Vi siger ja til catalanernes ret til at stemme

I would like to explain what happens in Catalonia and why:

I am a Catalan, and I feel Catalan. I am also Spanish and I feel Spanish as well. I love both realities, but it does not make me ignore they are 2 different realities. Yes, theyhave many things in common, but they also have many different things. I am talking about culture, language, manner, commercial model, and many other aspects. Cataln history has not been always nice due to Spanish impositions since 1714, when all the rights and self institutions of Catalonia were suppressed by the force. This happened again during Franco's dictatorship. At that time, the democratically elected President of Catalonia was executed. Again, all rights and institutions were destroyed, and there was a prosecution on catalan Culture, language and political movements. With democracy things changed and all that was restablished once more, but the last Catalan Statute from 2006 was canceled in 2010 by a Constitutional Court whose president was member of the Popular Party, the party in the Spanish government. 2010 was the year of the first great demonstration of Cataln citizens in the streets. This new Statute gave Catalonia more power to imrove its justice, its economical situation, its education system, its possibilities to improve the commercial potential of airports and ports. After that, Catalan President Mas went to advanced elections to ask people if he could have a mandate to ask the Spanish Government to save the fiscal part of the Statute, which gave Catalonia more control on taxes and a better fiscal situation (since the difference between Catalonia gives to Spain and it recieves later from Spain is about the 8%, the highest fiscal deficit in Europe, butting Catalonia in a very weak position when this horrible crisis was already here, making the country poorer and poorer). Mas won that election, so he asked President Rajoy to improve the fiscal situation with an agreement. His answer was "NO, NOT NOW, NOT EVER". This created a climate of general indignation and more than 2 million people (7.5 million as a total) demonstrated that year 2012 in Barcelona and a civil platform raised up, the ANC. Catalan politicians were surprised and had to adapt to this new climate of national demands. Some of the Catalan parties reached an agreement becaused they understood 2 million people was an important aount of people enough to be asked about their colective political future. An that is what they did: They went again to election with the compromise of asking people in a consultation about the relationship Catalonia should have with Spain. This is according to the right of selfdetermination of pleoples. There were several legal ways to do it under the Spanish law. Everyone of them was tried acurately. First an agreement with the Spanish government, which was rejected. Second they asked the Spanish Parliament to make a change on the Spoanish Constitution to allow this consultation, agreed with Spain, and again, the answer was no. Third they tried to make the consultation approving a regional law about consultations to people, but this law was cancelled again at the Constitutional Court (with the same president). This consultation was won by the "independence" option by more than the 80% of the votes... but was not legally recognized. Noww we are facing the last legal option that will allow to ask Catalanas: using a regional election to ask. How? The parties that want independence will include on their programs the aim to make a new State. Those who vote these options will give their vote to a clar YES to independence. The rest will vote NO by voting the other parties. Then we will see how many Catalans want independence. This is democracy. But... there is still a risk. An election cannot be cancelled by law in Spain, but the Spanish government can still remove competences to the Catalan government enough to make the election process colapse. It can also illegalize those parties that want independence considering it attempts against the Spanish Constitution.

Now this is the deal... At this moment Catalans just want to be asked! It is just that. But we are not even allowed to be asked.

But if finally we are asked and the YES option wins, there will be a moment in which, obviously, the Sanish Constitution will be overpassed. This is logical, when you want to write a new Constitution, more adapted to your own reality, and always looking to the integration in Europe, where tehere are no boundries, as good neighbours of Spain and the rest of Member States, even special neighbours due to the deep links we have. It is just a matter of building up your own adminsitration and having full competences to do what you think it is the best for your country. At this time, the re-centralization policies that are being carried out by the Spanish Government are absolutely unacceptable. We need to govern ourselves in Europe, and look at Spain with respect and friendship, but as an equal.