With ten days to go to the pro-independence demonstration organised for 16th March in Madrid, pro-sovereignty bodies are starting to breath a little easier. Today, what seemed an unachievable objective doesn't seem a fantasy: overflowing the Spanish capital with a demonstration in support of the political prisoners and in defence of the right to self-determination which is, for example, larger than that some weeks ago in plaza de Colón when 45,000 people gathered to clamour against the independence movement. The hiring of coaches by the ANC is moving forwards at a fast pace and the same thing is happening with the purchase of tickets for travel by AVE high-speed trains or by plane, beyond the groups of supporters who will end up travelling by their own means to the Spanish capital.
The independence movement, from ANC to Òmnium, the two bodies which have coordinated from the start of the independence process on successful, large-scale mobilisations, has taken an important gamble with this act, since there's never been such a demonstration in Madrid. The fact that it's in defence of the political prisoners should also mobilise part of the Spanish left which has supported them, like, for example, Podemos and its partners.
The demonstration is going to take place with the trial underway and with the great accusation formulated by prosecutors, rebellion, having been diluted to be left with practically nothing. So much so that in Madrid they're already taking it as read that although the sentences will be very high, the crime of rebellion won't be present. There's a tendency to easily forget that Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Cuixart, Carme Forcadell, Jordi Turull, Joaquim Forn, Raül Romeva, Josep Rull and Dolors Bassa are in provisional detention above all for this alleged crime.
Sometimes this fact is forgotten all too quickly, a fact which is fundamental to understand the injustice that has taken place and the deficiencies they've had to face in the preparation of their defence. It's also important, beyond solidarity with them all, to communicate to Spanish public opinion that the trial they've found themselves subject to is far from a minor fact. The treatment it's being given in the Spanish media isn't proportional to either its importance, nor the conflict open with Catalonia. The trial is, in any case, a turning point in the relationship, doing nothing but make it more tense. Too often, people want to spread the idea that the trial is a Catalan thing when the reality is very different. Of course there's a different feelings from Spanish and Catalan society, but that's due, to a large extent, to the disinformation created in Spanish politics and media.
The demonstration in Madrid on the 16th will also be about that. About making ourselves heard, about defending the idea that self-determination is not a crime and about conveying to the heart of Spanish society the enormous error that's been committed with a trial that is growing ever more unjust with every hearing in the Supreme Court.