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Spanish Realities

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Cataluña, A Region Apart

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In 1977, the people of Cataluña

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celebrated the traditional day of Catalan Solidarity.

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It was the first time they had been able to do so

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since Franco came to part in the 30s.

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One and half million Catalans came into the streets of Barcelona

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to assert their wish for autonomy

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It was hardly an extremist minority.

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Most Catalans feel deeply their right to some form of self-government

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And they have expressed this feeling

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many times in their past

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In 1931, Cataluña declared itself an independent republic.

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It set up its own government - the Generalitat

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and the statute for autonomy was drawn up.

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The new republican government in Madrid

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approved the statute the following year.

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Under its President Macià,

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Cataluña was officially autonomous.

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It was not to last long.

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The civil war.

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Barcelona was one of the last strongholds of resistance to Franco.

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But in January 1939, it too fell to the nationalists.

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The siege of Barcelona was effectively the end of the civil war.

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Thousands of Catalans fled to France.

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In the months that followed, many Catalans, including the Prime Minister, were shot.

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Under Franco, there followed a rigorous and systematic repression

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of everything that was Catalan.

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It was not the first time a Spanish ruler

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had come into conflict with Cataluña

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In 1640, Cataluña declared itself a republic under French protection

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It took the Spanish King 19 years to force Cataluña into submission

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In the 18th century, Cataluña again resisted the Spanish

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siding with Spain's enemy the Hapsburgs,

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in return for their support of Catalan Autonomy.

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40,000 French and Castilian troops laid siege to Barcelona for 13 months

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before it gave in.

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In the 19th century, Catalan uprisings against the central powers of Spain

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were sparked off a number of times.

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In 1842, Barcelona took up arms against the dictatorial regent General Espartero

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who retaliated from the heights of the fortress of Montjuïc, bombarding the city into submission.

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And in 1868, Catalans rebelled against the monarchy

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burning portraits of Queen Isabella II.

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If Cataluña was not always the only region to rebel

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it does have a long standing tradition of resistance to the central powers of Spain

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Senator Josep Benet, a historian and leading Catalan politician explains why:

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Well, there are some very obvious reasons...

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is that Catalonia is a people with a language,

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with a historical tradition, with a different culture,

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totally different from the peoples 
that occupies the centre of the peninsula

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and that control the politics of the Spanish state.

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They are two different peoples.

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In what ways was Catalonia defined as a nation?

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Right. According to French historian, the eminent historian French, Pierre Vilar,

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Catalonia is one of the earliest medieval peoples to display aspects of the modern 'nation-state'.

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It was a... a people with strong national feeling.

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that early In the Middle Ages adopted structures very close to what would become the modern state.

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Cataluña, one of the earliest forerunners of the nation-state in Europe

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with its own particular language, culture and history.

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The closeness of Cataluña to the rest of Europe

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has been largely responsible for these differences.

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In the 8th century, the Muslims dominated most of Spain and part of France.

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But their influence on the language and culture of Cataluña

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was less than almost anywhere else in the peninsula

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because they only stayed for 90 years.

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In 801, the Franks under Charlemagne, drove the Muslims back out of northern Spain

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For the next two centuries, Cataluña was part of the Frankish Kingdom.

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While the rest of Spain looked south to the Arab world, Cataluña looked north to Europe.

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It was now that the Catalan Language was born.

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Spoken on both sides of the Pyrennees

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It was closer to the Latin dialects of southern France than to those of the peninsula.

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With the decline of the Frankish empire, at the end of the 10th century,

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Cataluña became independent.

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But it never lost its close ties with Europe

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Cataluña shared in the European movement of Romanesque art in the 11th and 12th centuries

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And contributed a highly individual style of its own.

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Catalan Romanesque art was a rich and vital expression of Cataluña's emerging identity.

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Politically as well as culturally, Cataluña was developing its own identity

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From the time of its earliest independent rulers

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Cataluña began to evolve a sophisticated form of government

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based around the court in Barcelona.

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The King ruled by the consent of the court

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and was bound to observe all statutes and laws they had agreed.

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He was one of the earliest forerunners of the constitutional monarch.

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With the creation of the Generalitat

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this system was formalised.

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The Generalitat was the earliest Catalan parliament

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and its function was to approve or disapprove of measures proposed by the King.

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The whole feudal system in Cataluña was sophisticated

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and nothing else like existed in Spain.

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Becoming stronger and more stable,

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Cataluña began to assert itself abroad.

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Under James I of Cataluña

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in the 13th century, Mallorca then Valencia were conquered.

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And in the 14th century, Sicily and Sardinia.

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And later, Naples.

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Cataluña's power was not just military.

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It became the most important trading state in the Mediterranean,

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with Barcelona as its commercial centre and port.

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The Gothic Quarter of the city contains buildings which reflect its wealth at this time.

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In the Middle Ages,

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Barcelona was one of the finest and richest cities in Europe.

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But Cataluña's strength and prosperity were not to last.

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In the 15th century, its population was decimated by a plague.

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And it lost its military and commercial power

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in the Mediterranean to the Turks.

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Under Ferdinand and Isabella,

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Castille became the most important power in the world

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because of its discovery of America.

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But despite Castille's dominance in Spain from then on,

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it never properly assimilated Cataluña.

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Why not?

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With the discovery of the Americas,

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the discoveries in the Americas

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became the property of the Crown of Castille, excluding Catalonia.

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The Crown of Castile was

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formed by a number of states, including naturally, Catalonia

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and Castille reserved for itself

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the exclusive control over trade with the Americas.

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This meant that, during the following centuries,

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Catalans could not move to the Americas, people could not go to America

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like so many people from other Spanish territories moved to America.

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Moreover, Catalonia, had lost practically all the Mediterranean trade

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largely due to the dominance of the Turks.

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It was a people that found it necessary to look inward.

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And thus, it had to find ways of life that worked internally.

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There are strong historical grounds for the Catalans' claim to some form of autonomy.

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And this feeling is not restricted to any political party or social class.

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Catalans have a sense of solidarity as a people

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with characteristics that make them different from other Spaniards.

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How do they see themselves?

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What is the Catalan character?

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Quiet, peaceful, hardworking.

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A Catalan is honest, friendly, pleasant,

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hardworking, direct.

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Traditionally, our character was maybe ... a bit closed

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with, uh,

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a strong spirit for commerce and above all, progressive

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say, more like Europe

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than to the rest of the Iberian Peninsula.

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Are you a Catalanist?

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Yes, sir.

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Are you a Catalanist?

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No. Not at all!

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Are you a Catalanist?

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Well, yes, sir.

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Why?

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Well, I'm... I do not know, I can not say... I feel
Catalan...

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and I like ... my language.

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Eh ... well, I'm a Catalanist

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I feel Catalan. I think that Catalonia is a nation,

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that it must be respected as such

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and, after so many years of having been
suppressed,

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it has the right and the duty to become and be treated as a nation.

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Are you a Catalanist?

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Well, yes.

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Why?

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Because that's how I feel.

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I believe in the future of ... Catalonia.

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I believe in the history that we've gone through.

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Eh... I have become aware of the myriad of injustices that we have suffered

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and ... I believe in the resurgence of the country.

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A sense of past history is important to Catalanist feelings,

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but the most important thing is the sharing of a common language.

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70% of population speak Catalan,

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and for 50%, it is their first language.

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Under Franco, people were fined on the spot for speaking it in public.

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Today, it is the language of the street once more

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both spoken and written.

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We want green spaces!

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Save the wetlands.

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No, I'm all set.

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OK, if it doesn't come out well, or whatever, you can bring it back. No questions asked.

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- I can exchange it?
- Yes, yes, yes, yes.

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The use of Catalan is not confined 
to any social class or any situation.

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[Catalan-speaking merchant] Forty, and the pears make 130.

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[Customer] 130. Are you sure you added right?
[Merchant] 130 in total, yes, ma'am.

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[Customer] I don't want the cauliflower.
[Merchant] OK, OK.

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[Customer] It's too big. 
[Merchant] I see, too big, no problem.

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Catalan is the language of the local market.

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And of the expensive shop.

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[Catalan-speaking Customer] Will they fit? 
[Catalan-speaking merchant] Yes, yes, perfectly.

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And you can use an extension rod if you need to.

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[Customer] Excellent, does that seem good to you? 
[Customer's friend] I think so, I like it.

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[Customer] How much will it be, more or less?

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[Merchant] Around 35,700 pesetas, or so.

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Catalan is the now the official language for regional matters are concerned,

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in government administration

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and in the state-run radio and television system.

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[In Catalan] Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, 
undoubtedly, the most important news of the day

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is the meeting held up until a few moments ago 
In the Hall of the Hundred in the City Hall

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with the members of the Assembly of Catalan parliamentarians.

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There was also a meeting today by the executive council of the Generalitat [Catalan Government]

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[Catalan-speaking technician] Camera one, camera two. Bachs. Camera two on Bachs.

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[Catalan speaker] We can also point out the important changes to the business organization chart

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[Spanish speaking technician] We're shifting to Bachs?

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With the revival of the Catalan language

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has come a resurgence of Catalan culture.

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But memories of repression linger on for painters like Tàpies

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and Guinovart.

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Today, many of Spain's most important artists are Catalan

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The great Catalan artist Joan Miró designed this record cover.

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Cataluña produces many of Spain's best popular musicians.

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Catalan theatre is the most active in Spain.

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Theatre companies provide popular as well as serious entertainment at the yearly Barcelona Festival.

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The liveliness of Catalan culture is a powerful factor

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in Catalans' feelings of solidarity and uniqueness.

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Cataluña has always been one of the most prosperous regions of Spain.

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And economic factors have considerably strengthened its desire for autonomy.

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In the 18th century Cataluña was the first part of Spain to become industrialized.

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And this in itself created tensions with the government in Madrid.

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[Historian Benet; Spanish] This industrialization provoked a further differenciation

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between the Catalan people and the Castillian people

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which was now the dominant power in the state.

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In Catalonia it wasn't just that a different language was spoken

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or that there was a different culture

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but also that what we call an industrial society was formed there.

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In Catalonia, an industrial bourgeosie appeared, and in Catalonia, there was also a working class

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with all of the new problems that were yet unknown in the rest of the Spanish state.

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They were not known in the center.

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And this differentiated them, made one people so different from the others.

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The differences became even more pronounced with industrialization.

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The new industrial working class felt that the Spanish government was so remote

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it could never understand their problems.

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The workers reacted by rejecting the whole political system.

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The left-wing movement that was born had strong anarchist tendencies.

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And this radical tradition was an important factor in Cataluña's hostility to central power

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during the next hundred years.

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But the government was not any more aware of the interests of the new middle class.

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[historian Benet, in Spanish] This provoked a series of very important problems in the Spanish state—

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problems, that can be understood if we take into account

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that Catalonia was the only country in Europe

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that underwent the industrial revolution, but whose bourgeousie

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that was born of the industrial revolution,

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this industrial bourgeousie was the only one in all of Europe that never came to power.

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Instead it was marginalised, and continues to be marginalised from power.

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So the industrialists disliked the central government just as much as their workers did.

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They supported and encouraged the autonomy movement

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even if mostly for reasons of economic self-interest.

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Most industrialists in Cataluña today still support some form of autonomy.

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Corberó is a large manufacturer of domestic electrical appliances.

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Its vice president is a strong supporter of autonomy.

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In what ways does Pedro Corberó think

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Cataluña has suffered under a centralised regime?

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[P.Corberó, in Spanish] I think that it has suffered in two ways:

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economically and politically.

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Economically, the Catalan country has been very conditioned

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by the economic power of the Spanish state.

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Because here in Catalonia, those institutions weren't there and there wasn't this mentality

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of... or the strong base of powerful financial firms who could give this support.

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In the political field, it's because all of the pertinent decisions

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that is pertinent to the business world, and specifically to the Catalan business world.

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were made, and are made, in Madrid, without Catalan participation.

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The Catalan industrialist wants autonomy

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partly because it makes for more efficient business,

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and partly because he wants Cataluña to benefit more directly from its own profits.

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[P.Corberó, in Spanish] Principally, the benefits would be related to a whole gamut of services

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not specfically tied to a given company.

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That's it, principally.

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Undoubtedly, in the Catalan country we're worried because we know that only a third of

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of what Catalonia gives to the Spanish state comes back to Catalonia.

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This is what makes us worry because we really already have the results of a lack of a whole series

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of services, and that's what keeps us from properly structuring the country.

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If the Catalan industrialist has always supported autonomy,

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today's workers feel differently.

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Most of them are non-Catalan.

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In Corberó's factory as many as 80%.

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They come to Cataluña from poorer parts of Spain for a job and better pay.

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These workers are outsiders in a community

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which is in the process of asserting its differences from others.

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Integration is a problem
which autonomy can only make more difficult.

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In the industrial zone around Barcelona, the communities are largely non-Catalan.

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The "Barrio Seat" is where the workers of the SEAT car factory live

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in housing provided by the company.

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It's a very closed community with its own shops, bars, social facilities and its own school.

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85% of the SEAT workers come from other parts of Spain, mostly the south.

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And few of them speak any Catalan.

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They are known as immigrants

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and the problems of integration for them are considerable.

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The Catalan headmistress of a local school came to work in this district

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because she was concerned about these problems.

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Maria Teresa Codina:

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[Spanish] I believe that language is the most visible problem and the one that's most obvious.

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But the underlying problems are of adaptation, social problems above all.

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It's the problem of subsistence, to figuring out how they're going to earn a living

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how to get along with others, and how to get to, get access to, and rise to better situations.

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The predominance of non-Catalan workers in the factories, creates a kind of class distinction.

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Spanish is the language of the shop floor

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Catalan the language of the boardroom.

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But the managers are aware of how divisive this is,

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and insist on Spanish as the official language of the factory.

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But it's still a powerful barrier between worker and employer.

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[Catalan teacher speaks] Louder, I can't hear you.

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[Child, in Spanish] No 
[Teacher, in Catalan] No, what?

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[Child in Spanish] that you don't sit down
(NB: sentar-se in Catalan means to hear, sentarse in Spanish means to sit down)

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[Teacher] No, man, I don't sit down. What time do you get up?

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So learning the language is an important first step in integration.

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The teaching of Catalan in all schools began in 1978.

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It should make integration for second generation immigrants much easier than for their parents.

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As Señora Codina explains:

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[Spanish] The immigrant thinks, one, that they're changing by accepting a culture, and taking on that culture,

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that they're acquiring the culture of the community that has received them, that is, Catalonia.

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But then, what happens is that they stop building on their own culture.

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They leave behind the traditions that they had, that belonged to them, that gave them security.

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which gave them their identity, and very often they ended up not having one thing or the other.

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The assertion of Catalan autonomy may have aggravated problems of integration.

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But then the association of different regions into one Spanish nation

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has always been a problem.

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In the past, the answer has frequently been dictatorship.

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Now other solutions are possible.

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[Benet, in Spanish] We believe that Spain, a Spanish state, with a federalist structure

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would be the best way to resolve the problems between the different peoples that make up the Spanish state.

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A federation that we can imagine open even to Portugal

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so that all the peoples on the peninsula would be included.

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And that we also see this as a step towards a united Europe

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that we would like to see happen one day.

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A Europe that would be an authentic federation of peoples.

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Now, however, we are realistic, and for the moment, for a series of reasons,

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this federal state is not yet possible in Spain.

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And for that reason, we accept this State structured with “autonomies” that

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is how the current Spanish situation can be defined.

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A single unitary state, but that is compatible with the autonomy of all of the peoples

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that make up the Spanish state.

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[Voices, in Catalan] We want, yes, yes, freedom, amnesty, we want, yes, yes

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freedom, amnesty, we want, yes, yes

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[Catalan National Anthem, "Els Segadors"]

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These subtitles were transcribed, timed and translated not by Google's bots

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but by interested human volunteers, like you,

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using the online collaboration tools at
www.amara.org