Gasset
Sergeant at Arms
Sure, you can tell yourself that Catalans are Spaniards, not distinct in any way whatsoever, if it makes you sleep better. Go ahead and deny that we are a community which shares a common culture that has been going on for centuries (despite the many several attempts to wipe it out), attached to a clearly demarcated land, with our unique values, a common past and a project for the future. Please, tell yourself that we are a romantic movement made up of 4 peasants brainwashed by an elite group of politicians who control our every thought and action. Deny what we are -a nation- and object our right of self determination since, after all, we are as Spanish as someone from Toledo, identically so. That type of behaviour is precisely what made millions of Catalans feel disconnected from Spain over the last years. There is no lack of regard to our "fellow countrymen" since we stopped thinking of them like that a LONG time ago.
Are some of you blind?
Can't you see that our demands are not based off egocentrism and selfishness? We are solidary, and we have been for years, with Europe, and with the rest of the regions of Spain. But for fraternity to be really possible, you need respect. And respect must go both ways, when there isn't any respect it ceases to be solidarity to become unjustifiable economic spoliation.
Can't you see further than the economic aspects of independance? We are not solely concerned about the economic aspects of our lives, the Catalan independence movement started before the crisis, before Franco, before Primo de Rivera, before Cánovas and Sagasta...it's an identity and cultural issue, not only an economic one. Some posters here are obsessed with us being filthy rich bankers that refuse to share anything with anyone. And that's NOTHING of the sort. If our region managed to rise above the country's backwardness it was due to our industrious nature, creativity, heart, will to achieve our goals and pure hard work.
Can't you see that a movement of millions that have been continuously protesting peacefully is not guided by the hand of the politicians? It is us who elected them in the first place. We elected the government to fulfill our electoral mandate, and that is what they are doing. Some of these MP's and gov officials in Parliament weren't even separatists to begin with. It's a movement that starts and moves from the bottom, not the top. Directed and guided by grassroots organizations and the people. It is the ordinary people who, right now, organize groups in every city and village to defend the electoral colleges from police and unionist hooligans, sleeping overnight and safeguarding our sovereignty.
Can't you see that we aren't a bunch of nationalist-tribalist narrow minded dorks? There is a Catalan ethnicity, nevertheless where you are from is not what we care the most. Heck, we are a crossroads territory for the cultures and nations of the Mediterranean sea, we have been for centuries and we will be for years to come. All of them left their mark, including Spain. And we do not shy away from it, we aknowledge it as part of our identity. We have people from all over the world, from different backrounds throughout the political spectrum. What ties us is the common values, language, culture and fierce love of freedom and motherland.
What makes us different, in your eyes, than Tibetans, Québécois, Walloons, Flemish, Scots, Basques, Faroese and so on?
If the methods of the Spanish state, such as the deployment of 10.000 military police on the streets of Barcelona, arrests of government officials and ordinary citizens on the charges of sedition, the shutting down of webpages, the seizing of ballot boxes and papers, the summoning of 712 of the region's 948 mayors to court for collaborating with the voting, the gradual erosion of individual rights, etcetera don't convince you that, if the law is unjust, one must disobey it, I honestly don't know what can I say to convince you otherwise. Democracy, popular mandate, human rights and self determination are above a Constitution and Rule of Law that does not guarantee those.
Tomorrow is the day. I won't post anymore for some time after things calm down. I hope no one gets injured tomorrow, and we are allowed to peacefully vote and ask the millions of eligible voters if they want their country to remain a part or Spain or to become a free, independent Republic. Threats do no longer affect us at this stage, they pledged to stop the vote, so be it, they will find the people defending the ballot boxes and the electoral colleges.
Last but not least, one video about the student demonstration two days ago in Barcelona (there's a student strike across Catalan universities as we speak) and a very insightful article.
Are some of you blind?
Can't you see that our demands are not based off egocentrism and selfishness? We are solidary, and we have been for years, with Europe, and with the rest of the regions of Spain. But for fraternity to be really possible, you need respect. And respect must go both ways, when there isn't any respect it ceases to be solidarity to become unjustifiable economic spoliation.
Can't you see further than the economic aspects of independance? We are not solely concerned about the economic aspects of our lives, the Catalan independence movement started before the crisis, before Franco, before Primo de Rivera, before Cánovas and Sagasta...it's an identity and cultural issue, not only an economic one. Some posters here are obsessed with us being filthy rich bankers that refuse to share anything with anyone. And that's NOTHING of the sort. If our region managed to rise above the country's backwardness it was due to our industrious nature, creativity, heart, will to achieve our goals and pure hard work.
Can't you see that a movement of millions that have been continuously protesting peacefully is not guided by the hand of the politicians? It is us who elected them in the first place. We elected the government to fulfill our electoral mandate, and that is what they are doing. Some of these MP's and gov officials in Parliament weren't even separatists to begin with. It's a movement that starts and moves from the bottom, not the top. Directed and guided by grassroots organizations and the people. It is the ordinary people who, right now, organize groups in every city and village to defend the electoral colleges from police and unionist hooligans, sleeping overnight and safeguarding our sovereignty.
Can't you see that we aren't a bunch of nationalist-tribalist narrow minded dorks? There is a Catalan ethnicity, nevertheless where you are from is not what we care the most. Heck, we are a crossroads territory for the cultures and nations of the Mediterranean sea, we have been for centuries and we will be for years to come. All of them left their mark, including Spain. And we do not shy away from it, we aknowledge it as part of our identity. We have people from all over the world, from different backrounds throughout the political spectrum. What ties us is the common values, language, culture and fierce love of freedom and motherland.
What makes us different, in your eyes, than Tibetans, Québécois, Walloons, Flemish, Scots, Basques, Faroese and so on?
If the methods of the Spanish state, such as the deployment of 10.000 military police on the streets of Barcelona, arrests of government officials and ordinary citizens on the charges of sedition, the shutting down of webpages, the seizing of ballot boxes and papers, the summoning of 712 of the region's 948 mayors to court for collaborating with the voting, the gradual erosion of individual rights, etcetera don't convince you that, if the law is unjust, one must disobey it, I honestly don't know what can I say to convince you otherwise. Democracy, popular mandate, human rights and self determination are above a Constitution and Rule of Law that does not guarantee those.
Tomorrow is the day. I won't post anymore for some time after things calm down. I hope no one gets injured tomorrow, and we are allowed to peacefully vote and ask the millions of eligible voters if they want their country to remain a part or Spain or to become a free, independent Republic. Threats do no longer affect us at this stage, they pledged to stop the vote, so be it, they will find the people defending the ballot boxes and the electoral colleges.
Last but not least, one video about the student demonstration two days ago in Barcelona (there's a student strike across Catalan universities as we speak) and a very insightful article.