The Catalan elections of 12-M are potentially decisive. They can leave behind a stage of social polarization and institutional paralysis. That is why I want to take a public position in favor of a project and a person who can lead us on the path of reunion between Catalans, establishing the foundations for a Catalonia that takes care of its people and projects itself to the world as a beacon of innovation and civility, a reference to the choppy waters we have entered.
A project of the left. Not because of ideology but because of experience. Nations are not above the needs of citizens. They are primarily to serve you in your daily life. The matter of dying for the country is over, which, according to history, results in many dying so that others can climb into power and do their thing, no matter how many ethnic surnames they accumulate.
Tell me about health, education, culture, housing, the territory, ecology, animal rights, retirement, employment, wages, security, equality between women and men, the with respect to any gender identity that each one decides, of Catalan, Spanish and foreign citizens, living in a multicultural society like ours. And fighting for all this to obtain the necessary resources, with or against whoever, the Spanish Government, the European Commission, large companies, all those who disproportionately appropriate the product of our work.
Maximum level of self-government to achieve and consolidate all this. And to help defend peace at a time when the drums of war are resounding in Europe. Without getting wrapped up in exclusionary flags, respecting them all if they deserve it. Without looking back at our blood history and without telling fables to young people, preventing them from exhausting themselves in the search for a magic formula that has little to do with what they want and dream. No flag saves from the impulse to commit suicide. Rather, it ends in collective suicide.
This is the project I vote for. But a project is empty words without people to defend and implement it. Capable, honest and credible people. I don’t vote for politicians but for people who are politicians and whom I trust, with the data in hand. And that is why I vote for Illa, because I have been with him in the trenches of the fight against covid and I was able to observe his dedication, his honesty and his decisions always based on analyzes and recommendations from scientists.
We also spent many hours talking about Catalonia and the world. He is a man of peace, he is a calm and tolerant man, who faces insult fearlessly and inspires serenity with his mere presence, for some reason he is a philosopher. And then act.
I don’t want to shy away from how I came to this decision. As it is public, I had the honor of being nominated, in my capacity as an independent, as Minister of Universities by Mayor Ada Colau, whom I supported in three campaigns, including the last . She has been the best mayoress since my friend Pasqual.
But these elections are about something else. They are going to build a coalition between socialists, commoners and left-wing republicans. This is the political basis of the Catalonia of the future. And the political reality indicates that Salvador Illa is the only one who can articulate it. For votes and temperance. Little to do with the previous tripartite. Because this option would actually be the political version of the historical block that will transform Catalonia.
