What Catalans Want 1 During the Republic, the Main Catalan Bank Was Taken Over by the State

“Catalonia is a nation which in synthesis is based on its medieval history and the economic revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries”. That’s how former president Jordi Pujol i Soley describes his country. A moderate nationalist, Pujol was the surprise winner of the 1980 Catalan parliamentary elections, the first after the dictatorship fizzled out with the placid death of Franco in 1975. Two years later, at the first Spanish Parliament elections, Madrid-based socialists, communists and the Spanish right had obtained the most votes in Catalonia. It seemed as if forty years of Franco, plus decades of immigration from southern and central Spain, had got the better of nationalist sentiment. In historical terms, it was certainly a contrast to the election results registered during the Republic (1931-1939), when Catalan nationalist parties had swept the board. Indeed, the first Catalan president in the Republican period, Francesc Macià, had been an outspoken advocate of separatism. Now, in the late 70s, the political control of Catalonia seemed poised to fall into the hands of a Catalan Socialist Party that was clearly subservient to the Spanish Socialists. It was Jordi Pujol who prevented that. Jordi Pujol qualified as a doctor though he never practiced medicine. From an early age, he saw Catalanist activism as a way of protesting against Franco. His group used the mysterious initials “CC” in slogans painted on the roads, apparently with the idea of putting across a joint “Catalanist” and “Christian” message. In 1960 he was arrested for having instigated a protest in Barcelona’s Palau de la Música, where a patriotic song was song in the presence of the Francoist authorities. He was tortured and sent to Zaragoza for three years. Now the words painted up on walls were “Jordi Pujol”. Aware of the difficulty Catalonia traditionally had in creating viable banks,1 Pujol founded Banca Catalana in order to ensure funding for Catalan industry. However, since it granted over-generous loans in the period prior to the crisis of the late 1970s, it too was taken over by the State following a fierce smear campaign in the photographer Lluís Brunet Spanish press. In Catalonia that was seen as an attempt by Madrid to destroy Pujol’s political chances. Even the Communists gave support to Pujol on this count. In the end, no charges were brought against him, and he was able to continue his political career and lead the Catalan Government for twenty-three Jordi Pujol years no less. Amongst what are generally considered to be his major achievements are the creation of the new Catalan administration, the betterment of the country’s economic situation, the establishment President of Catalonia, 1980-2003 of Catalan as the major language of education, the development of the Catalan hospital and university networks as well as the creation of the Catalan public radio and television system and the autonomous police force (the Mossos d’Esquadra). What Catalans Want 1 During the Republic, the main Catalan bank was taken over by the State. Next new state in europe Toni Strubell Country 2 Now retired, Jordi Pujol is still one of the country’s leading figures. Although a favourite passtime amongst Catalans is to discuss whether, deep down, Pujol is really for Catalan independence, he always follows the moderate non-independence line that has for years been the hallmark of his party, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), and the coalition it forms part of, Convergència i Unió (CiU). However, in autumn 2009, when the independence poll campaign started up in the towns and villages of Catalonia, he did start to make statements to the effect that if things were handled properly, “the pro-independence movement will become very strong.” Indeed, several members of his party and ex-ministers particpated 2 actively in the campaign and are now openly advocating independence despite’s Pujol’s ongoing caution. 2 This applies to former Catalan Justice Minister Agustí Bassols and Alfons López Tena (see interview 5). 3 Jordi Pujol Country 4.

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