national

Catalonia’s Shakespeare Festival returns after its cancellation in 2011 due to the crisis

September 5, 2012 11:18 PM | CNA / Laura Quintana

After one year without the Shakespeare Festival, it has now returned. However, it will take place in a new place and with a new partner: La Perla 29, the theatre production company which is directed by Oriol Broggi. The festival will move from the coastal town of Mataró to Barcelona. The event will take place in spring 2013 in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (Catalonia’s National Library), in the city centre. As the event was unexpectedly cancelled last year, this new edition focuses on the adaptation of the festival to the economic crisis and aims to be projected to Europe and worldwide.

Constitutional Court allows Catalan national teams to compete internationally but never against Spain

June 2, 2012 01:17 AM | CNA

After 13 years, the Constitutional Court has denied the appeal presented by the Spanish Government in 1999 against a Catalan Parliament Law that allowed the Catalan sports federation to compete internationally. However, the Court states that Catalan teams cannot compete “in sports where no Spanish federation exists”. According to the Catalan Government, this sentence is “a first step” on the road to the international recognition of “all sports federations”. In addition, the Platform for Catalan said that Spanish legislation does not apply internationally and that International Federations are private organisations; it is thus their decision, as the CAS confirmed in 2008. They also mentioned the case of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The first stolen Spanish Civil War documents are returned to their legitimate owners 73 years later

February 20, 2012 11:49 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

In 1939, Franco’s troops entered Catalonia and plundered most of the official documents of the Catalan Government, institutions, political parties, trade unions, and cultural organisations. In addition, they also took personal documents belonging to Catalan personalities. In total more than 300,000 documents were sent to an archive in Salamanca. They were processed and the information they contained used by the Fascist regime’s repression in the post-war years. The documents are known as the ‘Salamanca Papers’. The Spanish Government ordered the return of some of the ‘Salamanca Papers’ in 1995, but political opposition has delayed the process until now. There are still around 300 boxes of documents in Salamanca.

Catalonia’s National Day pays tribute to Catalan language in highly politicised atmosphere

September 11, 2010 10:42 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The 11th of September is Catalonia’s National Day, commemorating the day that Catalan troops were defeated while defending Barcelona in 1714. This day Catalonia stopped being recognised as a nation and lost its self-government. Pre-campaigning for the upcoming elections was present throughout this year’s celebrations. The celebration had 2 institutional milestones: the flower tribute to Rafael Casanova, who was Barcelona’s Head Councilman in 1714, and the institutional ceremony at Ciutadella Park. Besides, many institutional and civil society activities were organised throughout Catalonia, such as concerts, demonstrations and tributes.