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Catalan independence movement

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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 independentism 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 independentists[1] were created between the 1920s and the 1930s in Spanish Catalonia. The main separatist party created at this time was Estat Català[2] and its branch called Bandera Negra, Estat Català was founder of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya some of them did not accepted 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 independentism 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 [3] 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 [4] and another one in the Consell de Mallorca[5] 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[6] 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[7] and Ciutadans[8] 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 [9], 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[10] or the jurist and former member of the Consejo General del Poder Judicial Alfons López Tena[11]

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[who?] 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 more than 150 towns and villages, that will celebrate the Referendum for the self-determination between 2009 and 2010, similar to the succesfully celebrated in Arenys de Munt.

Studies on social support to independentism in Catalonia

It is difficult to quantify the independentism in Catalonia, however it is possible to have some estimations about this, in all them gives independentism in more than 30%.

  • Parties that give support to independence just ERC gives a clear support within the parliamentary parties, others like CIU, IC or also PSC has independentist in different grades but they are difficult to quantify.
  • Polls, done for different institutes gives a minimum of 30%.

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. 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,[12] 39% of the real population of 6.1 millions for that date, which is over 7,4 millions in 2009.Despite this the independentism is simmilar within the original catalans and whose that their father came from Spain.[13] Many of members and managers of independentist or nationalist parties are descendent of Spanish.

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[citation needed].

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").[14]

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?"[15]:

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[16] 17.6 33.4 38.9 5.1 4.3 0.7
July 2008[17] 16.1 34.7 37.0 6.1 5.2 0.9
November 2008[18] 17.4 31.8 38.3 7.1 4.2 1.2
February 2009[19] 16.1 35.2 38.6 4.5 3.6 2.0
May 2009[20] 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catalonia Independence movement.

References

  1. ^ http://www.estat-catala.cat/
  2. ^ http://www.estat-catala.cat/
  3. ^ http://www.parlament.cat/web/composicio/distribucio-escons
  4. ^ http://fitxers.esquerra.cat/arxius/illes/ParlamentMallorca.pdf
  5. ^ http://www.parlamentib.cat/catala/sec0830.php3?fonssup=&zona=&cod_grupo=3
  6. ^ http://www.ciu.info/
  7. ^ http://www.ppcatalunya.com/
  8. ^ http://www.ciudadanos-cs.org/
  9. ^ "Sala-i-Martin's Independence". Columbia.edu. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  10. ^ http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/catala/club/historia/presidents/joanlaporta.html
  11. ^ http://vilaweb.tv/?video=4948
  12. ^ "Anna Cabré: ''Immigration and welfare state'' (in Catalan)" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  13. ^ http://vilaweb.tv/?video=4948
  14. ^ http://www.icps.es/archivos/sondeigs/SC2007.pdf
  15. ^ Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió Poll results
  16. ^ Template:PDF
  17. ^ Template:PDF
  18. ^ Template:PDF
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  20. ^ Template:PDF
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