'What Catalans Want’ – the book to better understand Catalonia

Barcelona (ACN).- ‘What Catalans want’. Is the new book by Catalan MP Toni Strubell which tries to answer, through 35 interviews with renowned well known Catalan figures, what Catalonia is all about. The book aims to explain Catalonia “to the world”, and therefore the original version has been published in English to reach a wider audience. Edited by Liz Castro and with pictures by Lluís Brunet, ‘What Catalans want' includes interviews with two former Catalan Presidents, Jordi Pujol, from the centre-right Catalan national party Convergència i Unió (CiU), and José Montilla, from the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC).

The English book explains from different points of view what Catalan society is looking for, and what makes it different from the rest of Spain. Football player Oleguer Presas, local politician Jordi Portabella, writer Matthew Tree and journalist Vicent Sanchís are only some of the interviewees that aim to explain the ‘Catalan case’ to foreign readers.

The book, according to his author, Toni Strubell, shows a “plurality” of opinions that help to better understand “what is happening in our country" looking at issues as diverse as "why bullfighting is banned or why the situation of the Catalan language is critical”.

‘What Catalans want’ includes several chapters divided by topics such as the economy, history, media and the foreign perception of Catalonia. The book presents arguments to explain why Catalonia wants independence, says Strubell, although she rejects the notion that the book openly advocates for separation from Spain.

Editor Liz Castro argues that books such as that one are useful because most foreign correspondents in Spain work from Madrid and do not receive enough information to “fully understand” the Catalan situation.