And L'Estaca [song composed by Lluís Llach in 1968 during Franco's regime, and a symbol of the fight for freedom] was sung on the esplanade of Montjuïc. And Lluís Llach sang it, today retired from the stage but an indispensable artist to understand what is happening today in Catalonia. The singer-songwriter of Verges took his guitar and, for a moment, time seemed to have stopped - back to many years ago. So many conversations from many people has been dialogue about the police and Civil Guards having orders to prevent them from voting on Sunday. And people speak about judges, public prosecutors and arrests. And the political performance in Montjuïc gathered on stage from christian democrats to left-wing anti-capitalists. In a difficult harmony but behind a unified banner: referendum and democracy. And the opponents were allies. The lyrics of the song felt festive, but above all it was political. It was the closure of an election campaign banned by the courts, but which has celebrated more than a thousand events throughout Catalonia in fifteen days.
And of course there was a campaign and of course the referendum has opened a path of accusations of sedition, coup d'état and other insults. All this happened during Friday: an electoral event was celebrated by Ciudadanos (Citizens), with the head of the opposition, Inés Arrimadas, in Hospitalet de Llobregat; the Catalan air space was closed by Civil Aviation, so that images of mass crowds in Catalonia going out to vote would not be spread around the world; the TSJC (Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia) forced Google to close different mobile applications related to the 1st October vote; the delegation of the Spanish government urgently summoned all accredited consuls in Barcelona, seeing as it has lost the international media by an avalanche of own goals; the PP (Popular Party) rolled out Albiol, but instead of speaking about politics, he recalled the laundry basket his wife used for the dirty clothes; Felipe VI cancelled his agenda for next week; a total of 150 intellectuals of global reference came out to vouch for the referendum; Méndez de Vigo (Spanish government spokesman) threatened the pro-independence leaders from the boardroom of the Cabinet Meeting: they were risking their assets; tractors occupied during some hours the centre of the cities, just as before the students had done; the cassolada (banging of pots and pans) was felt with force throughout Catalonia, like every day, at 10pm; the Spanish Agency of Data Protection threatened fines of up to 300,000 euros for those manning the polling stations. Is this repressive action scarcely that of someone who believes the referendum is totally disactivated?
Of course not. The referendum is alive and all expectations are still open. A total of 1,900 journalists accredited for the day demonstrates the global interest in the referendum of 1st October, and also guarantees that the repression of the Spanish state has a limit. And that the last word has not yet been said.