The fight for the democratic right to decide in Catalunya
Monday 12th June 2017

The announcement today by the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, that a referendum will be held on the independence of Catalunya of Sunday 1 October responds to a longstanding demand by a large majority of the country. It comes after years of mass mobilisations in recent years, with demonstrations of up to 2 million people, and countless other actions.
Currently, around 80% of the the Catalan population are in favour of a referendum being held. Some of them would prefer it to be organised in agreement with the Spanish government in Madrid.
With this aim, over the last three months, a very broad campaign, the National Pact for the Referendum, collected half a million signatures in favour of the Catalan and Spanish governments coming to an agreement on a referendum. This campaign included the pro independence parties, but also “the commons”. This new left political space in Catalunya combines social ...