Esquerra’s strategy proposal to achieve independence, laid out in the new book by Oriol Junqueras and Marta Rovira, is to exceed 50% of the vote, govern well and not renounce dialogue with the state or forsake unilateralism

Esquerra Republicana has launched its “We Will Win Again” campaign based on party President Oriol Junqueras and Secretary General Marta Rovira’s new book which includes the strategy proposal for independence. Over 10,000 spectators saw the online presentation of the book, which was broadcast live via various digital media, and in which several party leaders spoke from different places: Marta Rovira in exile in Geneva, Pere Aragonès in Oriol Junqueras’ home town of Sant Vicenç dels Horts near Barcelona, Marta Vilalta in the eastern Catalan city of Lleida, and Roger Torrent in the northern city of Vic. At the end, Mr Junqueras spoke some recorded words from prison.

Secretary General Marta Rovira highlighted the key idea in the book: “there have to be more of us and we need to be better prepared in order to begin again and win conclusively.” How? By exceeding 50% of the vote, election after election; by governing, and governing well; and by not renouncing either dialogue or forsaking unilateralism. And also by steering clear of “reproaches and quarrels” within the independence movement. “We are not here to build the foundations of a political party, we are here to achieve an inclusive nation for everyone.”

Esquerra’s President Oriol Junqueras insisted on the idea that “It is a book that avoids reproach, and is at the service of the whole independence movement, meaning to be a handbook to work from. Today, we know better than ever that there are no magic shortcuts, just working harder to achieve independence.”

For his part, Esquerra Deputy President and Vice President of the Government Pere Aragonès made it clear that we are before a proposal that is “positive, in order to build a future of opportunity, with rights and liberty for all,” and he warned energetically that “Esquerra will not abandon the domain of democracy and the vote.” “It is imperative we raise the banner of the right to self-determination, puting it back on the table, without excluding any alternative that may allow us to advance.”

Likewise, in this regard the party’s Deputy Secretary General and spokeswoman Marta Vilalta reviewed the strengths of the independence referendum of October 2017 and recalled “the need for the independence movement to bind a strategic union, which is what will make it possible for us to win. We must make that possible again.”

The Speaker of Catalonia’s Parliament Roger Torrent emphasized the importance of municipal policy. “The Catalan Republic is all about schooling, hospitals, and roads. It’s about a better future for those to come. In every town and city, especially in the metropolitan areas, we must sum.” And for that reason he calls for everyone to “convince our fellow citizens and explain to them that independence is not rhetoric, it is services, freedom and the future of our sons and daughters,” thus concluding the event presented by the member of the Spanish Congress Gabriel Rufián, and MEP Diana Riba, which despite being online was a considerable success.