Catalonia is a small country that used to be part of Spain, it's parliament declared it independent just a couple days ago. This independence move is raising some eyebrows as to why it happened, so the entity called Òmnium Cultural has produced a good video explaining some of the reasons. I encourage everyone to watch it:
Feel free to share it or comment about it here if you want. I've been an independentist since I educated myself a bit on politics - about 18 years ago or so - and I can answer some questions if needed.
You split from a corrupt government. I hope that awareness stays ingrained in your culture, to prevent the corruption of your new government for a while.
I am curious to see how the global economy does if a civil war breaks out in spain. Though I am very uninformed of the situation, I don't believe Catalonia has their own military.
"We are a people that for years wanted to live as a normal nation. ...." Thats when i stopped watching: To claim to represent and to know the will of the people is THE sign of a populist...
Im not from spain, i dont live in spain and never have. But the two people from catalonia i happen to know think this movement is pure stupidity. Plus a huge number of people demonstrating their intention to stay in spain seem to disagree with that "just live as a normal nation (apart from spain)" fairytale.
I dont doubt there are many people that want to live in a nation catalonia (or at least in their imagination of it...). But to claim all people want to or at least an overwhelmingly large part of the people if you cannot prove it - and no, it hasnt been proven - discredits you in my eyes.
A subset of Catalonians want independence, the people who protested, voted etc. but the majority of the region don't actually want it.
The main reason given is that some Catalonians feel they contribute the most wealth to Spain but they don't get any benefit from it. Seems like a pretty stupid reason.