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Nearly 200,000 Catalans live abroad. The size of this community has grown exponentially in the last 6 years, due to the economic crisis and the lack of job opportunities in Spain and Catalonia, especially for youngsters with advanced degrees. Alongside the economic downturn in the south of Europe, the political debate regarding Catalonia’s fitting into Spain has accelerated and several historic occasions for testing support for independence have taken place within a short period of time, including elections and the 9^th of November consultation. However, only 7% of the Catalan community living abroad voted in the last Catalan elections in 2012, which is a very poor figure. With this learning experience behind them, Catalan institutions are spreading the word to let more people know about the electoral law, its deadlines and procedures so that the same thing won’t happen again in the 27th of September’s elections.

The CUP was one of the biggest surprises in the 2012 Catalan elections. This radical left-wing and pro-independence candidacy, which comes from the social movements and started its political career on the local level, entered the Catalan Parliament for the first time three years ago and its influence in the Catalan government, as well as its popular support, has hugely increased since then. The CUP’s programme regarding the upcoming 27-S elections is clear: they accept the “plebiscitary” nature of the elections but bid for an independence that goes much further. As is stated by its slogan, the CUP fights for an “independence to change it all”.

The Catalan President asked Madrid to “pay attention to” the massive demonstration held in Barcelona and to stop being “politically short-sighted”. “Leave behind your imperial vanity, stop threatening us with the law as if we were criminals. We are normal, peaceful people”, he said to the Spanish government, in a short speech after 1.4 million people took to the streets of Barcelona in another big rally in favour of independence. Mas urged the central government to modify the law to allow a referendum because “that would not mean the end of the world”. “We have the right to be listened to, and not only that. We have the right to be helped in order to implement our democratic mandate”, he added. Addressing the Catalans that took part in the rally, he said that while they can be “influential” by taking to the streets, it’s really when they vote at the ballot box that they “decide”. Catalans are going to the polls on the 27th of September in a vote that many consider a de facto referendum on independence.

Catalonia has once again organised one of the largest demonstrations in Europe on its National Day. 1.4 million people formed a 5.2 km line in Barcelona to show their support for the creation of an independent state for Catalonia, according to local police. The organisers from the grass-roots Catalan National Assembly (ANC) put the figure at 2 million. Its president, Jordi Sánchez, urged politicians to go ahead with independence if Yes parties win a majority in the 27th of September election. “They should not let us down. They need to know that they’ve got hundreds of thousands of people behind them. Today we are on the street, tomorrow we will be in the polling station”, he said. According to Sánchez, this year's demonstration has been a “success”.

Yes supporters in Catalonia hit the streets Friday in a new historic rally organised two weeks before a crucial election that is being framed as a ‘de facto’ referendum on independence. The ‘Via Lliure cap a la República Catalana’ (Gateway to the Catalan Republic) covered a 5.2-kilometre stretch of one of Barcelona’s main avenues, the Meridiana. People poured into the city waving the independence flag, known in Catalan as ‘estelada’. Today’s rally is the fourth huge demonstration in support of independence that Catalans have organised on 11 September, their National Day. In previous years, up to 1.5 million people demonstrated in the streets.

At 9 o’clock this morning, all the political parties represented in the Catalan Parliament and in Barcelona’s City Hall, with the exception of the conservative People’s Party (PP), anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans (C’s) and alternative left and radical independence party CUP, paid the traditional homage to the statue of Rafael Casanova, Barcelona’s Chief Councillor when the city was defeated on the 11th of September 1714. The first to arrive were Catalan President Artur Mas and Catalan Parliament spokeswoman Núria de Gispert. Civil society organisations such as FC Barcelona, RCD Espanyol, and Òmnium Cultural (the main organisation promoting Catalan culture and language) also participated in the event. The flower offering was the first of many events being held to commemorate Catalonia’s National Day, the 11th of September. The date not only commemorates Catalonia’s defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession, but it also recalls its consequent loss of sovereignty, self-government institutions and Constitution. 

This year the electoral campaign for the upcoming 27th of September elections starts on the 11th of September, Catalonia’s National Day. In total 40 lists of candidates are running for the Catalan elections, 39 less than in the last elections in 2012, with many of the candidates being newcomers. This reduction in the number of candidacies is due to the creation of unitary lists made up by coalitions between different parties and even civil society organisations in order to have a wider representation in an election that is set to be a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence. 

A gigantic demonstration is being prepared by the two civil society associations supporting the independence process, the Catalan National Assembly and Òmnium Cultural, for Catalonia’s National Day. The ‘Via Lliure cap a la República Catalana’ (‘Gateway to the Catalan Republic’) arrives after three years in a row of historic pro-independence rallies that have gathered more than 1.5 million people each. This time the demonstration will take place along Meridiana Avenue in Barcelona and there are already 360,000 people registered to participate. The rally will make its way along a 5.2-kilometre-stretch, from the ‘Parc de la Ciutadella’ – where the Catalan Parliament is located – to the outskirts of the Catalan capital, symbolically linking the institution that represents Catalonia's sovereignty with the streets of Barcelona and the rest of the country. 

The Spanish Defence Minister, Pedro Morenés, warned that the army won’t intervene in Catalonia during the 27-S upcoming elections as long as “everybody fulfils their duty”. Morenés said this referring to a possible unilateral declaration of independence, in the event that pro-independence forces win the Catalan elections. In an interview on Spanish National Radio (RNE) he underlined that the army “is an absolutely and perfectly democratic” institution and its members “will strictly obey the law”. The Minister also spoke in support of the application of Article 115 of the Spanish Constitution, which allows the central government to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy if the “rules aren’t adhered to”.

Vidar Helgesen declared to CNA that the process of independence Catalonia is facing is a “demanding situation” but assured that international organisations have the “procedures to handle it”. Although he said that Norway doesn’t want to interfere in Catalonia’s process he admitted that they are “certainly observing” the situation and they will “play along with international rules” in the event of a hypothetic independence. Regarding the future of Catalonia in the EU he recalled former President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso’s words on the Scottish matter and stated that “it wouldn’t be an automatic process”. 

Nearly 300 Catalans living in London have come out in support for the independence process and defended a “yes” vote in the forthcoming 27-S elections, set to be a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence. Carrying Catalan and pro-independence flags, they marched along the streets of the British capital passing by icons of the city such as St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Parliament and the London Eye. The rally was linked to the ‘Via Lliure cap a la República Catalana’ (‘Gateway to the Catalan Republic’), the mass demonstration that the civil society organisations Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural are organising for this coming Catalan National Day, on the 11^th of September. Once the demonstrators arrived at Kennington Park, they displayed the same mosaic that will be created in Barcelona on the 11^th of September. Catalan traditional human towers, ‘Castellers’, and ‘Sardanes’, Catalonia’s traditional dance, were also on display in the most festive part of the London rally.  

The pro-independence unitary list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ gave details about its roadmap towards independence, which was first presented last week after a massive rally in Barcelona. The cross-party coalition brings together members of Catalan civil society and politicians from both right and left that favour independence, including Catalan President Artur Mas, who is fourth on the coalition’s candidate list. The Commissioner for National Transition, solicitor Carles Viver Pi-Sunyer, assured this Friday during the presentation that there won’t be any “leap into the void” as everything is planned “rigorously”. He also detailed the steps to follow after the 27^th of September elections and, if the results show clear support for Catalan independence, the last stage would be the composition of a Catalan Constitution.

Since 2012, the demonstrations on Catalonia’s National Day, on the 11^th of September, have grown exponentially. Nearly two million pro-independence supporters have shown their demands regarding Catalonia’s political future at each of the different manifestations that have filled the streets of Barcelona and towns all over the territory. Two organisations, Òmnium Cultural, which is a civil society organisation promoting Catalan culture and language, and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a grassroots association demanding Catalonia's independence from Spain, have played a key role in turning these three demonstrations into massive, historic rallies. 

The Catalan President, Artur Mas, has stated that the 27-S Catalan elections are not an “improvised event” but “the last resort” for Catalans to decide their political future. He justified the elections by saying that up until now all attempts have “crashed into the granite wall that is Spain”. At his appearance before Parliament this Wednesday, Mas admitted that calling elections hadn’t been his first choice but that it was “the only option left”. He added that the upcoming elections “are exceptional” and mentioned the pro-independence unitary list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ as an example of this. The gathering together of “so many people with different ideologies but a common purpose has no precedents” and should at least “be respected”, he said. Mas also gave explanations for the search that the Spanish Guardia Civil carried out on the headquarters of his party CDC and those of the party’s foundation CatDem.

The Catalan President, Artur Mas, recognised that he is the target of the law reform that the conservative People’s Party (PP) announced on Tuesday, which he described as a threat to the rule of law. The project aims at the Court being able to suspend or fine politicians who disobey Constitutional Court rulings. According to the PP, it is unconstitutional to ask Catalans if they want to separate from Spain, let alone to declare independence. Mas stated that the PP “wants to destroy the rule of law” with this decision that he regarded as an old-fashioned way of doing politics more proper of “the Inquisition” than of a democratic country. President Mas will appear before the Parliament this afternoon to defend his decision to call elections on the 27th of September. The Catalan President will answer questions from members of parliament about the poll, which pro-independence groups consider as a ‘de facto’ referendum on independence. The PP has also warned that it will ask Mas about the Spanish Guardia Civil search that took place last week in the headquarters of his party CDC and the President’s party Foundation CatDem.