All nationalism is based on symbols, liturgies, and acts. And there is nothing that resembles a nationalist more than another. That is why competing to dominate urban space is key. Not for the places themselves, but for what they represent. Even if they are only important within their own worldview. Hence the dispute between Arran and Aliança Catalana.
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El Fossar de les Moreres is a sacred place for Catalan nationalism. In 1913, the nationalist youth Els Néts dels Almogàvers and the Centre Nacionalista Martinenc, from the Sant Martí de Provençals neighborhood, held the first event to honor the fallen on September 11, 1714, buried there or nearby, in the last Barcelona resistance of the Bourbon siege. In 1915, they placed a plaque with verses from Frederic Soler’s poetry, Pitarra, “Al fossar de les moreres no s’hi enterra cap traïdor fins perdent nostres banderes serà l’urna de l’honor.”
Once the tradition was established, the visit to the cemetery on the eve of September 11 or on the day itself coexisted with the offering at the Rafael Casanova monument. After the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, in 1931 Daniel Cardona’s party, Nosaltres Sols!, proposed dignifying the space by planting mulberry trees and demolishing the shacks that were there. Two years later, Els Néts dels Almogàvers placed an iron lamp burning for the dead of 1714.
The space thus became linked to separatism, while Casanova became a more institutional space. During the years of the Civil War, Josep Tarradellas himself, annoyed with the PSUC’s attitude in government, went to the fossar to “feel Catalonia.” The nationalist temple was demonstrated there.
After Francoism, in 1977 a new plaque was placed. The following year, the Spanish far-right Syndicalist Action Group (also fighting for the space) destroyed it and clashed with Independentistes dels Països Catalans. In 1988, disagreements within the Moviment de Defensa de la Terra led to an internal fight among left-wing separatists known as “el fossar de les hòsties,” which ended with several hospitalized.
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After some calm, in 2006 some independentist groups blocked the JERC’s access to the cemetery, accusing Esquerra of traitors for forming the tripartite government with the PSC and ICV.
In 2023, the fight for the symbol returned. The presence of Aliança Catalana caused the independentist, socialist, and feminist youth political organization Arran to damage their flowers. In the last two years, Arran’s attempt to prevent the presence of Sílvia Orriols’ group has continued.
In a century, Catalanism has gone from conquering the space from the Spanish authorities and turning it into a separatist stronghold, to transforming it into a place of dispute among left-wing independentists and a struggle between the far left and right. Going forward, with the sentimental heirs of Daniel Cardona claiming their place, the party is assured. Next to essentialism, Gollum’s love for the ring is child’s play.
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