Catalunya 'IndyRef': Ada Colau criticises 'warlike' attitudes on both sides

Ada Colau, of the Podemos branch En Comú Podem, disapproves strongly of the way her regional government is going about the independence referendum, saying it is 'rushed' and 'slapdash', and believes that the national government's stubbornness and autocratic approach is what has spurred Puigdemont and his cabinet into action that is technically illegal.

“Catalunya is going through one of its biggest moments in history, and one of its most tense, concerning the debate on the region's political future – you only have to witness the regional Parliamentary sessions, listen to Mariano Rajoy's and [his deputy president] Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría's threats, or ask yourself why the Guardia Civil surrounded a printing press in Tarragona [Indugraf],” Sra Colau wrote on her Facebook profile.

“And that's why, as mayoress of Barcelona, the capital of Catalunya, I should like to share my brief thoughts here.”

Colau says Catalunya is 'faced with a political conflict which needs a political solution', and feels very strongly that 'politics should never be delegated to judges and prosecutors as Rajoy's government has done', something she believes 'shows up either their incapability or the fact that they cannot be bothered to' propose and seek solutions.

“Their inaction is, and I've also said this many times, the main cause of our being where we are now.

“That said, I don't believe that the solution lies in seeing whether this can be resolved in a quick and simple manner either, putting the end before the means, and rushed, leaving half of Catalunya pushed aside.”Catalunya needs a referendum which calls upon all its people, where everyone feels called up to participate. We're a multi-layered country and we need to preserve this diversity as though it were a treasure.

“With the same energy that we defend the right to decide, we should also defend Catalunya's diversity.

“Now is the time to leave behind warlike metaphors that only seek to beat the enemy, to leave behind the picture of a country in black and white, leave behind the barricades, and promote our diversity, right to question things, empathy, two-way talks and cooperation as a political value of the first order.

“If we give up on all this, if we stop listening, if we lose our respect for each other, our 'some win and some lose' attitude will not help us at all because we will have lost everything else.”