The Struggle for Catalonia: Rebel Politics in Spain

by Raphael Minder

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849049382
Publisher:	Hurst
Publication date:	09/01/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Raphael Minder is a journalist who spent ten years as a staff correspondent for the Financial Times in Paris, Brussels, Sydney and finally Hong Kong, as regional correspondent for Asia. Since 2010, he has been New York Times correspondent for Spain and Portugal, covering a financial crisis that has turned political, including the territorial conflict over Catalonia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xi

Foreword xiii

1 Creating Statehood on the Streets 1

2 Celebrating a Defeat 21

3 Catalonia's Hazy Borders 33

4 Remembering the Civil War and Franco 53

5 Reviving a Language after Dictatorship 75

6 Catalonia's Great Melting Pot 95

7 A Conservative Divorce 113

8 The Shared Disease of Corruption 127

9 A Diplomatic Battle Across Europe 139

10 Barcelona, a City Before a Nation 151

11 The Symbolism of a Tower and a Tree 169

12 The Decline of Church and Crown 185

13 Financing Spain's Economic Powerhouse 195

14 The Business of Sharing 215

15 The Violence of Basque Secessionism 227

16 Civil Disobedience and the Rule of Law 243

17 Playing Politics in Catalan Sports 257

18 Pleasures and Tensions around the Table 273

19 The Facts of a Good News Story 287

Conclusion 299

Appendix: List of Interviews 305

Notes 315

Index 323

Editorial Reviews

"Extraordinarily timely. Deeply researched and based on hundreds of interviews, fair-minded and empathetic, [Minder's] account of the Catalan rebellion invites the reader into a multi-voiced conversation, with a genial author there to prompt when one loses track." — Financial Times

"One of the virtues of Minder's elegantly written book is that his roughly two hundred interviews with politicians, journalists, and scholars give it an evenhanded approach to the situation in Catalonia . . . Minder's book is valuable not only for what it explains but for what it describes . . . the book is an ode to Barcelona, Catalonia's glittering capital and one of Europe's most cosmopolitan cities."— The New York Review of Books

"The offer of independence, as Raphael Minder says in his invaluable new work, The Struggle for Catalonia, promised change and prosperity in a new Catalan state, instead of stagnation in a rotten Spain'." — Owen Jones, The Guardian

"[A] balanced and sympathetic account." — The Nation

"Refreshingly even-handed in the midst of all the fire and fury in the Spanish media, Minder's book, based on thorough historical research, points to an unavoidable train crash between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. The book's conclusion is hard to refute."— Literary Review

"A very serious and well-documented book that helps shed light on as complicated a topic as the relationship between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. An outsider's analysis, lucid and objective, that also displays a clear desire to promote fraternity." — Josep Piqué, former Spanish Foreign Minister

"Raphael Minder"s scrupulously impartial, lucid and fluent book is based on wide-ranging interviews and historical study. He navigates the complexities of this thorny issue very successfully." — José Álvarez Junco, Professor of History, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; author of Spanish Identity in the Age of Nations

"Few people in the Anglo-Saxon world understand why relations between Catalonia and the Spanish capital are so tense. On the basis of 200 interviews with politicians, journalists, historians and restaurateurs, Raphael Minder's even-handed and compellingly readable work explains the past and the possible future of a dangerous situation." — Paul Preston, Professor of Contemporary Spanish History, London School of Economics and Political Science, and author of The Last Days of the Spanish Republic

"Timely and useful" — The Irish Times

"His recently-published book is a comprehensive, highly readable survey of what it is troubling Catalonia at present. . . There are undoubtedly many readers in the Anglophone world who wish to read beyond the daily news reports concerning Catalonia, and this book, written from a neutral, indeed tactful point of enquiry, answers all the questions."— RTE

"The current independence movement in Catalonia has wide implications not only for Spain but for Europe. In this timely and well-informed book the New York Times correspondent in Spain uses his numerous interviews with partisans and opponents of secession to give readers a balanced account of the issues at stake." — John Elliott, Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Oxford

"A brilliant study of Spain's 'Catalan problem' by a careful and conscientious journalist who has spoken to all the key players and missed absolutely nothing. Minder is an engaging writer, who combines sharp firsthand reporting with analysis that manages to be skeptical, thoughtful, insightful and non-partisan in equal measure. The result is an indispensable English-language guide to the political complexities of Catalonia's struggle for independence, which also takes readers deep into Catalan history and culture. A terrific achievement." — Matthew Carr, author of Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, 1492-1614 and The Devils of Cardona

"Employing his talents as a journalist who has covered Spain for the New York Times since 2010, Minder bases his highly readable exploration of Catalonia on countless interviews with political, social, and business leaders as well as scholars, activists, and everyday people . . . he insightfully describes how secessionist sentiment and related tensions are interwoven with an array of topics in Catalan life. . . Minder's insights about this region will intrigue." — Choice

"Extraordinarily timely. Deeply researched and based on hundreds of interviews, fair-minded and empathetic, [Minder's] account of the Catalan rebellion invites the reader into a multi-voiced conversation, with a genial author there to prompt when one loses track." Financial Times

From the Publisher