Whither Catalonia?
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1513 .... November 16, 2017
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Whither Catalonia?
Josep María Antentas interviewed by Dan La Botz
Dan La Botz, a co-editor of New Politics, interviewed Josep María Antentas, teacher of Sociology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and anticapitalist activist. First published on New Politics website.
Dan La Botz (DL): The Catalan independence movement and its suppression by the Spanish state have garnered the attention of the world. What has been your attitude toward the question of Catalonia?
Josep María Antentas (JMA): My traditional position is the defense of the right to self-determination, with the idea that when a group rises to exercise this right its position must be made specific. In the current -- and since the independence movement began in 2012, the defense of a "Yes"... vote has a more democratic content than the "No" vote, which is associated exclusively with the reactionary defense of the Constitution and the political regime.
DL: So you called for voting yes on the referendum recently organized by the Catalonia government?
JMA: My position is that a "Yes" in the referendum now is the position that makes it possible to break with the post-Franco political framework. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that independence has to be the endpoint; an eventual Catalan Republic could confederate or federate with Spain afterwards, or could at least ask to do so. And there might be other options.
