Saturday, November 8, 2014

9N

Tomorrow Sunday, is November 9. It's the day that Catalans are going to vote to become an Independent country from Spain.

The Spanish Government has not authorized the vote/referendum, and it has done everything possible to stop it, but the Catalan government is going ahead with it, even though it won't really make a difference since it won't be legal. It will however show which way Catalans are leaning. And hopefully it will send some signs to the Madrid government that there has to be a change.

I know if my father was alive he would vote 100% for Independence, so would most of my family. My cousin Fernando is pretty involved in the whole process and will keep me posted. I will be watching Barcelona TV (http://www.btv.cat/) and see how it's going. There's some neo nazi groups that still think Franco is their leader, and they have threatened to disrupt the proceedings. Also the Spanish government is sending a lot of police and armored trucks towards Barcelona.


The Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other politicians in Madrid have consistently made it clear that any attempt by Catalans to vote on independence tomorrow will be illegal. Despite this, the Catalan government, led by Artur Mas, has decided to press ahead with what they are calling a public consultation. A Spanish Government declaration on Tuesday claimed that even this watered down, symbolic vote should not be allowed to happen. The consternation in Catalonia resulted in, amongst other things, a social media campaign urging collective action.

Since then, one hashtag in particular has become more prominent on Twitter - #cassolada. At 10pm each night since Tuesday, people have protested with pans on their balconies. Making as much noise as possible. Tomorrow though, the pans will be replaced with pens.



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