CataloniaDirect

Unity

16/04/201016/04/2010 albert 2 Comments

(This is a translation for this article)

Recently it’s been made public that the strategy that the referendums’ National Coordinators want to follow is to promote a binding referendum using the brand new Catalan referendums law. On paper it looks good, we get the signatures. Then we take them to the Parliament, which will evidently approve it and then we take it to Madrid, where they’ll obviously deny it and then we have the conflict. Next we use the right to self-determination and under the supervision of the international bodies to let the Generalitat organise the Referendum.

This all looks good on paper, but, has anybody stopped to think that the execution of all this requires the Catalan Parliament to be clearly independentist? I mean, does anyone still believe that Artur Mas will do the slightest thing to contradict whatever they tell him to do in Spain? The same Mas who negotiated to cut down the Statute, the same Mas of the eternal “now’s not the time”, etc.

I can’t believe that, for instance, someone as intelligent as López Tena, who has proven to be able to organise the referendums until the last detail hasn’t realised that unless Laporta and Reagrupament achieve enough deputies next autumn (maybe adding ERC’s) the process of the Referendum will never reach Madrid, or if it does Mas will do as told from Madrid, he’ll never be able to challenge the Spanish State, he’s had plenty of chances so far. This is not Mas’ struggle, even thought many members of CiU are independentists, it’s current target is to manage the Autonomous Community, make no mistake. If we leave this responsibility in their hands they’ll spoil it.

That’s why I lean towards a declaration of independence, this is way easier and removes many unnecessary and complicated steps. Through this procedure we’ll create a new legality, then we’ll organise as many referendums as we want without anyone interfering.

However, I support all initiatives to achieve independence, but if we want to use the Referendum way we gotta do it well. That’s why I think that everybody, the National Coordinators, Deumil.cat, López Tena, Laporta, Reagrupament, everyone from the Acte d’Estat from a few weeks ago, etc. Everyone. We must start talking with humility, without prominence, we need to create a solid unity candidacy to achieve the greater number of deputies at the next elections to the Catalan Parliament. If we win, we finish the fast way, if we don’t at least we make sure the independentists have a real representation at the Parliament that will work for the Referendum to succeed. I know many people will call me a dreamer for saying this but I know that sooner or later unity will be necessary to achieve the independence, we’ll have to agree whether we like it or not.

What would be irresponsible is to leave in the current parties’ hands all the hard work done until now, they’ll spoil it. The job has to be finished by those who started it. We need the highest representation at the parliament and unity.

Unitat

15/04/201015/04/2010 albert 4 Comments

Fa poc s’ha fet pública que l’estratègia que la coordinadora nacional de les consultes vol seguir és la d’impulsar un referèndum vinculant mitjançant la llei de consultes. Sobre el paper tot sembla molt bé, s’aconsegueixen les signatures, es porta a la mesa del Parlament, que evidentment l’aprovarà i finalment es porta a Madrid, ens la deneguen i tenim el conflicte servit. Després ens basem en el dret a l’autodeterminació i sota la supervisió dels organismes internacionals per a que la Generalitat convoqui el referèndum.

Tot això està molt bé sobre el paper, però, algú s’ha parat a pensar que l’execució de tot això requereix que el Parlament de Catalunya sigui marcadament independentista? Vull dir, us penseu que per exemple l’Artur Mas farà el més mínim intent de portar la contrària a allò que li diguin a Espanya? El mateix Mas que va pactar la retallada de l’Estatut, el mateix Mas de l’etern “ara no toca”, etc.

No em puc creure que, per exemple, algú tant intel·ligent i que ha demostrat com gestionar les consultes fins a l’últim detall com en López Tena i companyia no hagin caigut en el compte que a no ser que Reagrupament i Laporta arribin i aconsegueixin una quantitat suficient de diputats (potser sumant-hi els d’ERC) el tràmit del referèndum mai arribarà a Madrid, o si hi arriba Mas acatarà el que li diguin a Madrid, mai serà capaç de desafiar l’Estat Espanyol, oportunitats no li han faltan. Aquesta no és la seva batalla, malgrat i que molts militants són independentistes, CiU, ara per ara, és un partit de gestió de l’autonomia, no ens equivoquem. Si es deixa aquesta responsabilitat en les seves mans mai arribarà a materialitzar-se.

Per això jo sóc partidari de la opció de la declaració unilateral d’independència, perquè és molt més simple i elimina moltes passes complicades. Mitjançant aquest procediment es crea una legalitat nova, i després fem tots els referèndums que vulguis sense que ningú ens hi posi impediments.

Malgrat i això estic a favor de totes les iniciatives per a aconseguir la independència, però si es vol utilitzar la via del referèndum s’ha de fer bé. Per això opino que tothom, la Coordinadora Nacional, Deumil.cat, López Tena, Laporta, Reagrupament, tota la gent de l’Acte d’Estat de fa unes setmanes, etc. Tothom. Ens hem de posar a parlar ara mateix, amb humilitat, sense protagonismes, necessitem crear una candidatura sòlida per a treure el màxim nombre de diputats independentistes a les properes eleccions al Parlament. Si guanyem ho acabem per la via ràpida i si no com a mínim ens assegurem que els independentistes tenim representació real al Parlament que treballarà per a que el referèndum prosperi. Sé que alguns em diran somiatruites per proposar això però sé que tard o d’hora la unitat serà necessària per a aconseguir la independència, ens haurem de posar d’acord per força.

El que seria irresponsable és deixar en mans dels partits existents tota la feina feta fins ara, la malbarataran. La feina l’hem d’acabar aquells que l’hem començat. Necessitem la màxima representació parlamentària i unitat.

(You can find here the translation to english of this article)

April the 25th, independence becomes central to the political debate

13/04/201013/04/2010 albert 3 Comments

A new round of referendums, after rounds of 13S, 13D and 28F the process has taken shape and is unstopabble. Next April the 25th 200 towns and villages will be involved and more than 1 million Catalan citizens will have the right to vote. By the end of this round around half the municipalities in Catalonia will have organized a referendum. After this the aim is to organise one in Barcelona.

Big cities like Girona, Lleida or Manresa are being involved this time and with supporters like Justo Molinero, a popular radio presenter with a huge influence on the Spanish speaking areas in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, like Cornellà, who will campaign for the right of the Catalans to decide (link in Catalan). Former Catalan President Jordi Pujol recently declared that he can’t be against the independence referendums since the pact with Spain has failed, and the debate for independence has to normalise. These declarations are a huge step forward since Jordi Pujol, who was in power for more than 20 years with CiU never before has openly declared himself to be pro-independence.

Turnout might be influenced by a filtration that the Spanish Constitutional Court will finally give a sentence regarding the Catalan Statute (the law that regulates Catalan self-government) this week (link in Catalan). It has taken so far 4 years for the Spanish Constitutional Court to come up with a sentence. No person or court has the moral right to contradict what the citizens have approved in a referendum, this is the foundational principle of democracy and in Spain this is not being respected since the Catalan Statute was voted by the Catalans. The sentence will very likely be very restrictive and rewrite several of the articles. The filtration also illustrates how little independence there is in the Spanish legal system.

The referendums are difficult to ignore and they put pressure on the political parties to position themselves with respect to independence now that the elections are coming next autumn. José Montilla said that he doesn’t want Catalonia to be independent (link in Catalan). He didn’t support this statement with any arguments. Artur Mas, the leader of CiU, the main opposition party and historically the biggest catalanist party, has recently declared that now’s not the time for a referendum (link in Catalan). He claims that the issue divides Catalan society. Maybe he should pay more attention to what Pujol is saying?

Obviously, Montilla’s opinion is not surprising since he is a Spanish unionist (even thought he disguises himself as a catalanist) but it is intriguing that CiU believe that in order to get back in the power they must be as undefined as possible with regards to Catalonia’s sovereignty.

Mas has illustrated this a few times, he declared months ago that in a referendum of independence he’d vote “yes” but shortly after said that “now’s not the time” to organize one. The problem is that he’s never said when would be, in his opinion, a good time for that.

At least it seems that for a significant part of the Catalan society now is indeed as good a time as any other. To contradict Mas’ statements there are several polls and the independence referendums themselves that show that even in traditionally Spanish-speaking areas what actually unites Catalan society is, after all, the conviction that Catalonia needs to become a State in the EU as soon as possible.

(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.

Towards a new map of Europe

19/03/201019/03/2010 albert Leave a comment

Seems like the map of Europe will continue changing in the next few years. This is nothing new, it has been in constant change over the 20th century when dozens of the current established countries like Norway, Iceland, Finland, Slovakia or more recently Montenegro or Kosova have achieved their own state.

The UN acknowledges the right to self determination for all the nations in the world and in a European Union where only states have a voice and in a globalisation context in which we live it has become an urgent matter that those nations that have the will for their culture to survive and not be lost in the tide organise themselves as a state. It has become an advantage to the small and to have a distinct voice, to be flexible and to have a unique point of view.

Before the model was the big nation-state concept, which explains the success of states like France or the United Kingdom but now this has changed. We have added another layer of complexity, the European Union, and as a result many of the nations that composed the old big Nation-States have lost their voice completely and feel their culture threatened and their economical development endangered.

Let’s recap the current situation. Scotland is walking towards independence, with SNP in the government that is planning a referendum on independence and with London having already admitted that they’ll respect what the Scottish decide and seem to be the ones who to be in a better position right now. Wales have also seen a rise of their desire for greater autonomy, claiming the devolution of some powers back from London. Flanders, in Belgium the country is divided between the French and the Flemish (a dialect of Dutch) speaking communities and since 2007 parties claiming more autonomy or independence for Flanders have experienced huge growth. Also in Corsica there seems to be a desire for a greater autonomy from France.

In the Iberian peninsula, after almost 300 years it seems possible for Catalonia to recover its independence. Events have been accelerating within the last year culminating so far with the self organised independence referendums and the organisation of Reagrupament, a political association that is committed to declare independence the minute it achieves the majority of deputies in the Catalan Parliament.

Also in the Iberian Peninsula, in the Basque Country’s independentist political community have recently made a very clear statement that violence must stop, paving the way to a non violence scenario that will accelerate events towards its independence.

Small countries have shown to be better prepared than big ones to deal with the challenges of globalisation in general and with the current crisis in particular. That’s why aiming to less layers of administration and bureaucracy makes sense. Small countries know better how to deal with their own problems and needs and to make themselves heard without being diluted by the intermediary.

Since all nations I’ve mentioned in this article are already part of the EU their independence would not require the resulting two states to reapply entrance to the EU and therefore the split would not be traumatic and without violence.

Now it is up to the European Union countries to pay attention and deal with these cases in a constructive way, listen to how europeans want to organise themselves and make sure that their democratic decisions are respected.

The Spanish veto to fly to Barcelona from 23 countries

17/03/201017/03/2010 albert 4 Comments

It is currently not possible to fly directly to 23 countries thanks to bilateral agreements that establish Madrid as the priority airport in Spain and explicitly block the possibility of flying to Barcelona. Even though Barcelona complies with all the requirements to become an intercontinental hub thanks to its privileged location in Europe and the Mediterranean.

I was always amazed at how airports of cities such as Manchester fly directly to every corner in the world and wondered why we couldn’t do that from Barcelona, how was that possible? how could Catalans be so short-sighted? Then I found the answer a few months, Spain deliberately bans it.

The successive Spanish governments have done everything at their hands to prevent Barcelona Airport from becoming the intercontinental hub it should be in fear that competition with Madrid would leave Madrid very quickly as the second airport in the Iberian peninsula. They still deny the Catalan government the management of the airport even though it’s been a claim for decades and there’s no reason why the Catalans would not be able to manage it in a better way since they know the needs of our country better than someone sitting in an office in Madrid. Not to speak of the harm that having Iberia being the monopolistic airline for so many decades has caused.

Catalonia needs the best infrastructures right now and for that the Spanish have proven not only incapable of handling the task but also deliberately harmful for Catalonia’s interests. Another reason why it is urgent for Catalonia to become independent.

Note: thanks to George from Barcelona, this article is inspired in one of his blog posts. Also, the original news here in Catalan.

An independent Catalonia will instantly become an EU member

16/03/201016/03/2010 albert Leave a comment

Catalan must be official in Europe

A recent study by Stanford university professor Antoni Abad was made public last February the 18th in a meeting organized by the Cercle d’Estudis Sobiranistes. The study, which can be downloaded here in pdf format in its catalan version, has demolished one of the arguments unionists recurrently used to scare catalans with: “If Catalonia becomes independent it will be kicked out of the EU and will have to ask for readmission and Spain will veto it”.

Now we know this isn’t true, when Catalonia, Scotland, the Basque Country, etc. become independent they’ll be EU members in full right. Not even the resulting Spain would have to ask for readmission. European citizenship of 7 million catalans cannot be suspended overnight and this would just be considered as and internal expansion within the EU, the new members will only have to ask for their new status to be acknowledged. Many thanks to Professor Antoni Abad for shedding light on this issue.

Note: Image sources at

Booing? what booing? Everyone loves the King of Spain!

12/03/201012/03/2010 albert 12 Comments

The Kings of Spain

On February the 21st a familiar scene happened again, during the final of the Basketball Spanish King’s Cup that took place in the Basque Country and faced Barça against Real Madrid (final result: Barça 80 – Real Madrid 61) while the Spanish anthem started playing on the PA the booing by the Catalan and Basque audience was so loud the anthem could not be heard. Below, the video.

This was a repetition of what happened last spring at the Football Spanish King’s Cup that faced Barça with Athletic de Bilbao. All this would just be in any normal country a fair protest that people could like or dislike but would definitely not be censored.

Last spring’s protest took the Spanish a bit by surprise and improvisation led to literally cutting the anthem (and the protests) from the live TV version. Someone in the Spanish TV was forced to resign, I believe more because they cut the Spanish anthem that because of the censorship to the protests.

But on February the Spanish had learned the lesson. Firstly, the King himself brought a special 30 second version of the anthem to make the situation as short as possible and secondly, the Spanish TV edited the sound mix on the live broadcast and didn’t show any images of the Catalan and Basque audience so that you wouldn’t notice anything. The commentator didn’t mention the booing, either. You can see the Spanish TV version below.

Let’s not forget that we’re talking about Spain, a EU member, one of the biggest economies in the world and what everyone thinks of as a “developed” country. On the other hand, not so publicized facts are that the so called “transición” to democracy didn’t involve any prosecution of the crimes committed during Franco’s regime or that the King of Spain was appointed by the dictator.