It is just on ten years since the popular consultation on Catalan independence in the town of Arenys de Munt which, in a sense, was the origin of the broad grassroots movement that organised similar votes in many municipalities around Catalonia, including Barcelona. Arenys was, in this regard, the spearhead or the embryo, take your pick of the terms, which made it possible to glimpse a path which hadn't been followed until that date, a way of shaking the structures of the country and to walk firmly and decidedly towards the independence of Catalonia. Nobody imagined at that moment the pulse which that initiative would activate, nor how the parties would adopt it, ever vigilant to avoid being overwhelmed by an increasingly-demanding public - who, at that time, were still awaiting the judicial ruling on Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy, although the presentiments on what the Constitutional Court would say already seemed clear.
That first trial run, unofficial, non-binding and consented, immediately showed that the initiative had potential, because 41% of local residents voted, a respectable figure given the percentages that usually take part in this type of consultation, and 96% of these stated their support for independence. Today, with the path that has been traversed since, the poll held by the municipality of Arenys de Munt could even be seen as slightly quaint. But it would be wrong to view it like this, since all the steps taken, such as the non-binding Catalonia-wide consultation held on November 9th, 2014, under president Artur Mas, eventually led to the popular explosion of the referendum on October 1st, 2017, organized by the Catalan government and, as a result of which, members of that executive, as well as leaders of the pro-independence civil groups, are in exile and in prison.
The country has changed a lot since that day in September 2009, when José Montilla was president of Catalonia. Few would have imagined that, ten years later, the path taken would be what it has been. Even less conceivable would have been the current juncture, when the force of the repression combines with a permanent latent threat towards any political movement at the margins of the constitution, with discourses aimed at not losing the positions achieved on October 1st, 2017.
President Torra appealed on Friday from Arenys to "stop prostituting words" and repeated that the goal was independence. His words had a strong resonance, although the actions of his government, certainly, tend to adjust the impression made by its public statements. Torra also has hanging over his head the public prosecutor's demand for his disqualification from holding office, for not having withdrawn a banner from the Catalan government palace when ordered to. That case will be heard by the Catalan High Court (TSJC) in late September, making the current occupant of the Catalan presidency the first in the post to be put on trial for a political reason while still in office. The indications are, furthermore, that the justice system is prepared to go full speed ahead on this hearing and that, immediately after the TSJC's decision, the Supreme Court, could carry out an express ban on the president's capacity to hold office during the first few months of 2020.
Arenys was the beginning of the democratic tsunami and an example of how the grassroots, when they organize, can end up exceeding expectations. And causing surprise.