Catalonia

Change In Spanish And Catalonia Governments Positive Steps Offering Hope

June 3, 2018 Staff, Catalan News Create! Catalonia, Democracy, Spain

The article below is a combination of three articles from Catalan News. With the ouster of President Mariano Rajoy of Spain and his replacement by socialist, Pedro Sánchez, as well as the lifting of direct rule after seven months, there is hope for progress in Spain and Catalonia. There is work to be done, including the release of political prisoners and return of those in exile who worked for independence and dropping charges against them, but removing Rajoy who fought Catalonian independence with aggression is a positive step. While there are high expectations among Catalonians, there are challenges ahead. As another article in Catalan News pointed out, “The deposed Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, was among the first ones to react on Twitter. ‘If we wanted vengeance, today we could call ourselves satisfied. But as we want justice, today we still have nothing to celebrate. There is still a long battle and a long road ahead...

The Catalan “Robin Hood”: In Conversation With Activist Enric Duran Giralt

April 23, 2018 By Dorian Batycka, Truthout.org Resist! Activism, Catalonia, Nationalism

Known as the "Catalan Robin Hood," Enric Duran Giralt has for nearly two decades been at the center of promoting greater autonomy and self-organization in the newly ceded Catalan Republic. As a founding member of the Catalan Integral Cooperative(CIC) and FairCoop, projects which aim to create greater consumer and labor autonomy away from corporate interests, Giralt has become an influential member of the Catalan underground anti-capitalist resistance largely through pioneering new, creative forms of civil disobedience. In 2008, he publicly announced that he had swindled dozens of Spanish banks to the tune of nearly $500,000 as part of a political action to denounce what he called the "predatory capitalist system."

Hundreds of Thousands Protest for Release of Pro-Independence Prisoners

April 16, 2018 ACN, Catalan News Resist! Catalonia, Spain

Six months to the day have passed since the imprisonment of the grassroots pro-independence activists Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez, the last presidential candidate. They were arrested by the Spanish police for their roles in the independence roadmap of Catalonia. To mark the occasion, a platform made up of various organizations in favor of Catalan state called for a march to take place on April 15, in the heart of Barcelona. Police figures claim that 315,000 were in attendance, while organizers count around 750,000 protesters.

Police, Protesters Clash In Barcelona After Separatist Leader’s Arrest

March 26, 2018 Joseph Wilson and Kirsten Grieshaber, AP.org Resist! Catalonia, Nationalism, Protests, Spain

BARCELONA, Spain—Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive ex-leader of Catalonia and an ardent separatist, was arrested Sunday by German police on an international warrant as he tried to enter the country from Denmark. Puigdemont was on his way back to Belgium where he has been staying since fleeing Spain following a failed bid by his regional government in October to declare independence from Spain, said his lawyer, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas. The Spanish government told The Associated Press it had received “official confirmation from German authorities of the arrest” of Puigdemont in response to the warrant issued by Spain’s Supreme Court. Spanish state prosecutor said it was in contact with its German counterparts to carry out its request to extradite Puigdemont to Spain, where he faces charges including rebellion that could put him in prison for up to 30 years.

Tens Of Thousands Attend Pro-Independence March In Barcelona

March 13, 2018 Staff, Rte.ie Resist! Barcelona, Catalonia, March, Nationalism, Spain

Thousands of people have marched in Barcelona to demand the formation of a new government in Spain's Catalonia region leading to its independence from Madrid despite formidable legal obstacles. Some 45,000 people joined the 'Republic Now' march called by the influential pro-independence citizens' group ANC, city police said. "There are more than two million of us citizens of Catalonia who want to go forward now, clearly, towards the Catalan republic," ANC vice president Agusti Alcoberro told reporters. Separatist parties won an absolute majority of seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament in a snap election on 21 December but have so far failed to form a new government. Catalonia's two main separatist parties last week proposed a new referendum on a constitution of the "Catalan republic".

Catalan Independence Protest Delays Swearing In Of Puidgemont As President

January 31, 2018 Staff, Catalannews.com Resist! Catalonia, Nationalism, Protests, Spain

The decision to postpone the session to swear in Carles Puigdemont as president did not stop thousands of independence supporters from demonstrating outside the Parliament on Tuesday, with a great many skipping the police cordon set up around the chamber. The civil associations, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and the Committees for the Defense of the Referendum (CDR), had called on their supporters to turn out in force outside the Parliament at 3 pm, when the debate was scheduled to begin. Despite the postponement of the plenary session in the morning, the ANC and the CDR maintained their call to demonstrate and thousands of people responded, with the official protest going on till 4 pm.

Catalan Integral Cooperative – Simpler Way Revolution Is Well Underway!

January 19, 2018 By Ted Trainer, Resilience.org Create! Catalonia, Cooperatives, Nationalism, Spain

It is now abundantly clear that a just and sustainable world cannot be achieved unless consumer-capitalist society is basically scrapped. It involves levels of resource use and environmental impact that are already grossly unsustainable, yet growth is the supreme goal. The basic form the alternative must take is not difficult to imagine. (For the detail see TSW: Summary Case.) The essential concept must be mostly small, highly self-sufficient and self-governing communities in which we can live frugally but well putting local resources directly into producing to meet local needs … without allowing market forces or the profit motive or the global economy to determine what happens. Unfortunately even many green and left people do not grasp the magnitude of the De-growth that is required.

A Question Of True Democracy

November 25, 2017 David Companyon, transform-network.net Create! Catalonia, Democracy, Nationalism

By David Companyon for Transform! Europe - A mixture of economic, social, and territorial crisis is a cocktail without which it is impossible to understand the Catalan politics that follow the 1978 regime’s structural crisis. Faced with Rajoy’s constant “niet”, the Catalan independence movement took the option of going up against the State, the so-called unilateral path, all while confusing a majority in favour of the referendum with a majority in favour of independence, which sits at around 50%. That has led to strategic errors: despite Rajoy having declared it illegal, 2.3 million people showed up to vote that day, and they thought that the State wouldn't use violence (real or the treat thereof) to stop the October 1st referendum or the Declaration that proclaimed the Catalan Republic. Another strategic mistake was the lack of a social proposal, thinking that they could amass a wider majority that favoured independence without giving them radical, socially advanced democratic content through a constituent process. The divisive thought of “first independence, and then everything will be worked out” did not work for the portion of the population that is struggling to make ends meet, and for whom independence is not a priority. It will not work without contesting the hegemony of the neo-liberal right over the sovereigntist process, the driving force behind the same slashing of social services, with the same cases of corruption as the Spanish neo-liberal right.

Whither Catalonia?

November 18, 2017 Dan La Botz, socialistproject.ca Resist! Catalonia, Independence, Nationalism, Spain

By Dan La Botz for The Bullet - The impact of the independence process on Spain as a whole is complex because, in the short term, the Spanish right uses it to cohere its social base and in the last weeks we are experiencing a shift toward the right in the Spanish political and social life. But at the same time, it is the principal threat to the political regime created in 1978.[1] If Catalonia became independent, it is unlikely that the political regime of 1978 could survive. Such a crisis could open the opportunity for change in the Spanish state as well. The strategic, decisive question is how to link the independence movement – without dissolving its demand, with a perspective of breaking with the 1978 regime within the state as a whole. This requires combining unilateral action from Catalonia with the struggle within the Spanish state as a whole in favor of a new majority politics of the left. But this center-periphery dialectic is complex and neither Catalan independence movement, nor the forces of the Spanish left such as Podemos know how to do it. DL: What is the social base of the independence movement? JMA: The independence movement is principally based in the middle class, public employees, and youth.

‘Freedom For The Political Prisoners’: March In Barcelona

November 13, 2017 Staff, commondreams.org Resist! Barcelona, Catalonia, Nationalism, Political Prisoner, Spain

By Staff of Common Dreams - "Wearing yellow ribbons on their lapels to signify support, they filled the length of the Avenue Marina that runs from the beach to Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Familia church, while the jailed leaders' families made speeches," The Independent reports. "Catalonia's two main grassroots independence groups called the march, under the slogan 'Freedom for the political prisoners,' after their leaders were remanded in custody on charges of sedition last month." The march on Saturday followed a series of related demonstrations in recent weeks. On October 16, "around 200,000 people (according to calculations by the municipal police) came out to protest the jailing of the heads of the pro-independence ANC and Òmnium associations, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart," the Spanish newspaper El Pais reports. "On October 21, another protest calling for their release saw 450,000 people take to the streets of the Catalan capital." In early October, the Spanish government mobilized a violent police force in hopes of quashing a regional independence referendum, but the movement for Catalan independence and subsequent actions by the Spanish central government in Madrid have left the wealthy region deeply divided. Those who were able to cast ballots last month overwhelmingly supported independence. Since regional leaders defied Madrid and declared independence in late October, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has imposed direct rule on the region."Wearing yellow ribbons on their lapels to signify support, they filled the length of the Avenue Marina that runs from the beach to Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Familia church, while the jailed leaders' families made speeches," The Independent reports. "Catalonia's two main grassroots independence groups called the march, under the slogan 'Freedom for the political prisoners,' after their leaders were remanded in custody on charges of sedition last month." The march on Saturday followed a series of related demonstrations in recent weeks. On October 16, "around 200,000 people (according to calculations by the municipal police) came out to protest the jailing of the heads of the pro-independence ANC and Òmnium associations, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart," the Spanish newspaper El Pais reports. "On October 21, another protest calling for their release saw 450,000 people take to the streets of the Catalan capital." In early October, the Spanish government mobilized a violent police force in hopes of quashing a regional independence referendum, but the movement for Catalan independence and subsequent actions by the Spanish central government in Madrid have left the wealthy region deeply divided. Those who were able to cast ballots last month overwhelmingly supported independence. Since regional leaders defied Madrid and declared independence in late October, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has imposed direct rule on the region.

Exiled Officials Create “Legitimate Government” Of Catalonia

November 10, 2017 Staff, catalannews.com Resist! Catalonia, Nationalism, Spain

By Staff of Catalan News - Carles Puigdemont and his four ministers in Brussels have established a "stable administrative structure" in exile. They claim to be the ‘legitimate government of Catalonia’ after being ousted by the Spanish executive during the last week of October. The five have published a letter where they say that a structure has been set up “in order to coordinate the activity of the government” and to denounce the “politicization of the Spanish justice system, its lack of impartiality and its will to persecute the ideas” on an international level. One of the first manifestations of this structure is a new Twitter account, @catalan_gov, which is the “official profile of the office of the legitimate government of Catalonia.” Call for citizens to 'sustain democracy.' In the letter, the pro-independence officials in Belgium also ask citizens to “sustain the democracy, which is now threatened by the coalition which enforced Article 155 (direct rule of Catalonia) together with the police and judicial violence and the far-right.” They claim that “the state has placed itself at the periphery of the central democratic European bloc” with its measures against Catalan self-rule. “It is a serious mistake to think that repression is the way to get Catalans to give up their legitimate wishes,” the letter also reads.

Catalonia Sees Second General Strike In A Month

November 9, 2017 Staff, catalannews.com Resist! Catalonia, General Strike, Nationalism, Strikes

By Staff of Catalan News - Unions, civic organizations and political parties sign up to stoppage demanding release of imprisoned Catalan officials Catalonia sees its second general strike in just over a month on Wednesday, November 8, after the Spanish Superior Court in Catalonia ruled on Tuesday that the stoppage could go ahead. It is the second such protest in little more than a month, after the successful general strike on October 3 to protest Spanish police brutality during the October 1 referendum. Despite uncertainty over whether the strike would go ahead, by Tuesday afternoon the stoppage was taking shape, with the CGT, the Coordinadora Obrera Sindical and USTEC unions all joining up. The strike to demand the release of imprisoned Catalan officials also has the support of the ANC and Òmnium Cultural pro-independence civic organisations. While the UGT and CCOO unions decided not to join the strike, arguing that the reasons for the stoppage are political, both organizations called on the public to join the demonstrations. Protests have been called outside town halls, and in the Cathedral square in Barcelona, at 6pm. Catalan News will also be observing the strike called for November 8, 2017.

Where Catalonia’s Secession Movement Goes Now

November 9, 2017 Oscar Berglund, theconversation.com Resist! Catalonia, Nationalism, Spain

By Oscar Berglund for The Conversation - As tension increases in Catalonia, there have been calls for widespread civil disobedience against the Spanish government. Even the recent referendum itself, along with its 2014 precursor, have been described as acts of civil disobedience. This popularity of gathering en masse in disobedience to the central government has been inspired in large part by the anti-austerity efforts of one group: the Platform for the Mortgage-Affected, or PAH. The outgoing disobedient Catalan government is a peculiar mix of anti-austerity parties, which have supported the PAH’s fight for people’s housing rights, and the Catalan establishment party that has generally opposed it. The PAH was founded in Barcelona in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which burst the Spanish housing bubble. It now has around 200 groups across Spain. Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau was the movement’s spokesperson before moving into institutional politics. The PAH is famous for its innovative protests, which it calls acts of civil disobedience. This includes physically stopping evictions, organizing sit-ins in banks and squats in empty buildings that belong to banks.

Catalonians Celebrate Independence Vote, Spain Dissolves Cabinet

October 28, 2017 Staff, www.catalannews.com Resist! Catalonia, Independence, Nationalism

By Staff of Catalan News - Thousands of independence supporters took to the streets all across Catalonia after Parliament voted to leave Spain on Friday. As the political crisis between governments in Madrid and Barcelona entered unknown territory with the subsequent suspension of the Catalan executive and the dissolution of the Parliament by the Spanish government, many people continued to celebrate the independence declaration. According to Barcelona’s local police, some 6,000 people gathered in front of the Catalan government’s headquarters in Sant Jaume square. On Friday morning, people began gathering in Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park, where the legislative chamber is located, to closely follow the events taking place inside. Amid fears that Spanish police might break into the chamber to stop the vote, citizens encircled the park in a symbolic act of support for Catalan institutions.

Ripples From Catalan Referendum Could Extend Beyond Spain

October 24, 2017 Simon Tisdall, www.theguardian.com Educate! Catalonia, Nationalism, Spain

By Simon Tisdall for The Guardian - The Spanish government’s attempted suppression of Catalonia’s independence referendum by brute force has raised urgent questions for fellow EU members about Spain’s adherence to democratic norms, 42 years after the death of the fascist dictator, Francisco Franco. Charles Michel, Belgium’s prime minister, spoke for many in Europe when he tweeted: “Violence can never be the answer!” Madrid’s pugnacious stance, while widely condemned as a gross and shameful over-reaction, has nevertheless sent a problematic message to would-be secessionists everywhere. It is that peaceful campaigns in line with the UN charter’s universal right to self-determination, campaigns that eschew violence and rely on conventional political means, are ultimately doomed to fail. In other words, violence is the only answer. Sorry, Charles. Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, did everything he could to derail a referendum that the courts had deemed illegal, but his pleas and threats were not persuasive. That is democracy. Rajoy’s subsequent choice to employ physical force to impose his will on civilians exercising a basic democratic right carried a chill echo of Spain’s past and a dire warning for the future. That is dictatorship. Surely no one believes the cause of Catalan independence will fade away after Sunday’s bloody confrontations that left hundreds injured.

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