12 Sep 2013 Vies i preguntes

The spectacular success of the Catalan Way, which took place yesterday under the auspices of the Catalan National Assembly, certifies an undeniable fact that was made resoundingly clear one year ago: the pro-independence movement is supported by a central, active and increasingly diverse sector of Catalan society, and it has become the only political project to awaken the enthusiasm of a society that is tired of the usual political routines and the cracks in a system forged during the Spanish Transition. As we have often said, this peaceful revolt of the middle classes unites three objectives under a single banner: Catalan sovereignty, the defense of collective well-being, and a commitment to the regeneration of democracy.

This new pro-sovereignty movement has grown at an astonishing pace since the Spanish Constitutional Court’s ruling on the new Catalan Statute of Autonomy in 2010 and over the last twelve months in particular. Today the general feeling is that we are reaching the tipping point of a phenomenon that began as a grassroots effort working from the bottom up, which is something that has left political parties disoriented, has modified discourses, has turned the public agenda on its head and has created a space of uncertainty, risk and unprecedented change since the death of Franco. As the situation stands, I believe there is no turning back. The fact that the pro-sovereignty movement has spread to so many people in so little time leads some observers to compare it to a measles epidemic, here one day and gone the next. This fever hypothesis feeds what some call “a third way,” an option that lies between Catalonia’s secession and the current framework of the autonomies, subject to recentralization. The premise of this approach is clear: many Catalans that are seeking independence today would settle for improvements in financing, culture, language and infrastructures. The Minister of Foreign Affairs —that it happened to be this particular minister is quite an amusing coincidence— repeated this the day before yesterday. Once again, the powers-that-be in Madrid (and the elites that depend on them), are not correctly reading what is happening.

In all honesty, I think that the so-called “third way” has little chance of success. For several reasons. First: in addition to the matters of devolved powers and money, at the heart of this conflict is the Catalan people’s need to be recognized as demos, which would mean admitting that there is an alternative sovereignty to that of the Spanish nation and that this has political repercussions, including the possibility of exercising self-determination; neither the PP nor the PSOE will ever accept this extreme approach that only further feeds the divorce from Spain as a moral cause regardless of the circumstances. Second: surveys and observations tell us that the majority of people who now say they are in favor of a Catalan state no longer believe in the Spanish institutional framework and they have mentally substituted the posture of “victim” with the desire to build something new; at this point, an offer of anything less than independence will not seduce those who are already thinking beyond the old political categories. And third: everyone knows that the new Statute that Catalans voted for in a referendum, and which was subsequently cut and hollowed out by the Constitutional Court was, in fact, this third way, the last and most recent attempt to find a fit for Catalonia within Spain, an attempt to reform this dependency without breaking anything; the frustration that path represented will not make it possible to repeat it, no matter how many new ways it is labeled.

Above all theses reasons there are also two factors that Rafael Nadal mentioned in his lucid article this past Friday: a) the third way remains a conceptual ghost that no political party dares to place on the table; b) if someone offers a third way without any guarantees or specifications, this option “will be nothing more than a trick, one that we will have to denounce and fight against.” Artur Mas knows a great deal about the kinds of tricks that the powers in Madrid can do, because it was Zapatero’s sleight of hand with the Catalan statute that made the leader of CiU –profoundly disappointed—bury the Pujol-era “a bird in the hand” (peix al cove) policy and look to finding a way out of the autonomous cage.

Due to all of these factors we’ve mentioned, it would only make sense to hold a referendum with a single question that asked about a yes or no to independence. A referendum that also included a question on a hypothetical third way to organize the continuity of Catalonia within the Spanish state would be a fraud and, in addition, it would not provide a response to the pro-sovereignty project. I repeat: when the Catalans voted on the most recent Statute we were already asked about how we wanted to fit within Spain. Today we are in a different phase. That debate was buried by a referee that took sides and didn’t respect the will of the Catalan people that had been expressed in accordance with Spanish law.

The demonstration on this past September 11th, in the shape of a human chain, shows once again that we are standing before a historic change. It cannot be belittled or distorted. It is up to the politicians to manage this emotional capital and transform it into decisions that, combined with audacity and intelligence, make it possible for there to be a scenario in which it is possible to exercise democracy without limitations, as befits a 21st century society.

(Translated by Margaret Luppino)