Xavier Antich: "Aliança Catalana does not form part of the democratic Catalanism that Òmnium represents"

Xavier Antich (la Seu d'Urgell, 1962) arrives at the newsroom of ARA just as the vote of the members to elect the new board of Òmnium Cultural begins, in which he is running for re-election with a transversal candidacy of Catalanism and without rivals.What has led you to run for re-election at a time when there is debate about whether leadership needs to be renewed?

— The trust and also the conviction that we need four more years to develop what we started in 2022. Therefore, faced with the general temptation of discouragement, against which we at Òmnium are absolutely vaccinated, we believe that we are in a good moment; that the phase of grief, of crying, of licking our wounds, has even passed as a country.

You are perhaps the only ecumenical leader of sovereigntism, especially if we see the list that accompanies you.

— I don't know if I'm the only one, but in any case it's part of Òmnium's DNA, which forces us to be as close as possible to the country and society we want to represent. For Òmnium, the imperative of transversality is an inalienable principle.

Why does he say that, with the current sovereignty crisis, it is a good time?

— We like to remember that Òmnium has tripled its social base since 2017, when the decline began. In 2017 we had nearly 50,000 members and today we are over 150,000. Òmnium is the only agent in the pro-independence movement that has tripled its social base from 2017 to the present.

And what is the recipe? Haven't they suffered internal tensions?

— We have suffered more external pressures than internal tensions to force Òmnium to renounce its transversality and to enter the fratricidal struggle that has characterized the parties and social organizations of the movement from 2017 until now. But Òmnium will not dedicate a single neuron, nor a minute, to confronting traveling companions. We said it in 2022, we will not dedicate ourselves to entering a civil war which for us is one of the reasons why independence has lost the majority in Parliament. It is up to us to work on the great country consensuses, bringing together the maximum number of sensitivities from what we call the three circles: independence, sovereignty and democratic Catalanism.

Here is a key episode which is that hug between Jordi Cuixart and Miquel Iceta.

— True, true. It is an iconic image of the post-Process that embodied the reunion between two sensitivities that had been fractured in 2017. We cannot mistake our enemy. And if we talk about the PSC, it is an evidence that the strength of the Catalan school model responds to the broad consensus behind it, and within which, until it is denied, the PSC is there. I believe we must work with these variable geometries, in a country that is complex. A complexity that in recent years has multiplied.

It has multiplied because we are experiencing a migratory boom, which is causing a certain existential anguish in many Catalan speakers. What is Òmnium's position regarding migration?

— Unambiguously, Òmnium aligns itself with what has been the backbone of democratic Catalanism for 150 years, which is to consider that the migratory phenomenon is a structural element of the country. That is to say, it is not a new development, as some might think. Catalonia has experienced at least three major migratory waves and has been strengthened as a country by its capacity to incorporate people from all over into Catalan identity. That today we see Lamine Yamal as a bearer not only of the Catalan language but also of the values of Catalan identity is a success for the country.

But it is a fact that in the street the language is receding...

— Here I would say that the self-government institutions of Catalonia have abandoned the priority of working for the language in recent years. The data shows us that there are more than two million people, Catalans, who want to learn the language while the training offer is around one hundred thousand. The math is done quickly.

There are people within Catalanism who are defending a two-tier system in schools. What is your opinion?

— For Òmnium, the model of Catalan school that does not segregate based on the language of origin is strategic and a national priority. In fact, it connects with the vocation of democratic Catalanism to convert the language into the form of incorporation into Catalan identity, and therefore from Òmnium we radically oppose a possible double track that we know does not work internationally. They tell us this, for example, in the Basque Country. From Òmnium's perspective, it would be a genuine defeat for the country.

You state in your electoral program: "The judicial and political attacks from the Spanish state, as well as the discourse of the far-right, aim to divide Catalan society." When you say far-right, who are you referring to?

— We have been warning about the growth of the far-right since 2022, when it was not so obvious. The latest poll from the newspaper ARA shows that formations that are far-right, populism, anti-parties, and anti-politics are growing. And when we talk about the far-right, we are referring to Vox, some positions of the Popular Party, and also Aliança Catalana. For Òmnium Cultural, Aliança Catalana is a party comparable to the international far-right.

But what will happen if this survey becomes a reality and from Aliança Catalana they knock on Òmnium's door and say: "Listen, we also want to be part of the pro-independence transversality".

— Not while I represent this entity as president. Aliança Catalana is not part of the democratic Catalanism that Òmnium represents for these three elements: the xenophobic component, because it erodes the principles of the democratic system and because it attacks the rights that we want to be extendable to all Catalans.

Is it an inalienable principle no matter how much they rise?

— Aliança Catalana does not hide its international alliances and has taken photographs with Alternative for Germany, with Le Pen's National Front, and has stood alongside Salvini or Milei. Òmnium is born from the strength of the history of democratic Catalanism, outside of which identity elements have always historically coexisted, either against diversity or in defense of a mythical past that never existed.

For you, then, Aliança is not part of Catalanism and, therefore, has no place in an entity like Òmnium?

— For Òmnium it is a party with which until now we have had no relationship, and as long as its ideological ideals continue to be formulated in the current terms, we will not be able to have one.