Abstract
Constructing Catalan Identity does not promote Catalanism. Its aim is to show how things are, not how things should be. Nevertheless, by ending with a look at the present crisis in Spain, it recognizes that the Catalan people have achieved, again, a moral victory. Recent attempts by Catalans to express their wishes in a plebiscite have been squelched by a nation-state that shows less interest in democratic values than in autocratic defense of a legal apparatus that subverts freedoms. This epilogue considers what the future may hold.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Human Rights Watch monitored the events surrounding the Referendum and produced a video of scenes from that day: Human Rights Watch, “Spain: Police Used Excessive Force in Catalonia,” October 12, 2017, accessed November 24, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/12/spain-police-used-excessive-force-catalonia. The Spanish Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, called the photographic and video evidence “fake news” and spoke of “alternative facts” in an interview with the BBC; see James Badcock, “Spanish Minister: Police Violence videos against Catalonia referendum supporters are ‘fake news’,” The Telegraph, October 22, 2017, accessed November 24, 2017, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/22/spanish-minister-says-videos-police-violence-fake-news/. On the banning of rubber bullets in Catalonia, and calls by the EU and United Nations to outlaw their use elsewhere, see Irene Baqué, “Catalan police banned from using rubber bullets,” The Guardian (April 30, 2014), accessed November 24, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/catalonia-police-banned-rubber-bullets
- 2.
Maya Oppenheim, “Catalonia: Fascists caught making Nazi salutes during anti-Catalan independence protest,” October 30, 2017, accessed on November 24, 2017, The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-independence-fascists-nazi-salutes-anti-catalan-protest-barcelona-a8027111.html, and Emily Retter, “Hundreds of thousands march in Barcelona in Favour of Catalonia staying in Spain – but violence breaks out and thugs give Nazi salutes,” The Mirror, October 29, 2017, accessed on November 24, 2017, http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/march-barcelona-favour-catalonia-spain-11431482
- 3.
Lauren Cerulus, “Catalonia crisis hits home in Belgium,” Politico EU, October 30, 2017, accessed on November 24, 2017, https://www.politico.eu/article/charles-michel-theo-francken-catalonia-crisis-hits-home-in-belgium/
- 4.
Elliott , Revolt of the Catalans, 15 and 355.
- 5.
Sebastian Balfour and Alejandro Quiroga, The Reinvention of Spain: Nation and Identity Since Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 72–76. Paul Kennedy, The Spanish Socialist Party and the Modernisation of Spain (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013).
- 6.
For background and examples, see Paul Heywood, “From Dictatorship to Democracy: Changing Forms of Corruption in Spain,” in Donatella Della Porta and Yves Mény, ed., Democracy and Corruption in Europe (Washington: Pinter, 1996), 63–84; Hayley Rabanal, Belén Gopegui: The Pursuit of Solidarity in Post-Transition Spain (New York: Tamesis, 2011); Ricard Zapata-Barrero, Diversity Management in Spain: New Dimensions, New Challenges (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).
- 7.
Cited in Elliott , Revolt of the Catalans, 248.
- 8.
See especially chapters 4–6 in Hargreaves, Freedom for Catalonia.
- 9.
According to Craig Murray, historian and former member of the British Foreign Service, the expression of “indissoluble unity” in the constitution is “plainly mad.” Craig Murray, “Suspending the Catalan Parliament, Spain Destroys the EU’s ‘Rule of Law’ Figleaf,” (blog) October 5, 2017, https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/10/suspending-catalan-parliament-spain-destroys-eus-rule-law-figleaf/
- 10.
Sebastian Balfour, “Catalonia and Spain: Will the referendum on independence go ahead?” August 1, 2017, The EUROPP blog of the London School of Economics, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2017/08/01/catalonia-and-spain-will-the-referendum-on-independence-go-ahead/
- 11.
Argelia Queralt Jiménez, The Catalan Question and the Spanish Court, Verfassungsblog: On Constitutional Matters, October 14, 2014, http://verfassungsblog.de/catalan-question-spanish-constitutional-court/
- 12.
Germà Bel , Disdain, Distrust, and Dissolution (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2015).
- 13.
Bel , Disdain, Distrust, and Dissolution, 79.
- 14.
Bel , Disdain, Distrust, and Dissolution, 21–45.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vargas, M.A. (2018). Epilogue: In an October of Another Year. In: Constructing Catalan Identity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76744-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76744-4_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76743-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76744-4
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)