Last April after the last round of popular referendums for independence there was a question floating in the air: “and now what?” What should we do with the network of thousands of volunteers who had worked to achieve those amazing results? A few days after the last round in Barcelona took place a first meeting of the ANC (Catalan National Assembly) and after a lot of work almost one year later has resulted in its constitution on March the 10th in Barcelona at Palau Sant Jordi filled with almost 7000 independentists from all over the country.
The meeting was closed by the popular actor Sergi López and the main result was the voting of the ANC’s structure and the approval of an ambitious route plan towards Catalonia’s independence.
The actions start this year and aim to raise the awareness towards the need for independence with a March for Independence all over the country. During 2013 together with the Associació de Municipis per la Independència (which as of yesterday hit 324 member municipalities) will organize referendums of independence in every municipality in Catalonia. After that it’ll be the turn of the Catalan government to take the lead towards organizing a referendum of independence on 2014 and, if this was refused by the Spanish State, to declare independence.
During the meeting a manifesto was approved to denounce the “continuous Spanish attempts to assimilate Catalonia” and “the Spanish refusal to recognize Catalonia as a nation”.
What in my opinion makes the ANC different from other independentist initiatives are the following reasons:
- Not tied to any political party and has voted never to become one
- It’s a mature movement which puts independence before itself
- It comes from serious people who work anonymously for Catalonia’s independence
- It aims to concentrate and add visibility to Catalan society’s demand for a Catalan State from outside the political establishment
which is why it can become a very effective tool to achieve this target.
Some people expect the leaders which will finally lead the process towards a Catalan state within the European Union will emerge from the ANC. However, the ANC has until now remained an association with no visible leaders.
Representatives from the Catalan parties, from the main cultural associations, like Òmnium Cultural, the Association of Municipalities for Independence and a representation of Catalan intellectual activists also attended the meeting.
The video of the full event is available here.
