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

National Appeal to ERC

This is an English translation (by M.S.) of the Appeal issued by a group of members of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, for a re-thinking of the party's current strategy as regards independence.

click here if need be

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

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TEXT: Parliament Resolution of October 27 2017 on Catalan Republic

The text of this Resolution "Declaració dels representants de Catalunya", adopted by 70 votes (out of 135 MPs), has yet to be published in the Official Journal. This is most unusual. The English version is an unofficial translation by Dr. M. McNaught, with the assistance of M. Strubell.

Click here , if need be, to read the whole post.

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.

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Editorial, by Vicent Partal (VilaWeb, 21 July)

Let's understand them: they're scared

Yesterday we saw two crossed - and very significant - photographs, about the day that is clearly being set as the most important day in the recent history of Catalonia: October 1st. 

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The (painful) birth of a nation

The Catalans' independence process is in an anguishing quandary. The ruling proindy coalition has its road map, but since the crisis caused by the decision of the radical proindy coalition CUP (perhaps unwittingly: not all factions are versed in parliamentary procedures) to block the budget bill, it is nuclear whether the road map is still valid.

In September president Carles Puigdemont will put a motion of confidence to the chamber to see whether the proindy camp still consists of the 72/135 outright majority it won at the 27 September election, which just failed in its attempt to show the world that over half of the electorate regarded it as a plebiscite and opted for independence.

The CUP will have to do some hard thinking before then. It needs to realise that most of the voters of its ten MPs (up from their previous three) feel disgusted by their behaviour since the elections. They were enthusiastically voted in by voters who were and are proindy (yet neither Marxists nor Anarchists) to ensure the independence process would not be stalled or dragged out by the more moderate coalition now in power. That dream began to crumble when the seemingly endless talks to reach a stable post-27S parliamentary agreement only came to fruition at the last minute thanks to the decision of president Mas to step aside. And the fream was finally shattered when the CUP voted alongside the Unionist (or Federalist) opposition to oust the 2016 budget bill (and in the process drastically cutting any hope of being able to draw on new resources to increase social spending).

Should the CUP not support the president in September, it would probably have to face a new election at which it could well be wiped off the parliamentary map. Can it put its ideological considerations to one side, at least until Catalonia has become an independent state? Like others have admitted having to do at recent elections, it will need to block its nose with a clothes peg. 

In the meantime there is a passionate grasdroots debate on the whys and wherefores of the steps to be made up to independence: the road map. Given the utter and complete refusal of the main Spanish parties to regard the Catalans as a people, and therefore to contemplate their right of self-determination, the next steps will have to be unilateral. Every single step up to now has been challenged by central government. Even a poll organised (9 November 2014) in the framework of a Catalan law which specifically excludes referendums, and could therefore not be binding (and which the Constitutional Court rushed to rule contrary to the Constitution!), had to be held without access to the electoral roll (which was refused) and has led to four Catalan politicians being taken to court! 

So it is clear that a (binding) referendum cannot be called until after Catalonia becomes independent. It is also clear that Spain will not allow this step, so an institutional collision is inevitable and massive (guided) disobedience essential for this aim to be achieved. 

This means that a formal parliamentary declaration of independence is the only viable option.

At this time there is frenzied activity in delegations of the Catalan national assembly  across the country. Are members to ratify the secretariat's proposal that the ANC should push for a change in the Government's road map, given the fragility of the relationship between the three pareties seeking independence.

Scathing criticisms of the way the Partido Popular has tried to manage the Catalaan "problem" over the past ten or fifteen years (such as this one, in a non-Catalan newspaper) help explain its decline in electoral support in Catalonia.

A referendum campaign would lead us into the repetition of a bunch of fearmongering claims (similar to those that Scotland went through), and dire threats (punishing civil servants for using the census; or recentralisation, for instance), though some are bubbles that have already been burst: that Catalans would "automatically" lose their EU citizenship, that Catalans would lose their pensions, that there would be a massive GDP collapse because of a Spanish boycott of Catalan products... 

The international front is crucial for the success of the Catalan enterprise, in terms not so much of actual (explicit or implicit) support for the process as such, but rather of the endorsement of the declaration (or proclamation, which the White Paper states will occur separately) of independence and, therefore, of the recognition of Catalonia as a sovereign State like Slovakia, Latvia or  Montenegro. This is why the extremely poor status of Spain in Europe (as poignantly highlighted in articles by Molina - in English - and Mangas, for instance) is such a significant factor right now. 


Further reading:

"After bottoming out: a new European policy for Spain". Ignacio Molina. ARI 8/2013 (Translated from Spanish) - 29/4/2013.

http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/web/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/spanishforeignpolicy/ari8-2013-molina-politica-europea-spain

"España en la UE: luces y sombras". Araceli Mangas Martín. El País, 8 June 2015. http://www.elmundo.es/opinion/2015/06/08/5574714922601dc7448b4575.html

"Los catalanes hacen cosas" y otras históricas ocurrencias del PP de Rajoy. Luz Sanchis / Fátima Caballero. El Diario, 29 August 2015. http://www.eldiario.es/politica/esquizofrenia-PP-Cataluna_0_424858072.html

Letter to X

Dear X,

Thank you for writing to me to ask for Catalan objects for the new Museum of European History that the European Parliament is promoting.

I haven't been able to find the article you refer to, but I have visited their website.

To read the rest of this letter, please click below, on "Més informació"

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.

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.

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

There will be independence, because there will be no referendum. An opinion and a forecast. Article by Manuel Delgado

http://manueldelgadoruiz.blogspot.com.es/2013/12/habra-independencia-porque-no-habra.html　

(translated in house)

December 13 2013

The truth is I do not regard myself an acute political analyst or anything like that, but I`m going to indulge myself, without this being a precedent, by sharing a personal insight into what is going on in Catalonia and what I think will happen. I refer of course to the vexed (for many) issue of the so-called sovereignty process, and which I now see as simply irrevocable and will in a few months' time lead to a new state in Europe...

Click on "Més informació" below to read the rest of the article.

Hello, Europe!

"Hola, Europa!" is a documentary film on the current political situation in Catalonia. 31 specialists reflect on the right of the Catalan people to decide their own future and Catalonia's place in the EU. Directed by M. Dolors Genovès. (76 min 1 sec)

English subtitled / dubbed version: http://www.tv3.cat/videos/4616211/Hola-Europa

Versió original
************


El 80% dels diputats al Parlament de Catalunya donen suport a una consulta per decidir el futur col•lectiu i polític del país. Un 55% dels catalans ha manifestat, segons les enquestes, la seva voluntat de donar suport a una Catalunya amb estat propi. Aquestes xifres no es donen en cap de les nacions que han formulat la possibilitat d’esdevenir independents dels estats als quals pertanyen: el Quebec, Flandes, Escòcia o el País Basc. El fet més transcendent del moment polític que viu Catalunya respon al dret democràtic de poder decidir el futur constitucional del país.

El documental indaga i reflexiona sobre les raons d’aquest posicionament, des de la situació actual, i aborda els arguments i les dificultats que aquest procés pacífic i democràtic haurà de superar.

"Hola, Europa!" fa un recorregut per tot el territori de Catalunya, de nord a sud. Visita les glaçades aigües de l’estany de Sant Maurici i la Ratera; els paisatges fets de vent, aigua i roca del cap de Creus; els meandres verds i rogencs de l’Ebre. De la natura passa al paisatge treballat de les quatre capitals catalanes: Girona, Barcelona, Lleida i Tarragona. I 15 persones anònimes, 15 retrats, són la representació dels ciutadans de Catalunya. Per reflexionar sobre el present i el futur del país, "Hola, Europa!" recull les opinions i les anàlisis de 31 persones.

Catalan independence? Not everyone shares the same point of view

Here are three examples of different points of view as regards Catalonia's quest to regain independence from Spain. Comments made to a April 2013 text by Matthew Parris.

Click here, if need be, to read the whole post