J. ERNESTO AYALA-DIP – 14 OCT 2020 –
J. Ernesto Ayala-Dip is a literary critic.
Quim Torra, during his last speech in Parliament. M. MINOCRI
Just a few hours ago, former President Quim Torra was still giving slogans such as “let’s confront the state with intelligence”. Today I am interested in talking about the 50% that independence has set as a goal to unilaterally declare the independence of Catalonia, that is, to make reality what until now is not even virtual: the Catalan Republic. But first, a boutade, if you want to describe it this way: if Joan Tardà once said that “someone had to say it”, something similar happens with Torra, someone had to disable him. I would have preferred it to be the electorate, even his own, who would have let him KO to infinity, but he had to be the least suitable for a decision like this which would allow us to now hopefully see the February 14, the day of the next regional elections. Presumably, the entire pro-independence world was torn apart. But in the end and without wanting to make it very explicit, including the Republican Left itself, that sentence of disqualification (so sought after, “stubbornly”, by the same affected man) was received with relief.
Among the most direct consequences of that “miraculous” disqualification is the idea of 50 percent as an anteroom nowhere to be seen, but for pro-independentism an anteroom that seems crucial. Or “historic”, as is usual to celebrate any political nonsense by the foremen of pro-independence, whether Òmnium Cultural, the Catalan National Assembly or the cartoon character Carles Puigdemont. Added to all this is the desire to turn those elections into a plebiscite. Something like independence yes, independence no.
The first thing that comes to mind is, and I guess many too, is why that idea didn’t occur to anyone before that pestered October 1, 2017. Why not have designed campaigns for this purpose? On September 6 that year, a GAD3 poll for La Vanguardia told us that independence would surpass the 50% bar for the first time, and would allow 77 percent of this seat in Parliament. (It should be added that in this same show the PSC would had got enough votes to govern with the Republican Left. Together they would had got the necessary parliamentary majority).
Then I go back to the previous question. Why this goal was not pursued before the great mistakes and recklessness that were committed, when the elections of October 1 were designed, the mother of all the failures of independentism, including an unnecessary (and equally reckless) imprisonment by the state judiciary. (In this sense, independentism, the PP government and the judiciary at their behest designed the perfect storm.)
It is assumed that before 2017, the pro-independence electorate was more mobilized than now, more mobilized and without a covid-19 pandemic. If instead of weaving political plans as senseless as the ones they weaved, they would have been involved to show how a country (or a nation) is run, whether independent or not, they would have reached and surpassed the 50% bar in the December elections. of that same year.
I don’t know if 50% advocates know the theory of this percentage in marriages. Much more interesting because of how obvious it is than because it brings something new. In a couple, each half must respect the other. More obvious, impossible. If independentism were to get that percentage of votes, would it respect half that is not pro-independence? Probably not if that percentage gives them the parliamentary majority. And here I connect this conclusion with a few words just uttered by Miquel Iceta, in the sense that he will never govern with ERC, a party, he adds, that defends the right to self-determination and independence. If Iceta denies this government from now on, he is making a serious political mistake. Everyone knows that ERC wants independence. And besides, it’s in their right (if not, why should their deputies be paid a salary to defend those ideas). But ERC represents the most pragmatic side of independentism, so pragmatic that I do not think they are unaware that to run for independence the best thing to do is to demonstrate without delay the effectiveness of its management, its ability to listen to those who don’t think like them. And above all, to do something to make all Catalans believe in politics again and not just in slogans and historical days.
https://cat.elpais.com/cat/2020/10/14/opinion/1602671732_314288.html
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