"I Am a Catalan" the name given to a short speech given by cellist and humanistPau Casals in front of the General Assembly of the United Nations on the 24 October 1971. Casals was in front of the assembly to present the "Hymn of the United Nations" composed by himself and to receive the U.N. Peace Medal in recognition of his stance for peace, justice and freedom. In his acceptance speech, in English, he praised Catalonia and the Peace and Truce of God meetings, which he refers to as "the first parliament":
But let me say one thing. I am a Catalan. Today a province of Spain. But what has been Catalonia? Catalonia has been the greatest nation in the world. I will tell you why. Catalonia has had the first parliament, much before England. Catalonia had the beginning of the United Nations. All the authorities of Catalonia in the 11th century met in a city of France, at that time Catalonia, to speak about peace. 11th century! Peace in the world and against, against, against war, the inhumanity and brutality of war. This was Catalonia. I am so so happy, so moved to be here, with you.
After the speech Casals, 94 years old, performed one of his most popular pieces "El Cant dels Ocells".
The speech had a major impact on Catalan society living in the Francoist state. It became a popular motto within Catalan nationalist circles; Catalans saw their national identity and history recognized worldwide by one of their greatest citizens.
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy.
Pau Casals i Defilló, known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals, was a Catalan and Puerto Rican cellist, composer, and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century and one of the greatest cellists of all time. He made many recordings throughout his career of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, including some as conductor, but he is perhaps best remembered for the recordings of the Bach Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy.
Catalonia was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic era. Like the rest of the Mediterranean side of the Iberian Peninsula, the area was occupied by the Iberians and several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans. It then came under Visigothic rule after the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered the area from the Muslims, ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties against Islamic rule historiographically known as the Marca Hispanica. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule.
The Generalitat de Catalunya, or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia politically organizes its self-government as an autonomous community of Spain. It is formed by the Parliament of Catalonia, the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Executive Council of Catalonia.
Pau Claris i Casademunt was a Catalan lawyer, clergyman and 94th President of the Deputation of the General of Catalonia at the beginning of the Catalan Revolt. On 16 January 1641 he proclaimed the Catalan Republic under the protection of France.
Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation.
The Catalan independence movement is a social and political movement which seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain.
The politics of Catalonia takes place within the framework of its Statute of Autonomy, which grants a degree of self-government to Catalonia and establish it as an autonomous community of Spain with the statuts of a nationality, operating as a parliamentary democracy. The Generalitat de Catalunya is the Catalan institution of self-government, which includes the Parliament of Catalonia, the President and the Executive Council.
The Parliament of Catalonia is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as deputies (diputats/deputats/diputados), who are elected for four-year terms or after extraordinary dissolution, chosen by universal suffrage in lists of four constituencies, corresponding to the Catalan provinces. The Parliament building is located in Ciutadella Park, Barcelona.
The Reapers' War, also known as the Catalan Revolt, was a conflict that affected the Principality of Catalonia between the years of 1640 and 1659. It had an enduring effect in the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), which ceded the County of Roussillon and the northern half of the County of Cerdanya to France, splitting these northern Catalan territories off from the Principality of Catalonia and the Crown of Aragon, and thereby receding the borders of Spain to the Pyrenees.
Lluís Maria Xirinacs i Damians was a Catalan politician, writer, catholic cleric and advocate for the independence of Catalonia.
Oriol Junqueras i Vies is a Spanish politician and historian from Catalonia. A former mayor of the municipality of Sant Vicenç dels Horts in Catalonia, Junqueras served as Vice President of Catalonia from January 2016 to October 2017 when he was removed from office following the Catalan declaration of independence and entered prison until June 2021, for his role in organizing the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. He is president of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC). Born in 1969 in Barcelona, Junqueras grew up in the municipality of Sant Vicenç dels Horts. After graduating from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, he taught history at the university.
A non-binding Catalan self-determination referendum, also known as the Citizen Participation Process on the Political Future of Catalonia, was held on Sunday, 9 November 2014, to gauge support on the political future of Catalonia. While also referred to as "Catalan independence referendum", the vote was rebranded as a "participation process" by the Government of Catalonia, after a "non-referendum popular consultation" on the same topic and for the same date had been suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain.
"El cant dels ocells" is a traditional Catalan Christmas song and lullaby. It tells of nature's joy at learning of the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable in Bethlehem. The song was made famous outside Catalonia by Pau Casals' instrumental version on the cello. After his exile in 1939, he would begin each of his concerts by playing this song. For this reason, it is often considered a symbol of Catalonia.
Revolutionary Communist League was a political party in Spain. It was founded in 1971 by members of the Catalan group Comunisme, a split of the Popular Liberation Front (FLP). The LCR had a trotskyist ideology, adopting more heterodox political positions in the 1980s.
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.
Francoism in Catalonia was established within Francoist Spain between 1939 and 1975, following the Spanish Civil War and post-war Francoist repression. Francisco Franco's regime replaced Revolutionary Catalonia after the Catalonia Offensive at the end of the war. The dictatorship in Catalonia complemented the suppression of democratic freedoms with the repression of Catalan culture. Its totalitarian character and its unifying objectives meant the imposition of a single culture and a single language, Castillian. The regime was specifically anti-Catalan, but this did not stop the development of a Catalan Francoism that was forged during the war and fed by victory.
Polaco is a Spanish derogatory term for a Catalan person. Its origins are not clear and all related theories are purely speculative, usually banking on the fact that the same word denotes a Pole. The name appears across all Spain, though in particular in Madrid and in the regions neighboring Catalonia. Rarely present in literary language, it forms part of the slang vocabulary; its best-known usage is during sport competitions. In Catalonia the term is accepted and at times used once its derogatory flavor is wiped out or reversed, such as when telling Catalans from other Spaniards. In Poland the term is generally unknown; when reported, its offensive connotation is marginalized or ignored, replaced with references to alleged Catalan sympathy towards Poland.
The trial of Catalonia independence leaders, legally named Causa Especial 20907/2017 and popularly known as the Causa del procés, was an oral trial that began on 12 February 2019 in the Supreme Court of Spain. The case was tried by seven judges and was chaired by judge Manuel Marchena. Judge Pablo Llarena had previously coordinated an instruction between October 2017 and July 2018, as a result of which 12 people were tried, including the previous vice president Oriol Junqueras of the regional government and most of the cabinet as well as political activists Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart and the former Speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia Carme Forcadell. Some defendants remained in pre-trial detention without bail from the beginning of the instruction process and have thus already served part of their sentence.
Eulàlia Reguant i Cura is a Spanish politician. From 2015 to 2017 she represented the constituency of Barcelona in the Parliament of Catalonia, where she was a member of the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP). From 2017 to 2019 she was a councilor in the City Council of Barcelona.
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