"I felt embarrassed and sad because they didn't receive me and nor did the management". With a tone somewhere between regretful and offended, Pedro Sánchez told his friends at the TV current affairs show Al rojo vivo about his visit to the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona. Well, in fact, he didn't explain the visit because, basically, the important aspect was not the role of the hospital's management in what they understood was a private visit, but rather how hospital staff members gathered in an improvised way as Sánchez went by and chanted "Free the political prisoners" to create a moment that he probably neither expected nor will forget. They weren't activists sent by Catalan president Torra, nor by the Catalan health minister, Alba Vergés. They were ordinary citizens who considered that the Supreme Court's verdict on the pro-independence leaders was an offence and a great injustice. It's that simple, even though some may find it unpleasant to listen to the story as it really is.
Catalan society, a very significant and transversal part of it, which goes beyond the independence movement, has rejected the Supreme Court's decisions. Political parties, trades unions, city councils - not one, not two, but more than 85% of them, starting with Barcelona - professional associations, universities, the world of sports, culture, intellectuals and many other sectors of society. This is something that Pedro Sánchez is not listening to and probably just does not want to. It is easier to live in a world of fantasies, where you think that hospital staff who chant "Free the political prisoners" have been mobilized by the Catalan government, than to actually face reality.
And the point is that Catalan stubbornness has many ways of expressing itself, but it is always activated for the same reason: when it perceives that dignity is being trampled on. This Saturday, the pro-independence civil organizations, Òmnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly, have once again called for another mobilization, which aims to be multitudinous, against the decisions the Supreme Court, under a single slogan: Liberty. It is not a call for independence, unlike those on September 11th, but for the liberation of the political prisoners. A week ago on Friday, there were the so-called Marches for Liberty, which left from five different points around Catalonia and all came together in Barcelona. City police gave the figure of 550,000 people for the size of that rally, a number that many considered an underestimate. But leaving aside the exact figure, the dimension of the protest and the enormous anger among the public was clearly put into relief.
Because, in the end, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people time and time again, in this case on two occasions only eight days apart, is a stress test that very few bodies can stand up to and, naturally, only in situations of emergency, like the one that Catalonia is undergoing. Sánchez should be the first to see this, since it appears right in front of him again and again. Maybe if he took that phone call from president Torra, if he assumed the role of Spanish prime minister and didn't just insist on wearing his 'candidate' hat, if he stopped electioneering, he would understand the irritation of Catalan society. And he would also cut through his disconnection from reality.