Carta a una amiga japonesa

Dear (...)

There was a massive demonstration yesterday in Barcelona, to protest against Constitutional Court’s sentence on Estatut (Catalan Law to regulate how the political, economic and cultural relations between Catalonia and Spain should be).
90% of Catalan congressmen approved this law four years ago, and it was later approved in Madrid Parliament too; but now the Constitutonal Court –mostly conservative- has banned 14 articles, refering the national identity, the Catalan language, and so on; and they also prohibited Catalonia to renegotiate its economic contribution to Spain, which will always be stated by Spanish government.

Some politicians in Europe has protested against this sentence too (i.e. the President and the vice-president of the Eurochamber); and even the Nobel awarded former US president Jimmy Carter declared that it is a mistake and an offense to Catalonia. He was awarded last week with the Catalunya International award, and offered to send international supervisors from his Carter Center to Catalonia if a Poll on independence took place.

The figures about the people taking part in the protest are quite similar in all media (weird, so it must be true), between 1.1 and 1.5 million people. Most of demonstrators were wearing “estelades” (independentist flags), in a proportion that I esteem of 1 senyera (catalan flag) for 8 or 10 estelades (independentist flags). All Spanish journals (even the most centralist and conservative ) recognise today that the demonstration was clearly independentist.

I was there and it was spectacular : the whole Passeig de Gracia, and all the streets leading there (Aragó, València, Consell de Cent); Diagonal Ave. from I-don’t-know-where up to Passeig de Gracia in both directions, Gran Via from Casanovas or so up to Tetuan Sq..... everything full of people, with no room to swing a cat, beneath a sea composed of estelades and senyeres, and banners claiming for independence ( bye bye Spain, Game Over, Catalonia is not Spain... both in Catalan and English).

There will be elections for the Catalan Parliament next fall, and as a latest news, former Football Club Barcelona’s President, Joan Laporta presents himself leading an independentist party.

I don’t want to bother you, but I thought I should keep you informed about this, for you to come back after summer.

Please let me drop a few lines if you are not too busy.