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CATALUNYA VOTES FOR NEW ESTATUT, GAINS MORE AUTONOMY FROM MADRID CATALÁNS FAVORED THE NEW AUTONOMY CHARTER 74% TO 21%, OPENING NEW ERA FOR SPANISH CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM 20 June 2006 Catalunya —commonly written 'Catalonia' in English—, a region of northeastern Spain, along the Mediterranean and the French border, has approved a new regional charter by popular referendum. The 'Estatut' gives the culturally distinct and historically complicated region greater autonomy over taxes revenues, policy and infrastructure. [Full Story] DAY OF THE BOOK, DAY OF BARCELONA'S SANT JORDI The Dia de Sant Jordi —as Cataláns would have it— marks both the feast day of the patron saint of Barcelona, and the increasingly international Day of the Book, which falls on the 23rd of April, in honor of the two great pioneers of modern literature, Cervantes and Shakespeare, who died on that date in the year 1616. [Full Story] LIBROS POR TODAS PARTES, BARCELONA CELEBRA DÍA DEL LIBRO El día 23 de abril se celebra en Barcelona como el 'Dia de Sant Jordi', en reconocimiento de su santo tradicional, San Jorge. Es también la fecha en que, según la historia, murieron Shakespeare y Cervantes en el año 1616. Por lo tanto, se ha convertido en el 'Día del Libro', festival que llega a ser el día en que se venden más libros. [Texto completo] AMERICA'S CUP 2007 ENERGIZES HOST CITY, VALENCIA, SPAIN Spain's third largest city, Valencia, won the bid to host the America's Cup after Switzerland, a land-locked country, won the world's premier sailing event in 2003 in New Zealand. With its roots in ancient times, and a rich tapestry of medieval history, Valencia is now looking to project an image as a cutting-edge 21st century city, with global appeal. [Full Story] 'PERMANENT CEASEFIRE' DECLARED BY ETA BEGINS TODAY Spain's 4-decade long conflict with terrorist group ETA, fighting for separation of the Basque country from Spain, today appears at an end. Two days ago, the organization surprised many by declaring a "permanent ceasefire", without receiving any guarantees about its goals or about the future of its membership. [Full Story] TARRAGONA: GRACE OF TIME & DAYLIGHT If you approach the city by train, you might be lucky enough to find a glistening blue sea to your left and the austere keep of the Roman amphitheatre rising on the hill to your right. It's a city with a unique and casual knack for such cohabitation, the ancient inlaid into a thriving modern city, once the seat of Roman colonial authority and trade in northeast Hispania, now Catalunya. [City Page] VALENCIA: SUNSOAKED ENLIGHTENING Spain's third largest city, Valencia is the bustling capital of the autonomous region called the Comunidad Valenciana. The surrounding landscape is laced with geometrically plotted orchards and orange groves and is famed for its agricultural richness and productivity. Throughout its varied history, Valencia has been ruled, like many Spanish cities, by a number of distinct civilizations, and now displays a commitment to blending the ancient with the modern in creating a city with an energy like no other. [City Page] CÓRDOBA: JEWEL OF LEARNING ANCIENT & NEW Córdoba was the preeminent city in Moorish Spain: educated, wealthy, populous, refined. The city was the intellectual capital of the Caliphate of Al-Andalus. It was here that Maimonides and Averroes dispensed their great philosophical works, where algebra was developed, and where European philosophy was rescued and restored to prominence by eager Moorish students and translators. [City Page] SAGUNT: BRAVE CITY OF ANCIENTS Sagunt is today a town little known outside of its surrounding region. It is an urban environment, nestled between the coastal hills and the Mediterranean, but far enough from the popular resort towns that one can still travel there without the relentless fanfare of major tourist sites. [City Page] BARCELONA: "THE GREAT ENCHANTRESS" Blessed with luxuriant geography, Barcelona is situated between two rivers, along the Mediterranean coast, and framed by the Serra de Collserrola massif. The landscape is naturally verdant and lush, and the present day city includes many barrios which used to be farming villages. Visitors can look out over the entire valley from Mount Tibidabo (a reference to the Biblical temptation of Jesus by the Devil, saying "this I give to you"). Barcelona is the capital of autonomous Catalunya, which occupies the northeastern corner of Spain, along the Pyrenees, bordering France. Catalán regional nationalism has a long and storied tradition, rooted in the culture of the Catalán language itself, a romance language independent of Castilian Spanish, whose closest relative is the Langue d'Oc, of southern France, not the Castilian language spoken throughout Spain and Latin America. [Full Profile] CATALÁN SUPREME COURT RULES GOVERN MUST PROVIDE BILINGUAL INSTRUCTION For the 3rd time over the span of roughly 1 year, the Supreme Court of Catalunya has ruled that the Generalitat must provide bilingual instruction —the option to study in Castilian instead of Catalán— at least until the age of 8 in primary schools. [Full Story] POLITICS OF LANGUAGE IN DIVERSE SPAIN Spain's opposition PP has accused the regional government of Catalunya of "investigating, inspecting and sanctioning" businesses that put signs exclusively in Castilian (the language commonly known as "Spanish", though it originates in the central Spanish region of Castile, and other regions use other languages), according to La Vanguardia newspaper. [Full Story] SPAIN ELECTS NEW GOVERNMENT Only three days after the worst terrorist incident in Spanish history, the stricken nation held its parliamentary elections. The Spanish people have replaced the governing PP with the PSOE socialist party, which had governed throughout the 1980s and the transition to democracy. Tension over issues of war and peace had been growing since 90% of Spain's population opposed its government's involvement in the Iraq war. Turnout was up 8.46% over 2000. The new Prime Minister, Zapatero has pledged to combat terrorism as top priority. [Full Story] BARCELONA TO FOCUS ON PEACE One year after 1.3 million people demonstrated in the city's streets against the proposed invasion of Iraq, Barcelona will host an event honoring the peace-first principle. The organizers are calling for an end to the Occupation in Iraq, citing Spain's 92%% opposition to involvement in the war. The demonstration will occur on 15 February, the anniversary of what was seen by many as a new birth of civic involvement for the local population. [For more: BCN.es] TRIPARTITE PACT YIELDS NEW CATALÁN PRESIDENT
15 December 2003 The new government, formed by Pasqual Maragall (Catalán Socialist Party), Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (Republican Left of Catalunya) and Joan Saura (Catalán Green, United Left), brings a progressive face to Catalán politics, and ends the reign of Jordi Pujol as President of the Generalitat. Maragall, the new president, has said he wants to have a new relationship with Spain's central government and that Catalunya is once more "sincere, having recognized its diversity as wealth". [For more: AVUI]
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