Amnestied, smiles and tears

Nine years later, Lluís Puig returned yesterday to his city, Terrassa, where he was received with tears of emotion by the people of Terrassa who every day, for more than 3,000 days, have met in the evening to sing for freedom. Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva were also honored in Sant Vicenç dels Horts. Puig will go to Parliament this afternoon and will sit in his seat, until now occupied by a yellow ribbon. The discourse of those amnestied oscillated between returning to where we were and the idea that they have won a battle against Spain. Is that so?

Look, the human dimension of the situation of the exiles and those repressed is quite understandable. They are people who have suffered and who have paid a personal, family, and professional price. And I believe we should not be stingy when it comes to admitting it or denying them personal recognition, regardless of how many holes the plan they concocted in 2017 had. The political interpretation they make of it is more debatable. Has Catalonia won over Spain? In terms of political power, no. Not only because Catalonia is not independent as the prisoners and exiles intended nine years ago, but because in these nine years the achievements have been first the pardons and then the amnesty, but Catalonia does not have more political power than it did years ago. It has indeed become clear that without the Catalan independentists a left-wing government is not possible in Spain.

But the deepest reflection on where we are and where we are going will come when Carles Puigdemont arrives. His speech will not admit any defeat. One cannot feel defeated if one has preserved the presidency of the Generalitat from sitting before a Spanish judge or stepping into a Spanish prison. His defense strategy in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, has proven victorious against the Spanish judicial hunt. And furthermore, Puigdemont will return and reclaim a word now so poorly viewed as is “Procés”. For the president still in exile, the journey towards independence is long and we have now lived through one stage of it. And Puigdemont does not want to flagellate himself anymore, nor does he want the country to. Anyone who is in a national liberation movement does not go around explaining the tactics, nor asking for forgiveness for their mistakes every day.

However, those amnestied, including Puigdemont, must understand that a good part of the disappointment, the desertion, and even the lack of recognition for their resistance during these years is attributable to the Cainism with which they have acted, to the scorched earth that has remained around Junts, Esquerra, the CUP, and the social organizations. The independence movement already takes for granted that the Spanish State will repress; what is more painful is that the independence movement has divided itself with such aggressiveness and with such bitterness. They have managed to embitter for many people the memory of a time of great illusion, of great drive, of much shared work. People continue to neither understand nor accept so much division when it turns out that there was such a difficult goal ahead.

Good morning.