This article analyzes the Catalan struggle for self-determination from the standpoint of empirical democratic theory, and from an internationalist perspective. It begins with a review of the paradigmatic case for self-determination in the colonial context, as famously articulated by Frantz Fanon. It then turns to compare this context with the context of Catalonia, starting with a review of the status of self-determination in such a context, according to the doctrines of international law. It continues by providing a sketch of the historical trajectory of the Catalan struggle for self-determination, and by briefly reviewing the distribution of support for this struggle in the contemporary period within broader constellations of material and social power relations. It explains the sociological basis for the salience of anti-Catalan sentiments within the discursive horizons of Spanish nationalism, before turning to explore the general dilemmas for democratic theory provided by the plight of permanent minorities such as the Catalans. It concludes with a discussion of the particular problems for the Catalan permanent minority posed by the Spanish constitutional order, and with an overview of the European dimension of the ongoing conflict.