APPG Zoom session on Catalonia, Spain and Europe" (15 MAR 2021)

 

 

 Write to: appgcatalonia@gmail.com

Letter to the Financial Times about fundamental rights and the Catalans (8 JAN 2021)

 This is the text I have sent as a Letter to the Editor of the Financial Times, with copies to the authors of an article, "EU identity crisis: Poland, Hungary and the fight over Brussels’ values" about the blind eye the European institutions are still turning as regards Spain. 

Click , if need be, to read the text (ewith hyperlinks added here).

Thread by Ramir de Porrata-Doria on the Catalan economy (4 OCT 2020)

This is an English rendering (by MS, with the author's permission) of a successful (more than 2,000 retweets) Twitter thread by Ramir de Porrata-Doria on the way Spain damages the Catalan economy. 

Click to read the whole post, if need be.

Guillem Hernandez Solà explains the pandemia from a Chinese perspective (20 MAR 2020)

The dramatic plea by Guillem Hernandez Solà, who witnessed at first hand, as early as January, how the Chinese Community in Catalonia were getting worried about the risk of the COVI-19 virus reaching them over here, and started to take preventive action well in advance. I have translated it into English (with the author's permission), because it applies everywhere. It is dated March 20.
Click here to see the whole post, if need be.

EPpetition

PETITION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (via Petition Committee)

It is with great concern that we respectfully submit the present Petition to the Members of the EU Parliament and to its President David Sassoli, in order to express our worry regarding the crisis in Catalonia and the response of the Spanish Kingdom, and call for measures susceptible of clarifying the situation and furthering its resolution....

Barcelona, 19 November 2019

Click here for whole text: https://euparliamentpetitioncatalonia.home.blog/

UK Parliamentary debate on the 1795 invasion by France of Catalonia. Hansard (1795)

Catalonia has been debated in the UK Houses of Parliament many times. Here is one such occasion, in March 1795, when revolutionary France was waging war against Spain (and was to take over the whole of Catalonia).
Click here  if need be to read the whole post

1979 US Congress on the Basque Country and Catalonia

Not earth-shaking, but perhaps interesting to some.
This is a transcript on 1979 hearings before the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the US Congress Committee of Foreign Affairs, where Catalonia and the Basque country are mentioned.
Click here if need be to read the whole post.

What Swinburne wrote about Catalonia in 1775!

What was Catalonia like in 1775? Here are some extracts from a letter included in the book ''Travels Through Spain in the Years 1775 and 1776: In which several monuments of Roman and Moorish architecture are illustrated by accurate drawings by Henry Swinburne'', 1779.
Click here if need be to access the whole text

Special issue of IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies on Catalonia

Here are links to the six papers on Catalonia in the latest issue of IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies. Five of them were read at the IAFO conference in Bacelona in July 2018.
 Click here if need be to access the whole text

Interesting twitter reflections by Engel

An English translation of an interesting twitter thread by Engel. A valuable outsider's view of the relationship between Catalonia and Spain. I hope the author does not mind.
Click here, if need be, to read the whole post

ELEN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION on Catalonia

Here is the text of the ELEN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION on Catalonia, proposed by Plataforma per la Llengua and adopted by the Plenary, 3rd November 2018

click here if need be

Article by Oriol Martínez: "Reasons for secession"

This post reproduces an article by Orio Martínez which comments on the opinion of Prof. Allen Buchanan, as regards secession processes in international law in general, and on the case of Catalonia (in a framework where the host nation refuses to negotiate and egages instead in political repression) in particular. (I hope the author and magazine do not object to this transcription of the article).

click here if need be

"Provocation", by Joan Pere Le Bihan

Below is a translation (by MS) of an article by Joan-Pere Le Bihan, "LA PROVOCACIÓ (eina indispensable d’Espanya)", published in L'Unilteral on September 5 2018. I hope the author and paper don't mind (if they like they can use the text too!).

**** Click on "Més informació" to access the whole article, if need be *****

"Spain fails in Catalonia", by José Rodríguez

This is an English translation (by MS) of an article by sociologist José Rodríguez: "Espanya fracassa a Catalunya" (23 August 2018). Original: http://www.elpuntavui.cat/opinio/article/8-articles/1453318-espanya-fracassa-a-catalunya.html

***** To read the whole post, if need be, click below on "Més informació" *****

2017 CPDT Report: 'October 1 was a "Laboratory of repression"'

This post contains an unofficial English translation of the 2017 Report of the Coordinating Committee for the Prevention and Denunciation of Torture (CPDT) in Spain. I hope the Committee doesn't mind!

***** If need be, click below on "Més informació" to read the whole post  ******

Quim Torra's investiture speech (12 May 2018) in English

This is an unofficial English translation, by M.M. and M.S., of candidate Quim Torra's investiture speech on Saturday May 12, 2018.

***** Please click below on "Més informació" to read the whole post *****

The three phases of democratic conflicts, and the Spain-Catalonia clash

Translated by M. Strubell into English from "Les tres fases dels conflictes democràtics i el xoc Espanya-Catalunya".

http://in.directe.cat/josep-pinyol/blog/les-tres-fases-dels-conflictes-democratics-i-el-xoc-espanya-catalunya

***** If need be, click below on "Més informació" to read the rest of this post ***** 

Col.lectiu Praga: Human Rights Violations in Catalonia (October 2017)

praga

This 43-page report on Human Rights Violations in Catalonia can be viewed by clicking below on "Més informació"

Barcelona, December 29, 2017

The present complaint, carried out by Col·lectiu Praga, is signed by 609 Jurists to demonstrate to the various International Mechanisms for the
Protection of Human Rights, in particular the United Nations system, Human
Rights Violations, recognized in Declarations, Pacts, Treaties and  International Resolutions, which took place on the occasion of the celebration on October 1, 2017 of the referendum on self-determination in Catalonia, convened under the protection of Catalan Law 19/2017, of 6 September, of the referendum on self-determination.

This complaint is not intended to make an exhaustive account of the events,  nor to denounce all the infringements of rights that occurred, but to expose the major clash between the tenants of Democracy and the Law of the Spanish State.

In this regard, we consider that there is sufficient evidence - some of which is
presented in this document - to support an independent and comprehensive investigation into the Violation of Human Rights that took place in Spain on October 1, 2017, especially the Rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, of the Right to the Physical Integrity, the Right to have a fair and  public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal in the determination
of the rights and obligations and of criminal charges against anyone,  recognized and protected by international law....

Three Metaphors on Catalonia

In this post I answer three of the main questions related to the Catalan independence process, particularly in the more recent phase. I do so using metaphors -and even a fable - which even the most uninformed (or misinformed) reader will understand.

***** To read the post, click on "Més informació" below *****

International Press (September 29 and 30)

From Spain to Iraq, states have to see that suppressing secession won’t work. Simon Jenkins (The Guardian). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/29/spain-iraq-secession-madrid-catalonia 

            ***** Click underneath on "Més informació" for the rest of the selection *****