Originally published in Spanish. Sandra León. El País. This year the Diada (Translator’s note: celebration of the day of Catalonia, September 11th) looked a lot like previous occasions for its festive, pacific and multitudinous spirit. But it was not the same. Not only because it intended to be the start of the campaign towards the […]
Categoría: In English
A state of incommunication
Published originally in Spanish. Víctor Lapuente. El País. Outside of Catalonia, many analysts are flabbergasted. How is it possible that a large sector of Catalonian society -from amateur agitators to professional associations- are mistaking the work of the Civil Guard [a Spanish national police force – TN], following court instructions, for an authoritarian repression? Why […]
Two Republics for the price of one
Originally published in Spanish. José Ignacio Torreblanca. El País. In Spain we spend our days talking about a far right which does not exist -not politically, socially, electorally or in parliament. Media and and international observers have remarked on this absence for years. Some people, with a very sensitive detector, tell us that there is […]
A Sophisticated Nightmare
Publish originally in Spanish. Soledad Gallego-Díaz. El País. The letter by leading pro-independence politicians and supporters of holding the consultation next October 1st in which they offer the Spanish government and the king to initiate dialogue, cannot have any effect, because it is impossible that the government agrees to negotiate just as it is threatened […]
Interesting times
The current situation in Catalonia has been described as a clash between legality and legitimacy. While there are cases in which there might be a conflict, it is not usually the case in modern, liberal democracies. After all they are defined by having mechanisms so that with enough legitimacy -enough votes- it is possible to […]
Exasperation
Originally published in Spanish. Laura Freixas. La Vanguardia. I am fed up. I am fed with a procés [the process towards independence -TN] that has been spinning like a ferris wheel for five years, going nowhere but consuming energies, monopolizing debates, wasting public resources paid by all. I am fed with a Govern [Regional government […]
Catalonian Nationalist Populism
Originally published in Spanish. Aurora Nacarino-Brabo. Letras Libres. The most burgeoning political event of the last years is populism. This is how the rise of anti-establishment parties has been described —from Syriza in Greece to Trump in United States to plebiscitary accidents like Brexit and the prominence of candidates like Grillo in Italy, Le Pen […]
You don’t understand it
Published originally in Spanish. Rafael Latorre. El Mundo. “You don’t understand it”, they object to the jurist, to the economist, to the reporter. “You don’t understand it!”, yells both the teenager and the veteran; the British Hispanist, the xarnego MP, the Dutch Erasmus, the Galician undergraduate and the Gironan who buries his roots so deep […]
Why the referendum on Catalan independence is illegal
The decision over the future of Catalonia will ultimately be little more than an unofficial consultation
Statement on the lack of foundation on International Law of the independence referendum that has been convened in Catalonia
In light of the errors in invoking International Law to provide a legal foundation for the self-determination referendum (of Catalonia), the undersigning members of the Spanish Association of Professors in International Law and International Relations (AEDPDIRI, in Spanish) consider their civic obligation to issue the following statement: 1. According to the United Nations doctrine as […]