This Saturday marks five years since October 1st, 2017, a date of enormous symbolism for the past, present and future. A day that mobilized millions of Catalans to participate in the independence referendum of Catalonia organized by the government of the Generalitat and which achieved the historical milestone of placing the ballot boxes correctly and on time in polling stations, to the despair of Spain, incapable of finding any of them. It was a gesture of national emancipation for which there had been no precedent in three centuries, an act of generosity by political parties impelled by the people to not destroy the collective hope, and it was also a message of self-esteem from a country in need of a victory, as accustomed as it is to defeats and fraternal struggles. For a short period of time, Catalonia put aside the small things typical of a nation without a state and, sadly, without knowledge of what power is when it has a capital P.
A big difference with the Spanish state, which if it knows anything, it is about the use of power, and recurring to it, which is in its DNA: the use of force. That October 1st, Spain scared Europe, and the different countries of the Union saw how those who were going to deposit a ballot in a ballot box were repressed with violence. Starting with chancellor Angela Merkel, who conveyed to Mariano Rajoy that this police violence could not continue. This is how it came to be that the repression of the morning, which, according to medical services, had left around 4,000 people wounded, came to an end in the afternoon. It has been said many times that this was a collective victory and it is absolutely true. It was the victory of the soldiers of independence.
Five years later, that horizon of hope has disappeared. And what is there instead is scorched earth. A lot of scorched earth. The split has happened and politics has turned into politicking. There were 52% in favour of independence at the polls in February 2021, a historic result that had never been achieved before. Today that effort has been wasted. We have seen it live these days with scenes more typical of a kindergarten than of a country that aspires to independence. How can more Catalans be convinced to join the pro-independence ranks if they are not able to reach agreement on governing? In the middle of World War II, De Gaulle uttered a phrase that has become famous: "When I'm right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he's wrong. We're angry with each other most of the time." This is how ERC and Junts are and, therefore, many of their leaders are obsessed with winning the battle of their particular narrative ahead of the collective narrative.
It remains surprising that so few lessons have been learned from that October 2017. Of that historical date, everyone has clung on to the part that they can best explain to their own parish, when what the people have held on to is the unity. There is no rally in which the word unity is not one of the slogans most chanted by those present. Nobody wants division more than the pro-Spain unionists, because it would be their great victory by breaking the parliamentary majority. Giving them this triumph is irresponsible and a historical mistake that will not leave winners but only the defeated. Just as the names that joined forces for the 1-O are remembered, the leaders of the rupture will be remembered. Let no one have any doubts. Because the public has a memory, even if it is sometimes subject to an information blackout. We are not in the middle of the last century, nor in the 70s and 80s when those who acted as filters sent the message that power wanted.
In union there is strength, and discord weakens, said Aesop several centuries before Christ. And nothing has changed even though many think they are El Mago Pop and can carry out sleight of hand without people noticing.