Opinió

 

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Vicent Partal

11.09.2012

For the Catalan Republic

It will take a few days for us to digest what we lived through on this September 11th in the city of Barcelona. But there are some things that don't require discussion. Like the fact that this was the biggest demonstration ever in Catalonia. Or that it was definitively independentist. Or that the demands of the people have progressed a lot farther than that which the politicians, in general, were ready to accept.



Those who would say this is just another demonstration and that it could be manipulated for partisan gain are wrong. This demonstration did not ask for a policy change, but rather for a regime change. In capital letters. A change, therefore, of the rules of the game, of the institutional architecture, of the way of playing politics, and of course, of our relationship with Europe.



We are not talking about whether the next government will be this one or that one, or if the next elections will put us a bit farther to the right or to the left. It's not that which people were talking about or wanting. What we are talking about is the proclamation, in the short term, of the Catalan Republic, a program that President Mas can no longer hope to avoid without being washed away by the tsunami. 



And let no one imagine that this will just peter out in a few weeks or months. Yesterday, the people understood that the power comes from them. It's an elemental concept, but in a country like ours, it's simply revolutionary.




P.S. Thank you. It was an honor to walk by your side.

Mail Obert