Five years of negotiation: path made and path yet to be made
This Wednesday marks five years since the first meeting of the negotiating table between the Catalan and Spanish governments. After years of repression and escalation of the conflict by the Spanish state (with the sentence against political prisoners, forced exiles due to persecution and the opening of hundreds of legal cases), a turning point occurred and we sat face to face. It was the recognition, as was later put in writing in the joint statement of both governments, of "the political nature of the conflict and that it requires a political solution." We were beginning a stage that would lead to the release of political prisoners, the elimination of the crime of sedition and, finally, the approval of the amnesty law.
Taking the first steps was not easy. Sitting down a Spanish government that a few months earlier defended the full compliance with the sentence of the Trial and solemnly stating that our objective was the exercise and recognition of the right to self-determination was not a coincidence. It was the citizen mobilization and the votes of Esquerra Republicana that were decisive for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez that created the conditions for the turning point. A path with concrete results was initiated, although they are not sufficient until a democratic solution is found to the sovereignty conflict between Catalonia and the State.
Today, even those who disdained the path of negotiation have begun to assume it and practice it, which shows that it was a possible and passable path, not without setbacks or contradictions. It remains for each one of us to reflect on whether we could have advanced faster and gone further without the partisan calculation against which we had to fight permanently, also within Catalonia.
The achievements reached through negotiation with the State are not the end of anything, but they are goals. And it must be said. It is essential that we recognize the victories, the path traveled and the work done if we want to keep our heads high and continue working towards our objectives. We have sat down with the State to negotiate, which is no small thing. I want to think that even those who despise the steps taken would not prefer that there were still political prisoners, or that the exiles did not have the tangible horizon of amnesty, despite the attempts to dynamite it. I want to think that they would not prefer that the crime of sedition or the cases against so many citizens simply for defending the referendum were maintained.
The path taken to direct the political conflict between Catalonia and Spain through negotiation has been worth it, yes. Despite the partisan offensives to pervert everything and the attacks from the basements of the State. Negotiating was –and still is– an obligation and the best of the possible options to break a perverse and very harsh dynamic against Catalonia. It is the most powerful tool to advance towards full political recognition and the resolution of the conflict.
The 'They are afraid, the speech of October 3, the 155 and the police and judicial repression showed a skin-deep animosity against any desire of the Catalan citizenship and an apocalyptic fear of bankruptcy of the unity of Spain. They are the ones who told us that the prisoners would not be released, that amnesty was impossible and that the Penal Code would not be touched. And here we are. They are also the same ones who say that independence will never be possible.
The independence movement must not give up on anything, but it must know how to read each moment well. Not looking inwards but at what is best for the country and to improve the lives of citizens. Thinking about all of Catalonia, including those who do not believe in independence, and convincing them. We have a lot of strength and we have shown it many times, which is why we cannot continue to fall into self-destructive spirals, small battles and small miseries. We should flee once and for all from digital resentments and empty criticism, as some of us have always tried. It is time to build. To rebuild. To learn from mistakes, to add complicity and to propose more solid paths.
We have had five years of irregular negotiations and various ups and downs, but we have achieved and learned a lot, and without giving up our principles. We have also generated a space for negotiating trust, essential in processes like this. In fact, it is fair to say that without the commitment of the other side of the table, with its assumed wear and tear, we would not be where we are either. Now, no one can understand the path taken so far as a completed task. There is still much to negotiate and the demands must be maximum. Neither exhaustion nor a biased reading of the election results can be an excuse to consider it closed.
I appeal to those who really want to resolve the core of the issue. To those who think that we have been too slow for five years and to those who believe that everything is going too fast. We will not let this situation – surely exceptional – pass by and we are committed to greater joint and tangible negotiation. The current arithmetic, despite election results that we do not like, paradoxically gives us an opportunity that cannot be wasted, because we already know what the alternative is. Let all the actors say theirs and we will dialogue. I will always defend my position: referendum and independence. Here and everywhere, and as long as it is necessary.
