Catalonia is my country. Catalonia has a long history, which goes back to the middle ages. Along the centuries government institutions were created and a civil law was slowly established. Catalonia lost its political institutions on September 11, 1714, after the war of succession to the throne of Spain, whose last episode was a long siege of Barcelona by the armies of the king of France Louis XVI and his nephew the French pretender Philip V. Not only the Catalan institutions were suppressed , but Catalan, the language of Catalonia, was forbidden in public activities. Catalan people has, however, conserved their language, in spite of the prohibition which has perdured for centuries. After the end of Franco\u2019s dictatorship a democratic constitution of Spain was proclamed in 1978 and Catalan became an official language in Catalonia, together with Castilian (Spanish), the official language of the Kingdom of Spain.<\/p>\n
After more than 39 years of democracy the independentist movement in Catalonia has gained since 2010 a big momentum. Massive demonstrations for independence have taken place on September 11, the national day of Catalonia, during the period 2012-2014, including a human chain in 2013 that traversed the whole country along 400 km. The police estimated the participation in 1.800.000 people (the population of Catalonia is 7.300.000 people). The spectacular rise of the strive for independence is due to several factors and is not easy to make them explicit and explain them to people unaware of the political dynamics of the Kingdom of Spain. The next few posts include books and articles that may help interested people in understanding the present political strive of Catalonia. Interested readers may also consult a through book by Germ\u00e0 Bel, whose English translation can be found in Amazon : \u201cDisdain, Distrust and Dissolution: The Surge of Support for Independence in Catalonia\u201d, (The Canada Blanch\/Sussex Academic Studie), Jan 15, 2015.<\/p>\n\n