This week in Catalonia

Un resumen rapid dels esdeveniments ultimes pels lectors no-catalans, i la meva proposta de la Jugada Final....

a vore, encara que el referendum (consultació) sí que és permès per la Constitució espanyola (a cap banda diu que no es pot oferir una opinió publica questionant la unitat d'Espanya - fins i tot la Constitució és "passiva" en la seva defensa de la democracia, i permet qualsevol tipus de llibertad d'expressió. Altra cosa és si permetria el proxim pas, la ruptura d'Espanya, però això no és la questió ara per ara), tinc clar que els Tribunals amb l'ajud del govern i establishment espanyol s'asseguraran que és declarada il·legal. I aixo és el que es vendrà a fora de les nostre fronteres. Per tant, insistint en fer la votació el dia 9N de qualsevol manera, fins i tot en ciutats amb ajuntaments en contra, i veient que els votants del "No" no hi aniran a votar, minvaria molt la credibilitat dels resultats finals. 

Estic amb Mas, o es fa bé del tot (a ulls de fora) o no es fa.

Aixi que, per a mi, cal la maxima pressio per anar a votar el 9N per a aconseguir que la gent a fora vegin la situació i m'alegro que els partits estan treballant per aixo (que seria la sortida ideal per a tothom) però, mentrestant, anem lligant el pla B ... eleccions. Sempre amb la porta oberta per si a Madrid veuen la llum i accepten que el 9N és la millor opció.

Ja sé que lo bonic de la politica catalana és la pluralitat de partits etc, però crec que no és el moment ara per anar a eleccions en nom dels partits, amb tots els entrebancs que causaria. Catalunya té una bala per a guanyar la Jugada Final - que això és un moviment de ciutadans, no politics - i hem d'estar segurs d'usar-ho al moment oportu, i jo crec que ja ha arribat. El dia 1 o ? de novembre, convocaria eleccions per a la primera data possible. Amb una llista unica que es basaria en la societat civil. Per exemple: 

1. Escriptor català famos (Cabre?); 2. Entrenador de futbol famos (Pep); 3. Scientific prestigios; 4. Metge conegut internacionalment; 5. Director de cine; 6. Professor d'universitat conegut internacionalment; 7. Artista; 8. Arquitecte; 9.Music; 10. ... aneu agafant l'idea? 20. Muriel; 21. Carme; .... ANC, Omnium, altres grups .... 68. Mas; 69. Junqueras; 70. Herrera; 71. Fernandez ... 72 fins 135, membres dels 4 partits en ordre ABCD ABCD ABCD.....

Programa electoral: punt 1, Declaració imediata d'independencia. Punt 2, al segon dia, viatge d'una comissió del parlament cap a Brussel·les per negociar etc. Punt 3, convocar referendum i elecciones noves per prepara el nou país.

I va que xuta. 

.......

So, if you want to know what's happened over the last few years in Catalonia, check out my previous posts here. I will now take the story up post-11th September 2014. 

Firstly, the Catalan Parliament drew up and passed a new law on public consultations - one of the autonomous powers that Madrid had accepted for Catalonia a few years ago. The idea being that if you hold a "non-binding public consultation" (or referendum, for the laymen like us!) it would be legal and accepted by the Spanish Constitutional Court. Even though the Spanish govt have been telling us that this is not the case , legal experts insist that the Constitution does not impede people expressing their opinions regarding the constitutional and territorial make-up of Spain (whether it would accept breaking up Spain following a Yes vote is another kettle of fish, but not the issue now. First, let's vote). Link here. 

So, they passed the law in the Catalan Parliament a fortnight ago and last Saturday used this law to call the 9 November independence "referendum" (i.e. a non-binding consultation - but presumable a huge Yes vote would push things over the edge!).

So, on Monday (29th) the Spanish govt passed the affair into the hands of the State Council, a "superior body", to decide whether to refer the law and referendum to the Constitutional Court. This amazingly independent and neutral State Council is presided over by a guy who was General Secretary for Health under Franco, before Franco seated him on the Council. After Franco's death, he joined the PP (current governing party, founded by one of Franco's ministers) and was its treasurer around the time that the slush fund scandal was apparently in full flow. He is now a key player in the most important decisions taken in Spain. Try reading that again, swapping Franco's name for Hitler. Get where I'm going?

By Monday evening the 12 judges of the Constitutional Court had already issued a temporary suspension of the decree and the vote. 12 judges, nominated by the two main parties in Spanish politics (separation of executive and judicial powers is for wimps!), with a clear bias and many with murky backgrounds reaching back to Franco's regime too. The President of the Court apparently was a member of a right-wing party campaigning against the introduction of the Constitution itself during Spain's transition to this so-called democracy in the late 70s.

Catalans hit the streets in protest on Monday night.
Meanwhile Catalan town councils have been voting all week on whether to support the vote or not. Currently over 90% have voted to support it!

Spanish govt figures are saying that this suspension of the vote means that it's illegal to prepare it, promote it or even talk about it really! The Catalan govt made the tactical decision, on Tuesday, of deciding to take a pause in the actual physical preparations (TV ads, mailings, etc) so as not to allow possible legal actions against Catalan public workers, and they transfered the full weight of the legal responsibility to the Catalan Parliament as our elected representatives. A committee of MPs have been nominated to oversee the vote and take whatever steps need to be taken to keep this going. They have already been threatened with court cases.

And there you are for now. What's next? Personally, I believe that if the Spanish govt keep insisting its illegal (and the Catalans, that it is legal), holding the vote on 9 November could be confusing for international eyes - which are the important ones here, the ones who will have to recognize the eventual declaration of independence. So here's my proposal/prediction for the next step if it turns out the the vote can't go ahead, despite, of course, always working with this aim in mind:

If the referendum isn't going to happen, they need to call a snap election as soon as possible. Catalan politics works on a PR system, where every party publishes a list of 135 candidates to cover the 135 seats. Depending on how many votes each party gets, the first ten or 25 or 30 etc of its candidates get a seat. So it's a very plural situation with 4 or 5 parties currently forming the pro-vote majority. But holding a traditional election would just give us the same situation we're in now. Personally, I think Catalonia's secret weapon should be deployed now - that is, that this is not a political thing, it's a society-led campaign. I think the parties should take the back seat and draw up this list:

1. Famous Catalan author; 2. Famous Catalan football manager (Guardiola); 3. Internationally renowned Catalan scientist; 4. artist; 5. musician; 6. architect; 7. philosopher; 8. doctor; 9. you get the picture?? Admired non-political members of Catalan society ... up to number 20. Number 21-30, key members of the grassroots organizations behind the independence drive. etc. MP number 68 gives you the majority in Parliament. So, number 68; first politician, the current Catalan President Mr Mas, 69 to 135 other party members in a strict ABCDE ABCDE ABCDE order. 

Electoral programme: Point 1. Day one, immediate declaration of independence. 2 Day two, parliamentary commission travel to Brussels to negotiate. 3. Organize referendum a.s.a.p. to verify this and call normal elections with a view to constituting and governing the new free country of Catalonia. The end.

UPDATE: Friday 3rd October; six different Catalan parties (representing about 70% of MPs) held a 7-hour meeting yesterday. They agreed to do everything in their power to push on and ensure the Catalan people WILL vote. Intelligently, they refused to give more details. Game on!