We had a bet about the new Catalan pro-independence government. My friend paid up the five euros, thinking
that our bet had been that Junts pel Si and the CUP would reach an agreement in
time and there would not be new elections.
But after rereading my last blog post, I realized our bet had been that
Artur Mas would be invested. I’ve
returned the five euros and forked over five.
We’re both sad to see President Mas go, but happy that the process is
once again moving ahead.
Still, I wasn’t confused about everything. I was right to think that President Mas would
step aside in order not to be the stumbling block on the road to independence. Just when we all thought that on Monday new
elections would be convoked for March, President Mas announced on Saturday
afternoon that the Junts pel Si coalition and CUP had come to an
agreement. He would step aside. The CUP would formally agree, in writing,
that they would enable a stable government and not vote against anything that
promoted the move towards independence. There
would not be new elections in March after all.
Mas proposed Carles Puigdemont as his successor and this was acceptable
to the CUP.
Carles Puigdemont has, until now, been the mayor of
Girona. He is a journalist and a
long-time independence supporter, helping to form and serving as the president
of the Association of Municipalities for Independence. He speaks Catalan, Spanish, English, French,
and Romanian.
I was thrilled that the two sides had come to an agreement. I was equally sad that Artur Mas would not be
the president who would lead the process to its conclusion. I watched his 50-minute discourse on
television on Saturday and had that overwhelming experience when you cry both
for joy and for sorrow.
I’m very sorry that Artur Mas will not be the next president
of Catalunya, the one who brings in the new era. I am also disappointed with the people who
never liked him and still don’t like him and don’t give him credit for the work
he has done – at significant personal risk and with all the force of the
powerful Spanish state against him – and for what he has achieved for Catalans
in spite of much adversity.
These are the self-proclaimed, so-called radicals,
supposedly open-minded, progressive people who reject prejudice and
injustice. And yet they are the ones who
can’t let go of an old idea -- the idea that because ex-President Jordi Pujol was
(probably) corrupt (pending trial), that his successor is also corrupt. Guilt by association smacks of
injustice. It is an old idea that should
have been retired by now.
They hold it against him that he joined the independence
movement late. “He didn’t use to be an
independentista”, some friends tell me.
And so what? “He only became an
independentista because he saw the public demand for it”. But isn’t that what a good public representative
is supposed to do? I’m sure many
Americans would like that of their elected representatives when it comes to
imposing some sort of gun control. It
seems to me that someone who can see what the public wants and can see that
there is, practically speaking, no other real solution to the nation’s
problems, merits credit, not scorn.
Artur Mas was able to see the reality around him and change his
political stand accordingly. His critics
are not able to do the same.
Carles Puigdemont, the new Catalan president, appears also
to have what it takes to do the job.
Those on both sides of the old arguments support him and wish him (and
the nation) well. He has been officially
invested, the new government has been formed, and Catalunya is back on the road
to independence.
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