BARCELONA, Spain — Many readers probably have a cursory notion of the recent turmoil plaguing the autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia. They will have seen large demonstrations by both separatists and unionists. They may know, too, that following the illegal referendum on independence, Catalan separatist politicians, with 47 percent of the votes and a majority in the Catalan Parliament, decided to suspend the laws concerning the region’s relationship with the central government. They then fraudulently approved a transitory constitution and an act calling for an illegal plebiscite on a plan for secession.

Weeks later, the regional president, Carles Puigdemont, declared unilateral independence, forcing the Spanish government to intervene to restore constitutional order and to schedule regional elections. Mr. Puigdemont, now deposed, fled the country and is in Belgium trying to rally support from other European countries, while Spain has issued an international warrant for his arrest. Aware that no European country will support his demands, last week he said that Catalans should decide if their region should leave the European Union.

Readers probably do not, however, have a clear understanding of how this has come to pass in a prosperous European democracy known for its freedom, tolerance and largely self-governed autonomous regions. We Catalans owe the world an explanation.

I was born in Barcelona in 1979. My father is Catalan, the son of a family of merchants, and my mother was born in Andalusia to a humble and hard-working family. In the early 1970s, like millions of Andalusians, they moved to Catalonia in search of opportunities and to pursue their dreams. My parents met in Barcelona, where they married. In 1989, they started their own business, which allowed them to live comfortably. Three years ago, the economic crisis drowned the family company, and today my mother and aunt raise every day the shutter on a smaller homemade food venture. In recent weeks, my parents’ business has suffered attacks by separatist radicals.