Catalan independence movement

The blue estelada flag

Catalan separatism is a political movement which supports the independence of Catalonia from Spain and France. It is sometimes extended to the so-called "Catalan Countries", the whole Catalan-speaking domain (or even to its extension to the political entities where Catalan has some official status).

The Estelada flag, in its blue and red versions, has become its main symbol.

History

Some Catalan separatist authors argue that first precedents of Catalan separatism may date back as far as 1640, with the unsuccessful first Catalan Republic after Reaper's War, and subsequently during the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in the modern sense, the first political parties which started defining themselves as separatists were created between the 1920s and the 1930s in Spanish Catalonia. The main separatist party created at this time was Estat Català and its branch called Bandera Negra, although Estat Català never achieved widespread success and remained a small party.

After the Spanish Civil War, members of Estat Català and Nosaltres Sols founded the Front Nacional de Catalunya which became the main pro-independence party. However, one might argue that modern Catalan separatism was actually born in the 1960s with the Partit Socialista d'Alliberament Nacional (PSAN). Since then, the pro-independence movement has assumed a mostly left-wing political trend and has often shifted its focus from "independence for Catalonia" to "independence for the 'Catalan Countries'". By the 1970s, the PSAN split into several factions, and many other groups appeared, including the armed organization Terra Lliure. In the 1980s, the Moviment de Defensa de la Terra (MDT) became the major pro-independence political group but this too became divided by the end of the decade. During the 1990s, existing political parties such as Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and the linguistic-national initiative Crida a la Solidaritat progressively evolved towards a more pro-independence stance.

Modern Independentism

Joan Puigcercós leader of ERC in Blanes

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya is currently the only organization campaigning explicitly for independence represented in the Catalan Parliament.They won a 14% of the total Catalan votes in the Catalan Parliament in the Catalonian parliamentary election, 2006 becaming the 3rd most important party and having the key for the goverment. They are already present in other Parliaments in Catalan countries like Illes Balears having one deputy in the Parliament and another one in the Consell de Mallorca being in the goverment. Out of Catalan Countries they have one eurodeputy and 3 deputies in the Spanish Parliament.

A number of members and voters of Convergència i Unió (CiU),nationalist federation of 2 parties with the majority of seats at the Catalan parliament also give less explicit support to independentism but give strong support to the Catalan nationalism. Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya has many independentist and also they attracted more since 2007 into its ranks by means of the Casa Gran del Catalanisme, a project which, among other causes, includes the defense of the self-determination of Catalonia. Also in the left wing party Iniciativa per Catalunya are several members that support independentism and gives full support to the self-determination.

The only parties that explicit reject the catalan independence and the self-determination right are PP and Ciutadans wich has the 10,7% and 3% in the Catalonian parliamentary election, 2006

Other independentist smaller parties or coalitions, without present representation in any parliament, are Estat Català, Unitat Nacional de Catalunya, Endavant, the PSAN, the MDT, the CUP and Reagrupament. There are also youth sections such as the Maulets, el jovent independentista revolucionari or the Coordinadora d'Assemblees de Joves de l'Esquerra Independentista, and the students' organizations SEPC and FNEC.

Belfast

In recent years Catalan independentism reasons have received support from individuals coming from a broader political spectrum other than the usual left or far-left Catalan nationalism. This phenomenon includes the liberal economist Xavier Sala i Martín , also liberal economist Ramon Tremosa Balcells, that will lead CiU's ticket for the European parliament in the 2009 election, lawyer and FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta or the jurist and former member of the Consejo General del Poder Judicial Alfons López Tena

The think tank Cercle d'Estudis Sobiranistes, led by the jurists Alfons López Tena and Hèctor López Bofill was founded in 2007; it has since lobbied that has summoned a number of lawmakers, professors, businessmen, professionals, economists, journalists and intellectuals for the cause of Catalonia's independence.

In Spain, some considered this current to have have been stimulated as a reaction especially against the policy of the latter Spanish governments of the Partido Popular party, and its opposition to certain legislative reforms such as the new proposal of Statute of Catalonia.

Now is being developed a Query on Catalonia independence with many towns added, that will celebrate the Referendum for the self-determination, similar to the succesfully celebrated in Arenys de Munt.

Studies on social support to independentism in Catalonia

Polls on the matter are troublesome, since the question of independence is not in the daily political agenda, something which may be distorting replies from the interviewed. Besides, polls from different institutions are hardly comparable among them.

Still, some sources suggest a core support of no more than a fifth of Catalans adhering to the idea of independence.

The position of Catalans regarding the independence of either Catalonia or the Catalan Countries must be studied taking into account an important fact, namely, that a huge number of Catalan citizens are of immigrant origin and feel little or no connection to the Catalan language or to Catalan traditional culture. It has been reckoned that the total population of Catalonia with no migrations would have grown from 2 million people in 1900 to just 2.4 millions in 1980, 39% of the real population of 6.1 millions for that date, which is over 7,4 millions in 2009.

Polls

A few institutions have performed polls which also include questions on the independence issue in Catalonia. The following are the most prominent ones: (1) Center for Social Research (Centro de Investigaciones Sociales CIS) which belongs to the Spanish government, (2) Social and Political Sciencies Institute of Barcelona (Institut de Ciències Polítiques i Socials ICPS) belonging to the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Diputation of Barcelona, and (3) Center for Opinion Studies (Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió CEO), depending on the Economy Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

CIS performed a poll in Catalonia on 2001, including an explicit question on independence with the following results: 35.9% supporting it, 48.1% opposing, 13.3% indifferent, 2.8% did not reply.

ICPS performs annually an opinion poll since 1989, which always includes a section on independence.

All in all, polls seem to indicate an ambivalent and far from universal feeling. For example, the 2007 ICPS poll indicated that, when asked about the independence of Catalonia, 51% of the population would be against it, 32% would favour it, while 17% do not have an opinion, but, in this same poll, when asked about the meaning of Spain, only 5% of the interviewed identified with the downright independentist option ("Spain is an alien State of which my country is not a part").

The results are in the following table:

Year	Support (%)	Against (%)	Indifferent (%)	Do not reply (%)
1991	35	50	11	4
1992	31	53	11	5
1993	37	50	9	5
1994	35	49	14	3
1995	36	52	10	3
1996	29	56	11	4
1997	32	52	11	5
1998	32	55	10	3
1999	32	55	10	3
2000	32	53	13	3
2001	33	55	11	1
2002	34	52	12	1
2003*	43	43	12	1
2004*	39	44	13	3
2005	36	44	15	6
2006	33	48	17	2
2007	31.7	51.3	14.1	2.9

• On 2003 and 2004 a different methodology was used (telephonic instead of door-to-door interview).

CEO performs regular polls studying political opinion of Catalan citizens. The following table contains the answers to the question "Which kind of political entity should Catalonia be with respect to Spain?":

Date	An independent state (%)	A state in a federal Spain (%)	A Spanish autonomous community (%)	A Spanish region (%)	Do not know (%)	Do not reply (%)
June 2005	13.6	31.3	40.8	7.0	6.2	1.1
November 2005	12.9	35.8	37.6	5.6	6.9	1.2
March 2006	13.9	33.4	38.2	8.1	5.1	1.2
July 2006	14.9	34.1	37.3	6.9	6.1	0.7
October 2006	14.0	32.9	38.9	8.3	5.1	0.8
November 2006	15.9	32.8	40.0	6.8	3.7	0.8
March 2007	14.5	35.3	37.0	6.1	4.9	2.2
July 2007	16.9	34.0	37.3	5.5	5.4	1.0
October 2007	18.5	34.2	35.0	4.7	6.0	1.5
Desember 2007	17.3	33.8	37.8	5.1	5.0	1.0
January 2008	19.4	36.4	34.8	3.8	4.1	1.6
May 2008	17.6	33.4	38.9	5.1	4.3	0.7
July 2008	16.1	34.7	37.0	6.1	5.2	0.9
November 2008	17.4	31.8	38.3	7.1	4.2	1.2
February 2009	16.1	35.2	38.6	4.5	3.6	2.0
May 2009	20.9	35.0	34.9	4.4	3.0	1.7

The independentist question in the other Catalan-speaking territories

The question of independence has not been polled so far in other Catalan-speaking territories outside of Catalonia, but anecdotal evidence (basically the total absence of the independentist question in those territories) suggests that there is no sizeable support for the idea of independence of the Catalan-speaking territories outside of Catalonia.

See also

• List of active autonomist and secessionist movements
• Catalan Republic
• Catalan Countries
• Catalan nationalism
• History of Catalonia
• Catalan language
• Anti-Catalanism
• Racó Català. web portal related to Catalan separatism.
• Arenys de Munt query on Catalonia independence
• Query on Catalonia independence

External links

• Free Catalonia
• Party Urging More Autonomy From Spain Seems to Win in Catalonia Article on New York Times, November 2, 2006
• Courage in Catalonia Article on New York Times, June 22, 2006
• Voters in Catalonia Approve A Plan for Greater Autonomy Article on New York Times, June 19, 2006
• Spain Moves On Law to Give Broad Powers To Catalonia Article on New York Times, March 31, 2006
• Template:Dmoz. Template:Ca icon
• History of Catalan independentism. Dossier of the Catalan magazine El Temps. Template:Ca icon
• Estatpropi.Cat, Webpage to count and to show the support to create an own state for the Catalan Countries