Massive concert supporting Catalonia’s self-determination is ignored by Spanish politicians

Barcelona (ACN).- On Saturday evening, 90,000 people gathered in FC Barcelona Camp Nou stadium to attend a concert backing Catalonia’s right to self-determination. The event, organised by a civil society entity – Òmnium Cultural – and without public funding, called for a self-determination referendum in 2014. Attendees organised a mosaic which read “Freedom Catalonia 2014”, sending a message to the international community. Some of the 50 most famous Catalan musicians played in the seven-hour event, which included songs that became anthems against the Franco dictatorship four decades ago. After the so-called ‘Concert for Freedom’, the reactions in Catalonia have been manifold. Parties supporting the Catalans’ right to self-determination have stated that this vote should be organised as soon as possible in order to allow citizens express their democratic will in 2014. The parties opposing Catalonia’s independence from Spain have criticised the rush to organise the vote and the concert, describing it as “an independence Akelarre (Witches' Sabbath)”. However, in Madrid, the reactions have been almost non-existent. The only two reactions have been those of the Secretary General of the People’s Party (PP), María Dolores de Cospedal, and the Spanish Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, who insisted that a self-determination referendum would be illegal.

The Spanish Government totally opposes modifying the Constitution to allow a self-determination referendum

On Monday, Ruiz Gallardón insisted that a referendum would be “illegal” since “sovereignty is rooted into the Spanish people as a whole”. The Spanish Justice Minister emphasised that any initiative promoting “Spain breaking up” should bear in mind that the Spanish people “cannot be split into territories”. According to him, Spain is not “a nation of territories but a nation of citizens” and therefore the “exercise of the national sovereignty principle has to be exercised by citizens and not by territories”. Ruíz Gallardón also added that “it is legitimate” to propose a reform of the Spanish Constitution “if it does not distort the essence of the Constitution itself, which is the Spanish nation”, because “the reality of Spain predates the Constitution itself”.

Besides, the Secretary General of the PP, who is the ‘number 2’ of the party running the Spanish Government, María Dolores de Cospedal, stated that the claims expressed in Saturday’s concert do not represent “the general interest” of Catalonia’s citizens in a moment when “the priority is recovering from the [economic] crisis”. De Cospedal warned the Catalan Government that “any operation that a government stirs up, promotes or incites and that does not go in this direction”, is “an action in the wrong direction”, “especially when this government has severe economic, deficit and financial problems”.

CiU and ERC stated that a vote will be organised in 2014

Following the concert, Catalan political parties reacted to this citizen event, which ended not by asking for the right to self-determination but with the attendees and musicians directly asking for independence. The two largest political parties in Catalonia, the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) and the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC), which share a parliamentary stability pact, stated that a specific date for a self-determination vote should be fixed after December 2013. The CiU insisted they would honour their previous commitment to organise a self-determination vote in 2014. The ERC explained that by December 2013, all the institutional, political and legal preparatory work should be ready and it should be possible to set a day to celebrate a self-determination vote. In addition, they insisted that the letter the Catalan President will send in July to the Spanish Prime Minister asking for this vote to be organised should be made public and also be sent to the main international organisations.

The ERC leaders and many of the top CiU leaders – except the Catalan President and the coalition’s ‘number 2’ – attended the concert. On Monday, CiU’s ‘number two’, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, asked the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, “to make a proposal” to the Catalans and “to allow the self-determination vote”, as the British Prime Minister David Cameron has done regarding Scotland.

Furthermore, the Catalan Green Socialist and Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA) asked to put “political solutions” on the table before the “historical moment” Catalonia is going through, since “the majority of Catalan society” is asking to be able to exercise the right to self-determination. The ICV-EUiA leader, Joan Herrera, emphasised that the concert was “a massive cultural and civic-minded mobilisation asking for democracy”. However, the ICV-EUiA also insisted that citizens should not only be able to vote on the relationship between Catalonia and Spain, but also on economic and social issues, such as “what should be done with public debt” and the power of banks. Several ICV-EUiA members attended the concert.

The PSC, the PP and C’s criticised the concert

The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) – which supports Catalonia’s right to self-determination but opposes independence – refused to attend the concert. According to them, facts “proved” that the concert was in fact “a pro-independence” event, instead of one supporting the right to self-determination. The PSC is part of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), whose leaders in Madrid ignored the concert. The PSC warned the CiU and the ERC that talking about setting a date for the self-determination vote “generates expectations” that are “difficult to manage”. For this reason they asked for “caution”, since being able to exercise the self-determination vote is not “an easy or quick thing”.

The leader of the PP in Catalonia, Alícia Sánchez-Camacho, stated that the evening concert was “an Akelarre” [which in English could be translated as “Witches’ Sabbath”]. Sánchez-Camacho said the concert was “not that of freedom” but “that of breaking up and exclusion”. The PP leader stressed that the concert was an “action against the rest of Catalans”, “the silent Catalonia that does not attend the concert”. She accused the Catalan Government of “cultivating Hispanophobia” by “promoting” the concert and wanting “to transform Catalonia into a land of sectarianism”.

The anti-Catalan nationalism and Spanish nationalist party Ciutadans (C’s) criticised public media in Catalonia for having broadcast Saturday’s concert that gathered 90,000 people in the FC Barcelona stadium with 50 of the most famous Catalan musicians, including Lluís Llach. Llach is probably the most popular Catalan singer-songwriter alive, who was on stage last Saturday for the second time after he retired 6 years ago. Ciutadans’ leader, Albert Rivera, described the concert as “a musical political rally” and insisted it was not justifiable that public media broadcast it live. According to him, public media did so because they were manipulated by the Catalan Government. “There is no austerity when what is at stake is broadcasting the Catalan Government’s ideology”, he stated, while he remarked that a few days ago the Catalan Public TV and Radio Broadcasting Corporation announced a mass lay-off. Rivera also qualified the Catalan Presidency Minister, Francesc Homs – who attended the concert – as “the Minister of Propaganda”. In the last few months, Spanish Extreme-Right Wing media and politicians from the PP have been linking the Catalan self-determination claims to the Nazi regime.