Independence is in our hands

Anna Arqué i Solsona, ICEC Spokesperson – Catalonia

People’s self-determination is recognised as a universal right. Therefore, its possible outcome, independence, and its material reality, sovereignty, ought to be considered as such.

There have been many different approaches to winning ‘national freedom’, and although the fight for independence is not new, it isn’t old-fashioned either. On the contrary, only a few decades ago, after the Second World War, many European nations achieved independence. Even now, many peaceful and solid movements are actively claiming their right to do the same.

Catalonia and Scotland have stood out in recent years, and others, such as Wales, are now rising to a potentially leading position. But before we get into current realities, let’s clarify a few points.

Independence is a valid cause, whatever the size of your country or economy. Despite glorious revolutionary pasts and unclear loyalist periods, independence remains a legitimate and timely goal for historical nations such as ours.

Legitimate

Restoring full control over a country’s ability to decide on its own resources, strengths and weaknesses is entirely legitimate. In fact, failing to see this might seem odd. However, there is also a modern imperialism entrenched in the states of Spain, France, England and others, which many continue to accept.

The idea of keeping control over other people’s resources and future, simply because your king or army was once stronger, and with no way to correct that injustice through democracy, is still accepted as ‘fair enough’ by millions of people who call themselves democrats. These same self-proclaimed democrats often do not see self-determination as a useful or necessary tool.

We must not ignore that this tension between opposing visions is behind many of today’s conflicts. The pro-independence side, of course, is always portrayed as the disruptive one. Not the state that continues to extract from the local territory and its people, not only their natural resources and labour, but also their right to live according to their culture and will.

The real clash of interests is not hard to understand. The complexity does not come from people failing to grasp the point, even when they pretend otherwise with a dismissive attitude. The complexity arises when we, the independentists, have to decide how to confront the internal colonialism we face, and the entire system built around it to preserve power.

Self-determination

The states we are trapped in have no intention of recognising our national right to self-determination, especially not when they know we are likely to win, despite all their unionist machinery. This is why debates about different state approaches to self-determination often miss the point.

Let us not forget that when the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, pursued the legal route through Westminster, Scotland received the same answer that Catalonia got from Spain: no. Asking the state is a dead end. Salmond only reached that point because of political wisdom. Do not be fooled into thinking that England or the union acted as friendly or democratic partners in that process.

Now, turning to the present day, I feel compelled to say clearly: Catalans won the referendum on 1 October 2017. Today, in 2025, the civic movement still holds that victory close.

We have not surrendered, despite what some media suggest, or what the despair of Catalan political parties might lead you to believe.

What happened in Catalonia was bound to happen. The political machinery in place when it all began in 2009 could not have produced a different outcome.

The main goal of the Catalan popular referendums, between 2009 and 2011, was to achieve independence from the Spanish state by holding an official self-determination referendum called by the Catalan Parliament.

At the same time, we knew that the comfortable, autonomist existence of Catalan nationalist parties would collapse, and it did. The enormous victory of 1 October 2017 shook the so-called independentist parties to their core.

Internal struggles for control led to many changes. For example, CiU, the hegemonic party, no longer exists. Most of its politicians and members are now part of Junts.

This confusing and difficult chapter of our history was necessary in order to lay all the cards on the table.

Only now is the essential battle truly beginning. And let me tell you, Catalans are holding up well in the face of a sense of internal betrayal.

What worries some of us most is not Spain. In fact, it never really was Spain. What worries us is how to overcome the exhaustion caused by the political leadership during the referendum.

The greatest failure for the Catalan independence movement would be if the hundreds of thousands of wounded, angry and disillusioned people who chose not to vote in the latest Catalan national elections were to fall into a toxic, cynical mindset. If they lost trust in the movement completely, they could crush any chance of building a new and honest path forward. We cannot, and we will not, allow that to happen.

We know that international solidarity was mainly directed at Catalan politicians in prison or exile, because those images were shocking to the world.

They were, and still are, used as a kind of warning to any aspiring independence leader across Europe. But the focus on politicians blocked the empathy and support that the millions of Catalans left in shock so badly needed, after an eight-second independence.

Solidarity

Now that the deepest grief has passed, it is time to let the voice of the non-partisan popular base be heard. Perhaps, at last, the understanding and solidarity that never arrived from abroad will come.

Today, Catalonia may not have a clear parliamentary majority for independence, but we do have a large, steady, wiser and very aware base of people who support the cause. No one has stepped away. We also now have new political pro-independence parties: AC, Front, Alhora, PUIC and others.

To understand the spirit of this popular majority, here is a short extract from the founding manifesto of Dempeus (Standing Up), the most recently created political platform: “The institutional narrative that independence was not possible in October 2017 is a fraudulent narrative that only seeks to deflect responsibility from the managers of that process. As they have already publicly acknowledged, the plan of the Catalan politicians was only to negotiate a better status within the Spanish State or an impossible agreed referendum. That is why they abandoned the Catalan institutions without opposition or resistance and handed them over to Spain after a simple resolution by the Spanish Senate activating Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.”

Independence, my friends, is made more complicated by our own actions. If there is one lesson to learn from the Catalan popular victory, and the political failure that followed, it is this:

It is not enough to be an independentist. You must be ready to see the process through. If you are, then you must also ensure there is a clear plan to contain any hostility from the state. This was an obvious and essential requirement, and one that Catalan politicians failed to prepare.

Manipulation

Do not try to outsmart the state, and do not play games with the people. The state has centuries of experience in manipulation and betrayal. Honesty is our strongest card. The people are our best structure. They do not deserve to be used. Do not treat them as mere workers for the cause. Make activists of them, so that if leadership fails, they will know what to do.

Now, we Catalans are regrouping. We watch you Welsh with joy and admiration for the brilliant work you are doing. We will rise again, perhaps to run the final stretch together, and show the world that it does not matter what others say we are. In the end, we will show who we truly are through our actions and our decisions.

And we say YES to ourselves, YES to our past, present and future, YES to raising our voices on the world stage and speaking for ourselves. Come on. We have everything we need. Let’s use it wisely.