14.07.2014 - 09:14
The ANC’s first event of the summer campaign took place in the Plaça del Plana in Badalona, just north of Barcelona: a giant poster with the face of Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America. The Catalan National Assembly (Assemblea Nacional Catalana, ANC) introduced the campaign on Thursday that will be carried out during the two months leading up to Catalonia’s National Day on September 11th. In addition to practicing creating the giant V for the National Day in Barcelona, the group has decided to unfurl ten huge posters, like the one of Obama, during summer weekends to call on each of the political leaders that will be key to the international recognition of the Catalan cause.
Barack Obama was the first world leader to be addressed by the ANC, and will be followed by Jean-Claude Juncker, Martin Schulz, Angela Merkel, François Hollande, David Cameron, Matteo Renzi, Ban Ki-moon, Dilma Rousseff, Pope Francis and Fredrik Reinfeldt. ANC president Carme Forcadell explained on Thursday that the selection was made from European countries and those considered “absolutely democratic”.
With the giant posters, which measure 50 x 100 feet (15 x 30 meters) each, the organization hopes it can generate interest in the leaders’ countries of origin, thanks to additional events carried out by the local ANC chapters abroad.
A letter V in each municipality
Ignasi Termes, of the ANC Governing Board, explained that in addition to the murals that transmit this message to the principal world leaders, the local and foreign chapters of the assembly will carry out a series of smaller demonstrations, “V Marches”, in municipalities all over Catalonia and the world. Such auxiliary events were also carried out in the summers of 2012 and 2013, in the run up to the March for Independence and the Catalan Way.
Termes also explained that this month posters will be hung in the streets of Catalonia, capitalizing on the ANC’s summer mobilization, as part of the “Estem preparats” [We are prepared] campaign, whose goal is to consolidate and broaden majority community support for independence. “In this way, we’ll build upon all of the preparatory events for the September 11th V Day Demonstration in order for the whole country to see that we are prepared to take on the challenge that we have set for ourselves.”
Details for the gigantic V to be released next week
With respect to details about the huge V demonstration that will be held next September 11th on two principal avenues in Barcelona—the Diagonal and the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, and meeting at a point in the Plaça de les Glòries—Forcadell announced that the ANC would hold an explanatory press conference together with Òmnium Cultural next week. The slogan of the demonstration, she added, has not been completely decided on, but it will certainly be focused on the November 9th referendum and the word “voting” will play a central role.
New video: “V, the letter that will change our history”
During the introduction of the summer campaign, the ANC premiered the new promotional video which features common everyday objects that have a letter V, like the hands on a clock, the branches of a tree, clothespins, and even traffic signals. Next week, the second version of the video will be released.
