According to the book entitled Les proclames de sobirania de Catalunya ('Catalonia's Declarations of Sovereignty': Ed. Farell, 2009) describing Catalonia's "moments of sovereignty", the Catalan Parliament's declaration of sovereignty in January 2013 is not an isolated historical event, and especially not if we construe it as a real step in the building process of a sovereign power structure.
The book recalls the seven real and specific events which led to Catalonia declaring itself sovereign and exercising this sovereignty through the mobilisation of state structures like a ministry of justice or an army, whilst at the same time operating from a simple and efficient power base. The events singled out as declarations of sovereignty are: The Reaper's War of 1640; The Resistance of Barcelona of 1713-1714; The Napoleonic Wars (1808-1814); The Catalan State of 1873; The Catalan Republic of 1931; the 6th of October of 1934, and The Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939.
All of these historical events share two overriding aspects: sovereignty on one hand, and the public outcry for a better quality of life on the other. These two aspects also form part of the current mindset like two sides of the same coin.
When Spanish soldiers ceased to occupy parts of Catalonia in 1640, thereby putting an end to The Reaper's War—The War of Separation—it compelled Catalonia to operate like a de facto republic by recruiting an army, appointing regional magistrates (veguers), establishing regional courts, creating taxes and even its own currency until the Junta General de Braços (Assembly of Representatives of the Courts of Catalonia) agreed to accept the protection of France. The following events had a similar effect: the attempted Catalan State of 1873 —the abolition of military service and the disappearance of consumer taxes— the defense of civil rights of 1931; and the Spanish suppression of the Catalan agrarian reform of 1934.
The remaining declarations of sovereignty are of a different nature, although in all cases they were made against a backdrop of social discontent. Nonetheless, they can still be seen as declarations of sovereignty because they constitute organised acts of resistance in the framework of a modern sovereign state. In this group, we can include the Resistance of Barcelona of 1714, The Napoleonic Wars, and The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. The latter event gave rise to the creation of a Catalan Ministry of Defense which was responsible for creating an incredibly successful war industry.
Caption: The Bloody Corpus of 7 June 1640, a real declaration of sovereignty.
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