Another demonstration for Catalonia's independence

It seems that Catalan independentists do not surrender to achieve the goal to get independence from Spain. Yesterday, April 2nd, another demonstration has been taken in Sant Jaume square in Barcelona, the seat of the Catalan government, where hundreds of people (about 2000 demonstrators) gathered to ask the government for passing a law that will let Catalonia to unilaterally declare its independence from Spain, that is, without the endorsement of the Spanish government. Catalonia is living really bad times, as a Herald Tribune article described two days ago. Catalonia contributes with the 10% of its GDP to support poorer regions of Spain through taxes collected by the Spanish government. The inability of Catalonia to decide the amount of taxes to transfer to Spain for solidarity leads the Catalan country to a deep impoverishment, specially in these times of crisis. The only way the Catalan government can get funds is, first, to save money by cutting public spending and, second, to borrow more money; both are bad solutions, specially the latter. The problem is that, again, the Spanish government has forbidden Catalonia to increase its debt. This difficult economical situation together with the continuous attempts from Spanish politicians and courts to gradually annihilate the Catalan identity have lead independentism to be multiplied by three during the last 10 years. The past July 10th 2010, more than 1 million people filled the streets of Barcelona during a huge demonstration to demand the right to decide. Some months later, the nationalist party CIU won Catalan elections and a new independentist party (SI) entered the Parliament. Actually, SI has been the party that has proposed the Law of Independence that people in the today's demonstration were claiming.

The Law of Independence will be discussed in the Catalan Parliament from April 13th to 14th, and it will be a decisive event to show what parties are true supporters of independence. During the past elections, CIU gained the confidence of many independentist voters, so their decision on supporting the law will be crucial for saving or hurting their credibility.

Plaça Sant Jaume (Saint James square), Barcelona, April 2nd 2011