A problem for the country and for the independence movement

A fragmented mosaic of parties, organizations, groups, and websites makes up the far-right pro-independence movement. The names that are most frequently mentioned right now are two: Aliança Catalana and Sílvia Orriols, but they didn't emerge from nowhere, nor are they alone, although the sector they represent is still fraught with divisions. Driven by the frustration generated after October 1st and the rise of xenophobia affecting almost all of the West, they have found a space to grow. Frustration is the best breeding ground for the far right, and politicians who claim to combat it would do well to remember this. But many of the key elements of the far-right pro-independence movement were already defending these ideas before October 1st. Some came from neo-Nazi circles, even from clearly pro-Spanish organizations like Cedade. We offer you a complete overview of this sector. to help you better understand this network of organizations competing with each other to defend ideas that are still marginal in Catalan politics.

The pro-independence far-right is a minority political option, but it's also a problem for the independence movement and for the country. On the one hand, it divides the pro-independence movement even more than it already was. But it's also an option that voluntarily renounces a good portion of Catalans and turns them against each other. It turns Catalan identity into a purely indigenous reserve with little capacity for growth. This way of understanding Catalan identity is doomed to failure for the simple reason that, like it or not, a good portion of Catalonia's population hasn't been born, and new people continue to arrive. Catalan identity, if it intends to grow, can only do so by convincing, by contagion. By renouncing them, they renounce the possibility of the independence they claim to demand.

The far right, whether pro-independence or pro-Spanish, is a problem for the country because it uses citizens' frustration to fuel hatred. Instead of providing solutions to problems, it brings division, confrontation, and the same counterproductive measures. Expelling those born abroad will not fix the economy; on the contrary, it will not create more jobs for those who remain. Forcibly imposing a traditional and retrograde morality has been done before and will not improve anyone's life, as Franco's regime demonstrated. Donald Trump, amid scandals, controversies, and sudden changes of direction, demonstrates every day how flawed some of the ideas defended by these types of organizations are.

But the growth of the far right is also a symptom. It's the Spanish far right, currently led by Vox, and the so-called pro-independence movement, led by the Catalan Alliance, two organizations that share many of their proposals. Their growth is a symptom of a frustration that other parties see themselves unable to address, of an economic model that fuels inequality, and of a social cohesion that is increasingly threatened.