Good evening to all residents from Sitges
Good evening citizens of the new republic of Catalonia ... the new democratic and free republic of Catalonia.
Without a doubt, we live very intense days.
A few days that will go down in history, because we are part of the story, because, from now on we are history.
With open judicial processes, with political prisoners, with police charges, with violence ... we are here, because we have determination, because we have conviction, because we have a commitment ... and above all because we have dignity. The collective dignity of people. From a town that on October 1 voted YES to make Catalonia a new independent state in Europe.
Welcome to the new republic of Catalonia!
The next few days we will have a lot of work. The republic that was born today is like a baby.
A baby with the weaknesses innate to newborns but with all the immense desire to live existing in those who see the light for the first time.
Our Republic is made up mothers and fathers, we are grandparents and grandmothers, we are brothers and sisters, we are godfathers ... enough to make the Republic grow, to take care of it and make it mature.
This baby was born today as an independent and Free State .An independent state for all Catalans. ...And for all Catalans.
For those who promoted their creation and have made it possible, from the smallest village in the whole wide country, going through all the other neighborhoods, towns, cities and counties. ...But also for those who did not believe in it or did not share it.
Our thanks to everyone. And above all, our thanks to the Catalan institutions that, following the people's desire, made the dream of millions of Catalans possible: the deputies of the parliamentary groups of the Parliament of Catalonia, headed by President Carme Forcadell, the Counselors of the Government of the Generalitat, Vice President Oriol Junqueras and President Carles Puigdemont.
The Country that was born today belongs to all. As has always been Catalonia. Without any distinction.
Neither origin, nor language, gender, belief, or sexual orientation, nor political choice, nor feelings or emotions ...Because during we managed to learn many things, including managing emotions.
I would like, as the mayor of Sitges, that we should take this night, once again and without ever tired of saying it and doing so, the commitment to make this new republic for everyone.Sitges can be a sample, of this normality, of this inclusion, of this tolerance and of this coexistence. Here, in the town, we have never made any distinction between the hundreds of nationalities of different origins , we are all residents of Sitges.We will not do it now either.
Especially because freedom, democracy and republican values of equality and fraternity are what unite us.
It's precisely what yesterday I had the opportunity to explain, in an interview in international media, specifically in the national television of Belarus. Free states are the means to build the values of freedom, equality and fraternity and, above all, to make them possible. Free states have the tools to make people's lives better and to make their personal and collective rights possible.
Because the nation is the people. The nation is a network of solidarity between people. The nation is a commitment to personal and collective rights. Like any nation, this is the Catalan nation. This is the birth of the Catalan nation with its own state..
The Catalan nation, which today has agreed to be a free republic, is the best instrument that we will
Have to make people's rights to be possible. It's not born against anyone. It's born to make people's lives better.
La nation catalane s'est battue pour obtenir cet instrument. Et le peuple de la Catalogne a été ferme dans sans sa décision lors des dernières élections catalanes et à la suite du référendum: étre un Etat libre et souverain.
We have the republic. We have the free and independent state that we dreamed for,. But the work is not over. Now it's just beginning. We must built it. We will probably have to protect it from external and internal attacks. Fears and uncertainties will appear. But we will raise it with the same spirit of dialogue, civility and peace that has guided us to get here.
Let us remember all those who have preceded us. Let's not forget the ancestors. Remember those who have not seen it. But in a special way we think tonight, not only in them, but in us and especially in our children, and in those who will come after us.
We build the republic for ourselves and for future generations.
Let's do it by clutching our hand for peace, looking at our eyes and never losing our smile.
As Gandhi said: "Let's follow the change we want to see in the world."
Long live Catalonia!
