How has Podemos gone from inception to Spain's most popular political party in less than a year?
Spain, and Catalonia within it, is now exhausted from an unprecedented and exceedingly destructive economic crisis which has triggered a vast social crisis that has ended up in a serious political crisis.
The parents and grandparents of the ‘no future’ generation have rallied behind what was once a movement of rebellious youth.
Optimism among Catalans after Sunday's vote should not disguise the significant challenges ahead if anything is to come from their "non-referendum consultation".
Rajoy's iron-fisted approach to the Catalan question has only made the independence movement stronger. Now he must negotiate or risk losing Catalonia for good.
Artur Mas was suitably elated at the turnout, while Mariano Rajoy continues to denounce the "referendum" and its leaders.
On 9 November, Catalans will vote in an "unofficial" referendum for independence. Just how did it come to this?
If Catalan markets are subject to European regulation, if redistribution is increasingly coming under threat, and if the inhabitants of Catalonia prefer a different combination of public services, why should it have to share the same state structures as Spain?
Today in Catalonia young people grow up bilingual. It also occurs in other parts of Europe. But here a small miracle has taken place; a tradition and a culture that were in danger of being lost have been recovered.
New forms of urban struggle have been emerging in Barcelona. The reconstruction of the Can Vies social centre, half demolished by the state in a botched eviction, has been an inspiring example. But other sites of occupation are under threat.
Despite the referendum result, Basque nationalists still see Scotland as an inspiration for their own national struggle for self-determination.
When people go home – what happens next? How do you canalise the tidal energy of a protest or social movement until it effects change? At a Podemos London event, we begin to find out.
