The sardana is a Catalan folk dance in which those taking part link hands in a circle that widens as newcomers arrive, or shrinks as those tiring from their exertions leave to talk to friends or sit in nearby cafés as the dance continues. Lacking the passionate intensity of the flamenco, visitors to Spain often find it dull, but since the dance illustrates the way in which social harmony may be combined with the freedom of the individual it is possible to see the sardana as a metaphor for the open society. General Francisco Franco banned the sardana, along with other forms of traditional Catalan culture, because he regarded it as subversive; as a consequence, the dance, which Catalans continued to perform, came to be regarded as an act of defiance. “There was something silent and strong about it: the linked hands, always in a circle, the symbolic protest of an oppressed people,” wrote one historian of Catalan culture.

Catalonia is now among the richest and most successful regions of Spain, with a population of seven-and-a-half million, and a capital, Barcelona, which enjoys an intense rivalry with the Spanish capital, Madrid. It has its own parliament and, until the Madrid government took direct control of the region in late October, the Catalan Generalitat had control of education, health, and police, and also enjoyed a measure of fiscal autonomy, if not as great as that enjoyed by the Basques. Catalonia has its own public service TVstation