matière la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme et deux des traités ou accords internationaux ratifiés par le royaume d'Espagne.

La Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme ne saurait être plus explicite (art. 21.3) : « La volonté du peuple est le fondement de l'autorité des pouvoirs publics ; cette volonté doit s'exprimer par des élections honnêtes qui doivent avoir lieu périodiquement, au suffrage universel égal et au vote secret ou suivant une procédure équivalente assurant la liberté du vote. »²

Or, à première vue un contraste très marqué apparaît entre la clarté de ces dispositions et la position du gouvernement espagnol se refusant à les appliquer au processus visant à exprimer la volonté du peuple catalan dans les urnes.

Quant aux traités ou accords internationaux portant sur ces matières ratifiés par l'Espagne, citons-en deux spécifiques et complémentaires à la fois : le Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques³ et le Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels⁴. Approuvés par l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies en décembre 1966, ils ont été ratifiés par le royaume d'Espagne en avril 1977. Ils sont aussi d'une clarté méridienne dans leur art. 1.1 : « Tous les peuples ont le droit de disposer d'eux-mêmes. En vertu de ce droit ils déterminent librement leur statut politique et assurent librement leur développement économique, social et culturel. »

Ainsi, à la vue de ce que proclament ces trois documents de rang international – à la lumière desquels la Constitution espagnole reconnaît que les normes relatives aux droits fondamentaux et aux libertés qu'elle-même reconnaît doivent être interprétées –, les Catalans, mais aussi les Espagnols et la communauté internationale, ont un légitime intérêt à connaître les motivations profondes de M. Rajoy. Savoir au juste pourquoi il s'entête à subvertir la teneur de la Constitution, à ne pas reconnaître ce qu'elle reconnaît et à qualifier d' « illégale » une consultation que réclament près de deux tiers des membres du Parlement catalan, qui par conséquent est plaidée par le président Mas avec un support grandissant, et dont lui – en tant que président du gouvernement espagnol et responsable du mandat constitutionnel d'observer et de faire observer la loi –, il sait bien qu'elle est tout à fait légale « conformément à la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme et aux traités et accords internationaux portant sur les mêmes matières ratifiés par l'Espagne ».

Miquel-Àngel Sànchez Fèrriz masferriz@gmail.com

1 http://www.congreso.es/constitucion/ficheros/c78/cons_fran.pdf

2 http://www.un.org/fr/documents/udhr/index2.shtml

3 http://www.ohchr.org/FR/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx

4 http://www.ohchr.org/FR/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx

Entrevista al papa Francisco: "La secesión de una nación hay que tomarla con pinzas"

...
¿Le preocupa el conflicto entre Catalunya y España?

Toda división me preocupa. Hay independencia por emancipación y hay independencia por secesión. Las independencias por emancipación, por ejemplo, son las americanas, que se emanciparon de los estados europeos. Las independencias de pueblos por secesión es un desmembramiento, a veces es muy obvio. Pensemos en la antigua Yugoslavia. Obviamente, hay pueblos con culturas tan diversas que ni con cola se podían pegar. El caso yugoslavo es muy claro, pero yo me pregunto si es tan claro en otros casos, en otros pueblos que hasta ahora han estado juntos. Hay que estudiar caso por caso. Escocia, la Padania, Catalunya. Habrán casos que serán justos y casos que no serán justos, pero la secesión de una nación sin un antecedente de unidad forzosa hay que tomarla con muchas pinzas y analizarla caso por caso.

http://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20140612/54408951579/entrevista-papa-francisco.html

Our English translation:

...
Are you concerned about the conflict between Catalonia and Spain?

All divisions worry me. There's independence by emancipation and independence by secession. Independence by emancipation, for example, that of American countries, that were emancipated from European states. The independence of peoples by secession is a break, sometimes this is very obvious. Think of the former Yugoslavia. Obviously, the people there had such diverse cultures that they wouldn't stick together even with glue. The Yugoslav case is very clear, but I wonder if it is as clear in other cases, in other peoples that have been together up to now. They need to be studied case by case. Scotland, Padania, Catalonia. There will be cases that are fair and cases that are not fair, but the secession of a people without a prior history of forced unity must be looked at with great caution, and be analyzed case by case.

QUIERO SER ASÍ

An interesting and disturbing example of Fascist indoctrination for primary schools in postwar Spain.

The 176 page book can be downloaded here (PDF): ASÍ QUIERO SER, de Herederos de Santiago Rodríguez (Burgos 1940)

Just one example: "La nación española cuenta con veinticuatro millones de habitantes por cuyas venas corre sange latina; hablan el idioma castellano y profesan la Religión católica, apostólica, romana." (p. 7)

LOVE SHAK, by Matthew Tree

Catalonia Today article for May, by Matthew Tree, about Shakira...


Shakira lives in Barcelona, goes out with and has had a son by a Barça footballer, and her last name is the distinctly Catalan one of Ripoll. She must have known somewhere along the line that sooner or later she was going to sing at least one song in Spain's second language, and in the end she chose 'Boig per tu' ('Crazy About You') composed by Pep Sala in 1990, and made famous by the band Sau, of which Sala was one of the two frontmen ...

LOVE SHAK, par Matthew Tree (traduction française)

Voici la traduction en français d'un article récent («Loveshak ») de Matthew Tree, écrivain anglais résidant en Catalogne depuis déjà pas mal d'années, publié dans sa colonne régulière « Long term resident » de l'hebdomadaire Presència du 27 avril 2014 (M-A.S.F.)

...ooo000ooo...

LOVE SHAK

Shakira habite à Barcelone, y promène son enfant, qu'elle a eu d'un footballeur du Barça, et a un nom de famille qui est celui distinctement catalan de Ripoll. Elle a dû savoir à un moment donné de leur relation que tôt ou tard elle allait chanter au moins une chanson dans la deuxième langue de l'Espagne, et enfin elle a choisi Boig per tu (Fou de toi) ...

Erklärung aus La Pedrera

Barcelona, den 28. Februar 2014

Am 23. Februar war die Kommissarin für Justiz und Menschenrechte und Vizepräsidentin der Europäischen Kommission, Frau Viviane Reding, so liebenswürdig, bei einem Besuch in Barcelona einige der Prioritäten und Hauptanliegen der Europäischen Union in einem besonders schwierigen Moment ihrer Geschichte darzulegen.

In diesem Dokument möchten wir diesbezüglich einige Ausführungen machen, die sowohl die Kommissarin als auch die Öffentlichkeit zum Nachdenken anregen sollen. Sie nehmen Bezug auf mehrere Wortmeldungen aus dem Publikum in der anschließend erfolgten Diskussion. 

+++

La Declaración de "La Pedrera"

En español.

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L'Appel de 'La Pedrera'

En français
(2e version)

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Màster Oficial d'Estudis Catalans

El màster universitari en Estudis catalans de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya permet assolir una comprensió àmplia i rigorosa de la cultura catalana a partir de la pluralitat de les seves manifestacions....

Clica a sota a "Més informació"

Declaration of the Rights of the Catalan Nation,1966

In 1966, a group of Catalan exiles met in Mexico to hold the Second National Conference. On June 26 they adopted a "Declaration of Rights of the Catala Nation", which was published by the Catalan National Council in England (where Josep Maria Batista i Roca ran the General Secretariat in Cambridge) the following year...

Click below on "Més informació"

The “La Pedrera” Declaration

In English

Click on "Més informació" below to continue reading.

Declaració de La Pedrera

Barcelona, 28 de febrer de 2014 

El 23 de febrer la Comissària de Justícia, Drets Humans i Ciutadania i Vicepresidenta de la Comissió Europea, madame Viviane Reding, ha tingut l'amabilitat de visitar Barcelona, per exposar, de primera mà, algunes de les línies prioritàries i principals preocupacions de la Unió Europea, en un moment especialment delicat de la seva història. En aquest document volem fer unes precisions per a la seva reflexió i la de la ciutadania en general, reflexions suscitades per diferents intervencions del públic durant el debat.

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False Valencian quotations

There are truly crazy theories about the origin of Valencian, which was the name given, in the region, to the way the descendants of the colonists from (particularly Western) Catalonia spoke.  
Click here if need be to read the whole post

Bibliografia polítiques lingüístiques del català

Índex

• General Països Catalans
• Catalunya
• Illes Balears
• País Valencià
• Aragó
• Estat espanyol
• Andorra
• Estat francès
• Itàlia
• Marc internacional

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International press coverage of 16/1 vote in the Catalan Parliament

A very small sample of the international press coverage of yesterday's (16/1/2014) vote in the Catalan Parliament, to formally request the transfer of organization and organization of a referendum on Catalonia's independence, from central government to the Catalan authorities, adopted by 87 ayes to 43 nays and 3 abstentions.

 Click on "Més informació" below to see the rest of the post