Hola República!

Today at 18h the Parliament of Catalonia will declare independence. Catalonia becomes a Republic. I’ve dreamed many times of this day. I’m happy
 
Avui a les 18h el Parlament de Catalunya declararà la independència. Catalunya es converteix en República. He somiat moltes vegades amb aquest dia. Estic content
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3 dies

Demà agafo un vol cap a Barcelona per a ser-hi diumenge. Potser caldrà passar-se tot el cap de setmana al col·legi electoral per a impedir que el precinti la policia espanyola. O potser no passa res i la gent vota normalment i sense contratemps. Estarem preparats per a totes les possibilitats.

Han passat tantes coses i com se n’han fet de llargues les últimes setmanes. Hem vist el pitjor de l’Estat Espanyol, la seva fastigosa repressió franquista ara s’ha evidenciat en tota la seva magnitud fins al punt d’ocupar primeres planes i titulars a les més importants capçaleres del món. Però també ha fet sortir el millor de Catalunya: el Govern, els estibadors, alcaldes, bombers, pagesos, estudiants, impressors, periodistes, advocats i fins i tot el Liceu. Quin país! Estic il·lusionat pel futur.

Una cosa que se’m va fer curiosa va ser la total normalitat durant el cap de setmana passat quan vaig ser a Barcelona. Ja era conscient que no passava res especial a fora de les protestes puntuals però massives per les actuacions repressives de l’Estat Espanyol però no deixa de ser curiós com fem la revolució els catalans. Si hagués estat, posem el cas, un dels milers de turistes a un concert de les festes de la Mercè del cap de setmana, no hagués sospitat mai de la vida que estàvem tan a prop de declarar la independència.

Encara no sabem si diumenge viurem escenes de Guardies Civils apartant gent asseguda pacíficament per a emportar-se urnes o si la jornada de discorrerà tranquil·la i sense problemes. Però en qualsevol cas hi haurà referèndum. I malgrat i que hi hagi algun incident aïllat, l’acte de fer el referèndum servirà per a evidenciar el més important. Que Espanya ja no controla el territori. Que el controlem nosaltres.

Els punts de votació tancaran a les 20h. Unes hores més tard, amb un alt percentatge del vot ja escrutat,  el President Puigdemont apareixerà públicament per a donar els resultats provisionals. Guanyarà el sí i la incògnita és quina serà la participació. Però tampoc importa gaire perquè sigui quina sigui tindrà les mateixes conseqüències. Perquè la responsabilitat que aquest no sigui un referèndum completament normal és tota d’Espanya i per tant qualsevol percentatge de participació serà bo.

I ho celebraré als carrers, amb una ampolla de cava, potser amb la gent amb qui hagi passat el dia ocupant el col·legi electoral o potser a la Plaça Catalunya. I unes hores després pujaré a un avió de tornada a Múnic per a treballar i estaré feliç, esgotat, però molt feliç. I encara que al meu voltant a la feina ningú no comparteixi la meva felicitat no importarà. Portaré la festa per dins.

Probablement en algun moment dels deu dies posteriors a la votació el Parlament es reunirà per a declarar la independència. Potser algun país petit ens reconeixerà uns dies més tard. Qui sap, Eslovènia, Hongria, Dinamarca, Suïssa.

És com els últims moments d’una relació tòxica. Una baralla, amenaces, però quan fas el pas la foscor s’esvaeix i veus que totes les pors eres infundades. Al dia següent ja sents com t’has tret un pes de sobre. Com si qualsevol cosa fos possible i el futur és brillant. I penses que per què no ho havies acabat abans, molt abans.

Però prou d’avançar esdeveniments. Ara toca concentrar-se. El moment més important és diumenge. Tants de nosaltres portem preparats per a aquest dia des de fa molts anys i molts que se’ns han afegit fa poc. Votarem!

The 11 facts you need to know about Catalonia’s Sept 11th 2017

The 11 facts you need to know about Catalonia’s Sept 11th 2017:

1- In Sept 11th 1714 Barcelona fell against the Spanish army after a long siege

2 – The centuries old Government (the Generalitat), rest of ruling institutions and Catalan Constitution were abolished

3 – September 11th became the memorial for those who died defending Catalonia’s sovereignty

4- On 1977 the Generalitat was restored for the second time after a Franco’s 4 decades long fascist dictatorship

5- 2006, a new Statute of Autonomy was passed after negotiations in Catalonia & Madrid. Catalans validated it through a referendum

6 – 2010, a Spanish Constitutional Court ruling cut back fundamental articles of the Statute of Autonomy

7- This dramatically increased support for Catalan independence until the proindependence movement became the political driving force

8- The yearly #11S peaceful rallies have become the way to propel the proindependence movement forward past successive milestones

9- Madrid’s complete refusal to discuss any aspect of Catalonia’s selfgovernment has only increased support for independence

10- Today’s rally is to support the Oct 1st selfdetermination referendum the Generalitat has organised despite opposition from Spain

11 – If  Yes wins the upcoming October 1st referendum the Parliament will declare the Catalan Republic shortly afterwards

Catalonia crosses the Rubicon

Catalonia has regained its sovereignty. On Wednesday the Parliament passed the Referendum Law. After a 12 hour long session were the Spanish groups endlessly filibustered instead of taking part in the political debate. But I’ll spare you the details. The Referendum Law was passed with 72 yes, 11 Abstentions and 0 No votes (the unionists left the room). Shortly afterwards President Puigdemont signed the Law making it come into effect and later issued the decree for the Referendum to be held on October 1st.

Throught thursday 16 thousand people have requested to be electoral agents and 560 Mayors out of the +940 municipalities in Catalonia have already confirmed that their town will support the Government.

If anyone has any doubt about the binding status of the Referendum they only need to read the hysterical reactions of the Spanish media.

The Spanish prosecutor is burning all the bridges by announcing criminal lawsuits for all members of the Government and the Parliament Board.

In the meantime I received an email with the voting instructions for the referendum, since I am currently resident in Germany.

Throughout thursday another lengthy Parliament session was held. This time in order to pass the “Llei de transitorietat jurídica i fundacional de la República” which I’ll refer to as the Transition Law. This is basically a law that says that if the vote on October the 1st is won by the Yes it will come into effect and within 48h of the final results independence will be declared and the Republic of Catalonia will be born.

The Transition Law ensures a continuity between the current law and the, it establishes the birth of the Catalan judiciary and the Republic becomes the sole tax collecting entity, it also explains that the existing Spanish State civil servants can transition, if so they choose, to have their jobs transfered to the Republic.

Most importantly, the Transition Law establishes the procedure through which the writing of the new Constitution will take place. The Constitution of the Catalan Republic will be voted in referendum some time in 2018.

The Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the Referendum Law on thursday evening but since its article 3.2 states that “it has hierarchical prevalence over any other regulations that may come into conflict with it” things carried on as planned. Spanish Law can no longer conflict with Catalonia’s right to Self-determination.

The Transition Law was passed yesterday late at night following a practically identical script to the voting of the previous day.

 

August highlights

So many things have happened during this bizarre August that it feels like it was a million years ago when I wrote July’s highlights.

August started with what seemed like a big deal at the time, an airport security staff strike over which the Catalan Government had absolutely no control over and which the Spanish one didn’t seem too interested in solving.

Then the terror attack happened. There are still so many unanswered questions that I’d rather not go too much into detail. What seems to be confirmed is that the cell was originally trying to committ a mass attack outside the Sagrada Familia by exploding a truck full of gas bottles. But they mishandled the gas and caused a huge explosion in the house in Alcanar they were using to store the gas bottles. 3 of the terrorists died there, including the leader, an imam who already had a criminal record. The remaining members improvised the attack in Les Rambles that nevertheless caused many victims. Luckily the Catalan Police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, handled the situation admirably well, together with the Catalan Government.

It remains unanswered is why did it take 7 hours for Rajoy to arrive in Barcelona, why did it take 1 day for the Spanish Minister of interior to show up or 3 days for the Spanish Foreign Minister to get to Barcelona. Maybe one day we will know.

Maybe we will also know why had the Spanish Governement blocked the Mossos from becoming a member of the Europol, or why did they not inform of the intelligence available about the suspicious activities of the imam.

Lukcily during the 4 days following the attack the Catalan police captured or shot down the rest of the terrorists and both the Mossos and the Catalan Government received international praise for how they handled the situation, especially during a time when Spain was nowhere to be found. Catalonia had shown that it is ready to be independent.

Some suspect the terror attack could have been an excuse to overwhelm the Catalan Government and police and for Spain to prove their incompetence and use it as an excuse to raise the alarm level to 5 (the maximum) and deploy the Spanish army in Catalonia and influence the independence agenda. Who knows. It would not surprise me at all given that we are dealing with Spain. But I suspect unless Catalonia becomes independent we will never know the whole story.

The decisive week (and a man I met in Mexico)

This is the decisive week. The Parliament will vote and approve the Referendum Law and the Transition Law on wednesday and thursday respectively. Catalonia will be provisionally independent until the day of the referendum.

If the result of the referendum is Yes then the Transition Law will come into effect and that means the automatic birth of the Catalan Republic. Mostly everything will continue to be the same though so as to guarantee a smooth transition. But that will trigger the start of the making of the Constitution, which will be voted at some point in 2018.

I decided to become an activist for independence in September 2009, soon after the events that took place in Arenys de Munt. Until then I had wanted independence for Catalonia ever since I developed my own political ideas but I had limited myself to voting.

2009 feels like a long time but I am aware that I’m very lucky to witness Catalonia recovering its sovereignty after more than 300 years.

Whenever I was close to losing my determination I always remembered this man I met in Mexico in 2010. He was 84 at the time, I hope he’s still alive. I was making a speech about Catalonia’s independence and several people from the Catalan expat community of Guadalajara showed up at my friend’s restaurant where it was taking place.

Halfway through my speech this man, who arrived to Mexico from Catalonia as a kid fleeing from Franco’s dictatorship and who spoke perfect Catalan in spite of living almost his entire life in Mexico, stood up, slowly walked up to me and gave me a handshake with tears in his eyes and with a trembling voice thanked me for working for Catalonia’s independence. Later I understood he was relieved to see that there was still hope. That we are carrying the flame of the cause that so many generations had carried their entire lives without ever seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

And here we are, hours before the Catalan Parliament takes back the sovereignty lost in 1714. At least temporarily, until we know the result of the referendum. Whatever happens from now on the Catalan institutions will have the full support of the Catalan people.

The final stretch

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The last couple of months have been intense from the inside of Catalonia, with:

  • compromising leaks threatening the political union of the pro independence parties
  • several members of the former Government found guilty and banned from office for organising the November 9th 2014 vote
  • the President of the Catalan Parliament testifying in Court for allowing the debate about independence at the Parliament
  • incompetence by the Spanish border control police at the Barcelona airport causing huge delays and the Spanish authorities failing to fix it
  • the prosecutor opening due diligence to prosecute a Catalan Minister for issuing a tender to purchase ballot boxes
  • the scandal of the existence of a network composed of intelligence agents, police units, politicians and the entire legal system plotting to target pro independence politicials by forging scandals and bending the interpretation of the law to serve their political purposes (check my twitter for more details, it would require several posts)

But the decisive event of the last two months took place this week. On monday Catalan President Puigdemont, Vice President Junqueras and Minister of Foreign Affairs Romeva, gave a joint conference in Madrid. This was the last attempt by the Catalan side to offer the Spanish Government to negotiate the terms of the self determination referendum. President Puigdemont warned Spanish Government President Rajoy that the referendum will take place in any case and either he could negotiate its terms now or in a few months he’d instead have to negotiate the terms of the secession.

In an unseen display of celerity Rajoy replied the following day in a press conference in which he said he would not accept “Puigdemonts’ blackmail and threat to the constitutional order”. Puigdemont replied that that was not the answer they were expecting and that it does not bring a solution any closer.

The last few days have registered an escalation of the language of the Spanish Government. Now they refer to the referendum as a Coup d’etat. It must be the first time in history that a Coup is made with ballot boxes instead of guns.

Catalonia will now proceed to call the referendum knowing Spain will use all means within their reach to repress the exercice of the vote in Catalonia. This will presumably lead to a full clash of legitimacies. On one hand the legitimacy of the Catalan people expressed through their vote, on the other the legitimacy of the post Franco Spanish regime now showing the cracks in its foundation lacking the flexibility to adapt to the changing political reality.

The key will be whether or not the Catalan people, who started this whole movement in the first place, will be able to withstand and overcome the repression long enough to defeat Spain or not. Rajoy hasn’t explained how exactly is the Spanish Government planning to stop people from voting. And there is not very much they can reasonably do without using disproportional measures that’d would effectively increase the legitimacy of Catalonia’s aspirations.

In a few months we will know.

Alea Jacta Est

Catalan Government 2017 budget passed. Countdown to referendum

Yesterday the Catalan Parliament passed the 2017 budget thanks to the votes of pro independence JuntsPelSí and CUP parties. This was the last obstacle, from the Catalan side at least, on the way for the referendum. This budget includes the funds for the binding referendum of independence.

The last month and a half has been very intense. Since the trial to former President Mas and in a display on previously unseen speed in the deliberations the court declared Mas and former Catalan Government Ministers Ortega, Rigau and Homs guilty of disobedience for doing what people voted them to do. To let people vote in November 2014. They were sentenced to a two year ban from public office for holding an unbinding referendum on the independence of Catalonia. A few decades ago they use to execute Catalan Presidents, by firing squad. An improvement after all.

As a consequence of this I’ve lost track already of how many MPs from different democratic parliaments have already raised their voice warning Spain (check my twitter). The UN Human Rights Commissioner in Switzerland, the EU Venice Commission several MEPs and even Canada. Just letting Spain know that this conflict should be dealt with politically, not legally. In the process, the damage done to the credibility of Spanish institutions has been irrecoverable.

Even the former President of the Spanish Constitutional Court, on the day he was leaving, said that using the judiciary to stop Catalonia’s independence is not working and that a political solution should be reached instead.

Today we woke up with the news that the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Margallo admitted yesterday night live on TV that he personally made secret deals with many countries against Catalonia.

On a colorful note, a University Professor has been fined 601 euros for daring to speak in Catalan with the Spanish Police greeting us at the Barcelona Airport. How dare he speak in the language of the country he is flying from.

Looks like the Law of Transience, which will set the Catalan legal framework for the unilateral referendum, will likely be passed in September instead of June in order to give Spain as little time as possible to react against it. The Law of Transience will be the de facto Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Part of this law, the part that enables the referendum,  will become effective on the same day it is passed and the rest of it only in case the Yes wins the referendum.

The independence machinery is advancing slowly but steadily towards the unilateral referendum scheduled for September. What Madrid thought would never happen, for JuntsPelSí and CUP to agree on the 2017 budget has happened. International supports are growing and Catalan pro Independence parties have set their differences aside for a greater goal. The clock keeps ticking and people are starting to get nervous in Madrid.

Former Catalan President trial for organising independence vote begins

A huge crowd of more than 50 thousand people has gathered outside of the courthouse so support former President Mas on the day the trial begins.

Artur Mas and Ministers Ortega and Rigau, are accused of disobedience and face a ban for elected posts because they kept their electoral promise to organise a referendum about whether Catalonia should become an independent state.

The referendum could not be carried out as initially planned because of the threats from the Spanish Government. So the Catalan Government changed the format to a non binding consultation and used volunteers instead of civil servants in order to protect the people organising from retaliations from Spain.

The result was that in spite of the threats and the attempts to ridicule 2.3 million people voted, with 90% votes going for the yes and the Spanish Government feeling powerless thought someone had to be punished for this defiance and targetted Mas and Ministers Ortega and Rigau.

Today the trial begins only a few days after the Catalan Government had the go ahead from CUP to approve to budget for 2017 that will enable an official referendum to be organised by the current Catalan Government. 80% of Catalans agree as of today that a referendum must be held to solve this issue.

Even though the intent of the Spanish Government is to use the judiciary to attack and scare Catalans against going forward with the independence plans it is proving to be instead a phenomenal way of uniting everyone who believes in democracy against the illegitimate use of the State by the Spanish Government.

Catalan demands for independence are, at the end of the day, a struggle for democracy.

Spain to stop the referendum “by force” and smear campaign on pro indy politicians

Since last week’s news that CUP gave the go ahead to the Catalan Government’s budget for the year, which essentially was the last obstacle before the referendum could be organised, Spain has gone into panic mode.

Both El Mundo and El Pais heated up the opinion by publishing editorials urging the Spanish Government to take decisive action to stop the referendum and Rajoy and his ministers confirmed that they have plans to stop the referendum “by force” if it came to that. Sealing voting schools and such familiar threats (which didn’t happen in 2014 by the way)

This was received with  firm responses from the Catalan side. Noone is going to stop the democratic will of the Catalan people. The social networks were full of jokes about the Spanish Government’s threats.

Meanwhile, tomorrow starts the trial to former president Mas and two former Ministers, Ortega and Rigau, who are facing criminal charges which could lead to a 10 year ban on being eligible for political posts for organising the referendum on 2014. 40000 people, according the the Assemblea Nacional de Catalunya have already signed up to protest for what is this attempt of criminalising the political will of Catalonia.

On thursday the Spanish Police (Guardia Civil) arrested 8 high ranking members of former party CDC (now PDeCat) as part of a supposed investigation on corruption and were released the next day with no charges without even having appeared in front of the judge. It seems like the Spanish government is trying hard to create a link between pro independence and corruption and didn’t hesitate to use the police and courts as tools in part of this smear campaign.