Former Catalan Parliament Speaker Carme Forcadell defends the right to self-determination, the proposal generating the greatest consensus in Catalonia

Alongside Carme Forcadell at the old Model prison on Wednesday were Esquerra Republicana’s candidates to the Spanish parliament Teresa Jordà and Joan Queralt, who called for the democratic solutions to the political conflict in Catalonia contained in Esquerra’s manifesto. These encompass two of Esquerra’s imperatives: a consensual and negotiated referendum to exercise the right to self-determination, and an Amnesty law to end repression.

In this regard, Esquerra candidate to Congress in the 23rd July elections Teresa Jordà was clear in her defence of a referendum for the Catalans to freely decide on their future. “We claim our right to do it again, to double down, and this time without police violence, to be able to implement its result,” said Ms Jordà. “Between the unbridled right and far-right, and the Spanish nationalists of the purported progressives with no proposals for Catalonia, we are not afraid of the polls,” she added.

“In fact, doubling down is what Esquerra Republicana does every day, progressing towards a democratic resolution of the conflict and improving the conditions against the repression,” said the candidate, highlighting the work that Esquerra Republicana has been doing in Madrid. The former Speaker of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell also joined in. Notwithstanding the difficulties, she assured, with the strength that the citizens convey to Esquerra Republicana, the independence movement will achieve what the repression of the state prevented in 2017.

“They told us it was impossible for the State to recognize the political conflict, that they wouldn’t get a pardon or repeal the crime of sedition. But with the strength the citizens conveyed, Esquerra Republicana did it.” Ms Forcadell called on pro-independence mobilization to vote against the structures of the Spanish state. “Every pro-independence vote that stays at home is a vote that defends the interests of Spain against those of Catalonia.”

In the same vein, Esquerra’s leading candidate to the Spanish Senate Joan Queralt pointed at the Spanish courts for the repression they have exercised in recent years. “The high courts have invented a criminal law that does not exist, a permanent attack on the rule of law,” he denounced. For this reason, Esquerra Republicana’s proposal is to force the Spanish State to approve an amnesty law and reverse the situation. “An amnesty is not a pardon, because voting is not a crime,” he added. In the same line, working to minimize the repressive instruments of the Spanish State, Esquerra’s election manifesto includes another struggle they have led during the legislature: the repeal of the Gag Law.