A pre-Trial Diada?

BarcelonaThere was one element during this September 11th that united the early morning institutional events with the tribute to Rafael Casanova—with the PSC government leading the party—and the much less crowded ANC pro-independence demonstration in the afternoon. A common thread that hadn't operated so clearly between Catalan nationalism and the independence movement for some time: the defense of Catalan. The language was the main protagonist of the day—surely the Catalan High Court bears some responsibility—and the main meeting point for political actors. Reality has become like a sock in a decade, given that the health of Catalan was a neglected issue during the Process. Even within the independence movement, some began to use Spanish frequently to supposedly attract new voters. And among those opposed to independence, an electoral competition also erupted over who was more bilingual (something that still persists between the PP and the far-right Vox).

That's why it's normal to ask, after this Diada, if we're facing a return to the pre-Process and its September 11th celebrations. The answer could be affirmative if we look at the common demands currently on the table by the three central forces in Catalonia—PSC, Junts, and Esquerra—the demobilization of the independence movement, or the pact strategy in Madrid being pursued by the sovereignty movement, but the fact is that there are elements that make it impossible to answer with a yes.

To begin with, there are parties like the PP that have decided to remain outside the consensus in Catalonia, despite having once been part of it. Their non-participation in the offering to Rafael Casanova—something repeated since the beginning of the Process—is a case in point.

The emergence of the far right is a distorting element that could greatly complicate the formation of majorities in future electoral contests. Both the Spanish nationalist Vox – whose presence radicalizes the PP's discourse – and the far-right pro-independence Aliança Catalana – which yesterday attended the ANC demonstration for the first time as normal.

But there is another element that makes it impossible to equate the current political context with the pre-Process, despite the fact that Catalanism and the independence movement maintain the same demands. If the strategy of fish on the horn Jordi Pujol's government was exhausted during the years of José María Aznar's absolute majority, and the Statute of Autonomy ran into trouble with the Constitutional Court. This is because Madrid decided that the development of the autonomous state was over. And the Trial—which was an attempt to sidestep this—only further strengthened this conviction. That's why Pedro Sánchez, who goes against the grain with his plurinational Spain, has become the adversary to beat for the political and judicial right, which is why former president Carles Puigdemont is still not in Catalonia.