After the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced nine political and social Catalan leaders on October 14 to a total of 99.5 years jail for organising the October 1, 2017 independence referendum, the struggle for the country’s right to self-determination entered a new phase.
Popular outrage with the court’s decision exploded, leading to a wave of protests that concluded in an enormous October 18 demonstration in Barcelona.
This historic event brought hundreds of thousands of Catalans of all ages together to denounce the vindictive sentence and once again claim their basic democratic right to decide Catalonia’s future as a nation.
At the same time, support for the Catalan right to self-determination took another step forward outside the country, marked by a rise in solidarity demonstrations within the Spanish State and internationally.
Green Left Weekly has been part of the growing effort by non-Catalans to explain the Catalan struggle, expose the anti-democratic character of the Spanish state in trying to repress it, and build solidarity with it.
Since the 2017 referendum, GLW has run four blogs (Live Blog: Catalonia's independence struggle, Live Blog: Catalonia's Independence Struggle Continues..., Live Blog: News and analysis on Catalonia's struggle for self-determination & Live Blog: Catalonia on Trial: The Spanish State vs. The Catalan 12) giving daily coverage of the Catalan political situation, which was less well-known and understood at that time than it is today.
Since many useful sources providing daily English-language coverage of Catalan and Spanish state polítics now exist, our effort from GLW will henceforth focus on providing analysis and resources for solidarity.
You can stay up to date and read past articles in GLW’s coverage of Catalonia here.
If you want to stay informed of developments in Catalonia and the Spanish state on a daily basis, try these sites:
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For daily updates on developments in Catalonia in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and German go to the Foreign Friends of Catalonia website and join their Twitter, Instagram or Telegram channels
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For a daily updates (Monday to Friday) watch the Catalan News Agency's Catalan News
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For regularly updated news in English from Catalan sources, go to the English-language sections of Ara, El Nacional, Vilaweb and El Punt Avui.
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For hour-by-hour updates follow independent Catalan journalist Josep Goded on Twitter.
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For general news, sports, culture and opinion in English, check Catalonia Today.
For news in English from a generally Spanish-unionist viewpoint, go to the English-language section of El País, or the Spanish edition of The Local.