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The political situation in Catalonia is such a cul-de-sac that can hardly be explained by the traditional two axis approach (with two independent political dimensions), where the different political parties are distributed as a function of their economical beliefs, in one hand, and their national attitude (Catalan VS Spanish) on the other. 
Today, the national dimension is not only modeling the distribution of the different parties, but opening a crack within the parties themselves. Let’s take for instance the case of ICV: while Raül Romeva made explicit that he sees no hope for a federal Spanish state and that Catalonia should find its direct link to Europe, Joan Herrera, the next ICV’s candidate for the upcoming Catalan elections said he would like to have a strong political reference in Spain in order to increase ICV’s electoral support in Catalonia.
But this is not only affecting ICV. One way or the other, the same phenomena can be found in the other parties. In ERC, there are those claiming it’s about time to take a short-cut to independence, while its secretary general, Joan Ridao, calls for a reform of the Spanish Constitutional Court. CiU will have to choose between Duran i Lleida’s goals or those of many CiU voters and leaders who would like to see a clearer bet for independence, while the PSC debates between having its own parliamentary group in Madrid or remaining melt in the magma of PSOE.
In the coming months, it is likely that this crack will widen, and that it will open greater gap between those who bid for the old balances and those who understand that times are changing and it is time to climb the wave for a better future.
(Post inspired by Salvador Cardús’ article in the Avui newspaper)
It started off in Arenys de Munt, then the first wave of refendums on the 13D came and now it was time for the second wave. At this stage, 80 municipalities spread all across the country celebrated a non-binding referendum on the independence of Catalonia following the same procedures established in the former referendums. The turn out -21,5%- was a little smaller than in the first wave but, again, the “yes” won by a landslide: 56128 people (92,3%) voted in favour of an independent Catalonia while only 2986 (4,9%) voted against (you can consult all the results by municipality here). All in all, I think it’s a good result when one takes into account the nature of these referendums: non-binding, no public funding, no state aid and major media silence. Thus, in towns where the turn out was above 30% or 35% (mainly in counties like La Garrotxa or Osona) the referendum can be considered a complete success. However, where the turn out was below 10% one is pushed to wonder whether the referendum was worth it and whether it would have been better to wait until the 25th April, when the third wave of referendums will take place.
 - A man votes in Molins de Rei, the biggest town that celebrated a referendum in the Baix Llobregat county
Therefore, the overall campaign of referendums is proving quite successful, and despite being despised by some parties (mainly PP and Ciutadans) it will continue its way up until the Catalan elections in autumn. In April, bigger cities such as Girona, Olot or la Seu d’Urgell will celebrate their referendum, and it will be just another good opportunity to get the pulse of the independentism movement in Catalonia. Meanwhile, the social platform Barcelonadecideix.cat has already announced its will to organize a referendum in Barcelona, but considering the huge amount of volunteers, funds and organization skills it would demand, many are still skeptical that such a challenge is at the reach of the civil society.
Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, this week the Independence Referendum Bill consultation document, a proposal which mirrors the approach of 1997 referendum on the Scottish Parliament.With this proposal, the Scottish Government is seeking views on the draft Referendum Bill which sets out proposals for an advisory referendum on extending the powers of the Scottish Parliament. It already includes the proposed ballot papers for a two question referendum, the first question asking whether the Scottish Parliament should have more devolved responsibility, and a second question asking whether the Scottish Parliament should also have its powers extended to enable independence to be achieved.
With this gesture, the Scottish National Party wants to prove its trust on the people of Scotland to decide their future, as opposed to the attitude of the other parties (mainly Tories and Liberals) which are backing referendum on more powers for the Welsh Assembly and on a change to the voting system but refuse the referendum in Scotland. But above all, the SNP wants to further open the debate on the referendum among the Scottish citizens, as another necessary step on the road towards the final celebration of the referendum.
A few weeks ago I wrote about Col·lectiu Emma, a group of Catalans living in different countries who try to set the record straight on news items published in the international press relating to different aspects of the Catalan economy and society. Today, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of their latest articles which I find very interesting:
- A letter by Tony Strubell to The Economist on the huge difficulties to recover historical memory in the Spanish state, as a follow-up of an article titled “The new civil War” published in the same magazine.
- A written declaration by Àngels Monera, who now finds herself the defendant in a case brought by Spanish agents for the sheer fact that she spoke Catalan in the airport of Girona, where she was subjected to an outrage by members of the Spanish Guardia Civil police.
- An article by Time Magazine correspondent in Catalonia Lisa Abend, on the different actions and strategies implemented in Catalonia to integrate the overwhelming number of immigrants who have arrived during the last ten years.
- An answer by Gustau Alegret to an article in the New York Times about the doubts of an American student who wants to study abroad and is considering Barcelona as her destination.
Euronews, the multilingual and pan-European television news channel, broad-casted last week a nine-minute video on Catalonia. It is always good news that European media care about what’s going on in Catalonia, as one of our major goals must be to attract international attention to the Catalan case. However, the video steps over the same understanding errors that many reporters and media commit when analyzing the situation of Catalonia (see Col·lectiu Emma’s website for a large collection of international press relating to different aspects of the Catalan economy and society).
 First, it portraits characters as Albert Boadella and Albert Riera as the balancing representants of those against Catalonia independence, when in Catalonia they are considered little more than political clowns which use the most demagogic arguments available. The real, serious opposition to the independence of Catalonia is embodied by PP and PSC parties.
Secondly, it repeates the same old wrong story that independentists are rural, traditional people which only care for money, as opposed to those in favour of remaining a part of Spain, which would appear to be open-minded, cosmopolitan and modern. It should take little effort of investigation to discover that nowadays independentism is a cross-party tendency, spreading both in rural and metropolitan environments, and that the arguments used by characters as Albert Boadella and Albert Riera of alleged “open-mind” and “no frontiers” have proved time and again to be deceptive and against their own daily practice.
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