Laura Borràs defends in Mallorca that independence must recover "a strong national consciousness"

PetraLaura Borràs participated last Saturday in Petra in a lunch-colloquium on the future of independentism. The event, organized by the Assemblea Sobiranista de Mallorca at the Sa Creu restaurant, was titled Strategies for the victory of independentism and also included interventions by Joana Tur Cardona and Esperança Marí.

Almost ten years after October 1st, Borràs admitted that the years following the referendum have been complicated for sovereigntism. As she explained, within the movement, the feeling has spread that "the mountain was very high." Nevertheless, she argued that that moment was a real opportunity and that now we must be self-critical, but "not self-flagellating."

The former president of the Parliament of Catalonia considered that the State's reaction demonstrates that independence was not just a symbolic idea. "If anyone believed that the independence of Catalonia was possible, it was the Spanish state," she stated. In this regard, she pointed to the judicial persecution of the leaders of the Procés as a sign of the "real fear" that, according to her, that movement generated. Borràs is disqualified for thirteen years.

During the meeting, the current situation in Catalonia was also discussed. Borràs argued that autonomy no longer offers a political way out and assured that "what is not possible is to survive in the current autonomy." For her, independence continues to be the only horizon for the future.

Another of the topics brought to the table was the lack of leadership within independentism. Borràs recalled that the State spoke of "decapitating" the movement and maintained that there has been a strategy to weaken its reference points. However, she also acknowledged that the fact that many faces are the same ten years later can generate "distrust."

Joana Tur Cardona suggested that independentism cannot live solely on the memory of 2017 and must think about the present moment. Esperança Marí, for her part, contributed the perspective from the Islands and argued that Catalonia continues to be a political reference for Catalan-speaking territories.

Borràs concluded her speech with a central idea: independentism must regain strength, confidence, and "a strong national consciousness." "I am optimistic, I will not settle," she concluded.