In full Republican offensive to try to sell the “clarity agreement” project that nobody buys from them, the news is confirmed: Clara Ponsatí will not appear before the Supreme Court. “Llarena thinks she has an appointment with me, but I have other things to do,” she assured me on 8tv’s ‘Fax’, and it seems that she is going to fulfill her intentions.
In other words, while the ‘president’ Aragonès rounds off ERC’s strategic shift with a proposal that drastically liquidates the independence project -at least for a long time-, Ponsatí maintains the position of challenge to the State, by way of defending his parliamentary immunity. Those of ERC have decided to forcefully close the sails, even accepting the multiple humiliations to which the Spanish Government submits them. This 180º turn collides head-on with the firm strategy of the Catalan exile, commanded by the ‘president’ puigdemont, that maintains the defense of the Catalan cause, by means of the permanent denunciation of the Spanish repression. And in the middle, the rest of the independence territory, which also maintains the rhetoric of confrontation, but with multicolored variations: a part of Junts, the CUP and the ANC clearly, and the rest of Junts and Òmnium with considerable ambiguity.
In any case, only ERC has chosen to completely abandon the separatist temptation -one day he will have to explain if this drastic turnaround is linked to the pacts for pardons- and the political gestures they make to demonstrate the “goodness” of their regression are so excessive that, rather than making proposals, seem to ask for forgiveness for their sins. A pardon that the PSOE does not gratify in any way.
On the contrary, not only has it not given ERC any breadcrumbs to justify its delivery, but take any opportunity to humiliate the independence movement which culminated in the feat of October 1. The last example, Minister Bolaños’ tour of Catalonia these days, always in need of declaring that the independence movement has been defeated, that concord has returned and that the Catalans have recovered their lost sanity. More or less, the litany repeated by the rest of the ministers or by President Sánchez himself, convinced of the electoral revenue that the Catalan submission gives them.
It goes without saying that they all ignore that this alleged “submission” is the result of comprehensive repression thousands of people, for which all State mechanisms have been used, from police, judicial, tax and administrative, to the use of all control methods of intelligence services -espionage, monitoring, Pegasus-, with the violation of the personal rights they represent.
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As David Madí told me -who has suffered it himself-, the repression of the State against the independence movement has cost millions of euros, and the erosion of the image of Spain at an international level has not been minor. From this evidence, make bragging statements and walking around like mere conquerors in subjugated land is contempt for millions of Catalans. With an addition: They know perfectly well that the independence movement may be confused, hurt, tired, but it is in no way neutralized. Time after time, we have already experienced many moments in history in which, as Franco himself said, bloody repression in hand, “the Catalan problem is over.”
Back to ERC’s strategic turn, a fundamental issue that affects its credibility. It is indisputable that any party can change its strategy depending on the circumstances. But the problem of the Republicans is not that they have turned, but that they have defrauded the citizens. Both the elections and the agreements that led them to the presidency, were linked to the maintenance of the independence strategy, thus obtaining the votes and agreements. Once in power, they abandoned everything they stood for, broke natural alliances, strengthened ties with the socialists and pulled surreal proposals out of the hat that only serve to blow smoke. This is the point. It is not that Ponsatí is brave and Aragonès fearful, or that exile confronts and ERC recoils. The point is to sell some ideas to win an election and waste them when power is achieved. It is about honesty, and this is where Ponsatí causes pride and Aragonès shame.