Table of Contents
Prologue ...... 11
Rapping on the Cast(i)le Gates: Nationalism and Culture-Planning in Contemporary Spain ...... 15
If a Million People March for Catalan Independence in Barcelona, Do They Make Noise? ...... 45
Washington Seeks Stability. It is Not Likely to Recognize a Catalan State ...... 49
The Essential Question of Our Time: Will We Live as Citizens, or Go Back to Being Subjects? ...... 53
New National Structures Are Needed to Protect People Against Powerful Transnational Interests ...... 59
Projecting Catalan Identity in the Contemporary World: A View From the Outside ...... 89
Waiting for Positive Signs from the Great Powers is to Ratify Their Power Over You ...... 103
No Centralist Power Will Allow Anyone to Leave Without Exacting a Price ...... 105
Dignity is an Important Word ...... 109
Les Bases de Manresa: Where They Came From and Why They Are Important ...... 121
Media Control and Authoritarian Rhetoric: How Spain’s Corrupt People’s Party Continues to Rule ...... 137 8 Thomas S. Harrington
An Interview with Catalan Independence Leader Artur Mas ...... 143
A Nation Too Liquid? ...... 153
As Long as the Front Against Negotiation Exists in Madrid, the Level of Alienation in Catalonia Will Grow ...... 155
Urgent: Forced Takeover of Catalan Government Institutions by Spanish Police ...... 173
Catalonia: Spanish Centralism or the Self-Defeating Flubris of the Authoritarian Mind ...... 175
Largest Newspaper in Spain Blames Russia and Antiwar, com for Catalonia Pro-Independence News ...... 181
In the Midst of a Coup, Catalans Keep On Keepin’ On ...... 183
Last Sunday in Catalonia: Pirates 1, The Invincible Armada 0 ...... 187
The Disingenuousness of the “Procedural Irregularities” Case Against Catalan Independence ...... 193
Mario Vargas Llosa is the Perfect Poster Boy for Spanish Unionism ...... 195
The Baseless Myth of the Poor, Propagandized Catalans ...... 199
When Viewed in Comparative Terms, Catalonia’s Culture of Democracy is Truly Impressive ...... 201
A Polemic with a Professor at the University of Connecticut ...... 209
The Major Question Here is the Role of Force in Elective Democracies in the 21st Century ...... 235
Catalonia and the Art of Differential Diagnosis 239 A Citizen’s Democracy in Authoritarian Times 9
An Extraordinary Moment for Democracy in Europe ...... 247
Big Media on Last Thursday’s (December 21st) Vote in Catalonia: “Never Mind” ...... 249
What Nerve! In Catalonia They Are Once Again Trying to Swear-In the Coalition that Won the Most Votes ...... 257
Rajoy and Catalonia: The Fear Behind the Bully’s Rage ...... 261
Professor Marlene Wind: Symbol of a Smug Denmark and a Power-Serving Academic Discipline ...... 263
Civil Disobedience: Myths and Realities ...... 269
Brand Name Progressives in the US ... and in Catalonia ...... 271
When Spain Thought it Had Gained Promotion to the First Division of Lying States ...... 275
The Establishment’s “Controversialization” of Quim Torra ...... 279
Why Must Governments in Catalonia Please All When Those in Madrid Can Simply Enact Their Programs? ...... 281
The Unionists in Catalonia Turn to the Latin American Coup Playbook ...... 283