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The Struggle for Catalonia: Rebel Politics in Spain
Every year on 11 September, Catalonia celebrates its Diada, its National Day. But the Diada of 2012 was like none other, as an enormous crowd calling for Catalan independence took over the heart of Barcelona.
Despite the carnival-like atmosphere that day, the people were very serious about their demands. On the back of this show of force, Catalonia's governing politicians turned secessionist claims into a new headache for a government in Madrid that had only just survived a near-meltdown of Spain's financial system.
Four years later, the separatist challenge has neither come to fruition, nor faded away. This book looks at how and why Catalan separatism reached the top of Spain's political agenda, as well as its connection to the broader European malaise generated by flawed political responses to financial and other crises.
Through extensive travel and reporting, as well as over fifty interviews with leading Catalan personalities, Raphael Minder explains how Catalans feel about their economy, history and culture, and how secessionist forces have tried to reshape Catalan identity.
Despite the carnival-like atmosphere that day, the people were very serious about their demands. On the back of this show of force, Catalonia's governing politicians turned secessionist claims into a new headache for a government in Madrid that had only just survived a near-meltdown of Spain's financial system.
Four years later, the separatist challenge has neither come to fruition, nor faded away. This book looks at how and why Catalan separatism reached the top of Spain's political agenda, as well as its connection to the broader European malaise generated by flawed political responses to financial and other crises.
Through extensive travel and reporting, as well as over fifty interviews with leading Catalan personalities, Raphael Minder explains how Catalans feel about their economy, history and culture, and how secessionist forces have tried to reshape Catalan identity.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2017
34 people are currently reading
335 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 31, 2021
This is a very in depth study of what is going on in Catalonia. Despite being written in 2017 it already feels out of date as the referendum has not even taken place by the time the book ends. It does give a very good overview of all the recent and historical events that have given rise to such an intensity of debate. Where the book does well is in trying to give a balanced opinion which in these times as difficult to find. The technique though is quite journalistic in that quotes from various experts on each side of the debate are given without any real attempt to differentiate truth from propaganda.
I have now found and read a far better book on the history of Catalonia and the background to the current issues of self determination: "Catalonia Reborn" by Chris Bambery and George Kerevan
I have now found and read a far better book on the history of Catalonia and the background to the current issues of self determination: "Catalonia Reborn" by Chris Bambery and George Kerevan
March 2, 2020
The Struggle for Catalonia: Rebel Politics in Spain by Raphael Minder is a superbly researched and in-depth investigation into the arguments for and against Catalan independence. Minder explores the history, culture, language, and politics of Catalonia, using anecdotes and stories to highlight the many facets of Catalonia’s identity and its movements for autonomy or independence. It is balanced, and fascinating, and helped me reach a very informed point of view. By analyzing Catalonia’s present and past from all angles, by interviewing people with opinions across the spectrum, Minder has produced an excellent work of nonfiction that is consistently fair, empathetic, and forward-thinking.
July 25, 2025
Of course, the summer holidays is as good of a time as any to blitz through a book again for the first time in a while! This provided a really good cultural insight into Catalonia whilst maintaining a persistent focus on the fraught relationship with the Spanish government in Madrid. It felt a bit like the Spanish equivalent of a book that I read last summer called ‘Memories of a Nation’, which examined German identity through a shared culture which has developed over centuries. The difference though, is that this is quite a political book due to the modern relevance of its rather dynamic contents: the issue of Catalan secession from Spain.
My only qualm with the book is when it was published! Unfortunately, the timing is terrible (but perhaps also prescient) as the book was completed in 2017, just months before the dramatic events of that autumn as Catalonia attempted to force its way out of Spain. Perhaps this book serves as the perfect companion to understanding what did happen in that fateful October, but simultaneously, it is a little bit frustrating to not see these events covered. It would be interesting to see an updated version.
Overall though, I would certainly recommend! Minder (a Swiss national) provides an excellent and compelling outline to an incredibly complex and fragile political balancing act.
My only qualm with the book is when it was published! Unfortunately, the timing is terrible (but perhaps also prescient) as the book was completed in 2017, just months before the dramatic events of that autumn as Catalonia attempted to force its way out of Spain. Perhaps this book serves as the perfect companion to understanding what did happen in that fateful October, but simultaneously, it is a little bit frustrating to not see these events covered. It would be interesting to see an updated version.
Overall though, I would certainly recommend! Minder (a Swiss national) provides an excellent and compelling outline to an incredibly complex and fragile political balancing act.
April 2, 2022
1. Creating Statehood on the Streets
6/10
Demonstrations in our modern time and politics. Good writing but feels a bit hard to understand without context.
2. Celebrating a Defeat
7/10
Catalan history. Some good short stories.
3. Catalonia's Hazy Borders
7,5/10
Catalan language and culture in places like France and Italy. Great writing! Maybe not super deep or informative, but man this is fun to listen to on audiobook.
4. Remembering the Civil War and Franco
9/10
This is what you want in a history book. A chapter on Franco's regime and what it meant to Catalonia, left-wing extremists, and rebels. Much about how the communists and anarchists Franco fought stole a lot of businesses from rich people and attacked the church and the clergy. Which is what lead to Franco not being seen as a fully bad dictator. There were a lot of evil powers fighting him too and the choice was between a rock and a hard place in that era.
Many of his enemies fled Spain before he closed the borders. And now many of his statues and symbols are removed, but he's not seen as just evil so not everything is removed outright. Spanish history is seen as decent enough for it to not be removed outright from the public area. But the debate continues and the author makes it clear that some things that didn't matter to anyone in the past 40 years later can outrage people to such a degree that they demand political change. So it's not always hidden pain. They are rewriting norms and history leading to new ideas about the past and therefore new conflicts. Frankly, very good chapter.
5. Reviving a Language after Dictatorship
7/10
Catalan language. It's fine. Catalan is still very popular and largely the author focuses on writers as that's how a writer sees a language. To me this focus is a big nerdy/pretentious. He focuses a ton of Catalan authors, books, small theaters. It's Catalan culture, but it's quite clear that he is NOT the typical man just exploring a vast culture.
6. Catalonia's Great Melting Pot
6,5/10
Immigrants in Catalonia. There are a lot of foreigners as it's a rich area. A bit about Catalan emigrants too like Facundo Bacardi who created Bacardi in Cuba. There are some points about the many Catalan emigrants in pre-communist Cuba and how they otherwise didn't do that much in colonies. The historical stuff is cool the modern immigrant stuff feels like a cool diary. I like the historical stuff much more, but it's very short. There are surely more inventors and creators. But since he doesn't want to only focus on history we just get a single example and move on.
7. A Conservative Divorce
6,5/10
Politics and Catalonia. Quite fine I guess. It's hard to really get what is what here without seeing faces. It's a lot of corruption and drama in Spanish politics all without seeing any of the people or fully understanding how they acted day to day.
8. The Shared Disease of Corruption
7/10
Spanish politicians are quite corrupt. Catalan politicians in the Spanish government are corrupt too even though Catalans claim they are less corrupt - that's not quite clear though. The corruption stems from the dictatorship where it was normal.
9. A Diplomatic Battle Across Europe
7/10
EU politics and Catalonia. Lots of examples of small breakout nations Spain doesn't recognize as it doesn't want Catalonia to get ideas. Like Scotland and Kosovo. So many details that I got lost in this chapter.
10. Barcelona, a City Before a Nation
7/10
The city. Quite confusing again as he mixes a ton of small stories. I'm not sure you actually learn much at all about the city. He does go over the Olympics in 1992 that modernized the city as a tourist center. Then explains a lot about tourism and how many locals are fighting hard against it as tourism ruins small local shops and culture. A bit about art and how the expansion of tourism has gone too far so the state has actually bought some tourist areas to demolish everything and return the nature. It's not an ideal chapter, but it mentions the basics. It's weird he is so focused on what the city doesn't want to be instead of focusing on what the city is: an extremely successful tourist area with an amazing profit from it making everyone rich.
11. The Symbolism of a Tower and a Tree
6/10
The flag. A bit all over the place. History mixed with modern stories again as we often see in magazine articles. Not the ideal way to present the topic in a book that should have a greater focus on info not just creating an experience for the reader.
12. The Decline of Church and Crown
6,5/10
Church and Catalonia. Again a bunch of mini stories. Very hard to listen to if you don't focus fully as some stories are only a few minutes long so you can skip a full story if you lose focus for a moment. Overall a bit vague. Hard to really understand all the nuances.
He does talk about a new far-left mayor of Barcelona. She removed the Catholic church from a parade even though they historically always took part in it. She changed various street names related to monarchy and religion. Overall the church and monarchy is attacked by the far-left in Spain who are trying to split it away from Spanish culture and government as far-left usually does.
13. Financing Spain's Economic Powerhouse
5/10
The strong economy of Catalonia. Again told via stories not stats and data. Even now I'm not really sure what the area produces.
14. The Business of Sharing
5/10
Small business stories. Fine enough.
15. The Violence of Basque Secessionism
7/10
The Basque region also have their own language and culture and kinda want independence. But in 1980's, after Franco, terrorist organizations started up there unlike in Catalonia where it was an earlier thing. ETA was inspired from ideas in that time period like Black Panther and communist ideology and then a mix of historical revolutions. Catalonia basically doesn't focus on race while this fight was more focused on race and progressive ideology. This is one of those chapters you have to relisten to for sure as there is so much complicated analysis here.
Galicia and laws and progress also brought up.
16. Civil Disobedience and the Rule of Law
6/10
Catalonia tries to get extra liberty and rights, but Madrid doesn't want to give up anything.
17. Playing Politics in Catalan Sports
6/10
FC Barcelona. Laporta, Rosell, Neymar. Gamper's story of creating the club. It's fine. Goes over the basics, but feels shallow. There is not much history, bit too much focus on the Neymar case at the start instead of starting with an overview. Lacks a bit passion. But very fine intro.
18. Pleasures and Tensions around the Table
5/10
Food. A bit lazy to be fair. Very focused on single restaurant stories and single dishes instead of being a great intro to the culture and food overall. Not sure why he thinks we can understand this culture with this unfocused an intro. The topic itself is not that interesting either as you can show all of this in a 30 minute Youtube video with greater details.
19. The Facts of a Good News Story
5/10
News media in Catalonia. Didn't really remember much. Not a great chapter as it really doesn't focuses enough on media history, but rather explores some single culture people.
My final opinion on the book
Initially I liked it to a greater degree. 4/5. But at the end it had some bit too unfocused chapters that took it down a notch. When it's good it's really fun. The chapters are focused on single topics. The author writes it all like a magazine article. So they are centered around some modern case, then some specific interviews he did, and then he mixes in some historical events. It's all told via mini stories one after another tied together in a fine enough way, but so jarring that it becomes a mediocre intro to the topic. He doesn't even start with the history! That should tell you all you need to know. The main issue is that this is the sort of book that won't age well. It's written for a very specific decade/5 year period as the main stories and interviews are about the current conflicts and culture ideas in Catalonia. It works well, but it can be hard to fully visualize all of this as he doesn't go over it historically from A to B. The style is very fast paced and the writing style is great and fun. The chapters about topics I don't know much about are hard to fully understand. And then there is the chapter about FC Barcelona that I frankly know a hell lot about so I should understand and enjoy it, right? Nope, even this simple topic is written in a confusing way and the jarring style feels demotivated. So knowing about the topic didn't make it fun. It just showed me how he never really goes in-depth with any one topic.
When he goes into politics, history, and ideology he truly shines. All the political stuff is clear and to the point. And he brings it up a lot explaining what group thinks what way and what politicians did what. It's great stuff, but with all the small stories it's hard to find a hook into the book. A magazine article is easy to read and fun to get through. You are getting a giant shot of a culture with some drama to entice you to it. But when all chapters in a book are written in this format you wonder if the person even understood he was writing a book. It's not supposed to be a look into some current conflict. And it's not supposed to be like a fast food meal just telling you that these topics exist out there in actual books.
Some chapters are a great intro to Catalonia. Chapter 4 is a very critical chapter where the author explores complicated political and ideological issues to a deep enough degree that you feel informed and smart. Unfortunately this is not quite the case in other chapters that are more focused on mini stories from a huge culture. And as he is focused on books and theaters I didn't quite feel like he was talking to simpletons like me. He loves to interview people and use the interviews, but it takes away from the topic of: history of Catalonia.
6/10
Demonstrations in our modern time and politics. Good writing but feels a bit hard to understand without context.
2. Celebrating a Defeat
7/10
Catalan history. Some good short stories.
3. Catalonia's Hazy Borders
7,5/10
Catalan language and culture in places like France and Italy. Great writing! Maybe not super deep or informative, but man this is fun to listen to on audiobook.
4. Remembering the Civil War and Franco
9/10
This is what you want in a history book. A chapter on Franco's regime and what it meant to Catalonia, left-wing extremists, and rebels. Much about how the communists and anarchists Franco fought stole a lot of businesses from rich people and attacked the church and the clergy. Which is what lead to Franco not being seen as a fully bad dictator. There were a lot of evil powers fighting him too and the choice was between a rock and a hard place in that era.
Many of his enemies fled Spain before he closed the borders. And now many of his statues and symbols are removed, but he's not seen as just evil so not everything is removed outright. Spanish history is seen as decent enough for it to not be removed outright from the public area. But the debate continues and the author makes it clear that some things that didn't matter to anyone in the past 40 years later can outrage people to such a degree that they demand political change. So it's not always hidden pain. They are rewriting norms and history leading to new ideas about the past and therefore new conflicts. Frankly, very good chapter.
5. Reviving a Language after Dictatorship
7/10
Catalan language. It's fine. Catalan is still very popular and largely the author focuses on writers as that's how a writer sees a language. To me this focus is a big nerdy/pretentious. He focuses a ton of Catalan authors, books, small theaters. It's Catalan culture, but it's quite clear that he is NOT the typical man just exploring a vast culture.
6. Catalonia's Great Melting Pot
6,5/10
Immigrants in Catalonia. There are a lot of foreigners as it's a rich area. A bit about Catalan emigrants too like Facundo Bacardi who created Bacardi in Cuba. There are some points about the many Catalan emigrants in pre-communist Cuba and how they otherwise didn't do that much in colonies. The historical stuff is cool the modern immigrant stuff feels like a cool diary. I like the historical stuff much more, but it's very short. There are surely more inventors and creators. But since he doesn't want to only focus on history we just get a single example and move on.
7. A Conservative Divorce
6,5/10
Politics and Catalonia. Quite fine I guess. It's hard to really get what is what here without seeing faces. It's a lot of corruption and drama in Spanish politics all without seeing any of the people or fully understanding how they acted day to day.
8. The Shared Disease of Corruption
7/10
Spanish politicians are quite corrupt. Catalan politicians in the Spanish government are corrupt too even though Catalans claim they are less corrupt - that's not quite clear though. The corruption stems from the dictatorship where it was normal.
9. A Diplomatic Battle Across Europe
7/10
EU politics and Catalonia. Lots of examples of small breakout nations Spain doesn't recognize as it doesn't want Catalonia to get ideas. Like Scotland and Kosovo. So many details that I got lost in this chapter.
10. Barcelona, a City Before a Nation
7/10
The city. Quite confusing again as he mixes a ton of small stories. I'm not sure you actually learn much at all about the city. He does go over the Olympics in 1992 that modernized the city as a tourist center. Then explains a lot about tourism and how many locals are fighting hard against it as tourism ruins small local shops and culture. A bit about art and how the expansion of tourism has gone too far so the state has actually bought some tourist areas to demolish everything and return the nature. It's not an ideal chapter, but it mentions the basics. It's weird he is so focused on what the city doesn't want to be instead of focusing on what the city is: an extremely successful tourist area with an amazing profit from it making everyone rich.
11. The Symbolism of a Tower and a Tree
6/10
The flag. A bit all over the place. History mixed with modern stories again as we often see in magazine articles. Not the ideal way to present the topic in a book that should have a greater focus on info not just creating an experience for the reader.
12. The Decline of Church and Crown
6,5/10
Church and Catalonia. Again a bunch of mini stories. Very hard to listen to if you don't focus fully as some stories are only a few minutes long so you can skip a full story if you lose focus for a moment. Overall a bit vague. Hard to really understand all the nuances.
He does talk about a new far-left mayor of Barcelona. She removed the Catholic church from a parade even though they historically always took part in it. She changed various street names related to monarchy and religion. Overall the church and monarchy is attacked by the far-left in Spain who are trying to split it away from Spanish culture and government as far-left usually does.
13. Financing Spain's Economic Powerhouse
5/10
The strong economy of Catalonia. Again told via stories not stats and data. Even now I'm not really sure what the area produces.
14. The Business of Sharing
5/10
Small business stories. Fine enough.
15. The Violence of Basque Secessionism
7/10
The Basque region also have their own language and culture and kinda want independence. But in 1980's, after Franco, terrorist organizations started up there unlike in Catalonia where it was an earlier thing. ETA was inspired from ideas in that time period like Black Panther and communist ideology and then a mix of historical revolutions. Catalonia basically doesn't focus on race while this fight was more focused on race and progressive ideology. This is one of those chapters you have to relisten to for sure as there is so much complicated analysis here.
Galicia and laws and progress also brought up.
16. Civil Disobedience and the Rule of Law
6/10
Catalonia tries to get extra liberty and rights, but Madrid doesn't want to give up anything.
17. Playing Politics in Catalan Sports
6/10
FC Barcelona. Laporta, Rosell, Neymar. Gamper's story of creating the club. It's fine. Goes over the basics, but feels shallow. There is not much history, bit too much focus on the Neymar case at the start instead of starting with an overview. Lacks a bit passion. But very fine intro.
18. Pleasures and Tensions around the Table
5/10
Food. A bit lazy to be fair. Very focused on single restaurant stories and single dishes instead of being a great intro to the culture and food overall. Not sure why he thinks we can understand this culture with this unfocused an intro. The topic itself is not that interesting either as you can show all of this in a 30 minute Youtube video with greater details.
19. The Facts of a Good News Story
5/10
News media in Catalonia. Didn't really remember much. Not a great chapter as it really doesn't focuses enough on media history, but rather explores some single culture people.
My final opinion on the book
Initially I liked it to a greater degree. 4/5. But at the end it had some bit too unfocused chapters that took it down a notch. When it's good it's really fun. The chapters are focused on single topics. The author writes it all like a magazine article. So they are centered around some modern case, then some specific interviews he did, and then he mixes in some historical events. It's all told via mini stories one after another tied together in a fine enough way, but so jarring that it becomes a mediocre intro to the topic. He doesn't even start with the history! That should tell you all you need to know. The main issue is that this is the sort of book that won't age well. It's written for a very specific decade/5 year period as the main stories and interviews are about the current conflicts and culture ideas in Catalonia. It works well, but it can be hard to fully visualize all of this as he doesn't go over it historically from A to B. The style is very fast paced and the writing style is great and fun. The chapters about topics I don't know much about are hard to fully understand. And then there is the chapter about FC Barcelona that I frankly know a hell lot about so I should understand and enjoy it, right? Nope, even this simple topic is written in a confusing way and the jarring style feels demotivated. So knowing about the topic didn't make it fun. It just showed me how he never really goes in-depth with any one topic.
When he goes into politics, history, and ideology he truly shines. All the political stuff is clear and to the point. And he brings it up a lot explaining what group thinks what way and what politicians did what. It's great stuff, but with all the small stories it's hard to find a hook into the book. A magazine article is easy to read and fun to get through. You are getting a giant shot of a culture with some drama to entice you to it. But when all chapters in a book are written in this format you wonder if the person even understood he was writing a book. It's not supposed to be a look into some current conflict. And it's not supposed to be like a fast food meal just telling you that these topics exist out there in actual books.
Some chapters are a great intro to Catalonia. Chapter 4 is a very critical chapter where the author explores complicated political and ideological issues to a deep enough degree that you feel informed and smart. Unfortunately this is not quite the case in other chapters that are more focused on mini stories from a huge culture. And as he is focused on books and theaters I didn't quite feel like he was talking to simpletons like me. He loves to interview people and use the interviews, but it takes away from the topic of: history of Catalonia.
March 12, 2021
Written by an NYT journalist and felt like a collection of long-reads strung together. The problem is that it wasn’t written in enough depth to be useful now it is 3 years old. An important subject but I think I need to try another book in Catalonia to feel more informed.
January 26, 2021
I really struggled with this book. I did get an overall sort of history and view on the topic, it had some interesting bits, but overall was just really unfocused. Might as well just stick to the internet.
Also didn't help that guy reading the audiobook absolutely butchered any Spanish word. Wish the same guy reading Orwell and flawlessly pronouncing everything had done this one. But that's not Minder's fault 😅
Also didn't help that guy reading the audiobook absolutely butchered any Spanish word. Wish the same guy reading Orwell and flawlessly pronouncing everything had done this one. But that's not Minder's fault 😅
November 21, 2018
I learned a lot while reading this book, but I found the writing choppy and difficult to follow. I should have approached it as a series of articles, I think, rather than a single cohesive piece of nonfiction.
July 27, 2019
Skips around all over the place like an arty documentary, apparently failing to establish a coherent narrative, but maybe that's the point, this isn't going anywhere, both sides are replete with clowns, welcome to Scotland, I mean Catalonia.....
Read
August 23, 2019A well-informed report on how to pro-independence movement boosted in Catalonia.
You may read my thoughts on it (in Catalan) in my personal blog: https://lobloc.net/2019/08/23/the-str...
You may read my thoughts on it (in Catalan) in my personal blog: https://lobloc.net/2019/08/23/the-str...
October 13, 2017
Fast but fairly up to date survey of the Catalonia crisis by a Swiss journalist with broad coverage of themes and issues, including some cultural, historical, and even culinary context.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews