25.06.2014 - 11:13
Since the date and question for the Catalan referendum on independence were set, various groups have come forward announcing their intention to work together to explain the right to decide, and to campaign for a Yes-Yes vote, or indeed, in some cases for a No vote. For example, several months ago, the Súmate group—an association of Spanish-speaking residents of Catalonia who are in favor of Catalan independence—emerged on the scene. Today, it is the turn of foreigners who live in Catalonia, but were born all over the world, who have come together in the group “Sí, amb nosaltres” [Yes, with us]. In their foundational manifesto, they declare: “Now is the time to organize ourselves in order to explain to our fellow citizens the need to become founders of a new Catalonia.”
“It’s absolutely necessary that the foreign citizens who live in Catalonia know how important their vote is,” they say. And they point out that “there are approximately 1.2 million foreigns who reside in Catalonia, 16 years or older, and who will be able to go vote”.
Today at 6:30pm, the group will introduce itself at the Casa del Mar in Barcelona. The speakers will be, in addition to the president of the association, Ana Surra (from Uruguay), Thomas Spieker, columnist from the Diari de Girona, and Martí Estruch, international press manager for DiploCAT.
“Sí, amb nosaltres” is defined as a “non-profit, non-partisan group, made up of members of the Catalan community from various parts of the world, who want to actively participate in the construction of a new Catalonia”.
In the manifesto (read the whole thing here), they say: “We have experienced with our families, just like other Catalan citizens, the progressive destruction of the state of well-being, in the form of reductions in reasonable levels of income, food, health and education, produced, among other things, by centralist Spanish State economic policies, that do not favor Catalonia”.
