Mobilization. The Junts+Puigdemont for Catalonia campaign is spending the final days trying to mobilize every last vote. Its candidate, Carles Puigdemont, called in his meeting this Tuesday, before supporters from Lleida, for Catalans to express a vote of revolt and indignation this Sunday, in response to the situation in which Catalonia finds itself, unbecoming of a prosperous territory in Europe. He affirmed that this is the vote that the Spanish state did not want, when what it has been trying to do was put the president of the Generalitat in prison. "And I'm here with you, a few weeks away from being able to return without having to apologize to any Spanish judge", he proclaimed, to the enthusiasm of the public that, once again, filled the Jean Carrère space in Argelers (Northern Catalonia), the exiled president's campaign base. Until the amnesty law comes into force, he could still be arrested if he crosses the border into the Spanish state.
"On May 12th we must revolt, it must be a vote of revolt, of indignation. We can't have a future if they steal our hope and take away the fruit of your efforts", warned Puigdemont after setting out the situation in which teachers, doctors or young people who can't move out of their parents' home find themselves. He warned that this situation also affects those from what the PSC candidate calls Bajo Llobregat - a reference to Salvador Illa's recent conversion to Spanish of a place name in Catalan. And he reiterated that the Spanish state is not only taking the fruit of Catalans' efforts but "taking it and sending it to Madrid".
A failure to vote perpetuates the situation
The head of the Junts list warned that non-voting will not stop this situation and that, in fact, it could make it chronic and he asked abstentionists to think about what Spain wants. "Does it want a vote that strengthens or divides? If it wants a vote that divides, do yourself a damned favour, of casting a vote that strengthens. What does Spain want? It wants you to vote for someone who does not have a no for Spain or for someone who it has under its thumb, d'you know what I mean?", he asked, noting ironically that this formula is good for deciding how you should vote.
Puigdemont once again appealed to pride and self-esteem, affirming that the Spanish state is nervous about the mobilization that Junts is achieving. "They fear this mobilization, that we will put this mobilization to good use. They know that we will put it at the service of the construction of the independence of Catalonia. And this gives them a terrible stomach ache that doesn't go away. They've seen us and they've seen us resist. They wanted us tied down, humiliated, and like those ants that you can never quite squash because they get away, here we are. Long ago I would have been stuck into a Spanish prison for a long time, that's what they wanted", he responded.
Former Catalan minister Violant Cervera opened the event, amid chants of benvinguda Lleida, in response to the conversion to Spanish of yet another Catalan place name, as uttered by the PSC candidate, Salvador Illa. The head of the Lleida list, Jeannine Abella, the number 2, Ignasi Prat, and the number 3, Anna Feliu, as well as the mayor of Rialp, Gerard Sabarich, spoke at the rally.
The event began with a few words from ex-minister Joan Vallbé in memory of ex-speaker of Parliament, Joan Rigol, who died today. "He was a man who gave prestige to politics," said Vallbé. "He was a man of consensus. He fought against intolerance and always did it with a smile on his lips. He fought against hatred, violence and lies. He was a man who looked for consensus on essential things with people who had very different ideas," he said. The meeting began with a minute of silence.