CATALONIA -- Súmate: 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia, there is no division. We will forge a new country.' - VilaWeb

Súmate: 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia, there is no division. We will forge a new country.' - VilaWeb

Súmate: 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia, there is no division. We will forge a new country.'

The presentation was attended by many
prominent Catalans, including Columbia professor Xavier Sala i Martin,
Tricentennial director Miquel Calçada, Òmnium president Muriel Casals,
and ANC president Carme Forcadell

 

The Súmate group (Twitter and Facebook) introduced
itself yesterday in Barcelona in a moving event in the packed CCOO
auditorium and with the attendance of an important number of Catalan
personalities: Xavier Sala-i-Martín, Miquel Calçada, Muriel Casals,
Carme Forcadell, Josep Maria Vila d'Abadal, Francesc Marc Álvaro and
Lluís Cabrera, among others. 'We are the living proof that in Catalonia
there is no division. We will forge a new country,' said the
association's president, Eduardo Reyes, who added, 'as Spanish as we
feel, we have the obligation of defending the land where we are now'.
The event, in addition, was attended by two former members of the
People's Party and UPyD, Carlos Treviño and Manolo Ortega, respectively.

Ortega
who said that he had voted and been a member at the side of UPyD leader
Rosa Díez, made Súmate's message very clear, 'The ones who are dividing
us are those that say that to be Spanish means you can't be Catalan,
the ones who are dividing us are the ones who don't let us vote.' And
with respect to his former party, he added, 'I thought that it was a
center-left, federalist party, but they said in order to be Spanish I
had to stop being Catalan.'

Treviño, for his part, said that he ‘had been indoctrinated by the
COPE [radio station]' and that he had voted for [former Spanish
president and PP leader José Maria] Aznar. And he pointed out that he
felt mistreated by Spain. 'The Spanish government have acted like
scoundrels with us,' he said, while he applauded the Catalan character
and appreciated the tolerance toward people like him who 'are people who
maintain their Spanish culture and who feel appreciated and who receive
your support'.

Another speaker was José Rodríguez, who said he had been a member of
the Catalan Socialists' Party and the union, UGT. He said that he was in
favor of independence because it had been made clear to him that
reforming Spain was impossible. 'It's like trying to climb Everest by
kicking your feet.' In the end, he harshly criticized Spanish
fear-mongering, and commented that 'at this rate, they'll end up telling
us we'll be expelled from the galaxy'.