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Occitan nationalism is a social and political movement in Occitania. Nationalists seek self-determination, greater autonomy or the creation of a sovereign state of Occitania. The basis of nationalism is linguistic and cultural although currently the Occitan language is a minority status within the language area.
The Occitan political movement for self-government has existed since the beginning of the 20th century and particularly since post-war years. Occitan nationalism emerges as a sense of grievance of the southern regions of France caused by the economic and energy restructuring undertaken by the Gaullists during the 1960s, which would have given priority to the more prosperous northern regions.
Subsequently, from 1968 one Occitan cultural revival, combined with the economic protest, given the results in 1970 in a nationalist claim that it considered Occitania was an internal colony of the French state. [1] The movement remains negligible in electoral and political terms. However, the regional Elections in 2010 allowed the Partit Occitan to enter the regional councils of Aquitaine, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
The following table shows the size and population of the territories claimed by the Occitan nationalism is as follows:
| Country | Territory claimed | Area (km²) | Population (year) |
|---|---|---|---|
Spain  |  Aran Valley (Catalonia) | 634 | 9,993 (2014) |
France  | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (except for Allier and former Rhône-Alpes, but includes Ardèche and Drôme) | 30,372 | 1,829,328 (2013) |
| New Aquitaine (except French Basque Country and former Poitou-Charentes) | 55,283 | 3,755,705 (2013) | |
| Occitania (except Pyrénées-Orientales) | 68,608 | 5,221,173 (2013) | |
 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | 31,400 | 4,953,675 (2013) | |
Italy  |  Guardia Piemontese (Calabria) | 21 | 1,895 (2015) |
 (Liguria)  (Piedmont) Occitan Valleys | 4,500 | 174,476 (2013) | |
 Monaco | 2 | 38,400 (2015) | |
| Occitania | 190,820 | 15,984,645 | |
Occitan, also known as lenga d'òc by its native speakers, sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania. It is also spoken in Calabria in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative.
The Catalan Countries are those territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, 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). It is often used as a sociololinguistic term to describe the cultural-linguistic area where Catalan is spoken. 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.
Regionalism is a political ideology that seeks to increase the political power, influence and self-determination of the people of one or more subnational regions. It focuses on the "development of a political or social system based on one or more" regions and/or the national, normative or economic interests of a specific region, group of regions or another subnational entity, gaining strength from or aiming to strengthen the "consciousness of and loyalty to a distinct region with a homogeneous population", similarly to nationalism. More specifically, "regionalism refers to three distinct elements: movements demanding territorial autonomy within unitary states; the organization of the central state on a regional basis for the delivery of its policies including regional development policies; political decentralization and regional autonomy".
Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is occasionally used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France as well as part of Spain, Monaco, and parts of Italy.
Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation or globe. Typically used for describing the acquiring or preserving political independence of a nation or a region, a sovereigntist aims to "take back control" from perceived powerful forces, either against internal subversive minority groups, or from external global governance institutions, federalism and supranational unions. It generally leans instead toward isolationism, and can be associated with certain independence movements, but has also been used to justify violating the independence of other nations.
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 status 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 one of the oldest in the world.
The Occitan Party is a regionalist political party in France. Its aims include greater autonomy for the historical region of Occitania, southern France. The Occitan Party was formed in Toulouse in 1987 through the union of different Occitanist movements, of candidates to the 1986 regional elections and of various individuals.
Breton nationalism is the nationalism of the historical province of Brittany in France. Brittany is considered to be one of the six Celtic nations.
Northern Catalonia, North Catalonia or French Catalonia is the Catalan-speaking and Catalan-culture territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 in exchange of France's effective renunciation on the formal protection that it had given to the recently founded Catalan Republic. The area corresponds roughly to the modern French département of the Pyrénées-Orientales which were historically part of Catalonia since the old County of Barcelona, and lasted during the times of the Crown of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia until they were given to France by Spain.
Régions et Peuples Solidaires is a political federation of various regionalist parties in France. It was founded in 1995, in order to organise a coordinated fight against "Parisian centrism" and "Jacobin conception of peoples" on the French state level. Its president is Gustave Alirol, the chairman of Partit Occitan.
Both the perceived nationhood of Spain, and the perceived distinctions between different parts of its territory derive from historical, geographical, linguistic, economic, political, ethnic and social factors.
Unity of Aran is a political party in Val d'Aran, Spain. Practically the Aranese section of Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), it is the ruling party of the comarca.
Galician nationalism is a form of nationalism found mostly in Galicia, which asserts that Galicians are a nation and that promotes the cultural unity of Galicians. The political movement referred to as modern Galician nationalism was born at the beginning of the twentieth century from the idea of Galicianism.
The Institut d'Estudis Occitans , or IEO, is a cultural association that was founded in 1945 by a group of Occitan and French writers including Jean Cassou, Tristan Tzara, Ismaël Girard, Max Roqueta, Renat Nelli, and Pierre Rouquette. It aims at both maintaining and developing the Occitan language and influence of Occitania through the supervision, harmonization and normalization of everything dealing with the Occitan life and culture.
Left-wing nationalism or leftist nationalism is a form of nationalism which is based upon national self-determination, popular sovereignty, and left-wing political positions such as social equality. Left-wing nationalism can also include anti-imperialism and national liberation movements. Left-wing nationalism often stands in contrast to right-wing politics and right-wing nationalism.
Corsican nationalism is the concept of a cohesive nation of Corsica and a national identity of its people. The Corsican autonomy movement stems from Corsican nationalism and advocates for further autonomy for the island, if not outright independence from France.
Occitan Struggle was an Occitan political group created in 1971 from the Comitat Occitans d'Estudis e d'Accion. It was mainly composed of intellectuals, students and agricultural unionists. The group had a revolutionary, autonomist, and Occitan nationalist ideology, and was headquartered in Toulouse. The group primarily desired the complete decolonization of Occitania, and appealed to the Occitan working class, which they thought would contribute to the destruction of the capitalist French state. In 1972, LO signed the Brest Charter.
Occitania is the southernmost administrative region of metropolitan France excluding Corsica, created on 1 January 2016 from the former regions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées. The Council of State approved Occitania as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, coming into effect on 30 September 2016.
The Partit Nacionalista Occitan, more simply, "PNO" is a political party of Occitania, founded in 1959 by François Fontan (1929–1979). The current name is "Partit de la Nacion Occitana".
