No people deserves the treatment that we have received from you. And
for that reason, and in cases like ours, the international community
recognizes the right to self-determination. It's up to us to exercise
it. And it is for that reason that we are meeting here today. Our
people witnessed the birth of most of the countries in the modern
world while you usurped our sovereignty and dissolved our
constitutions. We saw how you created artificial identities while you
insisted on denying ours. And what is more. No one can deny the fact
that we have been as decisive as we have been constructive, as patient
as we have been pragmatic.
Listen up, Spain!
Our ancesotrs created parliamentarism as well as one of the first
confederations of Europe, a confederation borne of our tradition and
idiosyncracies and thus, founded in the equality and respect between
the peoples that formed it. We established the foundations of
international, mercantile, martime, and consular law. We spurred the
modernization of your economy, from the medieval guilds up to the most
recent industrial revolutions.
We gave you the technology and the resources that permitted your
maritime expansion. We gave you the peseta, four hundred years of our
literature, and even the colors of your flag and the name that so
proudly identifies you to the world.
In the 19th century, we forged your cultural and intelectual
modernization, via a regeneration that made you into a cosmopolitan,
European nation. It was our own aim to position you among the nations
of a civilized world. During the First Republic, we took the reins
while your children were lost in internal battles that consumed you.
Our people contributed like no other to make you what you are today,
even when no one believed in you, when your own children prostituted
your symbols and corrupted your values in the name of fascism.
Our nation watched the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World
War while we facilitated—powerless, hungry, dirty, straggling—the
suppression of our own liberties during 40 years of tyranny. Spain,
can't you hear the cry of my people?
We embraced your children at the same time as you disowned us, we were
decisive during the democratic transition and your reconciliation with
Europe, and finally, we committed ourselves like no other to guarantee
your governability and to assure your wellbeing and economic
viability. But one thing is solidarity and another thing altogether is
having to pay your excesses while you feed the animosity of your
people against Catalonia.
Listen, Spain, you still have not understood that the negotiation,
rationality, and good faith that should have established our
relationship are not a symptom of weakness but rather of political and
intellectual maturity, and in the same way, domination and constant
abuse and irrational animosity are not a symptom of power but a clear
manifestation of your final decadence.
For the first time in generations, the Catalan nation walks decidedly,
harmoniously, and in step toward a new future. This is the cry of my
people. Goodbye, Spain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCcKzaqv6es&feature=player_embedded#!
No comments:
Post a Comment