16.07.2014 - 09:35
With a ballot box out front, Òmnium Cultural premiered the documentary “Un país normal” [A normal country] yesterday in the Girona cinema house in Barcelona. The president of the organization, Muriel Casals, posed for the cameras as she deposited a vote in the ballot box. The message was clear: “Voting is normal in a normal country.” Casals was followed by the Minister of the Presidency, Francesc Homs, the Columbia University economist Xavier Sala i Martín and the judge Santiago Vidal, among others. Beyond the demonstration, Òmnium Cultural wants to “normalize” Catalonia’s demands and open the debate about the need to vote on November 9th.
The event, attended by some 250 people, consisted of a screening of the documentary, and a colloquium with Xavier Sala i Martín, Judge Sílvia Ventura, the journalists Karmele Marchante and Antonio Baños and the graphic artist Miquel Ferreres.
Marchante: “Madrid turned me pro-independence”
In an attempt to de-dramatize the referendum, journalist Tian Riba—who moderated the debate—said that voting was “the most normal thing in the world” despite the fact that in Spain, “those in favor of the referendum are afraid to express their opinions due to the state’s hostility”. Karmele Marchante, a journalist from Tortosa who lives in Madrid took up the baton and explained that in her circles the Catalan issue “is not understood and it’s almost never talked about”. “I’m gagged,” she said. And she explained that it was in the Spanish capital that she became aware of the situation: “Madrid turned me pro-independence”.
“I’m not pro-independence for the money, but so that we can do things right for once”
Xavier Sala i Martín, economist and member of the Wilson Initiative, emphasized the importance of the day after the referendum. “I’m not pro-independence for the money, but rather that we can do things right for once.” Sala I Martín said that independence would give Catalonia the opportunity to solve problems that today it cannot solve, like the educational model. “While we argue about language and religion, in the rest of the world the debate is about how to educate our children for a labor market where machines and new technologies are king.”
The graphic artist Miquel Ferreres believes that the most important thing is that Catalonia sticks together. With an eye towards those who are not interested in the referendum debate, he proposed a way to save them “the hassle”: “Solve the problems that can be solved before independence comes,” he said, that is, attend to the citizen’s day-to-day issues. To do that, he demanded common initiatives from the political parties and asked for more explanations so that the people know where we’re going.
On the other hand, Judge Sílvia Ventura, one of the thirty-three judges who signed the pro-referendum manifesto, denied that asking the people their opinion on Catalonia’s political future was illegal and reaffirmed, “That which is not explicitly prohibited in law is allowed.”
References to Homs
The participants in the colloquium made several direct references to the Minister for the Presidency, Francesc Homs, who was seated in the first row during the event. The moderator, Tian Riba, told Homs, “If you want to explain when Mas and Rajoy’s meeting will be and what they will talk about, feel free.” However, for the debate participants, this was not the most important point. According to Sala i Martín, the Spanish State will negotiate when it sees that independence is inevitable. And according to Marchante, the November 9th referendum is the only important date on the calendar; asking for a meeting, she said, is humiliating. What’s important now is to move forward and organize the referendum.
