Catalonia sees itself as the nation-state of the future - The Washington Post

Catalonia sees itself as the nation-state of the future - The Washington Post: 
The region’s emboldened independence movement is pressing ahead, despite the unflinching opposition of the Spanish government. Catalan politicians hope to stage an official referendum on independence in 2017, which would follow years of mobilization, protests and symbolic plebiscites.
"The fact that Catalonia decides whether we want to be a state or not is inevitable," Catalonia's unofficial foreign minister, Raul Romeva, told WorldViews in an interview last week. "There is a democratic demand for doing this."