The Sabadell section of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has organized a cycle of presentations of independence candidacies for next week that has caused controversy. The plan includes the participation on Friday, April 19, of the Islamophobic Aliança Catalana formation, which is running in the Catalan elections on May 12 under the leadership of the mayor of Ripoll, Sílvia Orriols. The invitation has caused the first reaction from the CUP, which has published a letter in which it warns that it will not appear at the event that the ANC had planned on Wednesday, April 17, for anti-capitalists, despite not sharing a poster or table. . ERC later joined in and also announced that it was declining to participate.
In the text, the CUP compares Aliança Catalana with Vox since it spreads “racist propaganda that tries to make refugees and migrants the scapegoat.” “We consider that you are wrong to give them a microphone,” add the local section of the Cuperos, to “make it easier for them to express themselves freely as if their opinions were as respectable as any other, even when they say they want to cut or destroy rights.”
“We ask you to reconsider the decision to invite Aliança Catalana and we inform you that we will not participate as CUP in the presentation round if the invitation to the extreme right party is maintained,” the anti-capitalists conclude.
Esquerra has also declined to participate. In his opinion, “it is a strategic error to try to normalize the extreme right, whatever flag it carries.” Gabriel Fernàndez, leader of the Republicans in Sabadell, had confirmed his attendance for Thursday, April 18.
Despite the warning, the ANC of Sabadell has assured that it is not going to back down. In a letter of response to the CUP, the Assemblea affirms that the anti-capitalist formation acts “like a dictatorial regime” and that the will of the ANC is for “Catalonia to be a democratic state in which freedom of expression is an inalienable right and in that fundamental rights are respected for everyone and valid for everyone, starting with the right of expression”, which is why “like it or not (…) we must respect what they say and be able to convince to the majority that our proposal is the best.
The Sabadell ANC has also responded to ERC: “We bet on words and arguments”. In the cycle of conferences, ex-councillor Lourdes Ciuró, from Junts, has again confirmed her participation, as well as the extraparliamentary Alhora, led by ex-councillor Clara Ponsatí and the philosopher Jordi Graupera, who has confirmed on the X network that she will attend.
For its part, the national headquarters of the ANC, consulted by this newspaper, recalled that its territorial offices “are sovereign and do not require the approval of the national headquarters to carry out acts.” Other Assemblea sources point out on the sidelines that they do not agree with this cycle of events, because it can be considered that they help the campaigns of different politicians.
