1714

September 11 is marked by floral tributes, anthems and flags and – in the last decade – massive marches for independence 

All the political parties represented in the Catalan Parliament, except from the Conservative People’s Party (PP), Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ and radical left pro-independence CUP took part in the flower offering to Rafael Casanova’s statue and recalled the day the city fell to Bourbon troops on the 11^th of September 1714. The Catalan Government led by Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, Catalan Vice President and Catalan Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras and Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, began the tribute and placed flowers at the monument of Casanova. The Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and Barcelona’s Mayor, Ada Colau, were next to pay tribute to the Barcelona Chief Councillor, who died defending the city during a 14-month military siege over 300 years ago.

The Chief of Spain’s Army Defence Staff, General Jaime Domínguez Buj, was asked on Tuesday about the situation in Catalonia and he has implicitly compared it with a colony. The main General of the Army stated that “when the metropolis is weak” is the time when “the fall takes place”. He added that a “processes” such as Catalonia’s happens “when the central power is weak”, as happened in 1898, when Spain lost Cuba and the Philippines, he said. His words have caused quite some controversy. Later on, Domínguez Buj, nuanced his previous statement and said he was referring to 1808 and the Spanish War of Independence against Napoleon’s Empire. Such a war helped some of Spain’s American colonies to get their independence.

On Catalonia's National Day, the Spanish unity association Societat Civil Catalana (Catalan Civil Society, in English), organised a demonstration to protest against the self-determination process in Tarragona. It was a demonstration organised weeks ago as an answer to the massive pro-independence rally organised on the same day in Barcelona. The Tarragona demonstration gathered 7,000 people according to the local police and 3,500 according to the Catalan Police. It was backed by the People's Party (PP) – who runs the Spanish Government, the populist and Spanish nationalist parties C's and UPyD, and by leading members of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), such as Carme Chacón. They chose this city because it used to be the capital of the Roman Empire's province of Hispania Citerior. The PP leader in Catalonia said that "the silent Catalonia is raising its voice". The leader of C's accused the parties supporting self-determination of "dividing Catalans".

In 1714, Catalonia was defeated and loss its sovereignty, its self-government, its Constitution and its freedoms to an absolute king who imposed a harsh political, economic, social and cultural repression that was prolonged until the 1970s, only interrupted during a few isolated and short periods. Barcelona was one of the last cities to fall, but it was ultimately defeated on the 11^th of September 1714, after a 14-month military siege. A few days after, all of Catalonia succumbed to the authority of the new dynasty, the Bourbons, who founded a Unitarian Spain, centralist and with an implacable homogenisation plan. Catalonia's National Day pays tribute to those defending Barcelona until the last day and aims to make citizens remember the loss of sovereignty and freedom. On the 300^th anniversary of the defeat, and in the middle of the current self-determination process, the institutional celebrations were particularly symbolical and unique.

In the institutional speech that the President of the Catalan Government makes each year the evening before Catalonia's National Day, Artur Mas asked the Spanish authorities to "listen to the peaceful and democratic claim" represented by Thursday's massive pro-independence rally. "Silencing the voice of a people that want to speak out is a mistake; denying the vote to those who see ballot boxes as the solution and not the problem is a double mistake", stated Mas. Before the institutional speech was broadcasted on TV, Mas attended the flower offering made to the mass graveyard where those who died defending Barcelona in the 14-month military siege were buried 300 years ago. In September 1714, Catalonia was defeated and lost its sovereignty, self-government institutions and its Constitution, and a long, harsh repression started. After the flower offering, a second ceremony started nearby, with music and poetry as the only ingredients.

Two days before the massive pro-independence demonstration will take place in Barcelona on Catalonia's National Day, more than 500,000 citizens have already signed up for participating in it. This year's pro-independence rally is likely to break all records, even though in last year's event demonstrators managed to form a 400km-long human chain spanning from north to south along all of Catalonia, attracting the world's attention. In 2013, more than 1.6 million people participated in the demonstration that was imitating the 1989 Baltic Way, according to the Catalan Police. Back then, 455,000 people had previously registered to participate in one of the human chain's 788 stretches. Now, as for last year's event, registration is not obligatory but recommended in order to guarantee that all the rally stretches will be full and a gigantic Catalan flag will be formed along the 11km itinerary. The demonstration will take place along Barcelona's two main avenues, forming a colossal V-shape to symbolise 'Vote', 'Victory' and 'Will', all three which start with a 'V' in Catalan.

The Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht was obliged to cancel the presentation of 'Victus', a novel by Catalan author Albert Sánchez Piñol on the Spanish Succession War and Barcelona's military siege of 1714, after which Catalonia lost its self-government institutions and political, social and cultural repression started. According to the author, his Dutch editorial house Signatuur and the Communication Director of the Cervantes Institute, the Spanish Embassy in The Netherlands obliged them to cancel the event the day before it was supposed to happen for political reasons. However, the Spanish Government is denying any political veto and states the cancellation was due to "diary problems". The scandal has been covered by Dutch media and Juliette Van Wersh, Publisher at Signatuur, stated they are "shocked" for a decision against "freedom of expression". The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, stated that this veto is "in line with the international boycott" which Spanish authorities are carrying out against self-determination.

Barcelona has unveiled a new museum located in the Born neighbourhood, next to the Gothic quarter, which explores how life was in the city during the early 18^th century, and will exhibit 8,000 objects. The Born Cultural Centre shows the neighbourhood’s ruins dating from 1714, when residents were forced to destroy their own homes and leave without any compensation after Barcelona’s military defeat. Next to the area, the largest urban military citadel in Europe was built, being part of the fierce repression that the Bourbon troops inflicted on Catalan citizens. From that moment onwards, Catalonia lost its self-government institutions, its own laws and freedoms, and Catalan language was banned and persecuted with the aim to homogenise the recently-formed Spain.