As he prepares to spend Christmas in prison, Catalan independence activist Jordi Cuixart has written a letter calling for the independence movement to act with "generosity". Writing after the election of 21st December, the leader of the civil society organisation Òmnium Cultural says that "the overwhelming majority achieved by the sovereignist parties requires the movement to act with more generosity and sense of state than ever". Cuixart, who has been in Madrid's Soto del Real jail for over two months, showed his satisfaction with the electoral results obtained by the three pro-independence candidatures.
"Every time we are called on, even in completely illegitimate circumstances, the people of Catalonia never fail to respond", he asserts. The Òmnium president calls for "unity in diversity" and to be bold in "facing the country's key accords", and refers especially to Catalonia's "educational model", its democracy and its culture.
Cuixart underlines this idea of diversity recalling that 2018 will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Catalan linguist Pompeu Fabra. He recounts that Catalan has been the "language of welcome for thousands of Catalans who originated from many different places": "Here no-one has been asked to give anything up, on the contrary, everything that is added is more enriching, it makes us freer".
The Òmnium president finishes his letter noting the "hard times that those in prison and their families are having, especially over Christmas," but he sends a message of hope "to overcome this adversity".