dimecres, 30 de juny del 2010

Spain strangles the Catalan self-government

A Spanish court has considered that the new Statute of Autonomy is not legal. It has been done by a narrow margin of votes and after several maneuvers removing the vote of some of its members with different arguments. Only six people have decided that the law adopted by the Spanish parliament, the Catalan parliament, the Spanish senate and the entire Catalan people,is just not legal. All of them were wrong. This six aged people are right, they think.


The ruling denies that Catalonia is a nation, it also denies the right to own justice, to use symbols like the flag as part of its institutional activities and to collect taxes. A portion of the sentence is particularly harsh: the Catalan language is considered by the court as a second language to Spanish subject. This will be a pullback towards the previous status where the Catalan language was a priority in the country. Until now, the autonomous TV was completely in Catalan, from now on it should be bilingual as the Catalan institutions activities and the language of the school. Never as now Spain and Catalonia were so far.

dilluns, 28 de juny del 2010

651,650 signatures for the reception of Catalan TV in València

On Tuesday 22th June 2010 Cultural Action presented a total of 85 boxes containing 651,650 signatures in the Electoral Board. Thus it exceeds 30% of the minimum half a milion signatures required by entering the pending bill to boost popular initiative “Television without Frontiers”.

Territorial distribution of  signatures delivered has been:

Catalan Countries:
Valencian Country .............................. 253,549
Autonomous Catalonia ........................321,150
Balearic Islands ................................... 29,472

Basque Country

Navarra ................................... 29,070
Autonomous Basque Country............... 16,141

Rest of territories ……………………..... 2,268

Vallencian Country is who has the highest percentage of signatures on the relationship / voters: this means that the claim of the continuity of TV3 Valencia is widely shared by a social majority that includes all political tendencies.
Now, the Electoral Board must notify the validity of signatures and thereby begin the process of parliamentary procedure to obtain the approval of the bill.

dimecres, 23 de juny del 2010

Cycling for the language to be official

Cycling 300 km for the Catalan language. Miquel Català has begun to turn the bike on Sunday 20th. He will cross about 300 kilometers separating Paris and Brussels. He has with him 32,000 signatures in favor of the Catalan language to be official in the EU. He will deliver them to the Catalan MEPs at the Flemish capital. Català started the race at in the morning from the headquarters of the Catalan Government in Paris, where he has received support from the government representative who wished him luck in the journey. The same language militant in 2008 translated the official website of the Catalan Parliament, a job which had the support of the majority of MEPs Catalans but it caused problems with legal services of the institution.

The website was well received among Internet users in April 2009 and Catalan embarked on another site, 'oficialitat.cat', through which he has collected some 32,000 signatures in 20 European countries in favor of official status of Catalan in the EU.
'I love cycling and I found a striking way to present the initiative and efforts somehow explain that Catalans are willing to do the official language', has pointed statements in young computer to journalists at the door of the offices of the Government in the French capital.
The battle for official recognition of Catalan in the European institutions that lasts for years, without significant advances that have occurred. It is necessary that the Spanish and French will have to convince the other members of the EU because the European Council declared an official language, Catalan. They won’t.

dilluns, 21 de juny del 2010

15’7 % people voted: 89,3 % said yes

The fifth wave of consultations about Catalonia’s independence obtained a 15.7% stake (14.2% of the census broadened). This is the lowest of those made so far. Before this wave, the average participation was 23.5%. This decline of almost eight points was motivated by the failure who have had the consultations in the area of Baix Llobregat. In this country the average participation was 9.1%, It means fourteen points below the average of 23 , 5%. Baix Llobregat is a small region near from Barcelona that it is mainly populated by Spanish people. Most of them have their origins in Spain because they have born there or are second (and third ) generation migrants. Most of them refuse Catalan identity and they live as they still were in Spain.

The other side of the coin of the day has been the consultation in Mataró. In this important city in the Maresme coast the participation was 27.2%, exceeding the 26.97% obtained in April in Girona. In Mataró 23,006 people voted. Just in Mataró two unionists assaulted on electoral college destroying material but there were no wounded people.
Should be noted also that in Cerdanyola del Vallès (also with high numbers of Spanish people) participation stood at 16,52%. Sobremunt a little village in the Osona’s county has been the people with more participation: 73.24.
In absolute numbers, 68.157 people voted on June 20th. 55,388 (89.3%) have done for independence, and 4,648 (7.5%) against. %. You can follow the complete results in the 48 villages in the Coordination web.

dissabte, 19 de juny del 2010

The show of force goes on: 500.000 people more to vote on independence

Half a million Catalan people could vote in the fourth wave of consultations for independence to be held tomorrow. On June 20th 46 municipalities may express if they want or not to be in a new independent state. With this fith wave will already have 508 municipalities that have expressed their desire democratically about dependency or independence. In the 48 municipalities wich will vote on Catalan sovereignty there will be 315 polling stations spread installed in 140 electoral colleges. Regional capitals as Mataró and Falset have convoked consultations for self-determination. The list of counties and municipalities whre there will be consultations on 20 June is the next one:


Alt Camp: Alcover

Alt Empordà: Navata

Alt Penedès: Avinyonet, El Pla del Penedès, Sant Llorenç d'Hortons

Anoia: La Pobla de Claramunt

Baix Camp: Mont-roig del Camp

Baix Empordà: Calonge-Sant Antoni, Santa Cristina d'Aro

Baix Llobregat: Cornellà de Llobregat, Esplugues de Llobregat, Olesa de Montserrat, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Sant Feliu de Llobregat

Cerdanya: Bellver de Cerdanya, Guils de Cerdanya, Urús

Conca de Barberà; Sarral

Garraf: Sitges

Maresme: Mataró, Òrrius

Noguera: Térmens

Osona: Sobremunt

Priorat: Falset, Ulldemolins

Ribera d'Ebre: Ginestar i Móra la Nova

Ripollès: Ogassa

Segrià: Almenar i Els Alamús

Selva: Osor

Tarragonès: La Canonja

Vallès Occidental: Cerdanyola, Palau-solità i Plegamans

Vallès Oriental: Vallromanes

dilluns, 14 de juny del 2010

Tens of thousands of Catalans march for self-determination in Barcelona

Tens of thousands of demonstrators demonstrated on Saturday 12th in the city of Barcelona to demand the right of self determination. They were 50,000 according to the organization, but the police said they were no more than five thousandUnder the slogan 'Self-determination is democracy", the demonstration has been called by the Platform for the Right to Decide (PDD, Plataforma pel Dret a Decidir). PDD’s chairman said that the demonstration today was a response to the outrage of the Catalans. 'The Spanish state does not recognize the personality of Catalonia as a nation or the rights granted to the Spanish constitution gives (…) referendums, presenting a demonstration on Saturday and the popular initiative are examples of disagreement with the current situation”.


Protesters have also shown banners and slogans in support of the popular Initiative recently approved by the Catalan parliament. The initiative is to convoke a consultation on independence. A concert ended the march with artists as Dekrèpits, Jaume Arnella, Pep Sala and Titot.

The march also served to honor the work done by volunteers from the consultations on the independence vote and to encourage the next lapse, the June 20th. Just to acknowledge the work done by hundreds of volunteers who took part in the organization of consultations, were those who led them. There were two big banners, the first one with the slogan 'Self-determination is democracy'. In the first one there were representatives of many local committees organizers of the consultations. The second banner was with the slogan 'For the self-determination, democracy, labour and solidarity'. Behind the second banner parties and organizations that supported the event, such as ERC, CUP, Rally, Maulets , PSAN and JNC.

dissabte, 12 de juny del 2010

Perpignan unanimously approved a charter for the Catalan language

The council of the Northen Catalonia capital, Perpinyà, unanimously approved a charter which recognizes the Catalan as co-official language of the city, along with the French. The charter is covered in several international texts in the French constitution and wants to ensure the survival and transmission of Catalan in the Catalan northern territory which is under French administration. This is the first council to claim official recognition of Catalan in the French state. All groups that make up the council, since the UMP majority group and the various opposition groups voted for the text. The next step from the City of Perpignan wants to carry out that the charter to be voted, approved and ratified in all 229 municipalities of the territory of Northern Catalonia. After this step institutions should create institutions that care for the development of the Catalan language, from education to government and institutions themselves.

dimecres, 9 de juny del 2010

Travel to Alguero...50 years later


In August 1960 a group of intellectuals and politicians from Catalonia, València and the Balearic Islands made a journey boat to the city of Alghero, where they were received by their brothers in the Sardinian town. L’Alguer, as it is named in Catalan language, is the only Catalan-speaking language in the Italian state.
That trip, known as ”Lo viatge del Retrobament” (the travel of Reunion), was to strengthen relations between the Catalan speaking territories. From 23th to 26th June a trip has been organized to celebrates the 50th anniversary reunion of the modern era. As the organizers say:

"When arrived news that abroad there was also a city where Catalan is spoken, a group of intellectuals from various Catalan-speaking territories wanted to come with a boat to retrieve the missing links. For expedition to the Catalans, who were admitted to see a crowd at the port of Alghero, with joy, enthusiasm exhibited by the Catalan flag, which at the time was banned by the dictatorship, it was a moment of great excitement and happiness. "

The ties had been broken for decades, and this trip helped them rebuild. A comprehensive program to celebrate a romantic anniversary: that of a people who reunited. Includes cafes, exhibitions, lectures, a commodity market, theater, concerts ... Very sincere congratulations to the organizers, the city of Alghero (ruled by the Berlusconi’s party), the Catalan Government and Catalan Travel Club (Club Català de Viatges).

dijous, 3 de juny del 2010

' Goodbye, Spain?' on TV

Catalan TV, TV3, will broadcast today a documentary titled “Goodbye, Spain?”. It is a 90-minute documentary that compares the Catalan national situation with other similar cases. The other nations without state are like Scotland, Greenland and Quebec. It will be released by TV3 quarter to ten in the evening, the prime strip. Given the recent polls Catalan independentism is not just a minority feelin but it is difficult to translate it in an electoral option for storng differences among the political separatist options.


"Goodbye, Spain?" examines the positioning of the European Union "to the possibility of secession of a part of a Member State and its immediate inclusion in the Union”. It will interview Scottish Prime Minister, Alex Salmond from the Scottish National Party.