Dr. Douglas J. Forsyth, BGSU Professor of History, will be presenting “The Catalan Crisis,” a tertulia on February 7, 4-6pm in the Pallister Room. See the official announcement and summary of the event below!
“The Catalan Crisis,” a tertulia (informal gathering of people to talk about public affairs). A presentation by Douglas J. Forsyth, Associate Prof. of History, will be followed by comments by Nathan Richardson, Professor of Spanish, and an open discussion with the audience. Place: Pallister Room, Jerome Library. Date and time: Wednesday, 7 February, 4.00-6.00PM.
Spain faces today its greatest political crisis since the transition to democracy in the late 1970s. For several years, the autonomous region of Catalonia has been governed by parties advocating unilateral secession from Spain. They organized a vote for independence on 1 October 2017, which was ruled illegal in advance by Spain’s Constitutional Tribune. About forty-three percent of Catalan voters participated; about 90% of votes cast were in favor of independence. On 27 October 2017 the Parliament of Catalonia, with most deputies supporting the constitution of Spain absent, approved a resolution creating an independent Republic unilaterally. The government of Spain has since dismissed the Catalan government and arrested several secessionist politicians. It is ruling the region directly from Madrid, under emergency provisions in the Spanish constitution. It organized new elections on 21 December 2017, which produced a narrow majority, 70 out of 135 seats in the Catalan parliament, backed by 47.5% of the vote, for three secessionist parties. The outlook is uncertain.