The December 21 result effectively ratified the pro-independence result of the October 1 referendum and the October 27 proclamation of a Catalan Republic. So why have matters reached this point?

Any socialist, any progressive, any democrat will be doing what they can to help tip the balance in favour of what would be an enormous victory over Europe’s forces of darkness

The movement for Catalan sovereignty will be fighting to make the activation of article 155 the starting point of the Spanish establishment’s Vietnam

he combination of the organised movement that won on October 1 and 3 and solidarity within and beyond the borders of the Spanish state will be essential to prevent the Spanish establishment’s planned crushing of Catalonia’s national rights

The Spanish state moves to end Catalan self-rule

Rising against Spanish state siege

The mood of the protests was one of determination to see the fight against the Spanish state intervention through to the end

Resisting the Spanish government siege

The June 9 decision of Catalonia’s pro-independence Together For The Yes (JxSí) government to hold a referendum on whether the country should become “an independent state in the form of a republic” has created a raft of differences

Half-a-million people marched in the Catalan capital of Barcelona on August 26 to express the desire in Catalan society to stay tolerant, open and un-militarised in the face of the August 17-18 terror attacks