Catalonia wants out; Spain says no

A great layer for anyone getting to know Catalan history.

Lash wrote:

A great layer for anyone getting to know Catalan history.

Catalonia's history didn't start in last century - Catalonia was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans (and, of course, settled before: caves of Mollet, the Greek town of Empúries etc)

But since you mentioned Orwell: he wrote Coming Up for Air, his last novel before World War II, in Morocco, where he lived for half a year with his wife, so he could recover from his wound. Basically, it's completely pessimistic, saying thatindustrialism and capitalism have killed the best of Old England

Mr Verhofstadt urged de-escalation, a negotiated solution bringing in all parties – including the opposition in Catalonia – and respect for Spain’s constitutional and legal order. He is right. Finding a way out of this mess will require a willingness to listen, to Catalans most of all.

Do I really need to tell an American the importance of self-determination? Some things are more important than money, especially if the state is trying to stop you having a voice.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont says the Spanish region has won the right to statehood following a contentious referendum that was marred by violence.
He said the door had been opened to a unilateral declaration of independence.
Catalan officials later said 90% of those who voted backed independence in Sunday's vote. The turnout was 42.3%.
More than 2.2 million people were reported to have voted, according to Catalan authorities, out of 5.3 million registered voters. A Catalan spokesman said more than 750,000 votes could not be counted because polling stations were closed and urns were confiscated.
"My government in the next few days will send the results of today's vote to the Catalan parliament, where the sovereignty of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of the referendum."
He said the European Union could no longer "continue to look the other way".
"With this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to an independent state in the form of a republic," Mr Puigdemont said in a televised address.
The Spanish prime minister spoke of a "mockery" of democracy.
"At this hour I can tell you in the strongest terms what you already know and what we have seen throughout this day. There has not been a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia," Mr Rajoy said.
Large crowds of independence supporters gathered in the centre of the regional capital Barcelona on Sunday evening, waving flags and singing the Catalan anthem. Anti-independence protesters have also held rallies in Barcelona and other Spanish cities.
In another development, more than 40 trade unions and Catalan associations called a region-wide strike on Tuesday due to "the grave violation of rights and freedoms".
TV images showed Spanish police kicking would-be voters and pulling women out of polling stations by their hair.
Catalan medical officials said 844 people had been hurt in clashes, including 33 police. The majority had minor injuries or had suffered from anxiety attacks.
In Girona, riot police smashed their way into a polling station where Mr Puigdemont was due to vote, and forcibly removed those inside. He voted at another station.
The BBC's Tom Burridge in Barcelona witnessed police being chased away from one polling booth after they had raided it.
TV footage showed riot police using batons to beat a group of firefighters who were protecting crowds in Girona.

Veteran Europhile Lord Heseltine has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson, saying "in any normal situation he would be sacked".
Mr Johnson sparked fresh speculation about Theresa May's leadership as the Tories gathered in Manchester for their conference, following a second article setting out his own approach to Brexit.
Lord Heseltine said the PM was too "weak" to sack the foreign secretary.
Mrs May has insisted the cabinet was united behind her Brexit vision.
"What I have is a cabinet that are united in the mission of this government, and that is what you will see this week," she told the BBC's Andrew Marr show.
Mr Johnson's article for The Sun - in which he says Mrs May's planned transition phase must not last "a second more" than two years - is the second time in a fortnight he set out his own vision for Brexit.
The foreign secretary also did this in a Daily Telegraph article last month.
This sparked accusations of "backseat driving" and prompted Mrs May to say the government was "driven from the front".
Lord Heseltine, who was on the opposite side of the EU referendum to Mr Johnson and has criticised him strongly in the past, said Mrs May was in an impossible position.
"If she keeps him inside, he will continue to disrupt, if she puts him outside, he will disrupt," he told the BBC's Sunday Politics.
His view was echoed by former Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps, who told ITV's Robert Peston Mrs May cannot sack Mr Johnson "for the simple reason that her majority is so small that her position is not strong enough".
"She should, of course, but she can't," he added.
"Putting him on the outside would put her entire premiership in instant peril."
He also echoed Lord Heseltine's belief that Mrs May can't lead the Conservatives into the next general election.
First Secretary of State Damian Green, who is effectively Mrs May's second-in-command, rejected calls for her to sack Mr Johnson.
"Boris clearly has huge talents and having him in the cabinet gives us those strengths," he told Robert Peston.
"Inevitably on big issues people will express views. Boris has a good record as Mayor of London, so it's a good thing to have him in the cabinet."
Asked whether he expected to be sure by the end of the week that Mr Johnson was not trying to destabilise the prime minister, Mr Green said: "I hope so and I think so, yes."
He told BBC Radio 5's Live's Pienaar's Politics the speculation about Mrs May's leadership was "classic conference frenzy" and the government's Brexit policy was "agreed by the whole cabinet".
She sidestepped a question about whether Mr Johnson was "unsackable" as Lord Heseltine and others have claimed.
She also declined to answer whether she would resign as prime minister if she fails to secure a Brexit deal and the UK leaves the EU without agreement on a future relationship in March 2019.