tribune. Quim Torra
Catalan Weekend
It is on the last weekend of June. The challenge is formidable and success far from assured. But can you imagine Barcelona on June 27 full of foreigners who want to know what is happening in Catalonia? Is it not a seductive idea? Two years ago, Òmnium organised the Concert per la Llibertat in Camp Nou, and last year the castells in Europe. This year, in an attempt to continue contributing to success of the process, what is proposed is a new gesture promoting the mobilisation and internationalisation of the process: the Catalan Weekend, from June 25 to 28. We will open our doors to the world, to show off the new country we are building. It is as simple as that and just as difficult to achieve.
Revolution
The revolution of smiles, the desire to be free from a state that prevents us from prospering –which is what this process is about– above all comes from the popular roots of Catalanism. Artisans and small farmers, technicians and manual workers, the middle classes, liberal professionals, have all always been there, at the head of the nation, with the nation, because these people are the nation.
This popular Catalonia, for the Assemblea, for the castellers, for traditional culture, for excursionism, for associations, for parents of schoolchildren, for the ateneus and the casals populars, for the unions, for the small and medium-sized companies, for the writers and artists, and so many other organisations and groups of every type, has nothing to do with the oligarchy and the elite establishment, who at this moment we are in conflict with as part of the most important revolutionary movement in the history of Catalonia: the road to independence, which is nothing less than the opportunity to create a new, better, more democratic, fairer country.
“We think that the political project of the independence of Catalonia in the European framework is today the only way to lever the country's ambition. A project that has to allow us to truly work for equality of opportunity among the citizens and to guarantee basic rights, such as education, health, housing or employment. For us, wanting our own state is to want a socially fairer country. And we still believe that it is the only project to make a more creative and advanced society that can provide the boost of energy that our culture needs, that can vibrate the chords that move the soul of a community.”
These are the words of Muriel Casals pronounced in Santa Coloma de Gramenet in October 2012. It is exactly this. And here we are and will continue, against the establishment and the status quo that prevents us from building the normal country we want and that threatens our existence as a nation. Not only have we not given up, but we are stronger, filled with more hope and more convinced than ever. And this commitment to the destiny of Catalonia as a free state among the world's free states is what we want to show and share during the Catalan Weekend: www.catalanweekend.cat.
Open to all
Everyone is invited. Anyone can take part and cooperate by inviting a friend, an acquaintance, a school or group. Or by inviting people into your home. Or by donating to the project! This is a unique opportunity to let many, many people know what it is we are proposing and why we want it now. Explaining the independence of Catalonia is not an excuse or a pastime, it is not a dream or slogan, nor is it a sport to do at the weekends; it is the will of the nation, expressed democratically. It is showing that we not only want to play, but that we want to win the game.
As with independence, the success of the Catalan Weekend depends on us. It would be enough if the thousands of foreigners who visit us should understand what The Times meant when, last November 10, it led its front page with the 9-N vote of the previous day, with the following headline: “Thousands of Catalans vote in the hope of a separation from Spain.” Nothing more, nothing less.
Catalan Weekend will
take place from June 25 to 28.
