In Catalonia, we are living one of the most exhilarating years in our history. It will be a hard, difficult, complicated year, because we are suffering a financial crisis together with the rest of Southern Europe, exacerbated by the economic asphyxiation that Catalonia suffers at the hands of the Spanish government. Despite everything, we Catalans are excited and hopeful for the future because, for the first time, we are in reach of a dream that so many Catalans share: that we can recover the freedom that we lost almost 300 years ago. The Spanish State has said that we cannot hold a referendum, that we cannot decide our own future because it is illegal, because the Spanish laws don’t allow it. Indeed, many of these Spanish laws, the Constitution included, were made expressly so that Catalans could not decide our own future. They were created to suppress the minority.
An edition of What's up with Catalonia?
(2013)
What's up with Catalonia?
The causes which impel them to the separation
by Liz Castro
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Description: On September 11, 2012, on Catalonia’s National Day, 1.5 million people from all over Catalonia marched peacefully and joyfully through the streets of Barcelona, behind a single placard: Catalonia: New State in Europe. Fifteen days later, President Artur Mas called snap elections for the Parliament of Catalonia, in order to hold a referendum that would let the people of Catalonia decide their own future. The rest of the world and even Spain were caught by surprise, but the events unfolding in Barcelona have been a long time coming.
In this new book, 35 experts explore Catalonia’s history, economics, politics, language, and culture, in order to explain to the rest of the world the fascinating story behind the march, the new legislature, and the upcoming vote on whether Catalonia will become the next new state in Europe.
With a prologue by Artur Mas, President of Catalonia, and contributions from: Ignasi Aragay • Laia Balcells • Germà Bel • Laura Borràs • Alfred Bosch • Núria Bosch • Roger Buch i Ros • Joan Canadell • Pau Canaleta • Salvador Cardús • Muriel Casals • Andreu Domingo • Carme Forcadell Lluís • Josep Maria Ganyet • Salvador Garcia-Ruiz • Àlex Hinojo • Edward Hugh • Oriol Junqueras • M. Carme Junyent • J.C. Major • Pere Mayans Balcells • Josep M. Muñoz • Mary Ann Newman • Elisenda Paluzie • Vicent Partal • Cristina Perales-García • Eva Piquer • Enric Pujol Casademont ¶ Marta Rovira-Martínez • Vicent Sanchis • Xavier Solano • Miquel Strubell • Matthew Tree • Ramon Tremosa • F. Xavier Vila
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Subjects
Catalonia, Spain, independence, politics, Barcelona, Catalunya, Cataluña, Politics and government, Nationalism, Civilization, Autonomy and independence movements, History, Sprache, Kultur, PolitikPeople
Artur MasTimes
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What's up with Catalonia?: The causes which impel them to the separation
2013, Catalonia Press
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161150032X 9781611500325
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What's up with Catalonia?: The causes which impel them to the separation
2013, Catalonia Press
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Book Details
Table of Contents
Editor’s note—Liz Castro
Prologue: A new path for Catalonia—Artur Mas i Gavarró President of Catalonia
Catalonia, a new state in Europe—Carme Forcadell Lluís
2013: The transition year toward the referendum on independence—Oriol Junqueras
Premeditated asphyxia—Elisenda Paluzie
It’s always been there—F. Xavier Vila
Catalonia, land of immigration—Andreu Domingo
Opening the black box of secessionism—Laia Balcells
Schooling in Catalonia (1978–2012)—Pere Mayans Balcells
The view from Brussels—Ramon Tremosa i Balcells
Keep Calm and Speak Catalan—Josep Maria Ganyet
Wilson, Obama, Catalonia, and Figueres—Enric Pujol Casademont
News from Catalonia—Josep M. Muñoz
On the prickly matter of language—J.C. Major
Is the perfect always and everywhere the enemy of the good?—Edward Hugh
What has happened to us Catalans?—Salvador Cardús
Our place in the world: the country of Barcelona—Vicent Partal
How did we get here?—Cristina Perales-García
Judo in Madrid—Alfred Bosch
European patriots—Muriel Casals
The battle for the audience—Ignasi Aragay
Strangers in our own land—Germà Bel
Yet another wiki?—Àlex Hinojo
The languages of the Catalans—M. Carme Junyent
Non-nationalist independentism—Laura Borràs
Catalan language literature: What’s going on?—Matthew Tree
Catalonia or Catalan Countries?—Vicent Sanchis
Time to say “yes”—Eva Piquer
A Scottish referendum for Catalonia—Xavier Solano
Language in education—Miquel Strubell
What happened on November 25?—Pau Canaleta
Americans ♥ Catalonia: A geometric progression—Mary Ann Newman
The viability of Catalonia as a state—Núria Bosch
To my Spanish friends—Salvador Garcia-Ruiz
The Catalan business model—Joan Canadell
The CUP: the oldest and newest independentists—Roger Buch i Ros
Our September 11th (1714)—Marta Rovira-Martínez
Index
Edition Notes
Classifications
Contributors
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Excerpts
Page 16,
added by Liz Castro.
What, then, makes a nation? Not race or religion—at least not for Catalans. Nor the trappings of power—a state, an army—whose unquestioned benefits they lost a long time ago. The right place to look for proof of Catalonia’s unique personality is in the broad field of culture—in the set of values and customs that are shared by a community and are specific to it, the common way of doing things that is recognized as such by the people living in a certain land and also by those coming into contact with it for the first time.
Page 86,
added by Liz Castro.
A big part of the Catalonia question is “why do they consider themselves different” and language is a crucial part of the answer.
Thus, during the period 2002–2009, Catalonia provided 19.55 percent of all central government and Social Security income in Spain while receiving only 13.5 percent of all central government and Social Security expenditures. If we exclude personal redistribution, channeled through Social Security (social contributions, pensions, and unemployment benefits), the figures are more extreme. Catalonia contributed 19.7 percent to central government income, and received only 10.31 percent of central government expenditures. This means that for each euro paid in taxes to the central government, only 52 cents return to Catalonia, while 48 cents are not spent in Catalonia.
Page 26,
added by Liz Castro.
Spain has consistently overtaxed and underfunded Catalonia. It is not the most important factor, but it is the one that makes Catalans wonder why they're bearing the rest.
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History
- Created June 5, 2013
- 6 revisions
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| December 18, 2022 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
| July 18, 2019 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
| June 6, 2013 | Edited by Liz Castro | added language and internet archive code for download |
| June 5, 2013 | Edited by Liz Castro | Edited without comment. |
| June 5, 2013 | Created by Liz Castro | Added new book. |