2015/01/01

Thanks volunteers

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2014/12/31

Best wishes

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2014/12/25

122 Catalan President Francesc Macià

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Francesc Macià, President of the Catalan Republic


Social and Democratic Commitment On the 25th of December 1933, the President of Catalonia Francesc Macià died at the Palace of the Generalitat, the seat of the Catalan Government in the very heart of the city of Barcelona. Enormously popular, as proven by his landslide election victory of 1931, Macià was seen off by an enormous...
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The Catalan Government: an Historical and Democratic Legitimacy


In the ongoing so-called Catalan process for democracy and in the face of the Spanish government's denial of it —along with that of the vast majority of the Spanish political class— there are some who have tried to focus the debate solely on legality versus legitimacy, ignoring all too often that this is also a debate on popular will versus...
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The Catalan Republic and the Generalitat de Catalunya


20th Century AC The fall of the regime of Miguel Primo de Rivera gave way to a ‘soft dictatorship’. The weakness of the government which was led by admiral Aznar and General Berenguer propelled the convocation of municipal elections in April 1931; these elections would deeply mark the evolution of the region over the succeeding years. General...
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The Struggle for Independence


They say the increase of supporters for the independence of Catalonia has its origin in the sentence of the Spanish Constitutional Court (2010) against the Statute of Catalonia (2006), and also in the financial crisis which we are undergoing –and which highlights even more the financial plundering suffered by the Government of Catalonia...
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2014/11/18

2014/10/25

Spanish Government is considering appealing against Catalonia's alternative vote on November 9

The Spanish Government announced on Friday that it has asked its legal services to analyze all the aspects of Catalonia's alternative vote of the 9th of November, which is replacing the original non-binging referendum vote that has already been banned by the Spanish authorities. 
16 days before the consultation vote has to take place and 10 days after it was announced by the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, the Spanish Executive is starting to pave the way for appealing against this new participatory process / survey that asks Catalans their opinion about independence from Spain. On Friday, the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, stated that  President Mas is pretending to replace "an illegal process for one that is even more antidemocratic (the survey)". On top of this, the Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, stated that if Catalonia carries on with the alternative non-binging referendum/ survey vote, scheduled on the 9th of November, it will mean that "it is not a healthy democracy", since "it does not respect the rule of law". He made such a statement before the legal reports are ready. 
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Furthermore, Rajoy added that those supporting independence want to put Catalonia "back in the Middle Ages". Therefore, it seems that after a few days hesitating whether or not to ban the new vote, the Spanish Government will probably appeal against it and make the Constitutional Court temporarily suspend it. In the last few days, Catalan political parties and civil society organizations have rebuilt their unity of action, which seemed broken during the time the Spanish Government was hesitating.


The Spanish Government is now paving the way to appeal against the alternative participatory process designed by the Catalan Executive to replace the original non-binging referendum vote that had been agreed among a wide majority of political parties and that was backed by the Catalan society. When the Catalan President announced the alternative process on Tuesday 14th of October, the Spanish Government openly said it was welcoming the fact that Mas had "ruled out his plan" and was "obeying" the Constitutional Court. In addition, for a few days, it downplayed the new alternative vote and did not confirm whether it would appeal against it or not. At that time, parties supporting Catalonia's self-determination were quarrelling among them and their unity of action seemed broken. The odds were pointing towards a failed participation process on the 9th of November.

However, in the last days, things in Catalonia have changed and civil society organisations and parties are backing the alternative vote now in order to guarantee its success. In addition, they have decided to focus on the 9th of November and not on early elections, which are very likely to come in the next three or four months anyway. Faced with this new scenario, the Spanish Government has announced that its legal services are preparing reports on the constitutionality of the alternative vote. It makes such an announcement 16 days before the vote and 10 days after the alternative formula was announced.

Catalonia, "back in the Middle Ages", states Rajoy

Before the completion of the reports from the legal services, the Spanish Deputy PM, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, already judged the new vote to be "more antidemocratic" than the previous one." On top of this, in the afternoon, Mariano Rajoy stated that pro-independence supporters want to put Catalonia "back in the Middle Ages". In addition, also before reading the legal services reports that have just been asked for, Rajoy stated that Catalonia will not be "a healthy democracy" as it will "not respect the rule of law" if it decides to continue organising the alternative survey vote on the 9th of November, which will be a citizen participation process to gather the non-binding opinion of Catalans about independence from Spain.

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2014/10/24

#onthisday 1971 Pau Casals Speech at the UN



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“Very moved, very moved, to receive such a (inaudible) the greatest honour that I have received. And because you spoke of what I have thought all my life, inspired by my mother, who was a wonderful, genial woman. She talked to me, very early of my age, about peace. About peace. That, at that time, also we had, we were... I was born... read more...


  • Pau Casals Some Quotes

"For the past eighty years I have started each day in the same manner ... I go to the piano, and I play preludes and fugues of Bach. ... It is a sort of benediction on the house." "Of course, I continue to play and to practice. I think I would do so if I lived for another hundred years." "Martita (his wife) is the marvel...read more



  • Pau Casals, his life

"Music, this marvellous universal language, would have to be a source of communication between all people." Pau Casals (Pablo Casals as he was commonly called in English) was one of the 20th century's greatest cellists, internationally recognized as one of the finest performers and orchestra conductors of his times. Born in...read more



Over the course of his life, Pau Casals struggled constantly for peace, justice and freedom. In recognition of his stance, in 1971 the Secretary-General of the United Nations, U-Thant, awarded Pau Casals the U.N. Peace Medal. The speech that Pau Casals gave to express his gratitude for this distinction, and afterwards his performance of "El cant dels ocells" (The Song of the Birds), constituted one of the most impressive...read more

Help Catalonia is an association that receives no subsidies whatsoever from the Spanish state, the Catalan government or indeed any other organisation. We, the people who work in this project, do so on a voluntary basis and for no financial gain whatsoever.
If you like the task we are performing and would like to help us carry on our undertaking you may make a donation through bank account No. IBAN ES69 0049 4751 4421 9506 0811 .
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