The Catalan Countries refers to those territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, and parts of Aragon and Murcia (Carche), as well as the Principality of Andorra, the department of Pyrénées-Orientales in France, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia (Italy). In the context of Catalan nationalism, the term is sometimes used in a more restricted way to refer to just Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Catalan Countries do not correspond to any present or past political or administrative unit, though most of the area belonged to the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. Parts of Valencia (Spanish) and Catalonia (Occitan) are not Catalan-speaking.
Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation.
The Catalan independence movement is a social and political movement with roots in Catalan nationalism, which seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain, along with some in the movement supporting the independence of North Catalonia from France and that of other Catalan-speaking areas, referred to as the Catalan Countries.
The 2010 Catalan autonomy protest was a demonstration in central Barcelona on 10 July 2010 against limitations of the autonomy of Catalonia, and particularly against a recent decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court to annul or reinterpret several articles of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. The number of people taking part in the demonstration was estimated at between 1.1 million and 1.5 million, while Madrid-based newspaper El País estimated the number of demonstrators at 425,000. The mobilisation was described as "unprecedented" by the mayor of Barcelona. The Barcelona daily newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya described it as "without a doubt one of the biggest protest marches that has ever occurred in Catalonia, possibly the biggest". It is thought that the 2012 Catalan independence demonstration involved more people, but this protest brought the dispute to light in the world.
The Assemblea Nacional Catalana is an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. It also promotes the independence of other Catalan-speaking regions, which are collectively known as the Catalan Countries.
The 2012 Catalan independence demonstration was a protest march which occurred in central Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, on 11 September 2012 during the National Day of Catalonia. The protestors demanded the independence of Catalonia and its establishment as a sovereign state under the slogan "Catalonia, new state in Europe". It was organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and headed together with the Association of Municipalities for Independence as the final and the most prominent of a series of events known as "March towards Independence" which began on 30 June 2012 in Lleida.
The Catalan Way, also known as the Catalan Way towards Independence, was a 400-kilometre (250 mi) human chain in support of Catalan independence from Spain. It was organized by the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and supported by 14 nongovernmental groups. It took place in Catalonia on 11 September 2013, which is the National Day of Catalonia, known as Diada. Catalonia's Department of the Interior estimated the number of participants at about 1.6 million. The human chain followed the ancient Via Augusta, from Le Perthus up to Alcanar. According to Carme Forcadell, president of the ANC at that time, it was "a symbol of the unity of Catalan people to achieve national sovereignty".
Left Movement is a social-democratic, pro-independence political party in Catalonia. The party was founded in November 2014 from the merger of New Catalan Left (NECat) and Catalonia Movement, which had both been formed by dissident members of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) who were dissatisfied with what they saw as the party's lack of support for the independence movement. Its founders included Marina Geli and Ernest Maragall (NECat), but both have ever since left for other parties—Geli joined the Together for Catalonia alliance ahead of the 2017 Catalan regional election, whereas Maragall defected to Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) in 2018.
Go ahead, Catalan Republic or We are ready was a coordinated demonstration that consisted of five large celebrations in Barcelona, Berga, Lleida, Salt and Tarragona on 11 September 2016, the National Day of Catalonia, in support of Catalan independence. It was organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, the main civil society organisations behind the massive pro-independence demonstrations held since 2012.
New Catalan Left was a Catalanist and pro-independence political party founded in December 2012 as a split from the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) by Ernest Maragall, brother of former Catalan president Pasqual Maragall. In November 2014, the party was merged into the Left Movement (MES).
National Day for Yes was a gathering in Barcelona on 11 September 2017, the National Day of Catalonia, in support of Catalan independence. It was organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), the main civil society organisations behind the massive pro-independence demonstrations held since 2012.
The Operation Anubis was a police operation in Catalonia, Spain, initiated on 20 September 2017 by the Civil Guard following orders of the trial court number 13 of Barcelona, directed by judge Juan Antonio Ramírez Sunyer. Its aim was to dismantle the framework of the Catalan independence referendum of 1 October 2017, that was suspended on 6 September 2017 by the Constitutional Court of Spain as breaching the 1978 Constitution. Different headquarters of the Generalitat de Catalunya were searched and 14 people were arrested, including high ranking administrative staff, and company CEO's involved in the preparation of the referendum. Simultaneously, several printing and media companies were searched looking for ballot papers and boxes. More than 140 websites were shut down by the Spanish justice and police.
As a result of the advisory 2017 Catalan independence referendum, reactions came from a multitude of avenues, including the domestic central state and other official bodies, as well as international commentary. Whilst the government and non-government community in Catalonia defended the vote, most of the international community either defended Spain's "territorial integrity" or simply criticised the central police's overhanded response. Other sub-national entities also supported Catalonia.
Societat Civil Catalana is a Barcelona-based grass-roots organisation that was created in 2014 with the aim of promoting Catalonia’s union to Spain. Most of SCC activities seek to counter the Catalan independence movement. SCC was officially launched on 23 April 2014.
Tabarnia is a fictional region within Catalonia, a satirical parody of the Catalan independence movement and a movement against the independence of Catalonia from Spain. The Tabarnia movement mirrors the independentist movement advocating for a referendum to create a new Spanish autonomous community out of coastal urban parts of Catalonia, a region that gathers most of the population of Catalonia and in which, in general, votes for independentist parties rarely reach 50% of the votes. It would encompass the current Catalan comarques of Maresme, Baix Camp, Baix Penedès, Alt Penedès, Garraf, Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, Vallès Oriental, Vallès Occidental and Tarragonés.
Somatemps is a collective in Catalonia generally considered to be aligned with the far-right of Spain and also of being Spanish nationalist. They state to be committed to defend what they call "the hispanic identity of Catalonia". It was founded between 2011 and November 16, 2013 in Santpedor (Bages), where one of its founders, Josep Ramon Bosch, resides. The organisation is led by Javier Barraycoa. Currently Somatemps has around 300 members. The name of Somatemps was intended as word-play between "Som a temps"—"we are in time" —and the medieval Catalan militias Sometent. Somatemps has contributed to the creation of the association Catalan Civil Society.
The Catalan Identitarian Movement is a Catalan nationalist and far right political movement in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is an ethnic nationalist movement, supporting Catalan independence, opposed to immigration from outside of Europe, and in favor of controlling immigration within Europe. It is inspired by Estat Català and Nosaltres Sols!, the armed factions of Catalan separatism in the 1930s, as well as by the identitarian views of early Catalan nationalists.
Luis Javier Muñoz Codorniu, also known as Xavier Codorniu, is the secretary of Somatemps, a founder of Societat Civil Catalana and president of Monarchical National Union of Spain.
Jorge Buxadé Villalba is a Spanish lawyer and politician who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain, and has been spokesperson for Vox since February 2020. He is a member of the far-right-wing party Vox and previously worked for the People's Party between 2004 and 2014. In 1995, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Catalan parliamentary election as a member of Falange Española de las JONS, and in 1996 he was number 8 in the Falange Auténtica list for Barcelona for the Spanish general election.
The sentencing of nine Catalan independence leaders in a 2019 trial by the Supreme Court of Spain triggered protests in Catalonia. They were convicted of sedition and other crimes against the Spanish state for their role in the organization of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.
