> _“With the international press playing a misleading ‘neutral’ role in all of this, when not tacitly acknowledging Catalan independence as a just cause, […] I often feel frustrated when well-intentioned friends of mine outside Spain ask me about the situation here. […] I lament that the picture my friends are forming in their heads is that Barcelona is a new Tiananmen Square and Spain some kind of banana republic, and that the separatists are fighting for basic human rights against an authoritarian state.”_

— your truly, six years ago.

If you're confused or curious about what just happened in #Spain with regards to #Catalonia, [this summary written in 2017](https://tripu.medium.com/referendum-e53331ddf841) might be useful.

Spain is, by the way, arguably [a healthier and most robust democracy than the US, Israel, Belgium, Italy, Portugal or South Korea](https://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/DI-final-version-report.pdf).