Catalonia or Catalunya

The World Socialist Movement's view on the current Catalan crisis is the recognition that there now exists two very different political positions due to the ineptitude of the central government in trying to silence the views of the Catalan population in its supposed illegal referendum. The WSM cannot support any blatant disregard of the basic principles of democracy - the freedom of expression. We express sympathy for our fellow-workers as they endeavour to protest the repressive acts of the Madrid central government and its police to silence the voice of the people, no matter how much we disagree with what is being demanded.

In regards to the purpose of the referendum which is to pave the way to an independent Catalonia/Catalunya, the WSM is clearly against the separatist agenda of the creation of yet another nation-state and we have made our position on nationalism and self-determination very clear over the decades. We hold that nationalism empowers the ruling class and is in no shape or fashion in the interests of the working class.

There is an interesting article in the Independent that is worth quoting extracts from.

Spain’s governing party, the Partido Popular (PP), is a right-wing party housing a spectrum of thought from neoliberalists to the hard-line right. The ruling party in Catalonia, PDeCAT, is a centre right party of the Catalan bourgeois which has historically been the natural ally of PP and not a traditional supporter of independence. Interestingly, their move to advocate a referendum has stopped their support from dropping in recent months. ..
Alongside this, neither the national government nor the Catalan parliament are strangers to corruption in politics. PDeCAT has been plagued with allegations of corruption, debate around which has receded significantly as demands for independence have increased. PP, for its part, has often sought conflict as a means of garnering public support. Positioning this referendum and the spectre of independence as a threat to Spanish citizens and their economic future – as well as tugging on the strings of nationalist patriotism in demanding the continued unity of Spain – PP has engaged widespread support...
 ...unemployment, particularly among young people, is still extremely high, with poverty and homelessness rates continuing to rise. Both Catalan and Spanish politicians have invoked nationalism as the banner beneath which popular support can be raised, allowing the referendum and its surrounding debates to create a vacuum in which these pressing social issues are demoted...
...It is hard to understand the actions of the Spanish government as anything other than an affront to democracy..."

It is also worth noting that the nationalism being expressed by some Catalans also impacts upon the rights of others in the region and that is the imposition of the Catalan language on to the many Castilian Spanish-speaking immigrants to the region. This was a policy followed by the Irish nationalists who made knowledge of Irish a requirement for any government job, further alienating opponents to a united Ireland.