Call to unity by Mas to defeat the "dragon" that denies Catalan right to self-determination
In his official message for Saint George’s Day, the President of the Generalitat calls for "courage and determination" to face those who show a "lack of respect for our dignity as a people and our will to govern ourselves", and cites poet Joan Maragall in an appeal to "heroism"
BarcelonaArtur Mas, President of the Generalitat, called on Thursday for "everyone to act together" to defeat the "dragon" represented by those who deny Catalonia’s right to self-determination.
His appeal to unity comes just a day after he raised a commotion with statements to El Punt Avui TV, in which he conditioned the holding of plebiscite elections on September 27th on the loyalty of ERC as a partner of the Govern.
In his institutional message on Sant Jordi (Saint George’s Day) delivered from the gothic gallery of the Palace of the Generalitat, Mas called for people to act with the "courage" and "determination" of Saint George when confronting the "collective challenges" facing "a people who want to decide, as a group, their own future". "We can all be a Saint George", he said.
"There are many dragons to be faced in this world", he said, and cited as examples "ignorance, occasional illness, unemployment, and loneliness", but also "the lack of respect for our dignity as a people and our will to govern ourselves". That is why "the magnitude of these challenges means that we can only succeed if we all act together", he stressed.
After citing poets such as Joan Maragall and Josep Maria de Sagarra, Mas emphasized in his brief speech that "the heroism that is demanded of us today is about things that are within our reach: to the right thing in every instance, to do our part, to be there for what must be done".
He also took the opportunity to highlight that Saint George’s Day is a "unique festival worldwide", a celebration that "is built on sharing, which says a lot about who we are as a people". He also urged people to support, in their Saint George purchases (1), Catalan authors and books written in Catalan.
_______________
(1) N.T. On April 23 people in Catalonia buy each other books and roses.
