Download or read book The Struggle for Catalonia written by Raphael Minder and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyses with rare impartiality what sets the Catalans apart from Spain, and how the separatist debate is playing out.
Download or read book Catalonia written by Kenneth McRoberts and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Catalonia: the struggle over independence offers an overview of Catalonia's political, cultural and economic life and its relations with the rest of Spain. It shows how Catalonia has long displayed the characteristics of a nation: distinct language and culture, separate social and political institutions, and a strong collective identity. At the same time, Catalonia has been one of Spain's primary centres of economic dynamism and innovation. As such, it is an especially striking instance of "minority' or 'internal' nations within a larger political order. During the Franco years, the Spanish state made a concerted effort to eliminate Catalonia's national characteristics. Subsequently, as it sought to restore the Catalan nation, Catalonia's leadership, and most of its population, presumed that Catalonia would pursue 'nation-building without a state' as part of the post-Franco constitutional and political order. This second edition analyzes the remarkable transformation that has taken place over the last decade. The ideal of an independent and sovereign Catalonia has become: the formal objective of Catalonia's parliament and government; the raison d'être of a strongly mobilized social movement; and the preferred arrangement of close to half of Catalonia's residents. In 2017, the drive for independence even led to a failed attempt to secure independence unilaterally, in defiance of Spain's constitution and its central state. How can this transformation best be explained and what does it portend for the future of Catalonia and Spain? The book offers Important insights about the origins of nationalism and the politics of secessionism. By exploring the challenge of accommodating 'internal nations' within a larger state, the book addresses a central question facing the political institutions of much of Europe and North America"--
Download or read book Homage to Catalonia written by George Orwell and published by E-Kitap Projesi & Cheapest Books. This book was released on 2023-11-27 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations fighting for the POUM militia of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. The war was one of the defining events of his political outlook and a significant part of what led him to write in 1946, "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for Democratic Socialism, as I understand it." The first edition was published in the United Kingdom in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952, when it appeared with an influential preface by Lionel Trilling. The only translation published in Orwell's lifetime was into Italian, in December 1948. A French translation by Yvonne Davet-with whom Orwell corresponded, commenting on her translation and providing explanatory notes-in 1938-39, was not published until five years after Orwell's death. Book Summary: Orwell served as a private, a corporal (cabo) and-when the informal command structure of the militia gave way to a conventional hierarchy in May 1937-as a lieutenant, on a provisional basis, in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937. In June 1937, the leftist political party with whose militia he served (the POUM, the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification, an anti-Stalinist communist party) was declared an illegal organisation, and Orwell was consequently forced to flee. Having arrived in Barcelona on 26 December 1936, Orwell told John McNair, the Independent Labour Party's (ILP) representative there, that he had "come to Spain to join the militia to fight against Fascism." He also told McNair that "he would like to write about the situation and endeavour to stir working class opinion in Britain and France." McNair took him to the POUM barracks, where Orwell immediately enlisted. "Orwell did not know that two months before he arrived in Spain, the [Soviet law enforcement agency] NKVD's resident in Spain, Aleksandr Orlov, had assured NKVD Headquarters, 'the Trotskyist organisation POUM can easily be liquidated'-by those, the Communists, whom Orwell took to be allies in the fight against Franco."
Download or read book Catalonia A Cultural History written by Michael Eaude and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2011-12-10 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Squeezed between more powerful France and Spain, Catalonia has endured a violent history. Its medieval empire that conquered Naples, Sicily and Athens was crushed by Spain. Its geography, with the Pyrenees falling sharply to the rugged Costa Brava, is tormented, too. Michael Eaude traces this history and its monuments: Roman Tarragona, celebrated by the poet Martial; Greek Empuries, lost for centuries beneath the sands; medieval Romanesque architecture in the Vall de Boi churches (a World Heritage Site) and Poblet and Santes Creus monasteries. He tells the stories of several of Catalonia’s great figures: Abbot Oliva, who brought Moorish learning to Europe, the ruthless mercenary, Roger de Flor, and Verdaguer, handsome poet-priest. Catalonia is famous today for its twentieth-century art. This book focuses on the revolutionary Art Nouveau buildings (including the Sagrada Familia) of Antoni Gaudi. It also explores the region’s artistic legacy: the young Picasso painting Barcelona’s vibrant slums; Salvador Dali, inspired by the twisted rocks of Cap de Creus to paint his landscapes of the human mind; and Joan Miro, discovering the colours of the red earth at Montroig.
Download or read book What s Up with Catalonia written by Liz Castro and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "35 experts explain the causes which impel them to the separation through essays on Catalan history, economics, politics, language, and culture"--Cover.
Download or read book The Rise of Catalan Independence written by Andrew Dowling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-12-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As recently as the mid-2000s, Catalonia was described and analysed by scholars as exhibiting a non-secessionist nationalism and was seen within Europe and beyond as a role model for successful devolution which had much to teach other parts of the world. The Spanish state seemed to be on a journey towards an authentic federal order and was generally admired. However, the new century has been marked by an ever-growing independence movement, with 47.8 per cent of Catalonia voting in favour of independence in September 2015. Pro-independence mobilization has produced a rupture in political relations with the rest of Spain leading to a sovereignty struggle with Madrid. This book explores how an accumulation of long-, medium- and short-term factors have produced the current situation and why the Spanish territorial model has been unable or possibly, unwilling, to respond. The Catalan question is not purely a Spanish problem: it has direct implications for the traditional nation-state model, in Europe and beyond.
Download or read book History of Catalonia written by Jaume Sobrequés i Callicó and published by Editorial Base. This book was released on 2007 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an ideal introduction to the whole history of Catalonia from the remotest times until the present. It is a rigorous and accessible vision aimed at everyone, which can be read quickly and easily. The book brings the Catalan past to all Catalans and to foreigners who, when they visit Catalonia, want a general understanding of what this country has been over its thousands of years of existence. This short history seeks to set out the formation of a nation with its own state, which played a key role in Europe for centuries. It also explains how this state was attacked for two centuries until its destruction on 11 September 1714 and the subsequent struggle by Catalans to be reborn from their ashes and recover their place in history.
Download or read book Scots and Catalans written by J. H. Elliott and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-21 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A landmark account that reveals the long history behind the current Catalan and Scottish independence movements A distinguished historian of Spain and Europe provides an enlightening account of the development of nationalist and separatist movements in contemporary Catalonia and Scotland. This first sustained comparative study uncovers the similarities and the contrasts between the Scottish and Catalan experiences across a five-hundred-year period, beginning with the royal marriages that brought about union with their more powerful neighbors, England and Castile respectively, and following the story through the centuries from the end of the Middle Ages until today’s dramatic events. J. H. Elliott examines the political, economic, social, cultural, and emotional factors that divide Scots and Catalans from the larger nations to which their fortunes were joined. He offers new insights into the highly topical subject of the character and development of European nationalism, the nature of separatism, and the sense of grievance underlying the secessionist aspirations that led to the Scottish referendum of 2014, the illegal Catalan referendum of October 2017, and the resulting proclamation of an independent Catalan republic.
Download or read book Power Struggles written by Jaume Franquesa and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-23 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wind energy is often portrayed as a panacea for the environmental and political ills brought on by an overreliance on fossil fuels, but this characterization may ignore the impact wind farms have on the regions that host them. Power Struggles investigates the uneven allocation of risks and benefits in the relationship between the regions that produce this energy and those that consume it. Jaume Franquesa considers Spain, a country where wind now constitutes the main source of energy production. In particular, he looks at the Southern Catalonia region, which has traditionally been a source of energy production through nuclear reactors, dams, oil refineries, and gas and electrical lines. Despite providing energy that runs the country, the region is still forced to the political and economic periphery as the power they produce is controlled by centralized, international Spanish corporations. Local resistance to wind farm installation in Southern Catalonia relies on the notion of dignity: the ability to live within one's means and according to one's own decisions. Power Struggles shows how, without careful attention, renewable energy production can reinforce patterns of exploitation even as it promises a fair and hopeful future.
Download or read book The Revolt of the Catalans written by J. H. Elliott and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1984-06-07 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revolution of Catalonia in 1640 was a signal event in seventeenth-century Europe. Its causes and antecedents - essential for an understanding of the revolution itelf - form the basis of Professor Elliott's study of the Spanish monarchy at this time. They throw remarkable light on the whole question of the decline of Spain in the seventeenth century from its position of pre-eminence in Europe. From the fierce suppression of Catalan bandits by their Castilian overlords during the second decade of the century, Professor Elliott traces the gradual deterioration of relations between the principality of Catalonia and the government in Madrid. He shows how Olivares, the favourite and chief minister of Philip IV, attempted to use Catalan resources to fight Spain's foreign wars, and how the growing tension led ultimately to a revolution, which he suggests played a crucial part in Spain's decline. Professor Elliott's story is almost entirely based on previously unknown documents found in the Spanish national and local archives. These sources enabled him to write the first full-scale treatment of Olivares and his policies. While exciting as a story in its own right, it also stands as a case-history of the perennial struggle between regional liberties and the claims of central governments.
Download or read book Identity and Nation in 21st Century Catalonia written by Steven Byrne and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2021-08-09 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers an overview of the ongoing debate regarding nationalism, globalisation, secessionism and languages in 21st century Catalonia. At the heart of the book is a set of interlocking questions relating to socio-political issues in sub-state nations seeking independence in the 21st century.
Download or read book A People s History of Catalonia written by Eaude Michael Eaude and published by People's History. This book was released on 2022-05-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of Catalonia and its struggle for independence, from the 10th century to the present day At every home game of FC Barcelona, at 17 minutes and 14 seconds of play, the 100,000-capacity Camp Nou stadium is filled by the roar of "IN-DE-PEN-DÈN-CI-A!" Time stops for a second. History lives in the present... Catalonia's national consciousness has deep roots. There are countries twice the size with histories half as interesting. A People's History of Catalonia tells that history, from below, in all its richness and complexity. The region's struggle for independence has, for centuries, been violently resisted, the Catalan language suppressed and its leaders jailed. The fight of an oppressed nation for its sovereignty has often dovetailed with that of a militant working class for social justice. From the peasant revolts of the 15th century and the siege of Barcelona in 1714, to defeat in the Spanish Civil War, and the slow re-emergence of the workers' movement and anti-Francoist resistance in the years that followed, Michael Eaude tells a compelling story whose ending has yet to be written.
Download or read book The Struggle for Catalonia written by Raphael Minder and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every year on 11 September, Catalonia celebrates its Diada, its National Day. But the Diada of 2012 was like none other, as an enormous crowd calling for Catalan independence took over the heart of Barcelona. Despite the carnival-like atmosphere that day, the people were very serious about their demands. On the back of this show of force, Catalonia's governing politicians turned secessionist claims into a new headache for a government in Madrid that had only just survived a near-meltdown of Spain's financial system. Four years later, the separatist challenge has neither come to fruition, nor faded away. This book looks at how and why Catalan separatism reached the top of Spain's political agenda, as well as its connection to the broader European malaise generated by flawed political responses to financial and other crises. Through extensive travel and reporting, as well as over fifty interviews with leading Catalan personalities, Raphael Minder explains how Catalans feel about their economy, history and culture, and how secessionist forces have tried to reshape Catalan identity.
Download or read book The Gray Notebook written by Josep Pla and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Josep Pla’s masterpiece, The Gray Notebook, is one of the most colorful and unusual works in modern literature. In 1918, when Pla was in Barcelona studying law, the Spanish flu broke out, the university shut down, and he went home to his parents in coastal Palafrugell. Aspiring to be a writer, not a lawyer, he resolved to hone his style by keeping a journal. In it he wrote about his family, local characters, visits to cafés; the quips, quarrels, ambitions, and amours of his friends; writers he liked and writers he didn’t; and the long contemplative walks he would take in the countryside under magnificent skies. Returning to Barcelona to complete his studies, Pla kept up his diary, scrutinizing life in the big city with the same unflagging zest and humor. Pla, one of the great Catalan writers, held on to this youthful journal for close to fifty years, reworking and adding to it, until he finally published The Gray Notebook as both the first volume and the capstone of his collected works. It is a beautiful, entrancing, delightful book—at once a distillation of the spirit of youth and the work of a lifetime.
Download or read book Catalonia written by Kenneth McRoberts and published by Don Mills, Ont. : Oxford University Press Canada. This book was released on 2001 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catalonia presents an interesting instance of what are termed minority nations, and has long exercised leadership within the Spanish economy. It offers important insights for many of the key political and social issues currently under debate.
Download or read book Freedom for Catalonia written by John Hargreaves and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-03-23 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the fight for independence by national minorities has received much attention recently, there is no study of how globalised sport in its most advanced form can help to stimulate it. This book shows how the 1992 Olympic Games raised the tension that already existed between Catalonia and Spain, from the time they were awarded to Barcelona until they opened. John Hargreaves analyses and explains the way in which the conflict developed and eventually was resolved, in terms of the special characteristics of Catalan nationalism, the nature of the new Spanish democracy and the special role played by the International Olympic Committee. This book will be relevant to academics, researchers and postgraduates specialising in nationalism and Catalan nationalism, as well as being of interest to teachers, researchers and students of political sociology, cultural studies and sports studies, and professionals working in the fields of culture, sport, recreation and leisure.
Download or read book Victory s Shadow written by Thomas W. Barton and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-15 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the beginning of the eleventh century, Catalonia was a patchwork of counties, viscounties, and lordships that bordered Islamic al-Andalus to the south. Over the next two centuries, the region underwent a dramatic transformation. The counts of Barcelona secured title to the neighboring kingdom of Aragon through marriage and this newly constituted Crown of Aragon, after numerous failed attempts, finally conquered the Islamic states positioned along its southern frontier in the mid-twelfth century. Successful conquest, however, necessitated considerable organizational challenges that threatened to destabilize, politically and economically, this triumphant regime. The Aragonese monarchy's efforts to overcome these adversities, consolidate its authority, and capitalize on its military victories would impose lasting changes on its governmental framework and exert considerable influence over future expansionist projects. In Victory's Shadow, Thomas W. Barton offers a sweeping new account of the capture and long-term integration of Muslim-ruled territories by an ascendant Christian regime and a detailed analysis of the influence of this process on the governmental, economic, and broader societal development of both Catalonia and the greater Crown of Aragon. Based on over a decade of extensive archival research, Victory's Shadow deftly reconstructs and evaluates the decisions, outcomes, and costs involved in this experience of territorial integration and considers its implications for ongoing debates regarding the dynamics of expansionism across the diverse boundary zones of medieval Europe.
