European Nationalism Case Study – Catalan

During the development of Europe, Nationalism played an important role. Initially, in the 19th century, a wave of nationalism swept the whole continent of Europe from romantic nationalism to a variety of European countries .Subsequently, there were some new countries in the different ways to initialize their movement on nationalism, such as “the Romantic exaltation of “feeling” and “identity” and the Liberal requirement that a legitimate state be based on a “people” rather than, for example, a dynasty, God, or imperial domination.”(Paul Halsall, 1998). Since then, the concept of “nationalism” ascended to the historical stage. In this essay, the main research will be focused on the Catalan Nationalism, also known as Catalanism. Historically, the first movement of Catalanism came from an unsuccessful attempt to set up a federal state in the context of the first Spanish Republic in Spain. At the very beginning, influenced by Romantic Nationalism, the movement got a clear political character, directed to the achievement of self-government for Catalonia within the framework of the Spanish liberal state after the fiasco of the Revolution of 1868.

A few years later, Valenti Almiral i Llozer (March 8, 1841–1904), father of the movement Catalan Nationalism, with other intellectuals established a new political ideology. Those intellectuals declaimed they would set up a self-government region and obtain recognition for the Catalan language. The movement didn’t get much support until the war between America and Spain, in which the United State invaded and recapture the former Spanish colonies. Because of the weakening situation where the Spanish lost its international political influence and the loss of two its last two colonial possessions in Cube and Philippines, the Catalanism met more and more support. However, there were several contemporary different forms of Catalanism and while some restrict them to Catalonia-proper, others claim to seek for the acknowledgment of the political personality of the so-called Catalan Countries, the Catalan-speaking territories as a whole. Eventually, in the early 20th century, as a result of promotion to the movement by some clandestine political leaders, “the first modern political party in Catalonia, Lliga Regionalista, was founded.

Later, it formed an alliance with other Catalanist forces later, grouped in the so-called Solidaritat Catalana, and won the elections with the regionalist program that Enric Prat de la Riba had formulated in his manifesto La nacionalitat Catalana (1906).”(Daniele, 1997). Over all, essentially, this movement tremendously promoted the autonomy and independency for Catalonia. In conclusion, Catalan Nationalist movement is regarded as a movement of nationalism in nations without states. ”Crucial to the development of nationalism in nations without states is the existence and position occupied by the potential elite” (Guibernau, 2000) .During the whole Catalanism movement and development of Catalonia, it is obviously that intellectuals play an essential role in provoking this progress, especially in the maintenance of the Catalan language and culture. Initially, in the result of long-year repression by Catalans, there was a wide gap between intellectual elites and the masses, which threatened the survival of the Catalan language and culture but gradually through three main phenomena, which are the Nova Canco, the Assembly of Catalonia and the proliferation of ‘solidarity actions’, this individual elite movement into a mass movement.

“In late 1960s and 1970s, the resistance movement tool advantage of all possible breaches to actively protest against regime.” (Guibernau, 2000) At last, the Constitution approved the autonomy to Catalonia and defined the Spain as a democratic state in 1978.As we can see, the intellectuals actually play a double role in the movement. On one hand, they did help recover and construct the nationalist movement culturally, historically and economically. On the other hand, their discourse, in some aspect, disordered the legitimacy of current situation, and “they denounced the nation’s present situation within state and offer an alternative to it by promoting the conditions and processes of conflict.”( Guibernau,2000). Hence, the intellectuals are really considered as the founder of the nationalist ideology, nevertheless, many of them did gather and encourage people to set up the nationalist movement. Currently, “Catalonia, as a nationality, exercises its self-government constituted as an autonomous community in accordance with the Constitution and with this Estatut, which is its basic institutional law.”(Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, 2006). Physically, Catalonia is located in the northeast of Iberian peninsula and consists of four province: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona, among which Barcelona is the capital and largest city of Catalonia.

This region is above 32,000 km² with more than seven million official populations. During the Catalan Nationalist movement, Catalonia developed its own language, Catalan. In addition, Catalonia has their own distinctive symbols such as flag called La Senyera, national day on 11th September and the anthem of Catalonia called Els Segadors. As for the population distribution, Most of Catalan people live in the Catalonia of Spanish and there are still many Catalan in France, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba and Puerto Rican. Overall, Catalan is an ethnic group, coming from or originating from Catalonia who form a nationality in north Spain. Additionally, Catalan is sometimes used to indicate people from Catalan Countries, which include other areas where the Catalan language is spoken. In terms of the Catalan Nationalism, from my perspective, the nationalism means people who share the common concept in belief, religion, culture, language, history and economic set up a distinctive group where the citizenship is limited to a cultural historical, religious ethnic group. As for this case, historically and physically speaking, Catalan Nationalism presents the nationalist movement of nations without sates which is promoted by the Catalan intellectual and clandestine political leader. In this case, the nationalist movement is a defense and preservation of Catalan people for their Catalan identity.

Reference

Halsall, P. (1997, January). The century of Ideology and Power. In Internet Modern History. Retrieved October 7, 2012, from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook3.html#Nationalism Conversi, Daniele. The Basques, the Catalans, and Spain: Alternative Routes to Nationalist Mobilisation. London: Hurst & Company, 1997. ISBN 1-85065-268-6. Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. (2006). In Generalist de Catalunya gencat. cat. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm Guibernau, M. (2000, December). Nationalism and Intellectuals in Nations without States: the Catalan Case. Political Studies, 48(5), 989-1005.