Catalonia: a new country in the making?

Independence supporters. Flickr/Joan Campderrós-i-Canas. Some rights reserved.How did we reach the point of being just a step away from an independent Catalan state when only a few years ago independentists were a parliamentary minority?

Firstly, because Catalonia’s strong sense of nationhood is shared by the majority of the population and rooted in a history of having its own language and cultural traditions. This is inextricably linked to the collective willingness of its people to build a common future.

This sense of nationhood has overcome many hurdles throughout the last three centuries and is very much alive today. Without it any independence movement would be too inorganic.