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

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













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.

July highlights: Catalan Government walking decidedly towards referendum

Things are going so fast that it’s hard to keep track but below you can find a timeline of what’s happened in the last month. The most important bit is the absolute determination of the Catalan Government to carry on with the referendum in spite of the threats coming from Spain.

If you want to be updated on the progress of what is going on regarding Catalonia’s independence process in english I recommend following my twitter account

July 1st: 500 Mayors from all over Catalonia gathered in Barcelona and showed their committment to support the referendum and its logistics

July 3rd: The President of the Catalan Parliament, Carme Forcadell, attended the meeting of the APPG on Catalonia at the Westminster Parliament. This shows that the interest in the Catalan independence movement is gaining momentum internationally.

July 4th: The referendum law is unveiled. It hasn’t been passed yet in order to avoid activatin the repressive mechanisms of Spain but merely presenting it to the media was enough to create the expected results. The international media covered the event extensively. As a retaliation the Spanish Constitutional Court nullified Catalan laws that regulate the use of Catalan in media and consumer goods, amongst others.

July 6th: Catalan Home Office goes ahead and announced 500 new Catalan Police Officer vacancies even though Spain only authorised 50.

July 7th: President Puigdemont announced tax collection system update so the Catalan Tax Agency is ready to collect all taxes paid in Catalonia (currently it only collects about 10%, the rest are collected directly by Madrid)

July 9th: Unionist newspaper El Periódico contributing to the broad strategy of fear published an article detailing how Spain could seize Catalan Ministers assets as punishment for organising the referendum.

July 13th: Spanish police officers from militarised Guardia Civil showed up at the National Theatre of Catalonia looking for documentation from the presentation of the Referendum Law which had taken place a few days earlier to use it as evidence in future charges against the Catalan Government.

July 14th: President Puigdemont rearranged the Government by appointing 3 new Ministers (the previous Ministers had been appointed by President Mas before Puigdemont arrived) and reshuffling the referendum organisation responsibilities to the vicepresident Junqueras. It seemed that some of the Ministers were not entirely comfortable with the possible repressive actions that could be taken by Spain and this action dissipated any doubts over Puigdemont’s determination to go ahead with the referendum in spite of Spain’s repression.

July 16th: Catalonia’s prospects of independence seems to be having a positive impact in its economy with the latest data showing it is breaking previous foreign investment records and leading unemployment reduction and economic growth.

July 17th: Director of Catalan Police resigns following last weeks Government rearrangement. The previous director, Albert Batlle, was against independence and one concern was that Spain could try to use the Catalan Police to hinder the referendum organisation. With this change those doubts were dissipated.

July 19th: The video “The State’s secret Cesspit” is available with english subtitles here. This video denounces how the Spanish Minister of Home Office Fernández Díaz was part of a network to fabricate incriminating evidence about political enemies with the collaboration of the Spanish police and media. Amongst the targets of this network were several pro independence political leaders like former Barcelona Mayor Xavier Trias, who was falsely accused of having undeclared accounts in Switzerland. Even though this shows the degree of corruption within the Spanish State and Government, no charges have been pressed by the public prosecutors or further resignations have taken place.

July 20th: Spanish Police Guardia Civil show up without a court order at the Catalan Parliament and Government building requesting access to the building to look for information about a corruption case. Access was not allowed and instead they had to give up their weapons and showed to a waiting room and wait for the relevant information for several hours. The Guardia Civil was looking to humiliate the Catalan institutions by showing up as if they owned the place as part of their intimidation strategy  but instead they met with the new ways of the Catalan Government of not allowing further abuse.

July 21st: The periodical public poll published by the Catalan statistics department, the CEO, showed that the Selfdetermination Referendum of October the 1st would have a 67.5% turnout. The Yes would win with 62.4% of the vote and the No would get 37.6%. These results are in line with other recent polls published by different entities. One interesting fact is that most of the unionist voters have the intention of voting against the advice of their political leaders.

The Spanish Government announced later that day that from then onwards the Catalan Government will have to send a weekly report of all the expenses (it was ) to make sure no funds were spent on the referendum or else it would stop the transfers to some of the Catalan Government providers. I’m surprised the Spanish Government didn’t realise that this decision makes absolutely no sense since Spain stopping payments to providers could be interpreted as a default by the markets but we will let them figure it out. In the meantime the New York Times explained to them that those threats may not be the best idea.

July 24th: Yoko Ono amongst others supports the referendum. A Spanish Newspaper publishes the news with the following headline: “Yoko Ono split The Beatles, now is trying to split Spain” sounds like something a satirical newspaper would publish  but they were absolutely serious about it.

July 26th: Spanish Government President Mariano Rajoy declares as a witness in a corruption related case. Simultaneously, two high ranking Catalan Government officers were questioned at the Guardia Civil barracks regarding the referendum preparations.

July 27th: Guardia Civil continues with the questioning, now for expanding the targets to a non independentist, Joan Ignasi Elena, the director of the Pacte Nacional pel Referendum who gathered 400k signatures for the referendum but without positioning for either side. Later that day it would be known that the police were acting without a court order even though they claimed they did.

The Parliament approves the new regulations (which already exist in other Spanish Parliaments) to “fast-track” laws with the aim of using it to fast-track the Referendum Law in the second half of August. The Spanish Constitutional Court will likely suspend it but the Government has already said this will not interfere with the referendum organisation.

July 28th: Parliament passes the new Tax Code which sets the framework for the Catalan Tax Agency. This is one of the key laws that had to be passed before the independence.

Also last friday the Referendum Law was signed by all pro independence MPs, that includes all MPs from Junts pel Sí and CUP. The law has been registered at the Parliament today and will be passed during the second half of the month. (update: the english translation of the law is avaiable here)

International opinion urges Spain to negotiate with Catalonia

During the last few days a several international newspapers, like the New York Times and the Irish Times have published editorials and articles urging the Spanish Government to allow the referendum and to negotiate with Catalonia to find a solution. Both blame the Spanish Government for the current situation and warn that this course of action could bring unstability down the road. This has dealt a massive blow to the Spanish Government position and their assumption that nobody cared about Catalonia and that even if they did they’d always side with the Spanish Government no matter what.

It was not long ago that the internatinal opinion routinely portrayed Catalonia as an unreasonable and selfish region, etc. But years of peaceful protests, political momentum and an intense work of internationalisation have slowly changed that. This will be very positive when the inevitable Declaration of Independence takes place after the referendum.

But nothing has changed on the surface. The day before yesterday in Catalonia the Guardia Civil police brought in for questioning several civil servants who are working on the catalan expats census without even a court order, only to release them immediately. This is part of the fear and repression strategy that Spain has embarked upon. They believe the referendum can be stopped by coercing anyone involved in its organisation.

Later that day in Madrid the Spanish King gave an award to Rodolfo Martín Villa, a former Minister during Franco’s dictatorship who has an international warrant for arrest for crimes against humanity by the Argentinian justice, who are investigating some of Franco’s dictatorships crimes.

On the other hand, yesterday, the polar oposite image came from the Catalan Parliament. 63961 political court sentences from Franco’s dictatorship between 1938 and 1978 were nullified. Effectively abolishing any trace of legitimacy of Franco’s regime in Catalonia.

The final stretch


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