Junts per Catalunya ends the last hours of the electoral campaign for the 2023 general elections with a call for mobilization. The party held an act this Friday morning in Santa Coloma de Gramenet to read the manifesto ‘Compromís amb Catalunya‘, (Commitment towards Catalonia) in which they also celebrated October 1st and attacked the elections Hispanisation, as they are presented as a choice between the PSOE and the PP. From the linguistic immersion perspective, Junts’ members stated that abstention “is not useful to defend Catalonia, nor its citizens, nor its families, nor its associations, nor its institutions, nor its companies”. “Abstention does not bring us closer to independence”, they reiterate in the manifesto.
Despite assuring that they respect the right to abstention, they add that it will only cause for “pro-independence MPs’ seats to be replaced by those who support Catalonia’s repression” and that, additionally, it drives “the power to change things” away. “It is a one-day decision, the consequences of which we may suffer for years,” they warned. From the party’s point of view, voting also “sends a message of support to exiles and thoughts to those who left without seeing the dream fulfilled”. Therefore, they argue that “after everything Catalonia has endured over the centuries, its existence is a miracle that we must preserve, for our parents, grandparents, and our children”. The reading was given by Pilar Calvo, number two of Junts’ Barcelona candidacy to the Congress of Deputies.
In the text, Junts claims it was born to “defend what October 1st represents”, but also to “build the Catalonia of welfare, rights, and freedoms we deserve”. They regret that “some would like to erase October 1st from the calendar, so we could never celebrate it again as a symbol of resistance, union, and dignity”. Alluding to ERC, they stated they can only go back to September 30th, 2017 if it is to “reconnect with the strength and self-esteem which made the referendum possible and which the Catalans have been able to convert into collective, but also individual, capacity to overcome struggles.”
On the other hand, they continue to denounce that Spanish parties “are no longer satisfied with dragging us towards dependence from the Spanish state, but are recentralizing our powers and cutting back, even more, resources and wealth which we Catalans generate”. “It is part of their strategy to put an end to our will of being a free country”, they point out. They also claim that in these elections there are those who intend to “take Catalonia towards the binary vote between two Spanish parties” and state once again that only the pro-independence movement stops the far-right.
They direct further criticism towards ERC in the manifesto: “what is the point of making those who want to continue laminating the power of our institutions stronger?” and what is the point of “making things easier for those who have been taking resources and powers away from us for years”?
After the reading, the head of Junts’ list for Congress, Míriam Nogueras, urged to send a “very clear” message to the world on July 23rd: “The message we want to give is that Catalonia returns strong, united, determined and self-determined; the one that defends the land, the language, the one that fights fascism and the one that moves forward without complexes”.
Produced in association with El Nacional En
(Additional reporting provided by El Nacional En)
Edited by Suparba Sil
