Civic List supporters push for a new party outside the ANC

BarcelonaThe critical sector of the ANC is making its move. Following the members' refusal to support an electoral candidacy in the last elections and the new leadership led by Lluís Llach wanting to definitively close the door, a reform of the statutes, faced with the possibility of launching a battle in Parliament, the dissident movement is already preparing to create a new party outside the entity. The presentation of this platform, Dempeus per la Independència (Demand for Independence), will take place on June 5 in Barcelona, ​​​​with the intention of starting work now to create a list for 2028.

Up to sixteen secretaries from the critical sector of the ANC are behind this new project, but also former president Nalia Vilias Feliu, a staunch defender of the civic list in her day. Also present is Josep Punga, who contested the entity's presidency in Llach, who left the secretariat on Saturday in disagreement with the latest decisions of the leadership, which seek to "maintain factional control of the entity and silence dissent."

Among the 300 supporters of the manifesto are also people from outside the organization, such as activist Roger Español, who lost an eye on October 1st after being shot with a foam bullet by a national police officer; businessman Jordi Roset, owner of Petrolis Independents; Natalia Cuguero,member of the board of directors of Pimec; the former mayor of Arenys de Munt, Josep Manel Ximenis, who promoted the first independence referendum; the lawyer Judit Rossell; and the actors Sergi Mateu, Carme Sansa, and Pepa Arenós.

The promoters' objective is to put independence back at the center of the debate and offer a clearly unilateralist candidacy. "The hegemonic parties that were supposed to lead us to independence now talk about commuter rail or singular financing, but not about independence," denounces Manel Manzanas, former secretary of the Assembly, in conversation with ARA. The manifesto does not spare criticism for the lack of successors in the major pro-independence parties in reference to Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras: "It is unheard of that after the resounding failure and the demonstrated incapacity of those managing the Process, the same people continue to lead the parties."

The text also attacks the commitment to dialogue by ERC and Junts amb el Estat: "The negotiation of crumbs by the Catalan parties makes us increasingly similar to Spain." The leadership of the ANC has already discredited the will of this sector of the entity to promote a candidacy. Llach himself did so on Saturday after the plenary session: "At the same time, the Catalan Alliance has only obtained meager parliamentary results so far, insufficient to achieve a solid pro-independence majority in the Parliament," said the president, who once again defended mobilization and grassroots organization.

Red line in the Catalan Alliance

Standing for Independence is neck-deep, however, in the belief that a response must be provided to the independence movement disenchanted with the paralysis of the process and that an alternative must be offered. With independence as the sole priority and ignoring the social debate, it advocates uniting other parties under its umbrella that support a unilateral approach to turning the upcoming elections into plebiscites. However, it closes the door to holding talks with the far-right Catalan Alliance. "Respect for human rights is a red line for us, and there are many things that distance us from them, especially their ethnic identity of Catalonia, because for us, one person is not more Catalan than another because of their skin color or whether or not they wear a veil," Manzanas makes clear.