Barcelona city’s deputy mayor supports “critical Yes” in indy referendum “against Madrid’s authoritarian centralism”
Pisarello argues that “the forces that promote change would make a serious mistake” if they didn’t rally against the PP’s “attacks”
BarcelonaBarcelona city’s deputy mayor, Gerardo Pisarello, called to take part in the Catalan independence vote slated for October 1. He argued for “a critical Yes” in response to “the Partido Popular’s authoritarianism”. In an op-ed for Catalan online newspaper Crític, entitled “Reasons to rally and vote”, Mr Pisarello writes that the republican progressive forces that support Catalan sovereignty “cannot remain idle”, even if they do not endorse the road map espoused by Catalonia’s secessionist coalition Junts pel Sí.
The deputy mayor argues that “the forces that promote change would make a serious mistake if they didn’t stand up to the PP and its attacks on Catalonia’s democratic demands for self-rule”. Although Mr Pisarello stressed that casting “a blank ballot” is as legitimate as “voting Yes or No”, he claimed that a Yes vote "would make sense, despite disagreeing with the Catalan government’s road map”. He writes that a Yes vote on October 1 (1-O) would be "a social, fraternal, anti-centralist […] form of rebellion against authoritarianism and Madrid's centralism”, as well as “a step towards the ultimate goal that has the broadest support” among the Comuns [the new Catalan party on the left, of which Mr Pisarello is a member]; that is: “a plurinational accord among equals that is respectful of the various peoples of the Iberian Peninsula”.
