Catalan nationalism

From Free net encyclopedia

Catalan nationalism, or Catalanism, is a political movement that advocates the political autonomy of Catalonia or the Catalan Countries and in some cases, independence from Spain and France. It was born in the 19th century, with the aim of restoring some kind of self-government to Catalonia, and obtaining recognition for the Catalan language. These demands were summarized in the so-called Bases de Manresa in 1892.

During the first part of the 20th century, the main nationalist party was the right-wing Lliga Regionalista, headed by Francesc Cambó. The main achievement in this period was the Mancomunitat de Catalunya a grouping of the four catalan provinces, with limited administrative power. This institution was abolished during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera.

In 1931, the left-wing Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya party won the elections in Catalonia, advocating a Catalan republic federated with Spain. Under pressure from the Spanish government, the leader of ERC, Francesc Macià i Llussà, accepted an autonomous Catalan government instead , which was called Generalitat de Catalunya. Again, this was abolished in 1939, after the Spanish Civil War.

Several political or cultural Catalan movements operated underground during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which lasted until 1975. A president of the Catalan government was still designed and operated symbolically in exile, because of some agreements between Franco's government and foreign countries, president Lluís Companys was captured, sentenced to death and executed by Franco's regime, his successor in exile, Josep Tarradellas, kept away from Spain until Franco's death in 1975, when he came back, the government of Catalonia, the Generalitat was restored again in 1977. Following the approval of the Spanish constitution in 1978, Catalonia was organized as an autonomous community inside Spain in 1979, and in 1980 Jordi Pujol was elected president. Local governments in the neighbouring Valencian-Catalan speaking areas of Valencia (Generalitat Valenciana) and the Balearic Islands (Govern de les Illes Balears) were also elected. In contrast, there is no significant political autonomy, nor recognition of the language in the historical Catalan territories belonging to France (Roussillon, in French département of Pyrénées-Orientales).

Nowadays, the main political parties which define themselves as being Catalan nationalists are Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya. A significant part of the population in Catalonia would support a larger degree of autonomy, and some of them would prefer an independent state.

[edit]