The Diada mobilization of 2024 will be the first in more than a decade without an independentist president in the Generalitat. In recent editions, the wear and tear and division of a movement that seeks to recover the muscle of the great demonstrations of the process have already been evident. This Wednesday, the concentrations will be decentralized and have been called in Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Lleida and Tortosa. The agreed motto is “We return to the streets”.
Òmnium is one of the organisers of the protests. The entity, which does not receive subsidies or financing through bank loans, was created in 1961 and continues to have the promotion of the language as one of its fundamental objectives. The decline in the use of Catalan among young people and other groups is worrying and is one of the areas in which Òmnium works most. Its current president, Xavier Antich, also stresses the need for the independence movement to tackle pressing issues such as inequality. “We assume that Junts, ERC and the CUP will reflect on what has not been done well when it comes to making it clear that they are parties with a vocation to govern and improve people’s lives,” he stresses.
Unlike the ANC, Òmnium avoids getting involved in partisan skirmishes and the permanent struggle between Junts and ERC. Unlike the rest of the actors in the independence sphere, it is an entity that continues to increase the number of its members. Currently, there are already 180,000.
This will be the first Diada in 14 years without an independence president. Does that make it a different day from previous ones?
The change in the political framework conditions the demands for independence. It is obvious that there is no government in favor of this battle, but this Diada had already begun to be considered before the elections. Given the situation of the movement, we have clearly indicated that it must be a constructive Diada linked to the improvement of the material living conditions of the people. The demand for independence is not a totem word that changes everything, but rather the aspiration for a new political framework to address structural problems differently.
Òmnium attributed the arrival of Salvador Illa to the presidency of the Generalitat to the fratricidal clash between the pro-independence parties. Is this the only cause?
It is not the only one, but it is the most relevant. Between 2017 and 2024, the pro-independence parties failed to develop major strategic agreements. No exciting projects were agreed. In 2022, at Òmnium, we diagnosed that the movement was in a phase of discouragement and disorientation caused by the civil war between the parties. The elections of May 12 marked the end of an electoral cycle that crystallized the desertion of the pro-independence vote, which in 2017 exceeded two million and has now been reduced by almost 50%. The parties have a responsibility for self-criticism.
The “no” to independence rises to 53% and the “yes” falls to 40%, the greatest distance since the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO) has kept records. Are there people who have changed their options?
There are people who do not see the viability of the project. Independence is the last of the ten concerns of the under-25s that we interviewed in an Òmnium survey. The first were job insecurity and housing. All the data tells us that in recent years the independence project has become disconnected from the improvement of the people’s living conditions. We have not managed to explain that our own state will be a much better way than the Spanish state to contribute to solving the problems.
They have always considered that the independence movement had to convince more people, a thesis also defended by ERC but with relative success given its electoral results.
It is not enough to say it. It is not only political stories that end up generating support, but people value facts: legislative initiatives or the ability of governments to solve problems. At Òmnium, we assume that Junts, ERC and the CUP will reflect on what has not been done well when it comes to making it clear that they are parties with a vocation to govern and improve people’s lives. Independence projects are supported when they are capable of improving things, but today Catalan society is divided in terms of inequalities and faces problems (housing, poverty, job insecurity) that have not been solved or have been poorly solved.
Do you fear that these unrests, sometimes channelled by the extreme right, will be channelled towards the Aliança Catalana independence movement?
This is a big problem. Nothing is happening in Catalonia that has not happened in the last decade in advanced European societies: the extreme right has a particular capacity to channel hate speech in the face of social problems. At Òmnium, we are extremely concerned that, if we do not change it collectively, [la extrema derecha] can grow, as has happened in countries like France.
What plans does Òmnium have for development, if your idea is to continue expanding the base?
Òmnium is the only agent of the independence movement that, from 2017 to today, not only has not lost its social base but has multiplied it by three. This should not lead us to complacency because we want to grow further, but it is still an adherence to Òmnium’s strategy: to be constructive and build alliances. We have never participated in the internal dismemberment of the independence movement, even if it has cost us dearly. We want, on the side of civil society, to continue to strengthen alliances around the great consensuses of the country and for them to have a political translation, regardless of who governs.
What are these major consensuses?
In the case of Catalonia, we could name a dozen. There is a fundamental one, the consensus that Catalonia has the right to democratically resolve its future. The underlying political conflict has not yet been resolved. We can go back to the great demonstration of 2010, which had the motto “We are born, we decide” and which was led by President Montilla and the rest of the former presidents still alive, or to the great demonstration of 1977. The political conflict has been going on for decades, and for errors and elements of all kinds, has not been addressed. We are not saying an event, it is the questioning by the Council of Europe of the State for its repressive response in 2017. The only way to resolve political conflicts is to vote on them, and the change of political majorities does not eliminate it.
We are also concerned about the decline in the social use of the Catalan language, which has always been an element of social cohesion. There is a broad consensus on language policy in Parliament. But also in the underfunding or deficit of infrastructure, which goes from the Foment del Treball to the Intersindical.
Language has been a fundamental point in Òmnium’s trajectory. Why have there been Catalans who have stopped speaking the Catalan language?
According to our reports on the situation of the Catalan language, several factors have led us to this situation of decline in the social use of the Catalan language. Catalan has been a priority in schools for decades, which has allowed an expansion of knowledge of Catalan but has not guaranteed its social use. The problem is not knowledge, it is social use, and there are many dark corners that need to be worked on: the absence of an audiovisual market in Catalan, its near non-existence in the new formats of cultural consumption by young people. Catalan must be present, because the language is an element of cohesion beyond the political option available to each person.
Independence projects are supported when they are capable of improving things, but today Catalan society is divided in terms of inequalities and faces problems (housing, poverty, job insecurity) that have not been resolved or have been poorly resolved.
What assessment does Òmnium make of the application of the amnesty?
The mere fact that the amnesty law was approved was excellent news, but we had already warned at the time that the problem lay in its application. And that is where we are. This is a monumental anomaly at European level: a part of the judiciary is explicitly sabotaging a norm approved by the legislative branch. This is intolerable and must be remedied. This is not only a problem for the pro-independence movement, but for all democrats. We are facing a quasi-revolt on the part of the judiciary because it does not like a law that amends its repressive decisions.
Do you think that the main difference in the application of the amnesty is between the judges of the Supreme Court and those who work in Catalonia outside the major jurisdictional bodies?
Partly yes. The great resistance to the application of the amnesty law is manifested at the top of the judicial power: Supreme Court, National Court and Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC).
The amnesty was extended to 46 police officers under investigation for the 1-O charges. If the amnesty does not include everyone (politicians, separatists and police officers), what is the point?
This is a very delicate but very important subject. For Òmnium, amnesty is not a promise of peace, but rather implies the end of the repressive means of the Spanish State. Since amnesty means recognizing that repression is not an acceptable way in a democratic State to resolve a political conflict, it must resolve the case of people who are victims of political persecution. And this is not the case of the 1-O police officers, who have never had their rights violated, but are accused of violating them and even inflicting degrading treatment or torture. The United Nations explicitly states that definitive amnesties that prevent investigations into those who have violated fundamental rights are not acceptable.
The independence movement has sometimes been tempted to exclude people who did not agree 100% with our postulates. Pluralism is part of the strength of the independence movement.
Have Òmnium’s relations with the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) improved since Lluís Llach took over?
With the ANC we have always had a curious relationship, but there is a strategic coincidence in the objective of moving towards independence. Since organizations are also people, the relationships have not always been the same. There have been more tense moments when the ways of working on common goals differed, but the current relations of Òmnium with the ANC are very cordial. We work well and speak with great loyalty and with the awareness that the two organizations are different and that each has its role. That we managed to obtain a call for mobilization for Diada in a very different climate from previous years is a sign that the relations are loyal. The differences that may exist are the result of the pluralism within the independence movement, but it shows that the movement is not a sect but rather has nuances, and this is something that must be assumed normally. Pluralism is the basis of any democratic system, and the independence movement has sometimes been tempted to exclude people who did not agree 100% with our postulates. Pluralism is part of the strength of the independence movement.
