Nation-states are one of the most common political structures of territory organisation. The word suggests a correspondence between nation, country and state, which would imply a nation with a state that controls its historical territory or country. However, this is rarely true. States often control the territories of a number of nations, which means some nations do not have their own state, so they can only exercise their sovereignty within the limits the state allows.
What is Spain?
The term Spain is taken from the Latin Hispania, which was used by the Roman Empire to refer to the geographical territory of the Iberian Peninsula, which was populated by a variety of peoples. And it still is.
Spain today can be defined as the geographical territory controlled by the Spanish state, which today covers most of the Iberian Peninsula (except Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar), the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and a couple of enclaves in the Moroccan Coast (Ceuta and Melilla).
It is all that is left from a former colonial empire, which was gradually dismantled as overseas territories claimed and won their independence. It has only managed to retain the closest annexed territories.
Spain today is considered a nation-state, but in fact it is a multi-national state, since the territory controlled by the Spanish state comprises different persisting nations which predate it.
Present day Spain is territorially organised in the form of Autonomous Communities, which have local governments with limited competences, always subordinated to the central Spanish government located in Madrid. They correspond to regional communities, some of which are actually historical nations.
In Spain there are actually 13 vernacular languages. The official language is Castilian, generally called Spanish. 35% of population are bilingual, mainly with languages which are now co-official in their Autonomous Communities or regions.
Some history
In ancient times the Iberian Peninsula was populated by a large number of peoples with distinct origins, languages and cultures. Autochthonous peoples mutated due to interaction with other peoples and cultures, often arriving from distant territories. Invasions, colonisations, migrations or coexistence shaped the particular identity of these peoples. Some of them have managed to survive as a culture , whereas others have been absorbed by a more powerful one.
Phoenician/Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Gothic/Visigothic and Arabic/Mozarabic colonisations produced alterations on the ancient map of peoples and their cultures, with the latest one pushing original populations up North. The reconquest of the territories southbound, 800 years later in some Southern areas, allowed their repopulation with mostly descendants of the original, yet mixed and modified, populations. By then they all spoke Romace languages, derived from Latin, except the Basque, who were never invaded and retained their original language.
Three main nations associated to a particular territory, culture, identity and language have survived to the present day within the Spanish nation-state: the Basque Country (and Navarra); Galicia; and the Catalan Countries (Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands).
The Spanish State
The origins of the Spanish State are traced back to a dominant imperialistic Castilian power which, in its expansionist and centralist action, aimed to homogenise all its conquered or annexed territory, imposing its language, laws and customs.
Spain is the extension of a former Castilian nation in control of a central state that has always aimed to neutralise the other coexisting nations, in its quest to create a single Spanish nation.
It is important to note that there was no real Spanish State until Philip V of Borboun came to the throne in early 18th century after a Succession War against the Habsburg candidate, and imposed an absolutitst rule, putting an end to the confederate model at work since the middle ages, through which the different countries shared the same monarch but this was subject to the laws and customs of the individual countries’ institutions. So, even though there was a Spanish Crown, the figure of King or Queen of Spain did not officially exist. Spanish Monarchs, generally men, had a long list of individual titles such as King of Castile, King of Navarra, King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona (since Catalonia had refused to become a kingdom), King of Valencia and so on. Actually, the first one to be proclaimed King of Spain was Joseph Bonaparte, after his brother Napoleon’s peninsular invasion in early 19th century.
The Spanish State has always been run from Castile by centralist monarchies. The decay of the Spanish Empire in the 19th century led to several Monarchic crisis, which resulted in two attempts to establish a Republican model, but both the first and the second Republic suffered coups d’etat by dictators, who ended up restoring the Borbonic Monarchy The First Spanish Republic (1873-74) lasted less than 2 years due to a military uprising which restored the Bourbon Monarchy. From 1923 to 1930 there was another authoritarian military regime accepted by the abdicating King. The Second Spanish Republic (1931-39) suffered Franco’s military coup d’etat in 1936, causing the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and establishing Franco’s dictatorship from 1939 until his death in 1975, having organised the Third Borboun Restoration with John Charles I.
The pre-arranged agreements for the transition to democracy were based on this condition, so other options were not allowed in the debate. The acceptance of a Monarchy with democratic representation was the only way to come out of the authoritarian regime, so people could only vote yes to the 1978 Constitution.
The Spanish homogenising national project promoted by the Castilian state has had varying degrees of success amongst the populations of different territories. Consolidated nations have been more reluctant to accept it, whereas other cultural minorities have been completely or almost completely absorbed through time.
The Catalan nation:
Catalonia is a country in the North-East of the Iberian Peninsula with all the features that constitute a nation, whose origins can be traced back to around the 10th century. (Refer back to article Exploring preconceptions about Nationalism for a definition of nation and to Back to origins: some historical background for historical facts).
In an early period of expansion Catalonia reconquered, repopulated and gave independent autonomy to other territories that today are also part of the Catalan nation (e.g. Kingdom of Valencia and Kingdom of Majorca).
So the concept of Catalan nation can be extended to The Catalan Countries, which share a common origin, culture and language (while preserving their own identity, singularities and dialectical differences).
Catalonia (with its Northern part under French administration), the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands, Andorra (the only independent Catalan country with Catalan as its official language) and Alguer (in Sardinia, under Italian administration) are the Catalan Countries. The Catalan nation has also strong links with the Occitan nation (under French administration), as the origins of the first are strongly shaped by the coexistence, mixing and intertwining with the second, so it is considered a sister culture. There is actually a little Occitan country in Catalan territory, Aran, whose language and cultural singularity are acknowledged and respected by Catalan institutions. Occitania, as a stateless nation, has undergone a similar experience to that of Catalonia, with its persistence being threatened by the policies of a fiercely centralist and homogenising French state with no sympathy for national or cultural minorities that has always aimed to absorbe.
Focusing on Catalonia as an individual entity, we find part of its sense of nation lies in the bounding effect of language, which provides a particular shared interpretation of the world or mental framework, together with attitudes, beliefs and values, which are reflected in cultural expressions and traditions. This is why Catalan language and schooling have always been targeted by the Spanish centralist state to undermine the Catalan culture, like the French state does with its national minorities.
Given partly by its geographical position, favouring contact and exchange with other cultures from the rest of Europe and the Mediterranean, Catalonia has historically excelled in trade and commerce, enterpreneurship, negotiation, liberalism, technical development, innovation, education, art, culture, advanced political and social organisation…
The Catalan have traditionally been described as skilled traders, efficient and hard workers, organised, rational, wise and sensible, resourceful, with a determined and contained personality.
Catalan traditions reveal a strong group building and cooperation spirit. Human towers (Castellers) are a good proof, and so is the traditional dance called Sardana.
Values are very important to Catalans. The concepts of justice, trust and loyalty are key.
Catalonia exercised its full sovereignty for centuries. Geographically caught between the Castilian-Spanish and the French imperialistic and centralist powers, Catalonia managed to create and preserve their self-government institutions despite being linked to other countries or political suprastructures, (e.g. the Crown of Aragon and the Habsburg Spanish Monarchy) until 300 years ago the absolutist Borboun candidate won the War of Spanish Succession and abolished all its rights and institutions, together with those of the other Catalan Kingdoms, which also supported the Habsburg candidate.
Catalonia has consistently expressed its desire to recover its full sovereignty and the will to become a Republic. The Catalan Republic has been proclaimed in 4 occasions (1641, 1872, 1934 and 2017), always followed by a prompt brutal repressive response from the Spanish State to restore Catalonia’s subjugation.
The Spanish nation
So how can we talk about a Spanish nation when Spain is actually made up of different nations? Is it a nation of nations? I recommend the article from 2017 A Fight Spain Can’t Win to explore this argument.
The current Spanish national identity has been created as an extension of the Castilian one with a selection of regional folkloric touchs, particularly Andalusian.
Despite the intended mix of regional elements, Spanish stereotypes fail to capture idiosyncrasies and ignores difference, downplaying national diversity in favour of a single national identity.
What comes to mind when one thinks of Spain? Sun, party, wine, flamenco, bullfighting, siesta… Passionate, extroverted and loud people speaking Spanish language.
The stereotyped image of Spain applies mainly to the South (Andalusia), where most elements are actually taken from, and the inland territories of the old Castilian Crown, which have incorporated them as symbols of their Spanish nationality.
To extend it even further, Latin American elements are often included, so you find Mexican hats having long been sold as a typical Spanish souvenir, when they have never been used in Spain, and are traditional to Mexico, which is an independent country in a different continent with its own separate national identity. Thanks to these inappropriate stereotypes tourists are totally missguided and do not actually learn anything about the place they are visiting!
This relates to the concept of a Hispanic nation, a term not used in English, which refers to an extension of the Spanish nation to include the ex-colonies, particularly Latin America, based on the common Spanish language, cultural influence and roots. Language acts thus as a cohesive factor to foster the idea of nation. Let’s bear in mind though, that Spanish is Latin Americas’s main language due to its imposition, through savage colonialisation and genocide of indigeneous peoples and languages. So this idea of nation draws exlusively on the origins of the invaders who imposed their culture, religion and language onto the invaded, who have been neglected and invisibilised when not attacked or eliminated. More obvious but not so different from what they did in nearer territories.
Going back to the Iberian peninsula, this constructed Spanish national identity is too broad and biased. The selected traits and symbols do not apply to all the peoples it is supposed to represent. Again, it downplays the existence of national communities, downgrading them to just regional communities with particular folkloric traditions. They are allowed to keep a regional identity, but always within a single national framework. So one can feel Murcian, Spanish and European. The problem arises when the proposed regional and national frameworks are in conflict because the first already provides a national identity which is incompatible in nature with the one promoted by the state as hierarchically superior. That is, they hardly share any traits to make identification possible. If you add the fact that it is not offered as a choice, but it is an imposition, self-determination demands are totally justified and logical. Why on earth should somebody be told what they must be, other than what they feel themselves to be?
Even regional differences are often too great to make them all fit into one single pack and significant difference is neglected. Appropriation of cultural elements is common, assigning the label Spanish to selected “regional” elements (e.g. Modernist architecture, which is exclusive to Catalonia). It is a mix and match that does not provide an accurate picture of reality.
Historical nations do not feel represented by these stereotypes. They have their own identity, language, culture and customs so, in general and to varying degrees, their people do not like the idea of adopting an alternative identity that does not represent them while the one they feel their own is denyied.
The members of these communities who are more aware of their history and cultural legacy regard the situation as the imposition of some bossy neighbours’ foreign language and nationality (i.e. Castilian – Spanish). They are expected to embrace a nationality invented by a state that, as historical facts support, more or less subtly has always aimed to eliminate diversity in favour of a single large homogenous nation.
So, even though there are people in Catalonia who do feel “Catalan”, Spanish and European, many feel Catalan, European and world citizens, but not Spanish. They see Catalan and Spanish as mutually exclusive. This is why I have used quote marks for the Catalan who also feel Spanish, as the idea of Catalonia they inadvertedtly subscribe to is that of Catalonia as a Spanish colony instead of a nation.
In any case, it is important to note that the Catalan do not hate the Spanish. Apart from the fact that most Catalans have mixed origins, the concept of brotherhood between peninsular peoples exists. We reject the Spanish state, not the Spanish people. However only small minorities beyond Catalonia, particularly from the other historical nations but not only, have shown support to the legitimacy of current Catalan claims. We understand their opinions are manipulated by the state’s system, particularly through politics and mass media, and would love to see them become more critical, do their own research and finally open their eyes and stop supporting an unfair model of state and society that only benefits the elites. We celebrate meeting individuals and collectives beyond Catalonia that are aware of this wider picture and defend fundamental rights and democracy above and against Spanish nationalism and the current State interests.
Catalans in Madrid in march 2019 to claim for the right to Self-Determination and protest against political trials and repression, joined by people from all over the Spanish state and beyond. 
Catalan claim supported by Spanish Republicans: “Deciding is not a crime” 
Republicans from all over the territory defending democratic rights 
Support from Castilians 
Supporters from Madrid: “Free political prisoners. Democracy! Republic!” 
Galicians: “Self-Determination is not a crime” 
Andalusians for democracy and civil rights 
Basques, always defending the right of Self-Determination
Unfortunately, despite there are respectful and sympathetic people with higher values, the general attitude of Spanish population is against Catalonia. When a particular community is persistently treated with disdain, its rights or needs are not respected and abuse becomes the rule, the bonds simply weaken and any project in common becomes unfeasible.
What feelings of belonging can be developed with a community which finds the mere existence of your cultural and national identity annoying, while it denies it and demands that you adopt its compulsory Spanish identity?
As a contradiction, despite most Spaniards deny the existence of the Catalan nation and insist on the fact Catalans are officially Spanish, they do not actually regard them or treat them as part of their people, but rather as outsiders or more accurately, as rebel conquered subjects who should just accept the master’s authority.
This confirms the whole point and reveals the underlying reality: Catalonia is a nation whose territory has been conquered, invaded and taken over by an imperialist state aiming to replace it with their own idea of nation.
Catalonia has traditionally been regarded as an enemy because it has always stood up for its rights and challenged the central state and its practices, as well as the concept of Spain itself. Spaniards seem to need enemies to blame for their problems, so Catalanshave long replaced the vacant enemy role left by expelled Moors, Jewish peoples and others. We are “the others”.
Catalans speak differently, think differently, feel differently, do things differently, behave differently, have different values and goals… Why do we have to accept an identity and ways we do not only not feel our own, but are incompatible with what we are? Why should we accept to be ruled by a state that does not respect or foster our society’s wellbeing and prevents our development? Self-Determination is a fundamental right! We have the right to decide whether we want to rule ourselves!
In conclusion, Spain, like France and many other nation-states, is a plurinational state favouring a single imposed nationality at the expense of the others. It is an unfair situation based on unequal power relations which are condemning peoples and cultures to decay and likely long-term extinction. It can only be resolved exercising the right of Self-Determination before too late.
Reflexionarium 
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