My name is Albert Martí, I’m a Catalan from Barcelona and my profession is telecommunications consultancy.

Since 2003 I have lived and/or worked in Denmark, England, Canada, USA, Catalonia, Spain, México and South Africa. This has been an eye opening experience. Amongst these countries there are former empires, current empires, former colonies, current colonies, big countries, small countries, widespread languages and not so widespread languages. I’ve tried to learn from their history and culture to understand why things are the way they are. All this has taught me many valuable lessons that can be applied to my own country and have broadened my horizons about what is possible.

I come from Catalonia, one of the oldest nations in Europe. Its history shows a long democratic tradition and, amongst other achievements, it created the first Parliament in Europe. It was also one of the first nations to fight fascism in the 20th century. It has been home to several universally renowned personalities and artists and contains one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities in the world. A little country that has had moments of glory and moments of defeat.

However, the last 300 years have been a walk in the dark struggling to survive and maintain our culture, history and sovereignty. I believe that now more than ever it is a national priority for Catalonia to become a state within the European Union. In the past few years a strong tide has been growing inside Catalonia, a peaceful but unstoppable popular awareness that this is the only possible step to take next. Our own existence is at stake.

Catalans want to be heard and my personal contribution to our cause is to enable people from all over the world to gain an insight into who we are and what we’re struggling for. The internet and the use of the most universal language of our time allow me to reach a much larger audience, as previously the facts and arguments surrounding Catalonia have been restricted to those who spoke Catalan.

Visca Catalunya!
Long live Catalonia!

To contact me: albert [at] cataloniadirect.info