Barcelona, capital of commitment

Once again, on Saturday afternoon, Barcelona will be the scene of a large demonstration. This time, people will rally under the motto “No tinc por” (I’m not afraid), a phrase that since last week’s terror attacks has come to represent the city’s resistance and its aim to overcome fear and hatred.

Over the past few days, tensions have emerged over who should be at the front of the march. The pro-independence and anti-capitalist CUP party refused to back the demonstration if Spanish king Felipe VI and the Spanish government were to have a prominent role in it. Eventually, the march will be headed by public sector workers, such as police officers and emergency services.

Yet, this controversy points to a wider dynamic that is deep-rooted in the city’s history: rather than parties or individual politicians, civil society has often been at the forefront of the political debate in Barcelona and Catalonia. And demonstrations have become the perfect amplifier for the voice of the people.

Dictatorship and transition to democracy

Protesting in the time of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship (1936-1975) and the subsequent transition to democracy was a dangerous endeavor. Yet, citizens repeatedly took to the streets of Barcelona to march against the regime.

In 1976, shortly after Franco’s death, thousands of people demanded an amnesty for political prisoners. The demonstration was crushed by the police, and a week later another march gathered twice as many people. The motto chanted by the crowd has come to epitomize the spirit of those times: “Llibertat, amnistia i estatut d’autonomia” (“Freedom, amnesty and autonomy statute”.)