Unfettered Immigration in the Hands of an Angry King: How Felipe VI Is Erasing Catalan Identity to "Preserve Spain"

I am Catalan; born here, raised here, descended from generations who have spoken this language, walked these streets, and dreamed of freedom. And I am watching my country disappear.

Catalonia is not being bombed or occupied. It is being smothered -- quietly and methodically -- under a tide of immigration driven not by economic need or humanitarian duty, but by political design. What the Spanish state failed to crush in 2017 through brute force, it now seeks to dissolve through demographic replacement. The architect of this shift may not sit in Parliament; he watches from Zarzuela Palace.

Using Latin Americans to colonize Catalunya. BBC

King Felipe VI, the unelected monarch of a so-called democracy, has made it his mission to defend the "unity of Spain" at all costs. He does not listen. He does not negotiate. He certainly does not represent us. And while his powers may be symbolic, his influence is very real. Under his reign, Spain has embraced an immigration policy that disproportionately redirects non-Catalan, Castilian-speaking newcomers into Catalonia; especially Latin Americans, who are quickly absorbed into Spanish-speaking networks.

Let’s be clear: this is not about race or religion. It's about identity. It’s about the slow, state-facilitated erasure of a nation within a nation.

In towns across Catalonia, Castilian is once again becoming dominant. Catalan immersion in schools is under constant legal attack, and the very idea of our language as the core of our national project is being diluted; both literally and symbolically. Madrid has found a new strategy: flood Catalonia with people who owe their future to the Spanish state and ensure they are never taught that this land has its own language, its own people, and its own right to be free.

I am not descended from migrants. I am not “half” anything. I am Catalan. My grandparents did not endure repression under Franco so that we could hand our culture over to indifference and silence. And yet, if the current trend continues, in twenty years there may be no meaningful Catalan identity left --just a hollowed-out province of Spain, defined by cheap labor, state dependency, and linguistic substitution.

And yes, this is being done deliberately.

The Spanish state doesn’t care if immigrants succeed here; only that they weaken Catalonia’s cohesion. The monarchy doesn’t care if our towns thrive; only that they are loyal. Felipe VI smiles for cameras abroad while quietly presiding over the undoing of Catalonia’s future. It’s not integration. It’s not multiculturalism. It’s colonization by other means.

If you're Catalan and still believe we can wait this out, you’re mistaken. The time to act is now. Our language, our culture, our future depends on it. And make no mistake: we are not the ones dividing Spain. Spain, under Felipe, is dividing us... from ourselves.

By: a Concerned Catalan