Dear Compatriots, The Supreme Court’s ruling against members of the Government, the Parliament and the most important social institutions in Catalonia confirms the strategy of repression and revenge against all the citizens who sought to use democracy to make their will possible. By convicting them, they convict more than 2 million people who took part in the referendum on self-determination held on 1st October 2017. We said it in the Parliament of Catalonia, where we regularly appeared to give explanations of our political purpose, and we say it again here today even louder: it is no crime, no offence, to propose to citizens that they freely decide their own future. As far as we are all concerned, placing ballot boxes will never be a crime; posting voting slips in these boxes to express the will of every citizen is the solution, not the problem. Resolving great conflicts based on respecting the majority’s decision, whatever it may be, is the best way of uniting and bonding a society. Despite the unfair and inhumane sentences, nothing will sway us from this firm belief. In fact, just the opposite; today, our need to live in a truly free country is stronger than ever, where freedom is based on the will of the people, where there is a real separation of powers, where the head of state is elected between us all and we can demand explanations from them about their actions and opinions, where nobody has to fear when exercising their rights and freedoms. Where we have the opportunity granted to all the peoples of the world, the chance to survive, to have our language and culture respected, to be able to guarantee the conditions for a decent life for all our citizens, and to be defined the result of our own effort. Without fear, without being monitored or under surveillance, without being spied on or threatened. Our imprisoned compatriots are the victims of arbitrary detention and, as a consequence of this injustice that has been confirmed by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, some of them have had their political rights violated beyond repair. Oriol Junqueras should be spending these days in Brussels, taking part in the hearings of the European Commissioners, because that is what more than a million citizens voted for. Jordi Sánchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Raül Romeva should be participating as Members of the Parliament and a Senator in this transitory legislature. Quim Forn should be serving as a councillor in his beloved city of Barcelona. They have only been prevented from doing so by abuse and arbitrary mistreatment completely unfitting of a State with the Rule of Law. We have to record this properly and denounce it to the world as often as we need to. No propaganda strategy in the world could mask so much shameful injustice. The grave decision of the Spanish justice system marks the dawn of a new era in which exercising fundamental rights and freedoms will be restricted, and the legitimate option of pursuing independence through any democratic channels will be persecuted under suspicion of sedition or rebellion. From now onwards, civic action in defence of the right to self-determination, the right to protest and freedom of expression and assembly will be enclosed by the restrictive interpretation of precisely the people who should be protecting these rights. The serious error of the Spanish political system, to assign to judges what is the responsibility of the Parliament and the Government, will have consequences not only for people calling for the independence of Catalonia but for all citizens in general. In view of this, we have no choice but to react. We cannot resign ourselves to a regressive status quo that threatens our children’s future. We cannot accept such a fate as Catalans but neither as Europeans, because European democracy needs reinforcement in the face of the authoritarian voracity that is sweeping across the world. We have to mobilise ourselves and make our voices heard. There are many ways to do this, and all of them must be democratic and non-violent. As always. Our capacity to resist is measured and strengthened by our determination and unshakeable
commitment to non-violence. We have a great opportunity to demonstrate this again, and to transform the elections on 10th November into a massive and deafening response of refusal, dignity and resoluteness. Nothing scares them more than the will of the people and so they will never be open to discussing any route that leads towards a referendum to ascertain what we want and how we want it. They fear our response at the ballot box, so we have to use this opportunity to respond more resoundingly than ever before. Let them know that we do not accept their formula based on repression, imprisonment and convictions. Let them know that we will be there until the very end, to redress the effects of repression and breathe freedom. They have grown accustomed to threatening the people of Catalonia with impunity. By threatening to apply Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution and other channels of intervention in our autonomous government, they punish the entire population, without exception. This deprives all the citizens of Catalonia of a set of rights and resources intended to improve their lives, basic services and the competitiveness of our economy. Therefore, the response must also come from all Catalans who legitimately oppose the independence of Catalonia. The regression of rights and freedoms, the threat to our self-government, harms us all in the same way. On this day, when the Spanish State confirms its refusal to respond to any calls for dialogue and respect, when judicial brutality once again destroys the hopes of anybody who believed that the State would rectify its insane flight from reality, it is time to mobilise ourselves, without faltering and without fear. Today, as our hearts stand strong alongside our compatriots who have been unjustly punished for wanting to make a referendum possible, more than ever, we have to keep a clear head and our firm conviction that the only possible route out of this situation is democracy. In a state that persecutes peaceful dissenters, democracy is imprisoned. I appeal to all Catalans, whether they support or oppose independence, that, above all, they value freedom and democracy, and unite under a single banner and say “Enough!”. I call on them to turn their indignation in the face of injustice into the positive energy that breaks down walls, that stops authoritarian regimes in their tracks, that lights the dark and gloomy roads ahead imposed by the King of Spain in his outrageous speech on 3rd October 2017, attempting to justify the abuses and arbitrary injustices committed since then. It is up to us to do it, without waiting for anybody else. Meanwhile, those who once encouraged us to talk have remained silent for too long. Their silence contributes towards the irreversible erosion of Spanish democracy. The Europe that says nothing in the face of the Turkish atrocities against the Kurds is the same Europe that cowardly kept quiet when the police in a Member State used terrifying violence as they attacked people going to vote; the same Europe that dances to the tune chosen by the Spanish State and prevents the representatives voted for by more than 2 million European citizens from taking up our seats at the European Parliament to make our voices heard and denounce injustices, such as those we have seen today in the sentence. It is up to us to do it, and there are many ways to do so within the framework of non-violent struggle and the defence of civil rights. Let’s empower ourselves, join together, take the initiative and stand firm. Now that we know that the State does not want dialogue or justice, let’s show the world once more that there is a way forward for Catalonia that strengthens everything that is under threat from authoritarianism. Today, more than ever before, and forever more, long live the Catalan Republic.