Catalan singer-songwriter Lluís Llach's disappointment with the pro-independence political leadership is no secret. He has made it his own personal crusade to denounce the situation of the political leaders who he stood alongside as a candidate in the 2017 Catalan elections. His protests about this have been picked up again in a video in which he presents the concert he gave at the Palau Sant Jordi on September 18th, 2021 to promote the Constituent Process and which can be seen in cinemas.
"How do I see the immediate future? A disaster. A disaster because we are still suffering the consequences of Article 155, and everything brought on by the imprisonment and repression of politicians and of ordinary people in Catalonia", asserts Llach in an interview that precedes the concert and where he warns that "the pro-independence world must find a way to come together again".
Frightening dichotomy
The singer-songwriter is severely critical of the fact that at present there are "many pro-independence political agents" who no longer assert the "will of October 1st" - that is, the desire for an independent Catalonia affirmed in the 2017 referendum - which makes it difficult for the independence process to make progress. "And, in addition, the Spanish state, which does not stop committing outrageous actions, hides from Europe with these images, which are only images, showing that there is negotiation, there is a negotiating table, there is dialogue...", he adds.
Llach refers to the June 2021 pardons of the nine pro-independence politicians - "I see that almost all of them are active, I don't know if this is good or bad", he points out - and criticizes that, on the contrary, "the people on the street have not been pardoned" . "This creates a very, very frightening dichotomy, I would say it is disgusting, something difficult to understand in the pro-independence world, because now it turns out that the people who defended these politicians who today are pardoned are still in danger, and those in exile, these people continue to be prosecuted," he says.
But not only that, "the pinnacle of the expression of this pro-independence confusion", according to Llach, is that "many of them are accused by the Catalan government itself, which forms an executive with a pro-independence majority. And this is inadmissible". "I have found many people disappointed, discouraged, depressed, angry, against some political agents", he underlined.
Constituent Process
In the face of this situation, on his video, the singer-songwriter defends the work being carried out by the Constituent Process, to define the model of a country that should exist in independent Catalonia, "the broad axes along which Catalan society feels comfortable, whatever people's views might be."
He has admitted that it is not easy to answer the questions raised by the Constituent Debate through his web application at a time which he has described as one of disappointment and demobilization, which "the civil groups and political parties seem to have sought and desired".