News – Pàgina 10 – CataloniaDirect

Catalan Parliament admits the initiative for a referendum of independence

08/06/201008/06/2010 albert 8 Comments

Today the Catalan Parliament has admitted a popular referendum initiative to organise a referendum of independence. Two proposals were made using the recently approved “popular consultations” law which allows the Catalan Government to organise referendums. There’s a catch though, before taking place the referendum has to be approved by the Spanish Parliament .

There were two proposals sent to the Catalan Parliament a few days ago, the first one, submitted by David Vinyals and other members of Reagrupament, just asked the same question that has been voted in the popular referendums for independence “Do you want the Catalan nation to become a state of right, independent, democratical and social within the European Union?” This initiative has been rejected by the Parliament since the question does not abide to the Spanish constitution, where secession is not comtemplated.

The one formulated by Alfons López Tena and Uriel Bertran has been admitted: “So that the Catalan Parliament takes the necessary measures to make effective popular will, do you want the Catalan nation to become a state of right, independent, democratical and social within the European Union?” which basically is abiding to the Spanish constitution since the Catalan Parliament has the right to initiate constitutional amendments.

In any case, even though I support this initiative since I believe we should move towards independence using every tool at our disposal I criticise this initiative for two reasons.

Firstly, by processing a referendum of independence within the Spanish legal system we are implicitly legitimizing Spanish legality. Since Spanish legality is based on the right of conquest of Spain over Catalonia and therefore illegitimate abiding to the Spanish system we are implicity legitimizing the current situation. Not a good idea.

Secondly, since it is a popular initiative the organisers now need to gather 220.000 signatures, which is 3% of the population of Catalonia, the Parliament won’t debate the approval of the initiative until this requirement is fulfilled and this will take until after the elections. If the debate took place right now and the initiative was rejected by the current parties voters would be able to change their vote so that the new Parliament approves a new referendum initiative right after the elections. Otherwise we may have to wait 4 more years.

Finally, the strategy is so that if the Catalan parties finally approve the referendum they’ll have to ask permission to Spain. Spain will never allow this. This will create a conflict of legitimacies that would effectively allow the Generalitat to organise the referendum anyway based on the right of self-determination of the nations under international supervision.

In any case, forcing all the political parties to debate about the issue is an enormous victory of Catalan independentism, we’ll see how this evolves.

Adéu, Espanya? The road to independence of Quebec, Scotland, Greenland and Catalonia

04/06/201004/06/2010 albert 38 Comments

Adéu Espanya

As we speak I’m still impressed by the documentary “Adéu, Espanya?” just watched online on live broadcast from the Catalan TV3. It portraits the realities in Greenland, Quebec, Scotland and Catalonia and the current situation on their paths to a possible future independence. I think this is the first time a catalan television discusses this topic so openly. The documentary compares our situation to other national realities. There’s a bunch of excellent interviews, including Scotland’s Primer Minister, Alex Salmond and excerpt of the history of every country, very enlightening and entertaining.

To me the most important message is that Catalonia is perfectly viable as an independent state, and refutes the only argument the unionists keep inisisting on that Catalonia would not be able to survive independently. The documentary proves that this is laughable because of Catalonia’s strong economy and vigorous cultural scene, not only it would survive but independence will improve Catalonia’s quality of life substantially.

On the other hand, it also shows how while the states containing the other countries in the documentary respect the national realities of Greenland, Scotland and Quebec and above all would respect their decision should they wish to become independent states in the Catalan case the Spanish State doesn’t. Also, Spain is the only country of the four that specifically threatens with and armed intervention in their constitution against a secession attempt.

Thank you TV3 and thank you Dolors Genovès, the director.

Unfortunately as we speak the documentary only includes Catalan subtitles and I don’t know if it will ever include english and since it’s not Youtube I don’t know hot to download it and do it myself. But I promise I’ll try. In any case, the production, soundtrack and photography are excellent and the panoramic views of the countries portrayed are reason enough to watch it.

Enjoy.

UPDATE on 2010/06/04:

Seems like the documentary was an absolute success: 733.000 people watched it on average, , audience leader in Catalunya and the most viewed showof the year on a thursday for TV3.

Also, the hashtag #adeuespanya to tweet about the documentary got to #1 in twitter trending topics in Spain! Awesome!

#adeuespanya #1 trending topics

Sabadell and Barcelona, two very different ways to do a referendum

03/06/201003/06/2010 albert 3 Comments

Sabadell organised last sunday their referendum of independence. With a population of 200.000 people, Sabadell has been to date the biggest city to organise a referendum and obviously poses an organisational challenge. The results, 92,78% “Yes” votes against 5,3% “No” votes. Overall, 22608 votes that make up for a 13,87% turnout.

If you think this is low keep reading. This voting used 800 volunteers and around 60000 euros budget that came from donations. I’d obviously like a bigger turnout but this follows the trend seen in bigger cities from previous experience and considering the circumstances (no budget, not official, no direct political consequences from this exercise, only volunteer work, media void) the figures are pretty good.

This time the media void has been more obvious than ever, not any remarkable mention from any of the unionist media and only after the voting was closed.

However, the usual turnout criticisms that always came from the unionists the day after the votings have not been seen. Why? There’s an explanation. A couple of weeks ago Barcelona’s Mayor Jordi Hereu organised a referendum about the refurbishing of Avinguda Diagonal, one of Barcelona’s main entrances. Attempting to turn Barcelona citizens into improvised expert urban planners the referendum had several hundred full time civil servants assigned to it and an estimated 3 million euros budget. When the referendum started it was discovered that it was fraught with reliability problems and even voting fraud (anyone could vote online for you as long as they knew your ID and date of birth).

Result, after the 1 week voting period only a 12,7% turnout and 80% of that vote went to the, intentionally non advertised, C option: to leave Avinguda Diagonal just as it is now. Interpreted as a clear punishment against Hereu’s frivolous “referendum”. Hereu’s political career is basically over.

Not that a referendum per se is a bad thing and in my opinion Avinguda Diagonal does need some changes but definitely Hereu’s way is not the way of doing things, as the citizens have let him know.

The positive consequence of all this is that unionists and especially the Catalan government, in the hands of Hereu’s party, can no longer criticise the referendum’s turnout since a handful of volunteers with barely no budget and a lot of enthusiasm have ridiculed Hereu’s 3 million euros referendum and nobody to date has managed to question or criticise the democratic validity of the popular referendums, with open countings and international observers.

Only two rounds left, the one on Cornellà on June the 20th and the final one next year in Barcelona.

Catalan independentism calling at the United Nations

21/05/201021/05/2010 albert Leave a comment

A few days ago, on May the 8th the deumil.cat platform with the support of more than 100 associations organised a demonstration following last year’s demonstration in Brusseld. This time 2500 Catalans gathered in front of the UN headquaters in Geneva, handed a letter (read the letter in French and Catalan) to the president of the Human Rights Council of the UN and amongst other activities read the following manifesto:

Manifesto of May the 8th, 2010

In the period between the Middle Ages and the XVIIIth Century, our nation, the Catalan Countries, had its own independent political status. As Pau Casals was to recall at the United Nations in 1971, Catalonia –the birthplace of Democracy in Europe– founded the first Parliament in Europe, even before England did. At the beginning of the Modern Era, the Catalan nation came to form part of a confederation alongside Castile and, despite the imperialist inclinations of Hispanic monarchs, managed to maintain its statehood until the early XVIIIth Century. When -by the force of arms and with the aid of the French- Philip V conquered Valencia in 1707, the Principality of Catalonia in 1714 and Majorca in 1715, he abolished our national institutions of Government and Parliament and did his utmost to wipe out our language and personality in an attempt to assimilate and convert us into Spaniards.

Since then the Catalan nation has been through periods of tribulation, war, dictatorship and repression. The constitution drawn up in 1978 under the close scrutiny of the factic powers, did not allow us to recover our national status. Some saw a mirage here and thought it was possible for a bilateral relationship with Spain to come into play by way of the creation -in the mid-term- of a confederation of nations, as had existed up until the XVIIIth Century. Those were clearly false impressions that thirty years of experience have wiped away. It has never been more obvious to so many people that our rights will never be respected in Spain.

Today, Catalan men and women from all parts of Catalonia and Europe, have gathered here before the headquarters of the United Nations’ Council for Human Rights. They have done so to give their symbolic support to the call officially made last Wednesday in favour of our inalienable right to Self-Determination. In the last few months, and without the aid of the major administrative bodies, nor, indeed, with any form of official backing, almost half a million Catalans have already expressed their will for Catalonia to become an independant sovereign state within the European Union. And many more are due to vote shortly. We should also like to be acknowledged as a full member of the United Nations’ Organisation.

The situation today is that more and more Catalans are fed up with having to live in a State that fails to respect our rights. In the case of the Principality of Catalonia, the debate is now on as to whether sovereignty over affairs that directly affect us will depend on Catalans or if it will depend on citizens of the current Spanish State who have nothing to do with the issues involved.

The position of the Spanish State, expressed by way of the Constitutional Court, is that it has decreed itself legitimate to judge over all that affects Catalonia. This development has made the threat quite clear. Within the Spanish State, Catalonia can now only aspire to having the status of a region without any real political power. Never before has the message been so clearly written on the wall.

Whether convinced of old or disappointed by the recent turn of events, none of us present here today believe any longer in any Statute of Autonomy nor that any form of agreement is possible with the Spanish State. Now what we aspire to is having a Constitution of our own. We therefore hope that without further ado, the Spanish courts will deem us to be nothing more than a region deprived of the right to any form of bilateral treatment. This step will put an end to the pathetic pantomime that has been staged over so long a period. It will also show up that anyone still defending that it is still possible to accomodate the Catalan nation in the cage of Spain, is essentially lying. Today only simple minds can believe that our nation could exert its historical rights within the Spanish State.
From this place, before the headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, we want to show the world that there exists a conflict in Catalonia. A conflict that is altogether pacific. Catalans have the right to Self-Determination and we want to exercise that right. We want the possibility to decide our collective future. We want to vote.
We do not want a Government that fails to commit itself to the independence of our nation. We want our parliamentary representatives to be true defenders of our nation, that is, men and women who are committed to the cause of achieving a Catalan State.

We do not want candidates at the next elections failing to clarify whether they will make a declaration of independence once they have reached the Government, thus enabling us to become a new state in the European Union with the same rights and duties as the rest of current states.
We hereby take a threefold resolution: to work together for that declaration of independence, to strive for a referendum to be held under the auspices of the United Nations and to contribute to the construction of our State.

With hope, with energy and courage, we want to call out, loud and strong:

We are a nation, we want to exercise our right to Self-Determination, we want to vote on this!

We want a State of our own! Long live Catalonia!

25A, the consolidation of Catalan independentism

27/04/201027/04/2010 albert 2 Comments

The numbers are overwhelming for a little country of 7 million people. An unprecedented case in the world. Catalans have organised themselves acting as a State to organise a radical democratic display. 60000 volunteers (the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games gathered 30000 volunteers and was considered exceptional), 500000 million votes cast, 4 rounds of referendums and more than 400 towns and villages, including two of the Catalan capitals, Girona and Lleida. Yesterday the hashtag used to tweet about the referendum, #consultes, was at the top 4 trending topics in Spain during the whole day. An incredible effort that shows that in Catalonia the political option with the greatest support is independentism.

The Spanish media and the unionist Catalan media have tried to use the 20,8% turnout in this round to qualify them as a failure but they intentionally attempt to hide the real meaning behind the numbers. The smaller percentages are partly because the last two rounds have also involved bigger towns and cities and therefore organisation is much more difficult, especially with the official institutions not only ignoring it but in many cases actively blocking the organisers. Just a note, all criticism has targeted the turnout, nobody has attempted to question the methodology or validity of the referendums.

Considering that the traditional Catalan media (including TV3, the catalan TV, influenced by the unionist party PSC) have intentionally ignored them, that official votings require millions in expenses and that these referendums won’t have any immediate political consequences a 20,8% turnout means a huge success. Anyone who insists in denying its strength or claiming that the remainder 79% would vote against independence is making a big mistake or has deeper and darker reasons to despise a popular exercise of democracy like this. And anyway, if they believe the NO will win so overwhelmingly why are the Spanish so scared of them that they don’t want us to organise one?

The first round back in December was seen as a defiance to Spain so it was easier for it to achieve a 30% turnout, the newness. However, I completely agree with my colleague Manel Bargalló (link in catalan). Voting this time was an act of political activism. Having this amount of independence activists means that the independence choice has effectively no ceiling in Catalonia and means that Catalans of all ages, social backgrounds and political ideas agree that Catalonia needs its own State.

But above all these referendums have served a bigger purpose, to create an extremely active transversal network bringing together the underlying independentist movements and associations from where the leaders who are leading the way towards independence are emerging.

There will be another round in June, involving only a few dozen towns. After that everyone will be watching Barcelona, where the referendum will take place on April the 10th, 2011.

I have no doubt that if a binding referendum was organised tomorrow the YES would overwhelmingly win.

Sant Jordi’s best read, the Constitution of Catalonia

24/04/201024/04/2010 albert 1 Comment

Constitució de Catalunya

My favourite day of the year in Catalonia is La Diada de Sant Jordi, our Saint Patron. Not only it is usually a beautiful sunny but cool day in Barcelona but walking around with all the little stands ornamented with senyeres (the Catalan flag) selling roses and books is a delight. Couples and families strolling down the streets, the girls holding their roses and books. If there’s a day worth experiencing in Catalonia that day is definitely Sant Jordi. I make a point of celebrating it every year no matter where I happen to be.

I’m gonna share with you this year’s favourite read of mine. A group of expert lawyers (interview in Catalan), at the request of Reagrupament’s Joan Carretero, have written the Constitution of Catalonia, in Catalan for us and in English, so that everyone can read it. Yesterday, newspapers Avui and El Punt distributed more than 70,000 printed copies of it.

Now that it’s clear that Spain’s project doesn’t (and has never tried to) include Catalonia and with tomorrow’s next round of popular Referendum of Independence I think the best way to move forward is to show what we want for our country. Currently the law that defines Catalonia’s self-government is the Statute of Autonomy. Statutes are laws that regulate companies and not nations and our current Statute is a Spanish law, therefore it is not the expression of the Catalan nation’s will. With this Constitution we want to make it clear that the sovereignty of Catalonia lies within the Catalans and not elsewhere.

The text is clear, brief and concise, as Constitutions should be. Our target now is for the Catalan Parliament to declare independence and pass it.

CONSTITUTION OF CATALONIA

We, the people of Catalonia,
Willing to re-establish our sovereign rights, conscious of our responsibility towards future generations and in order to build a united, prosperous, supportive, open community respectful with human dignity and with the fundamental rights, we provide ourselves with the present Constitution.

Preamble

The Constitution we provide us with is inspired on the principles contained into the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789, on the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights of the United Nations proclaimed in 1948 and on the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950.

Public authorities are obliged to ensure and respect those principles and fundamentals rights as established in this Constitution.

Title I.- General Principles. The sovereignty

Art.- 1. The State

Catalonia is an independent, democratic and social State under the Rule of Law

Art. 2. Exercise of the sovereignty

The national sovereignty belongs to the Catalan people, who exercise it directly or by its representatives.

Art. 3. The territory

The territory of Catalonia corresponds to the geographical boundaries of Catalonia.

Art. 4. The National Capital

The National Capital of Catalonia is the City of Barcelona.

Art. 5. Language

Catalonia has its own, national and official language, the Catalan language. Aran has its own, national and official language in that territory, the Occitan language in its Aranese variety. Linguistic freedom is ensured.

Art. 6. Nationality

A law will regulate the conditions to obtain, preserve and lose the national condition of Catalan. Citizens of the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands, North Catalonia, Ponent Franja and Alguer are ensured to count on the Catalan national condition, upon requirement.

Art. 7. Symbols

Catalan symbols are the national flag, the national day and the national hymn.

Title II. Fundamental rights

Article 8. Human dignity

Human dignity is inviolable.

Article 9. Right to life

All human being has the right to life.

Death penalty, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment are forbidden.

Article 10. Equality before the law

Women and men are equal before the law.
No one may be harmed or favoured because of its origin, its race, its birth, its beliefs, its opinions or its social or other personal condition.

Article 11. Freedom

Individual freedom is guaranteed.
It is especially guaranteed:

a) Personal freedom and physical and moral integrity
b) Respect for private and family life
c) The right to honour and own image reputation
d) The inviolability of the home, correspondence and telecommunications
e) The right of having and raising children
f) Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
g) The freedom to have opinions, express and disseminate them
h) Freedom of the press
i) Freedom of association, assembly and demonstration
j) The right to strike and the right to collective bargaining
k) The right to receive education and freedom of education
l) The freedom of artistic creation and research
m) The freedom to choose and practice a profession
n) The freedom of enterprise, trade and industry
o) The freedom to set an own home
p) Freedom of access to public office

Article 12. Legal protection

Everyone has the right to obtain an effective judicial protection.

Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Any person arrested must be brought before the judge within the next twenty-four hours after his arrest.

Everyone has right to the natural judge default by law, to be defended by lawyer, to be informed of the nature of the accusation and to a public, fast and fair process.

Criminal laws and penalties are non-retroactive.

Special courts are prohibited.

Any person wrongfully detained is entitled to compensation for damage suffered.

Article13. Prohibition of censorship

Censorship is prohibited.

Article 14. Property

The right to property is guaranteed in its private and social function.

Article 15. Marriage

The right to marriage and to a family is guaranteed.
The freedom to constitute another form of common life than marriage is guaranteed.

Article 16. Protection of the territory

Everyone has the right to live in a balanced natural environment.
The State bodies are obliged to ensure equitable and rational land use. They must fight the noise and air, soil and water pollution and preserve the flora, wildlife and natural beauty of the landscapes as well as the natural and architectural heritage.

Article 17. Prohibition of arbitrariness

Everyone is entitled to be treated by State organs without arbitrariness and with full respect to the principles of goodwill.

Article 18 Political rights

Citizens have the right to participate in public affairs.
Any person over sixteen years old has the right to take part in elections, popular consultations and referendums, to be elected to hold public office and to support any popular legislative initiative.
A law shall specify the exceptional cases in which a person may be deprived of political rights.

Article 19. Popular legislative initiative

Fifty thousand voters or fifty municipalities may require the legislative power, by a popular legislative initiative, the promulgation, amendment or repeal of constitutional or legislation provisions.

Title III. The duties of the citizens

Article 20. The defence of Catalonia

Catalans have the duty and the right to defend Catalonia.

Article 21. Public expenditure

All citizens must contribute to the maintenance of public expenditure.

(Note: since the Constitution is being published in installments at Reagrupament’s website there are still 3 sections left to be published. I’ll update this post as soon as they become available)

Barcelona will hold its referendum on April the 10th, 2011

18/04/201018/04/2010 albert 1 Comment

Finally we’ve got a date, the last round, the capital, the last referendum for the independence of Catalonia will take place on April 2011. The organisers of Barcelonadecideix.cat met yesterday and debated about the date with the accumulated experience from the previous rounds of 13D, 28F and the soon to come 25A.

Conscious of the challenge it will pose the organizers have preferred to give themselves plenty of time since this time everyone will be watching. The Barcelona Council, currently with PSOE in power, will not help the organisation by providing polling stations. The organisers calculate that 10000 volunteers will be needed and hope that people from Barcelona and all over Catalonia that have helped in the previous rounds will join to help make it a success.

(Video) Joan Laporta’s political speech (with english subtitles)

31/03/201031/03/2010 albert 1 Comment

In this post you can find embedded a the two videos (with English subtitles) that show Joan Laporta’s (the president of FC Barcelona) political speech last March the 21st at Reagrupament’s meeting.

It is a brave and nice speech that talks about why we need the independence for Catalonia as soon as possible and how that will improve all Catalan citizens’ prosperity and well being. Hope you enjoy it.

Next they Knock Down the Holy Family (‘La Sagrada Familia’)

23/03/201023/03/2010 albert Leave a comment

SOS Sagrada Família

This March 20, at 7:30 p.m., before the “Nativity” façade of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família Temple, between its bordering streets, Carrer Mallorca and Carrer Provença, there will be a candle-light protest vigil to make Catalans (especially Barcelonans) aware of the brutal attack about to befall Gaudí’s masterpiece: the high-speed train (known by its French acronym “TGV”, for Train à Grande Vitesse), will be routed so that it passes a mere 75 centimeters from the building’s foundations. Tomorrow’s grassroots act of protest will consist of the lighting of over 20,000 candles, the reading of a manifesto, and a performance by the Temple’s boy’s choir, l’Escolania de la Sagrada Família. So far, there have already been two cave-ins along Carrer Mallorca, very near the Font and Maiol passages, which has sounded the general alarm regarding the building’s well-being. That is, for everyone except the Socialist Party, which is imposing the route.

Many have questioned the Party’s motives for doing this “the hard way,” when it would be much more economical and more reasonable to choose pre-existing coastal or inland routes (for example, through El Vallès). No justification has been given, however, because there simply is none: running these high-speed trains within inches of this architectural masterpiece is a political, and not a technical, decision, and those behind it are José Montilla, Joaquim Nadal, Jordi Hereu, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. In a show of utter disdain for the thousands of signatures collected in protest, and of the professional opinions of internationally renowned experts, and displaying a complete lack of simple common sense, they continue wanting to subject this, Gaudí’s most emblematic work, and the most universally recognized symbol of Catalonia, to the risk of crumbling its foundations, at the same time putting innumerable people at risk of death, victims of an event that would provoke an international media blitz similar to that regarding the destruction of the Twin Towers, or the hypothetical destruction of Tower of London. In fact, major international news media, including the New York Times, the Guardian, and Le Monde, are already covering the case, as is German television, which recently broadcast a report titled “Tunneling Against the Temple:” “This terrible event could become reality. The most important and most emblematic symbol of Barcelona, the Temple of the Holy Family, could be brought crashing down.” The International Herald Tribune and the NY Times recently published statements by MIT Professor J. Mark Schuster, who said, “’To consciously endanger a World Heritage site is an act of thoughtless vandalism.”

But these vandals, the Socialist Party, respond to protests by yawning and looking away. Only other political parties (assuming any of them retain a sense of national dignity), in conjunction with the Catalan people themselves, will be able to avoid this catastrophe. There is still time to stop this barbarism ordered by Catalan and Spanish representatives of the Socialist Party from an office in Madrid. The Socialist Party has nothing but disgust for anything related to symbols of Catalan national identity, and we have witnessed this malignancy wherever it touches the life of our nation: in the (intentionally engineered) collapse of our rail system, the cave-in in Barcelona’s neighborhood of El Carmel, the massive black-out of 2007, the brushfire tragedies of L’Horta de Sant Joan, or the chaos that resulted from the lack of coping mechanisms against the snow this past March and the subsequent collapse of third-world-quality electrical infrastructures. If the Sagrada Família collapses, some committee will end up investigating itself, and not a single head would ever roll. Ever.

For all of the above, it is so very important to be one of those lighting over 20,000 candles at the “SOS” protest for the Sagrada Família on March 20th. Only by stopping this attempt to assassinate a national symbol can we save ourselves from future ridicule and shame. A people that does not defend its heritage is a people condemned to disappear. We must stop this barbarism, out of respect for Gaudí’s work, and out of respect for ourselves.

Note: This article was originally written and published by Víctor Alexandre in Catalan here

Thanks to Heather Hayes and Sal Constans for the translation.

Also, more information on the subject on the NY Times

Organizing our free future, Reagrupament’s program

21/03/201021/03/2010 albert Leave a comment

“Organizing our free future” is the name of Reagrupament’s political program (in catalan). It details in 130 pages how Reagrupament wants the future Catalan State to be and has been written by 650 associates in an unprecedented initiative in Catalan politics. I feel extremely proud of being able to say that I have contributed to it as well. Reagrupament’s main target is to achieve a majority of deputies in the Catalan Parliament and declare independence.

The document details things such as the language policies, Catalan and Occitan (spoken in the Aran Valley) will be the official languages, all public Catalan TV stations will broadcast entirely in Catalan, obviously. We will have our own national sports teams and our own diplomacy, intelligence service and army. It is a document that might seem obvious to many foreign people reading this but for us it is an extremely important exercise, to be able to picture the country that we want Catalonia to become. A normal country just like any other.

Also, today it is an important day for Catalonia because Reagrupament is holding is second national meeting, with Barça’s president Joan Laporta opening the ceremony, it is right now being broadcast online at Reagrupament’s website.