“The year of liberty”

Either dialogue and justice, or a revolt – all in favour of a sole objective, freedom. This is the boiled-down version of the New Year’s speech by Quim Torra, president of the Generalitat, which he delivered yesterday from the Plaça de Sant Jaume, next to a Catalan flag, and a prominent bouquet of yellow flowers. “We are prepared for the year of liberty, fast-approaching,” said the president, who warned that it would be a year of difficulties, marked by the Supreme Court trials against leaders of the independence process. The president made it clear that he did not expect anything good to come in terms of sentencing, and that the freedom of the political prisoners would only come through the achievement of collective freedom. “As our beloved Josep Pallac said, ‘no citizen is free if his people are not free’”. Torra recognised the indefatigable energy of the citizen movment demanding the release of political prisoners and the return of the exiles and invited them to hold firm, and “to rebel before injustice, and topple the walls of oppression”. In his speech, the president picked up his recent discussion with the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, and insisted on the need to find a dialogued solution for the political crisis in Catalonia. “We will not stop insisting on dialogue, negotiation and international mediation,” the president said before adding that “the state must show a willingness to be part of a credible, sincere and courageous dialogue for a democratic and political solution to prevail”. “We are Republicans. We will not accept repression to resolve political issues. We demand to exercise the right to self-determination.”