an enormous wonderful feat bringing millions of people to the polls enabling them to vote despite police disruption and brutality and it's something the people of catalonia achieved and the government which was in place then helped the people to do to vote freely for the future now that's the way we think things should be done perhaps we didn't have the strength to fulfill the mandate of the people and that's why we need international complicity and support to convince the government of spain that this is the sensible a reasonable way of doing things the democratic way because the use of force is not helping people in catalonia we believe that the majority of people but it's not a majority let's test it and let's find out the people in catalonia want to vote and that's a certainty for 80 percent according to most polls want to vote for the future and

want to vote on independence such an issue has to be delivered to the people and democracy is the rule of the people for the people and with the people so that's the way we think it should be done now the leaders of the along independence moment oversaw that referendum as you mentioned and now awaiting sentencing by the spanish supreme court and. they are given political situation in spain over all that. jail terms may provoke and now they're outburst of violence and now they're police and i've thought of police cautious on the streets do you share this concern and we will discourage any aggressiveness and that's what we've been doing for more than 7 years now this is a peaceful movement it's a civic movement and it's a movement which is fighting for human rights and for a democratic outcome because that's the only way out the use of force and we've

only seen that on the side of the powers of the state in spain. police troops were sent by the spanish government the catalan government was suspended by the spanish government because the law in parliament was suspended by the spanish government is a spanish judiciary system that has. put people in jail kept in there for almost 2 years a preventive jail without trial and we'll see what the sentences are right now and we're very optimistic but the use of coercion on the side of the spanish it does not help and we believe that it is a historical mistake now what we say to the international community to people in russia europe elsewhere what we tell them is look that's not the way to solve things nowadays we believe another way the only way possible is the one has to be agreed upon there are per questions for the leaders of that referendum drastically different depending on which legal system they fall on their former president.

pushed him on to go by the german court where some of his associates are now facing up to 25 years in prison on charges of rebellion how do you explain such a drastic difference in terms of the legal treatment in europe where. legal systems are supposed to be harmonized so i think it explains itself you've got some of the members of the previous government. half of them which went into exile and there they have been overseen by courts judges legal systems they are all free citizens in europe whereas those who remained have been almost 2 years in preventive jail awaiting these sentences and we'll see what falls on their heads so clearly they're there's a european justice on one side which acts in a certain way and there's a spanish just the or in justice we think that shows very well different ways to

deal with a situation which can only be met through dialogue through. talks finding this way which has to be democratic let me ask you a personal question i'm sure many are asking themselves if you had to choose between leaving your country or staying but being behind bars what would you personally opt for. as you can imagine i thought about the dozens of times and i don't know i think both both options are respectable it depends on your own personal situation obviously if you have small children it's one thing if you don't it's different. i really don't know why i don't want to go to jail but ready to face it if the time comes because it's not my situation which is important it's the condition of the freedom of our people they are entitled to decide thomas jefferson said the world belongs to the living not to the dead not to things which

happened hundreds of years ago it belongs to citizens who have full rights and are living nowadays in this place so we must deliver to the citizens so how do you take the lead. if you deliver to the citizens while being behind bars with somewhat constrained yes but morally high. all those in jail. or saying. telling those that are telling the world that there is a lesson of dignity to be learned that when you serve the people you have to serve them to the last of the consequences and that. their situation is less important than the goals which these goals apply to rights the collective rights which cannot be relinquished which will not be surrendered now there but their morals

is really much more important than their capacity to act. effectively and that's how we consider them and that's why they are our leaders still are and will continue to be. saying that. they have moral high ground is that a little bit higher than the situation up here former president. no. it's also somebody who is in exile is also a victim of repression and then just a different choice isn't going to compare them and he is not facing 25. in prison he's away from his kids. his family and general small children and it's not a desirable situation in my own party scatterable gonna we have one of the leaders the president of our party mr get us was in jail in madrid and the other one the secretary general mrs reader who is in exile in geneva now i understand both of

them and they both took their decision and when i talked to them either in jail or in exile i feel enormous admiration the same for both of them i think that these people resent the deserve our respect for what they did for the courage they had and all the time when i try to think about them when i have to take decisions i think they do have moral height and that's why in moral terms i think we're way ahead of what. the powers of the state in spain are doing well minister we have to take a very short break now and i think we'll be back in just a few moments they can't.

time after time corporations repeat the same mantra sustainability it's very important. transitions to sustainable transport sustainability stay number man a more equitable and sustainable world. they claim their production is completely hama's. companies want us to feel good about buying their products while the damage is being done far away and this is something else just as he want any minute i need money. in this new me do me man i'm stunned. undisputable to do so when. the world is driven by a dream shaped by. the

day or thinks. we dared to ask. the guys you live but if she warned you post the why didn't i do. dishes at the bottom or those jeans near the speech that she me we didn't you blew true. clothes and about their own when you. can use i mean guys without infringing balls . a lot of you will see sawing during fuzzy fights about 2 kids each other both for the most called. as if i choose. a very. even if you.

convert 5 film days doing lisa. for people who simply knew she would include in. i'm going to fulfill the true purpose is probably to the people. you know we've all bots the truth. is really pretty. pretty there burka now you want to 1st. know.

all the. welcome back to worlds apart from alfred bosch minister for foreign action institutional relations and transparency of get along and. minister speaking about your of the supporters of cut along us independents want to stay with then you are a bad one to have. independence from spain what does it mean in practical terms

well the difference is that we can have our own say and. we don't think country or for instance a minister in spain ruling mr were a was trying to close down our delegations our voice in europe we want to be in europe we want deal in trade or in culture we want to have a free voice in our own voice in europe we think we can deal better with our problems if that's the case and that europe will listen better to our own circumstances. also to a certain extent it's difficult to work with somebody in madrid like mr were a again minister of foreign affairs spain who's trying to block our action who is somebody else undiplomatic as to say something like russia is our old enemy things like that i think that it's out rages we don't wonder if the iraqi ministers common

to go you can always encounter difficult personalities whether they come from your country or from somebody else might become the representative of foreign affairs in europe exactly talking about that now that i mean that even if you were independent he would still be in that position if he gets his way so. who would want to be represented by somebody like that who would want to live in a place where your leaders are put in jail because they organized the vote so what we're saying is we want a catalan republic because we think it would be fair to our people we think that we would be free to take our own decisions we think it would be better for our welfare for our opportunities in europe and elsewhere that's what we think and i think it's legitimate to correct me if i'm wrong but from my perspective borders the way big this and russia for example they don't exist anymore in europe and catalonia has a fairly broad autonomy would say that come. parrot's you the governmental crisis

in spain your ability for sell through is now bigger than for many other parts of spain don't you already have all the tools that you would you suppose though well we obviously we think we don't we need and we want to have more but if what you're saying is true if there's a. huge amount of self-government and borders are not as straight as they were in the past then what's the big deal what's the big deal why not accept a new state in europe of people who are pro european want to remain in you were not brought to tears will remain yours and want to contribute to the well for of europe into the european values of democracy of equality of dialogue of peace and we think that we are ready to contribute on our own to this new europe but it's part of the euro meet the european community and constituency what's the big deal

what's the problem why can't we accept that possibility in the 21st century. i'm sure you would agree that. separate from spain perhaps in your vision would be better but it would also have to recognize that spain without catalonia would not be the same country do you have any sympathy for your spanish friends and neighbors and brothers because to tell on it contributes a significant portion to the spanish g.d.p. it's a very vital region and obviously spain would lose a lot if it was this get along in. are you suggesting that the kingdom of spain is dealing unfairly with catalonia that we're paying the bills for spain is a word you're suggesting i'm not suggesting that but i know that they stealing is pretty widespread here in catalonia and i think many people here at least from the people we talked to yesterday they feel that the central governor. and is taking

more than it's giving to them let me say that right now the main issue is not economic there's an economic side to everything but right now the issue is of civil rights and of democracy we want to be of age we want to take our own decisions so i think it's quite reasonable to understand why do we want to stand up have our own say and contribute to the welfare of europe and of the world on our own from our own side we think we're perfectly capable of and as you said we're a prosperous place we don't have economic problems as a country with our economy which is booming right now tourism is booming and whoever has been in catalonia or in barcelona knows that this is a place of talent creativity of economic prosperity hardworking people so we think we could make an enormous contribution to europe and its diversity and minister i

think there is a clear correlation that when economic times are good they support for independent stance to the window and when there is a crisis economic crisis. support for independence stands to increase. some people in a retort to your argument that one of the reasons while still on and gets along as a whole has been made so prosperous is because of the contribution of the entire country of spain is that not the case which contribution while the budget their contribution to support for barcelona when it was preparing for the olympic games etc i mean like you have a very long history and they were both good and bad economic times 4 for the entire country we believe in solidarity and i think we've proven the biggest demonstrations for welcoming refugees biggest demonstrations for international aid incorporation have taken place in parcel in our society is a caring society concerning the whole world and concerns spain as well now. that's

that's not the issue the issue is is that solidarity free and voluntary or is it forced to what extent does help and sticking together and helping other people to what extent can that be taken and forced to another situation where you're actually being ripped off where you're not being dealt with fairly and you also have strong theories in favor of the 2nd issue but i insist this is not an economic question and right now we have a government from the cattle in parliament which came from the elections and there's a pro independence majority when there was a crisis and on miers i. assume years ago the same slight majority you're mentioning was there so things are not that different in times of crisis in times of prosperity people that are supporting in a band were outed in fact rating to be an affair let's vote for this because what's

the problem about voting well i think the problem from the point of view of both madrid and brussels is that if. they do you course as you see it is pursued here it may inspire other independents or secessionist moments are nationalist moments as across europe do you have any concerns about that because obviously the catalan issue is a very old one but there are more recent coffees would you like to see europe pursuing that nationalist secessionist path more actively and then it now look they voted freely for independent scotland the result was no they did in quebec the result was no now what's the result when you say to people that they cannot vote and that whatever they vote they won't be recognised it actually helps you in increasing your numbers now since this whole process started and the spanish government and the spanish war nikki and spanish power has been saying constantly

no you're not free to decide you're not free to vote what has happened the numbers have been increasing the last 15 years we've increased from roughly 10 percent of pro independents population to half of that population 50 percent but obviously there's been a very sharp increase in support for independents and white in part and only important but in part that's also because of repression because people are not allowed to decide what happens when you tell a teenager no you can't be free you can't go out tonight you can't engage in sex you can't do anything freely the teenager will probably feel a desire to do things freely all which is prohibited there is not a lot of people to a teenager and comparing the attitude of the spanish government to a parent who doesn't realize that young people turn of age and then they have their rights to be free to decide upon their selves and to emancipate now is

somebody is dealing with a whole community or a country like catalonia as if it were underage and not allowed to. to do whatever it seems to fit in a reasonable peaceful democratic way if you don't allow that you're dealing with this population of citizens and obviously we don't like that a few months ago you sounded cautiously optimistic about the government the federal . who favor it. with a. do you think that opportunity has been for we explore it by both sides it has been fully explored by mr sanchez and his government despite the fact as you mention that if it hadn't been for them for the pro independence party s. he would never have become prime minister so there we assisted in changing mr roy horn and we hope that the mr science it will be different but now we see people

still in jail almost 2 years there in preventive jail without trial accused of organizing a referendum because of the same charge and they will the the state attorney and the public prosecutor have very close connections to the government in fact the general attorney is named by the spanish government and the specific prosecutor designed by the government is under the orders of the spanish government and they have required a request the very heavy sentences which i hope are not brutal let me also ask you about another controversy surrounding the european parliament in which the electoral bore at the spanish electoral board for bade a number of. local representatives from taking their seats at the european parliament i think we are talking about 3 individuals do you take that as

a legal or a political issue. well the european parliament is a body of political representation so there's no other way you can take that let me say also that this proves that the catalan issue and the conflict in spain is not of the purely local for it's not an internal affair of spain it's in the european parliament and they're in the european parliament they're dealing with something as substantial as finding out whether the european parliament the sovereign and can accept those any piece of those members of the european parliament which have been which have been voted in this case for instance by more than 2000000 people now as a dozen member states like spain have the right of veto to say who goes to the european parliament and who doesn't go there i think that's wrong but it's there on the table of the european parliament it's a united nations it's a national parliaments it's in the international media it's all over the place this

is an international issue. let's face it pro-choice and on what do you think you are a human pain that it's political but my understanding is that the court and especially the supreme court has to follow the law which would have meant that those representatives including mr pritchett mana would have to appear in person before the central electoral committee and take the pledge of allegiance on this banished constitution which explicitly bans regional referendums now he went against others of well i mean they're all true that's not true i'm sorry he's got no no there was a provision and spend his lot of bending referendums like you mentioned that was a raised 2007 but clearly mr bridger on the end back in 2071 against that constitution because here preceded the referendum do you think he kept watch referendums are contemplated in the spanish constitution but isn't that the

night. 78 constitution doesn't it stress the indissoluble unity of the spanish nation which i think is a code phrase for so long it so would involve having to fall in oh look i'm pro in the by the entire country i'm pro independence of and. it's in our program i've been elected to spanish congress been elected to the city council in the cuttle in government it's not illegal because. defending in pursuing a. particular political program be it in the pens be it unionism be it whatever socialism whatever that cannot be illegal now what the can say is that events or acts could be illegal but. we don't believe they did anything illegal by taking people to the to the polling stations to vote that would be outrageous but anyway the issue that you're talking about is really very troublesome can

a judge really decide whether an elected representative can go to a chamber or not know sent in the serbian ruled and the spanish courts have already said these people have not been tried cannot go to the european parliament or to the spanish congress now i think that's wholly unfair and that is something which looks very illegal to me apart from unfair well i have to leave it there but i really appreciate your candor thank you very much for your time you're most welcome and courage of yours to keep this conversation going in our social media pages and hope this year again same place same time here and a while to part. you

know world a big part of the lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that made stream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door. and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for washing clothes for watching the hawks. there's a lot of here is economy where china has caught up or surpass us you know the

mobile payments markets 50 times the size of the us or over here still writing checks our banking system is not innovated 5 g. we've kind of recently woken up the last couple years and go wow we don't even have a company that can make 5 g. equipment it's been a win win for china and it's been a lose lose for the us. medical use downs to leaks leak out to. you when you. look at that is to close most of. the but.

washington expresses its disappointment lawmakers passed a resolution calling for the removal of troops including the u.s. led coalition. the vote follows america's. most powerful general in an airstrike on. friday hundreds of thousands lined the streets of the body of general. is returned home. and in the stories that shaped the international wiki leaks founder julian assange claims he is slowly dying in the u.k. prison saying he is being given. 23 hours a day of solitary confinement he made those allegations in a christmas phone call.