The Diada of 2024 is the day of changes. For the first time in 14 years, the Generalitat does not have an independentist president. The arrival of Salvador Illa in government meant not only the end of the sovereignty process, but also the creation of a Parliament in which, for the first time since 1980, the different Catalan nationalist parties did not have a majority. In this unflattering panorama, the independence movement seeks to emerge this September 11 despite increasingly insurmountable differences.
There are things that do not change. The Diada always opens the political course in Catalonia, which will continue with the general policy debate in Parliament. The change of stage is evident in the political debate, which no longer focuses on the stages of the process, as was the case until 2017; nor in the imprisonment, pardon and amnesty of its leaders, as in the last six years. Now, the focus of the debate is on the new regional financing model and the improvement of resources for Catalonia agreed by the COPS and the CER.
The Government has called for the participation of all citizens in the Diada. “Both those who declare themselves pro-independence and those who do not,” said the spokesperson for the Catalan Executive, Councillor Sílvia Paneque.
The Generalitat, which, due to the short time that has passed since the investiture, has assumed most of the events prepared by the Government of Aragonès for the Diada, wanted to highlight the civic and inclusive nature of this day. At the institutional event that will take place in the evening at the Montjuïc fountains, a video will be shown featuring footballers such as Laime Yamal and Aitana Bonmatí, the doctor Antoni Trilla and the journalist Mari Pau Huguet, who will express their “feelings for Catalonia.” “, detailed Paneque.
In his institutional speech, Illa used “tarradellism” (a bust of the president in exile made by the sculptor Subirachs) to deepen this transversal and inclusive Day, not only for the independentists, which the PSC has always advocated. “Catalonia binds us all without distinction,” the president summed up.
The independence movement in full crisis
The mobilization capacity of the independence movement remains undeniable, even if in recent years the Diada demonstrations have seen a significant decline in the number of participants. As the demonstrators have descended, internal disagreements between parties and entities have only increased.
In 2024, the independence movement hit rock bottom. After several electoral setbacks, Junts, ERC and the CUP lost their absolute majority in Parliament. The entry of the extreme right of Aliança Catalana confirmed that hate speech has also permeated sovereignty.
Junts, ERC and CUP are caught up by the Diada as their respective internal congresses approach to rethink their strategies. The change of leadership, on the other hand, is long overdue and is only expected in the CUP (assembly formation that traditionally already renews its lists). Carles Puigdemont will continue to lead Junts after the October congress. For its part, the ERC is involved in an internal power struggle between Oriol Junqueras and his detractors, who have not yet presented a formal candidate to challenge the former president for the leadership of the party. And the controversy over the defamatory posters of the Maragall coming from their own ranks remains unresolved.
Civil sovereignty organisations have certainly renewed their visible faces, but they maintain fundamental disagreements on the strategy to follow. Òmnium Cultural calls for collective reflection on the part of the entire independence movement and tries to maintain a central role from which the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has distanced itself. With Lluís Llach at its head, the entity has confirmed its open confrontation with the ERC, moving away from the capacity for union that it once had.
The two entities have agreed, after years of disagreements, to organize a decentralized demonstration in five Catalan cities (Barcelona, Tarragona, Girona, Lleida and Tortosa), which will avoid the image of a single march with little participation.
The different mood of the two pro-independence social organizations has been clearly evident in the last 24 hours. While in an interview with elDiario.es the president of Òmnium Cultural, Xavier Antich, stated that his entity had not participated in the internal “scrutiny” of the sovereignist movement, on the microphones of RAC-1, Llach dedicated himself to criticizing almost all parties and leaders of the process. The only exception is Puigdemont and some CUP mayors of small towns in Girona.
Regarding Junqueras, Llach said that the last time he spoke to him was when he was imprisoned in Lledoners (Barcelona), that is, more than three years ago. The conversation was more like two monologues, as Llach describes it. “He gave me a speech and then I gave him one,” he explained, later declaring himself “very angry” with “the obsession with destroying President Puigdemont” that, according to the singer-songwriter, the former president of the ERC feels.
“Junts has been showing disunity for months; thank God, every now and then the president comes to the table,” he continued. Llach also ironically criticized the decision-making process of the CUP assembly in its refoundation process: “They are thinking about it and they will tell us what they thought.”
Llach used harsher terms to refer to the ERC than to the far-right pro-independence party Aliança Catalana. “I don’t like him because he has dangerous tics, but all pro-independence people will be welcome at the demonstration,” the ANC leader said. The uproar over the singer-songwriter’s words forced the entity to later post messages on social media claiming that Aliança Catalana “is not welcome” at the march, something Llach never said.
In keeping with the most retrograde speeches, Llach urged the left to abandon “goodism” and “wokism” and to debate migration. Of course, the singer-songwriter said he would welcome any political leader who would participate in the march “for education.”
