Oriol Junqueras’ speech in which he sets the viable path towards the Republic in 15 ideas

Esquerra Republicana’s president draws up the path towards independence, which involves Europe and forming unappealable majorities. Junqueras defends that 1-O was the day “we won our freedom” and that it is necessary to make the Catalan cause into the democracy in Europe cause.

The president of Esquerra Republicana, Oriol Junqueras, has argued that the “viable path” to achieve the Catalan Republic depends on “including our cause into the general cause in European democracy” and that it is necessary “to seduce the Catalan society as a whole to add up and to build a majorities project at the service of each one of the citizens of this country, the republican majority”. He has said this in a political speech in Sant Jordi Club, of Barcelona, with an audience of 3.000 people.

Junqueras has explained that, unfortunately, Europe is in the middle of an “authoritarian boom with the rise of far-right parties throughout the continent” and, in light of this, “it is necessary that Europe understands that to defend democracy and the freedom of Catalonia is to defend the democratic future of Europe”. He is also sure that “the general cause against the democratic representatives of this society will reach, sooner or later, the European Court of Human Rights” and that “Europe will contribute, from the judicial perspective, to bring down the Spanish injustice”.

The president of Esquerra Republicana has emphasized, too, that “the viable path towards the Republic has to be based on the strengthening of the republican movement and on the gradual weakening of Spain not as a society, but of the regime of the 78, which is still controlling Spain”. To strengthen he has insisted on the idea of the republican majority and he has appealed the 80% of the Catalan society who considers that “any solution has to involve democracy and the exercise of the self-determination right”. “The best tool is a referendum, which has to be recognized by the citizens themselves and verified internationally. Therefore, it will be necessary to create the necessary conditions so that Spain sits down to negotiate”, he has explained.

Junqueras has claimed that the 1st of October 2017 “will be forever written in the history of our country as the day of dignity, the day we won our freedom, because the most important thing of that day was that we all believed we could be free, and when the people believe that they can be free, they already start to be free”, and he wanted to deliver a message of hope: “If they need all of this to prevent the people from deciding the future they want, then it means that they really are lost and it only is necessary for the regime to fall, because we can be imprisoned, but the ideas persist and they won’t be able to make 2 million of Catalans think different”. “We need you strenuously hopeful”, he added, “we need to live the repression we are suffering as a necessary phase towards victory”.

The republican leader has also pointed out that the upcoming municipal elections are a “litmus test” throughout Catalonia and, specially, in Barcelona: “Barcelona has to become once again the world model in the battle for freedom, has to be the spearhead of the anti-fascist struggle in Europe, and it will only be possible if it works as the capital of the republican Catalonia”.

The 15 highlights of Oriol Junqueras’s speech:

  1. Today, more than ever, I feel that not only I haven’t done anything I should regret, but I want to tell you that I feel legitimately proud about it, because to be loyal to a democratic mandate, and to want the people of this country to decide freely and democratically what they want to be, I think is the ABC of any democrat. And yes, I would do it again.
  2. This country converts in Catalan anyone who wants to be it. To be a Catalan is not an inheritance, but a choice. A Catalan is anyone who wants to be it, having been born wherever he has been born, speaking whatever language he speaks, whatever surnames he has. The important thing is what we want to be and we want to build all together, not the differences. We don’t ask where we come from, but where we want to go.
  3. We are the substitutes of generations and generations that for centuries have fought for freedom. We are another link of these historic gears that have allowed us to be closer than ever to our goal and we have learned that the rights are never awarded, they are conquered with a lot of sacrifice, battle and effort.
  4. October 1, 2017, will be forever written in the history of our country as the day of dignity. It was the day we won our freedom. Because the most important thing of that day was that all of us, the institutions and mostly the people, believed we could be free, and when the people believe that they can be free, they already start to be free. We wrote the most beautiful pages that had been written for many years and that are the basis of more to come.
  5. The only thing that this repression wave that has been turned on shows is the complete weakness of Spain. If they need all of this to prevent the people and democracy from deciding the future they want, then it means that they really are lost and it only is necessary for the regime to fall, because we can be imprisoned, but the ideas persist and they won’t be able to make 2 million of Catalans think different. Until when will they retain a nation by force?
  6. Let’s not forget that the one who is really afraid is Spain itself. Especially after having realized that we won’t ever stop nor give up. If they believed that with repression, threats, and imprisoning us we would back down or change, they don’t know us, they don’t know us or the Catalan people. For many years we have been chasing a dream, for many years we have been working for the freedom of the country and in spite of the obstacles they put we won’t ever stop until we get it.
  7. They need to know that every day we are kept in prison, our movement gets bigger, stronger, more believable, and more invincible. We have won full legitimacy and credibility before the world. Now they know, as we told them so many times, that we are willing to everything, always peacefully, to defend democracy and that the citizens of Catalonia, all of them, are able to decide the future of the country. To defend democracy is not a crime, to have a referendum is not a crime. And we understand that if prison is the price we have to pay for freedom, we will pay it. Because it’s worth it.
  8. The injustice of the preliminary investigation and of the judicial proceedings built against a large part of the Catalan society, through a general cause against the democratic representatives of this society will reach, sooner or later, the European Court of Human Rights. And I’m sure that Europe will contribute, from the judicial perspective, into bringing down the Spanish injustice. We have the opportunity to change history. We will make Spain end sitting in the dock. Time and international justice will admit we are right. In the meantime, head up high, serene heart and constant battle, as always.
  9. They are willing to go against Catalonia because it’s the biggest threat that has existed against the power of the Spanish oligarchy, against the political privileges and against the status quo. Behind their speech about unity of Spain, hides the harsh interest of maintaining the privileges of a few: of the political and economic class of Spain.
  10. Unfortunately, Europe is in the middle of an authoritarian boom with the rise of far-right parties throughout the continent. Therefore, we have to work, now more than ever, to include our cause in the general cause of democracy in Europe. It is necessary that Europe understands that to defend democracy and the freedom of Catalonia is to defend the democratic future of Europe. We want to help to build the Europe of the citizens and turn Europe into a bastion of rights and freedoms.
  11. The upcoming municipal elections are a litmus test throughout Catalonia and, specially, in Barcelona. Barcelona has to become once again the world model in the battle for freedom. It has to be the spearhead of the anti-fascist struggle in Europe. And it will only be possible if it works as the capital of the republican Catalonia.
  12. The viable path towards the Republic has to be based on the strengthening of the republican movement and on the gradual weakening of Spain not as a society, but of the regime of the 78, which is still controlling Spain. And this cannot only be accomplished with one or two decisive battles, but with a patient work of an own reinforcement and a wear of the rival. The victory depends on a lot of factors at the same time, but in a significant matter it depends on the seduction ability on the Catalan society as a whole, to be more and to build a majorities project at the service of every citizen of this country. To build the republican majority. Any solution has to involve democracy and the exercise of the self-determination right. This is backed up by 80% of the Catalan society.
  13. They told us that it was impossible for the independence movement to ever win elections and we did. They told us that it was impossible to do the October, 1, and we did. And they are telling us that we won’t ever be independent and we will be.
  14. They haven’t been able to resist the temptation of imprisoning us and they won’t be able to resist the temptation of an exemplary harsh sentence, although they are completely aware that the prosecution, the preliminary investigation and the whole cause entirely is a farce, a set up, but they are driven by vengeance and the objective of ending with a political movement that can create the change and the end of the privileges of the regime of 78.
  15. I want to tell you that we need you strenuously hopeful, like you were before the 1st of October. And you have to be hopeful because it is necessary, and because this is what hurts the most to whom want you to be defeated. We need to live the repression we are suffering as a necessary phase towards victory. Neither crying nor wailing, I don’t ever want to see defeat in your eyes, in none of the people who loves this country and life, who loves people, who loves justice and freedom. If we persist, do not doubt that sooner than later a never-ending smile will appear in the eyes of all the good people. And remember: We are the seed of all the victories. We will win!