Will Catalonia Hold a Referendum on Whether to Break Away From Spain?
An independence vote was slated for November 9, but Madrid declared it illegal. Who will win the tug-of-war?
On Saturday, September 27, in a solemn ceremony in Barcelona's ornate, 15th- century government palace, surrounded by the great and the good of Catalan politics, Artur Mas i Gavarró, the stylish president of the rich, northeastern Spanish province of Catalonia, took a momentous step in the long march toward the dream of an independent Catalonia: He signed a decree formally calling for a referendum to be held on November 9.
"Like all the nations of the world," Mas said, "Catalonia has the right to decide its political future. We want to vote, and we want to decide, and now we have to means to do so."
It was arguably the most serious challenge to the Spanish state since the civil war
