FINLAND, UNIVERSITY OF HEKSINKI, 23 MARCH 2018
Small states and social network politics in a globalised world. Towards a Digital Republic in Catalonia Carles Puigdemont, President of Catalonia The self-determination referendum of 1 October 2017 and the subsequent political declaration of independence voted in by the Parliament of Catalonia on the 27th of the same month were the culmination of the first phase of the so-called "Catalan process". Catalonia has declared its decision to become a State, but has found that it has been prevented by the force and physical violence of the Spanish State from executing this democratic declaration in the terms initially stipulated. It has therefore been made abundantly clear that under the rules of the physical world Catalonia has been able to declare a political desire but the coup d'Êtat that is the implementation of article 155 by the Madrid government has prevented it from realising this desire to create an independent republic. After more than six years, the pro-independence movement in Catalonia has demonstrated massively in a peaceful and civic way all over the streets from our nation, and has filled now and again the ballot boxes with votes for the full sovereignty of Catalonia. Every year our national day has shown millions of people mobilized in favour of the referendum or independence, breaking the news all over the world with its remarkably peaceful character. Including all age bands, these mobilizations have probably been the biggest in Europe since the fall of Communism and Berlin’s wall. Thus, there is a high stakes political conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish state. A conflict that the Catalan society wants to solve respecting two principles: first, there must political dialogue over how can Catalonia use this sovereignty, and secondly, the de-
cision must be agreed by the Catalan people through a referendum. This kind of situation would have brought, in most democratic countries, to a political agreement. But that’s not the case in Spain. Instead of public recognition, today those leaders organizing right now such demonstrations with no incidents have been imprisoned accused of sedition, a charge for which you can receive 20 years of prison. Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart are in preventive jail without having been condemned, treated like terrorists, violating their fundamental right to freedom. I am myself today, together with all my government colleagues that helped me to organize the 1st of October referendum, accused of rebellion and risking 30 years of prison. Two of them, Oriol Junqueras and Quim Forn, are still in preventive prison. Six spent one month in jail, and probably some of them return today in prison, and five of us continue to be in exile. Meanwhile freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of assembly have been curtailed, school teachers have been brought to trial for talking about the referendum and the authoritarian derive of Spain has been recognised by Amnesty International. Amazing as it may seem, the electoral Commission even forbid the ribbons in yellow during the campaign!! Despite all of that, I insist that the only way to solve pacefully this conflict is to dialoge, to start a negotiation with no red lines and in a climat of respect for both sides. It’s true that hard power is still important in the world, probably too much for my taste as we experience in Catalonia with the Spanish repressive actions. However, we have reasons to be hopeful: the new phase we are entering will take place in its entirety in a digital century in which citizens are the protagonists. This fact gives us new opportunities for achieving our objective. In fact, what is going on in Catalonia is already partly thanks to the empowerment of people through the technological revolution. Without Twitter, without Facebook, without Whatsapp, Telegram or
Instagram, we would not have been able to organize our movement, and to share so easily the images of repression to the whole world. Thanks to social networks for example, the misinformation coming from the Spanish Madrid-based is contrasted with basic facts. Even if the power of ideas is not strong enough yet, my experience says that one day it will be clear for everyone that the smartphone is mightier than the sword.
The fact is that it was possible to hold this referendum largely due to coordinated actions governed in a decentralised manner as a result of digital technologies and with the participation of a range of public and private stakeholders and volunteers of all ages, from all social classes and geographical locations. It was a true "quadruple helix" effort, a current theory put forward as a model for the innovation systems of the 21st century. Innovation systems have changed radically in recent years with the arrival of the internet. An open digital infrastructure is making innovation systems more open. What is happening is known as the "democratisation of innovation". The quadruple helix expresses this change. In the future we will increasingly hear talk of concepts such as "citizen-initiated innovation", "co-creation", "crowdsourcing" and "user-focused innovation". These are the new concepts in the literature on innovation. Quadruple helix innovation is innovation in which the government, the academic world, companies and citizens collaborate together to achieve structural changes which cannot be achieved by any one organisation individually striving to achieve said objectives. To go back to the referendum of 1 October, we saw the use of technology in many forms: from the imaginative planning of the urn type, their purchase, transportation, hiding and finally distribution on the day of voting; the whole digital system created to manage, coordinate and inform about the referendum (websites, apps, social media and whatsApp, Signal and Telegram groups), the universal digital census, the setting up and protection of voting
stations and their digital connectivity despite the internet blackouts ordered by the Spanish authorities; the organisation of millions of people willing to go and vote, using a range of non-violent action techniques, etc. Indeed, despite the opposition and resistance from the State police forces, who could not prevent it, it can be concluded that this political action by millions of people is a true example of what is today called Digital Social Innovation (DSI). It is a new way of innovating that has only been made possible by the emergence of digital technologies and the internet. The Catalans have shown that we are capable of applying this type of Digital Social Innovation in a one-off event. Are we capable of doing so on an ongoing basis when we create a State in the 21st century in a digital and citizen-focused era? I believe so. I am explaining all this because any proposal that may put independentism on the table at this time must have a primary objective, that is, to answer the following question: how does the Republic serve better to Catalan people? How does the Republic widen its base in society and become an useful tool for the progress of our society? This is our task. It is clear that where we have most work to do is in promoting training that is appropriate and adapted to the world that is on its way and that is here to stay: the digital world. Advanced training does not mean simply based on internet access or the use of social media, but training citizens on how to use their creativity and innovation skills to live and earn a living in the digital world. All the studies indicate that in the next 15 years we will see the gradual loss of many jobs in traditional employment sectors which will go into decline as a result of digital disruption and disruptive innovation in general. Yet new jobs will also be created, many of them in the ICT sector and/or jobs which require a certain level of digital skills. If we look at the two sectors with the highest levels of job creation in Catalonia over the last year, we can see that they are tourism (+8%), and information and commu-
nication technologies (+27%). It is clear that the ICTs are a sector of the future. In short, a new forward-looking employment policy that is attractive to all generations, and especially young people, must be implemented. We need to consider a vision of a digital republic with an open innovation system. One which reaches the whole population. One which enables normal citizens to learn to innovate. And this new training must be linked to ICT and innovation policies.
In this sense, we must come up with an innovative proposal on how to build a digital republic of the 21st century which turns away from the old concept of an analogue and "bureaucratic" state of the last century. Our strength is our people, not only to mobilise and initiate change, but particularly to manage change and make it possible. This process should be called, from a digital perspective, "e-mpowerment". In short we must give our citizens the tools to innovate in a digital world. We must initiate the creation of a truly modern State of the 21st century, the first republic to be born in the digital age: a digital "smart" nation which becomes an international leader. This modern and attractive country will leave behind the concept of "I (power, institutions) am the State" to move on to "you (the citizens) are the State". One of the references is Estonia, who in the last few years has built an impressive e-State that is unique in the world. Its system of e-residence, that allows citizens from all around the world to become Estonian e-citizens is admirable. As you all know, a basic tenet of it is the ability to create new enterprises in record time thanks to e-residence, this is fundamental in its strategy to become a technological hub and attract and retain as much highly skilled workers as possible. It’s a model that we certainly want to learn from. Moreover, our greatest strength in this process of building this new Digital State is the people, so we must begin by investing in the present and future of these people to achieve a fully digital popu-
lation as soon as possible: We must invest in the digital and STEM training of our citizens and in their ability to innovate and create in this new digital world; we must guarantee digital rights and responsabilities; we must empower citizens in technological and digital terms so that they can decide on the country and society they want; we must take profit of the potencial benefits and transformations due to Blockchain technology; we must invest in strongest technological infrastructures; and we must invest more than ever in Cybersecurity.
Talking about Cybersecurity, let me say our experience. In Catalonia we had experience of this in November 2014. During the weekend of the participatory process of the independence consultation on 9 November, Catalonia suffered a three-day cyberattack (of the same kind as in Estonia in 2007) which disabled various services for six hours: the Catalan Government's website and email, the President's website, the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, the electronic prescription system and access by the medical emergency services to patients' medical histories, and various telephone switchboards belonging to the Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra. It is clear that this was a political cyberattack and that those who organised it hired specialists to do so. It could be called the first act of cyberwar ever experienced in Catalonia. Having reached this point, some may think that the solution to cyberattacks is to disconnect it all. Live a life without internet. This would be a serious error, a disaster, and probably the end of our society and prosperous nation. To tackle this challenge, last July the Catalan Government and parliament approved the creation of the Catalan Cybersecurity Agency. This is an essential infrastructure for any modern state, aimed at guaranteeing cybersecurity throughout Catalonia, with cybersecurity understood as the security of the networks and information systems. The agency is also responsible for implementing public cybersecurity policies in Catalonia. If we wish to ensure the correct functioning of Catalan cyberspace, we must deploy the full potential of the new Catalan Cybersecurity Agency as soon as
possible. This is necessary to assure our future as a state and prosperous nation. We need to do so as a form of legitimate cyberdefence. Unfortunately, that law was suspended in last december by the Spanish Constitutional Court.
Building a Digital Republic is key in our strategy to confront the challenges of globalisation and the changes of our demography. The same way we need self-determination to empower our people, we need to build a digital republic to empower each and every one of our citizens. Let’s take up the challenge and begin now, the day Catalonia achieves political independence, it cannot be another relic from the 19th century mentality but a symbol of how to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.