The process that ended at the starting point

BarcelonaOn the day ARA was founded, November 28, 2010, José Montilla was president and Catalonia was reeling from the Constitutional Court's ruling that had curtailed the Statute of Autonomy. But by the end of the day, there was a new president. in pectoreArtur Mas, and a change in the political cycle was anticipated after seven years of left-wing tripartite governments. The CiU electoral program included a promise to negotiate a kind of economic agreement with Madrid, which was called fiscal pactFifteen years later, it can be said that we are in the same place, awaiting negotiations to improve the Generalitat's finances. But now no one is telling him. fiscal pact but unique financingAnd the one negotiating it isn't CiU, which no longer exists, but ERC. Reading this, someone might think that nothing relevant has happened in these 15 years, but in reality, they have been the most turbulent and exciting years in Catalan politics, perhaps since the Republican era. That's the great paradox of those 15 years.

The beginning of the so-called Process is usually placed at the pro-independence demonstration on Catalonia's National Day (Diada) in 2012. ARA was less than two years old at the time, and many of its front pages were occupied by the social protests caused by the cuts resulting from the economic crisis. In retrospect, it's clear that the realization that Spain wouldn't accept Catalonia's demands for self-government, coupled with the deteriorating finances of the Generalitat (Catalan government), created an explosive cocktail that pushed broad sectors of society, who at the time considered themselves nationalists or federalists, toward independence. The shift was very evident in CDC, which in 2012 already set the achievement of an independent state as a programmatic objective, and Artur Mas went from being considered by Madrid as a moderate leader to a dangerous sovereigntist who preferred to make deals with ERC rather than with the PP.

The political shift was accompanied by massive mobilizations that crossed borders and galvanized a political community representing approximately half of the Catalan population (mostly Catalan-speaking, but not exclusively), which from then on became a political actor independent of the parties and articulated through the Catalan National Assembly (ANC). The Process cannot be understood without this factor: the people who participated in the mobilizations and referendums felt like protagonists of history, which also explains the subsequent frustration.

The first attempt: November 9th

The first milestone of the Process was the November 9, 2014, consultation, which brought together more than two million people. The nonexistent response from the State, both positive and negative, as well as the moderate judicial response (the organizers were tried for disobedience), encouraged the pro-independence leaders to take a further step and call a referendum with all the necessary resources. This was the so-called October 1, 2017. The aim was to create the impression that unilateral independence was possible in order to force massive participation, especially from those who voted "no" on November 9 and stayed home, thus legitimizing the Catalan demand for a self-determination referendum in the eyes of world public opinion. However, participation was only slightly higher than on November 9.

The point is that the police repression of the referendum did indeed make headlines worldwide and provoked a serious reputational crisis for the Spanish state, which, however, did not back down and embarked on a path of relentless repression with the imprisonment of political and social leaders who had not opted for exile, unlike many others. The December 21st elections, called by the Spanish government after intervening in Catalan self-government, confirmed the division of Catalan society into almost two equal blocs. The independence movement did not make the leap it needed, not even after forcing Spain to show its worst side.

Repression and Slow Decline

At this point, a stalemate ensued, with the pro-independence community in shock over the imprisonment of its leaders and rampant repression that affected even anonymous activists. The swan song came with the protests against the verdict in the Catalan independence trial in October 2019, where large-scale peaceful demonstrations were replaced by burning trash containers and clashes with the police. The pro-independence movement then entered a slow decline despite holding the key to governance in Madrid, a decline that led to Salvador Illa becoming President of the Generalitat of Catalonia in August 2024. A new Socialist president, just like when ARA was founded.