The Assembly denounces that the pretended dialogue that the Catalan government exhibits is only a pantomime to get the home rule crumbs that the Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is willing to “grant”, in order to whitewash the repression against Catalonia and the pro-independence supporters, nationally and internationally. The acceptance of this framework is a surrender on the part of the current Catalan government.
The so-called dialogue table has been downgrading its proposals even before the latest meeting. From the outset, the Spanish government has not even wanted to hear talk about self-determination, referendum, amnesty, and much less about Catalonia’s independence. They only agreed to take a photo together when it became clear that the Catalan government agreed not to talk about anything relevant and, instead, sold the “pacification” of Catalonia as a success with photos showing the world that, with a pat on the back and four unclear promises, everything had been settled and the independence movement no longer existed or was a very small minority. That is the discourse they want to sell.
It is said that there is talk of disjudicialisation, but there is no mention of the massive spying on independentists with Pegasus in the Catalangate affair, even though it has been admitted by the Minister of Defence. There is no mention of the new persecution of the members of the electoral commission for the 1st October independence referendum or the destabilisation of the Catalan Parliament. Nor is there any mention of the insistence on executing the European arrest warrants on the exiles, or of the more than 4,200 people who have been repressed, or of the reform of the crime of sedition. The same empty promises that another Socialist Prime Minister, J.L. Rodríguez Zapatero, had already made to promote the Catalan language in the European Parliament or the Senate. And the applause for the last shameful reform about the use of Catalan in schools, in the Catalan Parliament. As if that would solve anything.
This false dialogue not only does nothing to move us forward, but it takes us backwards. It responds to the Spanish strategy of sending us on a wild goose chase, and showing the world that there no longer is a problem in Catalonia. It’s a painful image that shows that the legitimate representatives of Catalonia are already happy with these few pitiful promises that they do not intend to keep. A Spanish government that is looking for a way to pass the budget in the autumn without it costing too much. A government that makes it clear to the rest of the Spanish forces that it is not abandoning the repression against the independence movement with tough actions by the public prosecutor’s office, and that they have us “under control” and “calm and quiet”, as Pedro Sánchez has already proudly declared on several occasions in Congress. And the worst is to see how the Catalan government plays this game of treachery year after year.
If we want independence, and we want the world to know, we must take to the streets. We must be so many people that they cannot hide us, that they can’t prevent us from making headlines in the free press everywhere. Let us do it on the 11th September, the National Day of Catalonia, and let the cry of our demonstration unmask and bury this deceitful and false dialogue. We have done it before, and we will do it again this year. Not in our name. Let’s make what we want clear: “We’re back to win! Independence!”