Estat Català
Encyclopedia
Estat Català is a historical pro-independence
political party
in Catalonia
, Spain
.
Despite its role in the 20th and 21st centuries both in Catalan and Spanish politics, ever since Spain returned to democracy in the 1970s, the party has not managed to get any of its candidates elected, having achieved less than 0.6% of the total votes at elections they have run for. Estat Català has not run for elections since 2004 except to the elections to the town halls.
's regime and the monarchy. Their actions included a failed assassination attempt against the King of Spain Alfonso XIII in an operation of its secret paramilitary unit named Santa Germandat Catalana de la Bandera Negra (Holy Catalan Brotherhood of the Black Flag) that was known as the Complot de Garraf (Conspiracy of Garraf
). Estat Català also raised a small army named Exèrcit Català (Catalan Army) led by Francesc Macià to invade the Principality
from Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste
, in French
Northern Catalonia
.
When the government of Primo de Rivera
banned separatist movements, the party became clandestine and Francesc Macià went into exile
. Nonetheless, Estat Català was one of the parties promoting the "San Sebastian pact" with Basque nationalism
, Galician nationalists and Spanish republicans
they agreed to push for a democratic
process in the Spanish monarchy.
During the so called Conferència d'Esquerres (Conference of the left), held on the 17 and 19 of March 1931 at Cros street in the Sants district of Barcelona, Estat Català joined the Partit Republicà Català and the political group L'Opinió to form Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
. Nevertheless, inside Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
, the organizational autonomy of Estat Català was preserved and it controlled the influential youth section of the party (known as Joventuts d'Esquerra Republicana-Estat Català and, across Francesc Macià, his controlled the leadership of the new party.
In April 1931, Francesc Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic
in Barcelona, and established the Generalitat de Catalunya
. Francesc Macià, with the support of a wide majority of the Catalan people
, was the first president of the re-established Generalitat. After Francesc Macià's death (December, 1933) Estat Català tried to retain control of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
, competing with the successor of Macià, the regionalist (rather than independentist) Lluís Companys (whose political background was in the Partit Republicà Català). The leadership of Estat Català fell to Josep Dencàs i Puigdollers and Estat Català took control of the Council of Interior and the policial forces of Catalonia. After the failure of the armed insurrection of October 1934, that pitted the autonomous government of Catalunya and its police with the Spanish government and the Spanish Army, Estat Català, after accusing Lluís Companys of perfidity, left Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
and once again became an independent party. The youth section of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
, traditionally strongly paramilitary, also left the party and adhered to Estat Català. In 1936 the Spanish Civil War
began.
Estat Català fought actively on the war fronts, creating its own corps of volunteers, the most important military units of Estat Català being the Pyrenaic
mountain militias named Regiment Pirinenc de Catalunya, the Columna Macià-Companys and the expeditionary corp that fought in Majorca named Columna Volant Catalana (later 132 Brigada Mixta.
Estat Català were opposed to the revolutionary process
in Catalonia during the war and to president Lluís Companys's delivery of power to anarchist syndicates. Relations between Estat Català and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
became very bad. Estat Català planned a conspiracy to take control of the Autonomous government of Catalonia using its military units and the police of Catalonia
for re-lead the situation using the force to be able to proclaim Catalonia's independence. The conspiracy to be discovered in September 1936 and the principal leaders of Estat Català were forced to flee to France.
From 1939, having lost the war, many of the combatants of the party were executed or died in exile
. Also, some militants in exile in France were captured by the French government
, handed to the German nazis and deported to the extermination camps of Mauthausen
and Gusen. Those who stayed free joined the French Resistance
and had worked intensely to help allied airmen and Jews to escape from occupied France
and against the regime of the Spanish general Franco up to his death.
Estat Català also gave Catalan nationalism
a globalised vision of the Catalan nation: as early as in 1942, the party published the first map of the so-called "Catalan Countries
" which included the Principality
(with Northern Catalonia
included), the Valencian Community
, the Balearic Islands
, the coterminous area of Catalonia
with Aragón
(known as La Franja
or The Stripe) and the ancient Catalan town of Alghero in Sardinia
.
In 1975, after the death of Franco
, Spain started a process of democratisation. In 1976, after decades of secrecy, Estat Català claimed again its legalization under the direction of historical members of the party such as Josep Planchart i Martori, Ramon Rius, Xavier Balagueró i Ràfols, Jaume Ros i Serra, Martí Torrent i Blanchart, etc. Supporter of the independence movement of the Catalan Countries were declared, and interclass-conscious and they received the adhesion of historical militants of the years of the foundation of the party like Ventura Gassol i Rovira. By the time the Spanish general elections of 1977 were held Estat Català yet had not been legalized and had to form a coalition with other parties in the same situation (like Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
). Estat Català achieved legalization that same year and, on 16 September 1977 was finally registered in the Registry of Political Parties of the Ministerio del Interior. Later it spoke against the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the regional political autonomy
, since it considered them tools contrary to the full freedoms of the Catalans, like this like continuation of the regime of the dictator Franco. According to the positioning of Estat Català, sustained already during the dictatorship on considering the possibility of a claim future of Statute, a Statute like that of 1979 remained subordinated to a Constitution on he denying the inalienable national rights and imposing a Borbonic monarchy which was the heir of that of 1714 and of the Franco regime.
Estat Català has contested Spanish general elections, but it did not initially stand in the Catalan regional elections, in order to not reduce the vote of the other nationalist parties. In the Spanish general elections of 1979
it obtained 6,328 votes, which was 0.29% of the total. At the municipal level Estat Català use the name Acció Municipal Democràtica has been presented repeatedly in the elections or in proper noun or lamb through its coalition.
(arguably excluding the Escamots interim due to Josep Dencàs and the Badia brothers); most of the militants encouraging these tendencies have left Estat Català in several waves since the 1990s and are now to be found in other political groups, such as Unitat Nacional Catalana and the so-called "33 movement" . Some facts, perhaps indicative of the politiczal ascription of said former militants, are:
Estat Català has contested several elections but has never attained a result better than 0.6 % of the vote in Catalonia
. At municipal level, through its municipal coalition Acció Municipal Democràtica it has achieved a variable number of town councilors depending on the electoral contest and also the government of some towns (45 town councilors 1979, 9 town councilors and two mayor's offices 2007, etc...)
Regarding the recent results Estat Català contested the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia in 1999, obtaining 1,174 votes (0.06%). In the Spanish general elections of 2000
, it obtained 2,321 votes to the Congress of Deputies (0.07%) and 17,825 in the Senate (0.53%), to the elections in the Parliament of Catalonia (2003) it obtained 1,890 votes (0.06%) and to the Elections in the European Parliament of 2004
it obtained 1,540 votes (0.07%). From 2004 the party has not stood in elections except for local elections through its municipal coalition Acció Municipal Democràtica with which obtained, in 2007, 9 town councilors who allowed it to sustain the government of two town councils.
Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism is a political movement, derived from Catalan nationalism, which supports the independence of Catalonia or the so-called Catalan countries from Spain and France...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Despite its role in the 20th and 21st centuries both in Catalan and Spanish politics, ever since Spain returned to democracy in the 1970s, the party has not managed to get any of its candidates elected, having achieved less than 0.6% of the total votes at elections they have run for. Estat Català has not run for elections since 2004 except to the elections to the town halls.
History
Estat Català was founded by Francesc Macià in 1922 on its origins as a political and paramilitary (actually only political) organisation whose purpose was to bring about the independence of Catalonia from Spain. During the 1920s, the party was active in the fight against General Primo de RiveraPrimo de Rivera
Primo de Rivera is a Spanish family prominent in politics of the 19th and 20th centuries:*Fernando Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician and soldier, 1831-1921*Miguel Primo de Rivera , dictator of Spain from 23 September 1923 to 1930...
's regime and the monarchy. Their actions included a failed assassination attempt against the King of Spain Alfonso XIII in an operation of its secret paramilitary unit named Santa Germandat Catalana de la Bandera Negra (Holy Catalan Brotherhood of the Black Flag) that was known as the Complot de Garraf (Conspiracy of Garraf
Garraf
Garraf is a comarca in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, northern Spain.It is named after the Garraf Massif.-Municipalities:*Canyelles - pop. 3,127*Cubelles - pop. 10,617*Olivella - pop. 2,179*Sant Pere de Ribes - pop. 26,108...
). Estat Català also raised a small army named Exèrcit Català (Catalan Army) led by Francesc Macià to invade the Principality
Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia , is a historic territory in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain and with an adjoining portion in southern France....
from Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste
Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste
Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, near the border with Spain and the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. The name Prats-de-Mollo comes from Catalan "meadows of Molló". Molló is a town just across the border and the Col d'Ares...
, in French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659...
.
Primo de Rivera
Primo de Rivera is a Spanish family prominent in politics of the 19th and 20th centuries:*Fernando Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician and soldier, 1831-1921*Miguel Primo de Rivera , dictator of Spain from 23 September 1923 to 1930...
banned separatist movements, the party became clandestine and Francesc Macià went into exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
. Nonetheless, Estat Català was one of the parties promoting the "San Sebastian pact" with Basque nationalism
Basque nationalism
Basque nationalism is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or, chiefly, full independence of the Basque Country in the wider sense...
, Galician nationalists and Spanish republicans
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
they agreed to push for a democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
process in the Spanish monarchy.
During the so called Conferència d'Esquerres (Conference of the left), held on the 17 and 19 of March 1931 at Cros street in the Sants district of Barcelona, Estat Català joined the Partit Republicà Català and the political group L'Opinió to form Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
. Nevertheless, inside Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
, the organizational autonomy of Estat Català was preserved and it controlled the influential youth section of the party (known as Joventuts d'Esquerra Republicana-Estat Català and, across Francesc Macià, his controlled the leadership of the new party.
In April 1931, Francesc Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic
Catalan Republic
The Catalan Republic also known as the Catalan State, is an unrecognized state claimed by the Catalan independentism or nationalism. The Catalan Republic has been proclaimed at least four times:* In 1641, by Pau Claris....
in Barcelona, and established the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
. Francesc Macià, with the support of a wide majority of the Catalan people
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
, was the first president of the re-established Generalitat. After Francesc Macià's death (December, 1933) Estat Català tried to retain control of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
, competing with the successor of Macià, the regionalist (rather than independentist) Lluís Companys (whose political background was in the Partit Republicà Català). The leadership of Estat Català fell to Josep Dencàs i Puigdollers and Estat Català took control of the Council of Interior and the policial forces of Catalonia. After the failure of the armed insurrection of October 1934, that pitted the autonomous government of Catalunya and its police with the Spanish government and the Spanish Army, Estat Català, after accusing Lluís Companys of perfidity, left Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
and once again became an independent party. The youth section of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
, traditionally strongly paramilitary, also left the party and adhered to Estat Català. In 1936 the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
began.
Estat Català fought actively on the war fronts, creating its own corps of volunteers, the most important military units of Estat Català being the Pyrenaic
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
mountain militias named Regiment Pirinenc de Catalunya, the Columna Macià-Companys and the expeditionary corp that fought in Majorca named Columna Volant Catalana (later 132 Brigada Mixta.
Estat Català were opposed to the revolutionary process
Spanish Revolution
The Spanish Revolution was a workers' social revolution that began during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and more broadly libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to...
in Catalonia during the war and to president Lluís Companys's delivery of power to anarchist syndicates. Relations between Estat Català and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
became very bad. Estat Català planned a conspiracy to take control of the Autonomous government of Catalonia using its military units and the police of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
for re-lead the situation using the force to be able to proclaim Catalonia's independence. The conspiracy to be discovered in September 1936 and the principal leaders of Estat Català were forced to flee to France.
From 1939, having lost the war, many of the combatants of the party were executed or died in exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
. Also, some militants in exile in France were captured by the French government
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, handed to the German nazis and deported to the extermination camps of Mauthausen
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
and Gusen. Those who stayed free joined the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
and had worked intensely to help allied airmen and Jews to escape from occupied France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and against the regime of the Spanish general Franco up to his death.
Estat Català also gave Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
a globalised vision of the Catalan nation: as early as in 1942, the party published the first map of the so-called "Catalan Countries
Catalan Countries
The Catalan term Països Catalans refers to the territories where the Catalan language is spoken.The first mentions of the term date back to the late 19th century, but it never surpassed the limits of a small circle of Catalan authors until its strictly cultural dimension became increasingly...
" which included the Principality
Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia , is a historic territory in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain and with an adjoining portion in southern France....
(with Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659...
included), the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
, the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, the coterminous area of Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
with Aragón
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
(known as La Franja
La Franja
La Franja is a term that refers to the Catalan-speaking territories of Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means "the strip" and can also more properly be called Franja d'Aragó or Franja de Ponent in Catalan ....
or The Stripe) and the ancient Catalan town of Alghero in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
.
In 1975, after the death of Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, Spain started a process of democratisation. In 1976, after decades of secrecy, Estat Català claimed again its legalization under the direction of historical members of the party such as Josep Planchart i Martori, Ramon Rius, Xavier Balagueró i Ràfols, Jaume Ros i Serra, Martí Torrent i Blanchart, etc. Supporter of the independence movement of the Catalan Countries were declared, and interclass-conscious and they received the adhesion of historical militants of the years of the foundation of the party like Ventura Gassol i Rovira. By the time the Spanish general elections of 1977 were held Estat Català yet had not been legalized and had to form a coalition with other parties in the same situation (like Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
). Estat Català achieved legalization that same year and, on 16 September 1977 was finally registered in the Registry of Political Parties of the Ministerio del Interior. Later it spoke against the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the regional political autonomy
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia is a constitutional law defining the region of Catalonia as an autonomous community within the Kingdom of Spain. It was promulgated on 18 September 1979. It is one of seventeen such statutes granted, in various forms and capabilities, to the different...
, since it considered them tools contrary to the full freedoms of the Catalans, like this like continuation of the regime of the dictator Franco. According to the positioning of Estat Català, sustained already during the dictatorship on considering the possibility of a claim future of Statute, a Statute like that of 1979 remained subordinated to a Constitution on he denying the inalienable national rights and imposing a Borbonic monarchy which was the heir of that of 1714 and of the Franco regime.
Estat Català has contested Spanish general elections, but it did not initially stand in the Catalan regional elections, in order to not reduce the vote of the other nationalist parties. In the Spanish general elections of 1979
Spanish general election, 1979
General elections were held in Spain on 1 March 1979.-References:* *...
it obtained 6,328 votes, which was 0.29% of the total. At the municipal level Estat Català use the name Acció Municipal Democràtica has been presented repeatedly in the elections or in proper noun or lamb through its coalition.
Recent history
From the 1980s onwards, a number of militants of its youth section departed from the traditional party line by adding a tinge of ethnic-oriented and xenophobic nationalism and a penchant for paramilitary aesthetics, both of which have seldom escaped marginality as a part of Catalan independentismCatalan independentism
Catalan independentism is a political movement, derived from Catalan nationalism, which supports the independence of Catalonia or the so-called Catalan countries from Spain and France...
(arguably excluding the Escamots interim due to Josep Dencàs and the Badia brothers); most of the militants encouraging these tendencies have left Estat Català in several waves since the 1990s and are now to be found in other political groups, such as Unitat Nacional Catalana and the so-called "33 movement" . Some facts, perhaps indicative of the politiczal ascription of said former militants, are:
- the coincidence of the rationale behind the use of "33" (Catalunya catalana, its initials being the third letter in the alphabet) with that of the acronym "88" (Heil Hitler) used by most European and North American Neo-Nazis.
- their purportedly frequent use of ethnic slurs such as xarnego.
- the widespread allegation that some of the UNC's members, leader Xavier Andreu among them, had been militants of the Spanish Neo-Nazi group CEDADECEDADECEDADE was a Spanish neo-Nazi group that concerned itself with co-ordinating international activity and publishing....
in the past. It is widely known that CEDADE, albeit founded during the Francoist regime and still connected to the traditional Spanish extreme right, used independentism as a political gambit to attract marginal reactionary segments of the nationalistCatalan nationalismCatalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
population, apparently to some avail. - the frequent inclusion, in their webpage, of articles which frequently display social DarwinismSocial DarwinismSocial Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
, racismRacismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and overt xenophobiaXenophobiaXenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
.
Estat Català has contested several elections but has never attained a result better than 0.6 % of the vote in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
. At municipal level, through its municipal coalition Acció Municipal Democràtica it has achieved a variable number of town councilors depending on the electoral contest and also the government of some towns (45 town councilors 1979, 9 town councilors and two mayor's offices 2007, etc...)
Regarding the recent results Estat Català contested the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia in 1999, obtaining 1,174 votes (0.06%). In the Spanish general elections of 2000
Spanish general election, 2000
Legislative elections were held in Spain on 12 March 2000. The incumbent People's Party of Prime Minister José María Aznar was elected to a second term in office, converting its plurality of seats in the Congress of Deputies into a majority, and increasing its lead over the opposition Spanish...
, it obtained 2,321 votes to the Congress of Deputies (0.07%) and 17,825 in the Senate (0.53%), to the elections in the Parliament of Catalonia (2003) it obtained 1,890 votes (0.06%) and to the Elections in the European Parliament of 2004
European Parliament election, 2004 (Spain)
The European Parliament election of 2004 in Spain was the election of Members of the European Parliament representing Spain constituency for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2004 European election...
it obtained 1,540 votes (0.07%). From 2004 the party has not stood in elections except for local elections through its municipal coalition Acció Municipal Democràtica with which obtained, in 2007, 9 town councilors who allowed it to sustain the government of two town councils.