This Saturday, November 9ten years have passed since two million Catalans expressed, through the ballot boxes, the will to turn Catalonia into an independent state.
It was the first time that, through a consultation, the population decided on the political future of the country and, although the State challenged the call, its celebration empowered sovereignty and paved the way for, after three years, took place referendum of the October 1, 2017.
From the Statute to the democratic lawsuit
A decade has passed since 9Nand that event continues in the rearview mirror of the sectors that defend the right to decide Catalonia. A demand that had not entered the public agenda since the beginning of the Transition, beyond the pronouncements that the Parliament had approved in favor of self-determination. But he cutout of the Statute by the Constitutional Court 2006, opened the door for the sovereignty place this claim at the center of the political debate.
In a dynamic of accumulation of forces, fueled by the consultations held in 550 municipalities Between 2009 and 2010, a majority was achieved to make this right effective. “It became popular through Platform for the Right to Decidefrom which comes the request that, in a democratic stateif any autonomous community aspires to establish a new framework, there is enough constitutional margin to consult the citizens,” explains the political scientist. Jaume Lopez.
This aspiration took shape in 2012 with the Agreement for the National Transition and, the following year, with a joint declaration through which the president of the Generalitat, Artur Mascalled for a non-referendary consultation on November 9, 2014 so that the “people of Catalonia” could decide what fit they wanted based on the double question “Do you want Catalonia to become a State?“and, if the answer is affirmative, “Do you want this State to be independent?“.
As is known, the call, which received the support of CKD, ICV-EUiAthe CUP and a thousand entities headed by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Cultural Omniumwas rejected by the majority of the Congress of Deputies, which voted against the organic law that authorized the State to transfer to Catalonia the competence to celebrate referendums.
This led to president Mas to replace it with a participatory process that would take place on the same day. Finally, and despite the fact that the Constitutional Court suspended it four days before at the request of the executive of the People’s Partythe consultation could be held thanks to the participation of 40,000 volunteers.
“Seen in perspective, it must be vindicated because sovereignism was endowed with great legitimacy, similar to two thirds of the chamber, which is necessary to reform the Statute,” says the political scientist as well. Marc Sanjaumefor whom “also with the open question he had enough waist to garner broad support from civil society.”
A dead end
However, the 9N made clear the state failure when it came to enabling formulas to ask citizens, which opened a new political cycle. “From then on, the legitimation framework was oriented around the classic demand of nations that want to self-determine and do so unilaterally if the majority demands it,” says López, for whom the culmination of this cycle was the referendum on 1 of October.
But not alone. The 2014 participatory process also certified the restrictive interpretation of the Spanish justice system regarding the right to decide. “By suspending the Law of Non-Endorsed Popular Consultations of 2014, the Constitutional Court eliminated the possibility of consulting regarding the right to decide, which was left outside the law,” adds López.
A situation that, in Sanjaume’s opinion, “led the pro-independence parties to undertake a unilateral strategy, with the cost of losing along the way the sectors of the socialists and ICV-EUiA that had joined the 9N.” Sanjaume admits that this generated a paradox: while The 9N had more complicities and was able to satisfy the people’s will to express themselvesbut without any legal artifact that would foresee a break or a change of status for Catalonia, 1O served to challenge the State and force negotiationbut with the handicap that it only dragged down the independence movement, which made it impossible for it to turn out well.
Looking for other paths
Both political scientists agree that, in the current situation, sovereignty will have to look for other tools if they want to move towards self-determination, and along these lines, they consider that the Agreement for the National Transition It continues to be valid, both because of its inclusive nature and because it offered the State mechanisms to accommodate the demand of Catalans; in addition to sharing the idea that any new attack can only be raised within the margins of democracy.
Regarding possible routes, both López and Sanjaume indicate that 9N teaches us that we should not wait for the involvement of the European Union. “There was an optimistic vision about their attitude, and this was denied, a fact that will force them to have much more strength to enable a framework for peaceful conflict resolution,” says Jaume López. Marc Sanjaume also points out that “We do not forget that Spain is a liberal democracy approved throughout the world, so the game will have to be played in the State“.
At most, both of them see in the international scopel a front of attrition where the sovereign will of the Catalan people can be demonstrated. And, from this perspective, they believe that the proposal for a regulation proposed by the Caucus group in the European Parliament so that the Union protects minorities is an advance that can facilitate this.
“The situation evokes us to be bold and have the courage to drag the State to seek its own accommodation in Catalonia’s demands. On the other hand, looking for other mirrors is self-deception,” insists Sanjaume. A fact of which López is also convinced, although he sees more room for Europe to be permeable to the demand of the Catalans. “It is the most feasible framework in which to make self-determination effective, since Adding a new state only means changes in the parent State, not in the EU itself“.
Both, however, see it as essential for sovereignty to recover the political and social muscle that was exhibited on 9N, which helped because Catalonia’s historical demand has since appeared on the international agenda.
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