Esquerra spokesperson Marta Vilalta stresses that it is a “realistic and useful” way to once again make “the independence movement strong and to continue on the path to the Catalan Republic to serve the people as they are entitled to”

Esquerra Republicana has presented its proposal to complete its path to the Catalan Republic, the “High Road to Independence”, a path that Esquerra means to be open to all, realistic and useful for the people. “We want to keep summing, preparing and strengthening ourselves to get back up there and win once and for all,” said Deputy Secretary General and spokeswoman Marta Vilalta at a press conference.

After a period of “resistance and recovery of the institutions,” Esquerra says it’s time to take back the initiative. In the words of Ms Vilalta, “it is necessary to make the independence movement strong, with consensus and strategic union, and to continue on the path to the Catalan Republic to serve the people as they are entitled to.”

The spokeswoman remarked that this path “leaves no one behind, because that is why the country we want to build makes sense, because it is for everyone and no one is forgotten.” And it is a path committed to leading “shared struggles”, such as freedom, equality, feminism, environmentalism, rebuilding the welfare state and welcoming the world’s needy.

“The High Road is not the slow road, because it is the road that serves to win, to reach our destination, to make the Catalan Republic come true,” Ms Vilalta pronounced, adding that it is so broad that it opposes those who defend a narrow path, those who resign themselves to giving up on becoming more and preferring to be few and pure.” Esquerra shuns that view.

And how is this High Road to be taken? Esquerra offers five key proposals:

  1. “Top 50% in the next elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, and successively whenever necessary: The ballot is where we are strong.”
  2. “Building alliances to represent the broadest consensus in the country, such as those on ending repression and passing an amnesty law, the right to self-determination, the Catalan Republic versus the Spanish monarchy, and the language immersion model of Catalonia, amongst others.”
  3. “Forcing the Spanish state to accept amnesty and the referendum as the only democratic means to resolve the state’s conflict with Catalonia.”
  4. “Improving the lives of all Catalans in their day-to-day lives, by managing and governing well. Making public service essential, especially in the context of the triple crisis we are experiencing.”
  5. “Weaving international alliances to explain the Catalan cause to the world, fostering understanding and complicity that will allow us to make the referendum inescapable.”

Ms Vilalta concluded that Esquerra is in a position to take the lead on this High Road and that “we are the most useful tool to achieve independence and to ensure that the next government is pro-independence and progressive.”