Catalonia: For the Right to Decide!

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Monday February 13, 2006 20:05 by gerard

WE ARE A NATION AND WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE!

WE ARE A NATION AND WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE!

We, the undersigned organisations and social movements-drawing on a broad plurality of Catalan political and socials sectors-wish to be heard in the debate that has been opened over the reform of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and to express our concern over the climate of hostility being generated from anti-democratic circles intended to undermine our country's legitimate political and democratic aspirations. Evoking the struggle of the Assembly of Catalonia for the reestablishment of the Statue of Autonomy as a means of exercising the right to self-determination, and evoking as well the memories of twenty-five years past when the Catalan nation marched in resistance to the offensive against expressions of its identity, we find it necessary to take to the streets once again under the banner "We are a nation and we have the right to decide!"

It is the conviction of the organisers that we must exercise our right to protest if we are to ensure that our laws are consistent with the needs and wishes of the Catalan people, and as such that they contribute to social progress, citizens' and immigrants' rights, social and labour rights, language and culture, the environment, gender equality, housing, communication technologies, education, healthcare and social security, among other issues. In this way we reaffirm that there can be no true self-government without fiscal sovereignty, without investment in infrastructure and without international relations and cooperation.

Because we are a country that wishes to defend its identity, it is our right--as it is of other nations--to freely decide for ourselves the kind of future we want. What we decide for ourselves should not be meddled with by others.

As a matter of liberty and of democracy, we will march on February 18 to demonstrate that "We are a nation and we have the right to decide!"

Platform "Pel dret de decidir" (For the right to decide)