By Teresa Gottein and Alba Regidor
Catalonia has been on the main focus of media outlets all over the world for several months now. Front pages and social media have been, and still are, trying to keep everyone up to date on how the controversial relationship between Spain’s central government and Catalonia’s is developing.
The region’s political uncertainty has its origins in a series of key events. These are the referendum of October 1, 2017, where citizens were asked whether they wanted Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic; the circumstances in which the referendum was held; the confusing results; the declaration of independence by former president Puigdemont on October 27; his dismissal by Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy only a few hours later; Puigdemont fleeing to Brussels to avoid jail, and the elections to vote for a new president for Catalonia’s Parliament on December 21, 2017.
Neither the referendum in October nor the elections in December solved Catalonia’s instability as quickly as people wished. Some months after what could be considered the peak of the crisis, Artefact travelled to Barcelona to see how things are now.
What do the capital’s streets look like? How does Catalan society feel? How did they experience the polemical referendum? How is the political situation affecting their lives?
Featured image by Teresa Gottein